Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya was the India’s first woman Director General of Police (DGP) who passed away in Mumbai on 26th August 2019. Hailing from Amritsar in Punjab, she made history in 2004 when she was appointed as the DGP of Uttarakhand & become the first woman in the country to hold such position. Bhattacharya was also the 2nd woman IPS officer in the country, the first being Kiran Bedi. After retirement in 2007, she took a plunge into politics by contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha election on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s ticket from Haridwar constituency. Though, she could not make it to the lower house of Parliament.

Notes:
The 8th edition of joint military exercise titled Shaheen VIII has started between the air forces of China and Pakistan in Chinese city of Holton, which is closer to the Indian border near Ladakh. The purpose of the exercise is to improve training standards of the two air forces through mutual learning. It comes at a time when the country’s relations with Pakistan have hit rock-bottom. The air to air war games is said to be an exercise to develop a mechanism for interoperability of both countries’ air forces. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is keeping a close eye on the Pakistan-China aerial exercise in which both the countries have deployed latest fighter jets.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) under its National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) has launched the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) project to develop a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single-window search facility. Till date, there are more than 3 crore digital resources available through the National Digital Library (NDL). The contents cover almost all major domains of education and all major levels of learners. More than 50 lakh students have registered themselves in the National Digital Library with about 20 lakh active users. The NDL has been integrated with UMANG App and users can register through www.ndl.gov.in or through the mobile app.

Notes:
Eric Cantona, the former Manchester United forward and France legend , has been awarded the UEFA President’s Award in Monaco in recognition of his playing career and commitment to charitable causes after it. Cantona won four Premier League titles in five years with United in the 1990s and scored 64 goals for the Old Trafford club in 143 appearances.

Notes:
For the first time, the researchers have sighted a critically endangered species of tarantula – Peacock Parachute Spider (or Gooty Tarantula) beyond its known habitat in the Eastern Ghats. The spider belongs to the genus ‘Poecilotheria’. The spider was spotted by a team of researchers of the Puducherry-based Indigenous Biodiversity Foundation (IBF) in the Pakkamalai Reserve Forests near Gingee in Villupuram district. The spider was first sighted in 1899 by Reginald Innes Pocock on the basis of a single female specimen in Gooty. The known habitat of Peacock Parachute Spider is in degraded forests near Nandyal in Andhra Pradesh. Tarantulas are biological pest controllers and there is a huge demand for them by collectors in the pet trade. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categorised it as Critically Endangered.

Notes:
The India Child Well-Being Index is a tool designed to measure and track children’s well-being through 3 dimensions of healthy individual development, positive relationships and protective contexts. The index has been prepared by NGOs World Vision India and IFMR LEAD. The researchers used a total of 24 indicators to create the score instead of just considering income poverty. The 24 indicators are divided into three categories: Healthy individual development, positive relationships and protective contexts. As per index, Kerala (0.76) has acquired the topped spot due to its exceptional performance in health, nutrition and education facilities. Tamil Nadu (0.67) bagged the 2nd spot, followed by Himachal Pradesh (0.67) . Though, Meghalaya (0.53), Jharkhand (0.50) and Madhya Pradesh (0.44) featured at the bottom of the index. Among the Union territories, Puducherry led the way with a score of 0.77 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli featured at the other end with a score of 0.52.

Notes:
On 29th August 2019, the 12th India Security Summit (ISS) was held in New Delhi on the theme “Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy”. During the conference, the various issues discussed such as protection of critical national infrastructure, emerging cyber threats: Incidents, Challenges and Response. The Government of India (GoI) has taken various measures to combat cyber threats. To combat cyber crime, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has already rolled out a scheme ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)’ in the country. Beside this, “Cyber Swachhta Kendra” which is a part of the Government of India’s Digital India initiative under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is also in force.

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 Bimal Jalan Committee has suggested that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) economic capital framework must be periodically reviewed after every five years and its accounting year (July-June) be aligned with the fiscal year that ends on 31 March. The Committee has recommended that the central bank pay interim dividend to the government (a practice that started in 2016-17) only under exceptional circumstances. The committee also recommended that the RBI should put in place a framework for assessing the market risk of its off-balance sheet exposures in view of their increasing significance. The panel also suggested a clearer distinction between the two components of economic capital — realised equity and revaluation balances — mainly because of the volatile nature of the revaluation balances.

Notes:
On 30th August, the 2019 edition of Malayala Manorama New Conclave was held in Kochi. It is the Kerala’s first and only news conclave deals with the most contemporary and compelling theme―New India; New government; New aspirations; New challenges; New frontiers; New avenues. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the conclave via video-conference from New Delhi. During the conclave, discussions were held on varied topics like new Indian nationalist, politics, new boundaries of belief, youth, and opportunities for Kerala. On this occasion, Shashi Tharoor launched a language challenge on twitter – #LanguageChallenge – to help people learn one word each from languages other than their mother tongue. The initiative began after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the media to unite India with the help of language.