Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has constituted Advisory Board for Banking Frauds (ABBF) to examine bank fraud over Rs 50 crore and recommend action. The panel in its previous avatar called the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds. The 4-member ABBF, which is headed by former Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin, has been formed in consultation with the RBI and it will function as the first level of examination of all large fraud cases before recommendations or references are made to the investigative agencies by the respective Public Sector Banks (PSBs). The jurisdiction of board will be confined to those cases involving officers of General Manager (GM) level and above in the PSBs in respect of an allegation of a fraud in a borrowal account. The banks will refer all large fraud cases above Rs 50 crore to ABBF and on receipt of its recommendation, they concerned will take further action in such matter. The tenure of the Chairman and members would be for a period of two years from August 21, 2019.

Notes:
On 26th August 2019, the 10-day annual festival of the famous Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple has started in Tamil Nadu with a formal flag hoisting ceremony in the sprawling temple premises. The main ceremony of the crowning of Lord Sundareswara will be held on 7th of September, after which Lord Sundareswar will accept the reign of Madurai for six months. One of the interesting aspects of the festival is the enactment of various incidents in the lives of Lord Sundareswara and Goddess Meenakshi. In one of the important incidents enacted during the annual festival, Lord Sundareswar disguises himself as a labourer to help a poor old woman called Pittu. Music and dance performances as well as processions will be held in the brightly lit temple premises including the famous Golden Lotus pond and the Thousand Pillared Hall. It is notable that the Golden Lotus pond was thoroughly cleaned recently and natural water resources underneath the pond were revived using eco friendly geo carpeting technology.

Notes:
The researchers at the IIT-Hyderabad have derived collagen from discarded skin of eel (a snake like fish) by treating it with acetic acid, common salt and pepsin. It then combined the collagen with alginate hydrogel and used a 3D printing process to obtain scaffolds. They shown that tissue scaffolds built using such collagen allow growth and proliferation of stem cells. Thus, eel-skin derived collagen is a promising biomaterial for tissue engineering applications. The research was funded by the Central government’s Department of Science and Technology-Science and Engineering Research Board (DST-SERB) through the National Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme (N-PDF). The practical applications of this research can lead to utilizing eel fish skin-derived collagen as a promising alternative to animal derived collagen, which are expensive and are associated with pathological diseases. Collagen is a protein found especially in the joints of humans and animals.

Notes:
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) is organizing the 7th ‘Community Radio Sammelan’ at Dr B R Ambedkar Bhawan in Delhi from Aug 27-29 with theme ‘Community Radio for SDGs’. The Sammelan’ will witness discussion on various flagship schemes of the government such as the Jal Shakti Abhiyaan and efforts for disaster risk reduction. Beside this, research, production, broadcasting, dissemination of social welfare messages through social media and content management for community radio stations will also be discussed. The ‘Sammelan’ will witness participation of all operational community radio stations across the country.

Notes:
Wing Commander Shalija Dhami has scripted history by becoming India’s first female officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to become the Flight Commander of a flying unit. She took over as flight commander of a Chetak helicopter unit at Hindon airbase in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Chetak is a single engine turbo shaft, light utility helicopter with capacity of 6 passengers and has maximum speed of 220 km/hour. Flight Commander is the second in command of the unit. The helicopter is suitable for commuting, cargo / material transport, casualty evacuation, Search & Rescue (SAR), Aerial Survey & MAybePatrolling, Emergency Medical Services, Off-shore operations and Under slung operations.

Notes:
E-commerce major Amazon India has launched a Military Veterans Employment programme in the country to create hundreds of opportunities for military veterans and their spouses across the company’s fulfilment centres. For this noble cause, Amazon India has partnered with the Office of the Director General of Resettlement (DGR) and the Army Welfare Placement Organisation (AWPO) to create continued work opportunities for military families across the country.

Notes:
For the first time, the 25th Senior Women’s National Football Championship is scheduled to be held in Arunachal Pradesh from 10th to 24th September 2019. The tournament will be held in the oldest town of the state Pasighat in East Siang District. A total of 30 teams from across the country, representing various States, Union Territories and Indian Railways will participate in the tournament. The teams have been divided into 8 groups — A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu &Kashmir and Telangana is in group H. The inaugural match will be played between Railways and Mizoram.

Notes:
From 1st September 2019, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has decided to launched a mega 10-week anti-mosquito campaign against dengue and chikungunya that aims to increase the participation of residents in preventing their spread. The initiative titled ‘10 Hafte, 10 Baje, 10 Minute – Har Ravivar, dengue par war’. As part of the campaign, the government has asked the people of Delhi to give 10 minutes every Sunday at 10 a.m. to check all sources of stagnant water at their homes as the dengue mosquitoes breed only in clean water.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has recently launched a campaign for change management “Angikaar” for social behaviour change. The campaign focusesing on issues such as water & energy conservation, waste management, health, tree plantation, sanitation and hygiene for beneficiaries of completed houses under PMAY (U), through community mobilisation and IEC activities. For this purpose, the campaign will converge with schemes and Missions of other Ministries dealing with these subjects. The convergence would especially focus on Ujjwala for gas connection and Ayushman Bharat for health insurance to the beneficiaries of PMAY (U). Apart from this, the Ministry also launched e-Course on Vulnerability Atlas of India.

Notes:
Aparna Kumar, a 2002 batch Uttar Pradesh Cadre IPS officer, has been honoured with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award 2018. With this, she became the first IPS officer to be bestowed with this prestigious award. Currently, she is posted as DIG in Indo Tibetan Police Force at Dehradun. This is the highest National award at par with Arjuna award for Adventure sports in India. The award is given in 4 categories – Land, Water, Air Adventure and Lifetime achievement. The awards are given by the Government of India (GoI) with an aim to encourage young people to develop the spirit of endurance, risk-taking, cooperative teamwork and quick, ready and effective reflexes in tough situations. Besides Aparna, five more personalities also received the award. The other personalities are late Dipankar Ghosh, Manikandan K, Prabhat Raju Koli, RameshwerJangra and Wangchuk Sherpa. The awardees received a statuette, certificates and cash award of Rs. 5 lakh each.