Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
Mohammed Shami has become the fastest Indian bowler to claim 100 ODI wickets, during the first ODI against New Zealand at McLean Park in Napier on 23rd January 2019. Shami reached the milestone in his 56th match, with the wicket of opener Martin Guptill. Before Shami, Irfan Pathan reached the 100-wicket mark in 59 ODIs, while Zaheer Khan (65 matches), Ajit Agarkar (67) and Javagal Srinath (68) are the other Indian bowlers to complete a century of wickets in the quickest time. The world record is currently held by Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who took 44 matches to reach the mark and broke the record of 52 matches, set by Mitchell Starc of Australia.

Notes:
The 13th International Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition ‘PETROTECH-2019’ is being organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in Greater Noida from 10th to 12th February, 2019. India’s flagship hydrocarbon international conference is expected to be inaugurated by Prime Minister of India. Over 95 Energy Ministers from partner countries have been invited by the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas to participate in the Conference. The 3-day mega event will showcase the recent market and investor friendly developments that have taken place in the India’s oil and gas sector. It is expected to see participation of over 86 eminent speakers and 7000 delegates from around 70 countries, including technologists, scientists, planners, policy-makers, management experts, entrepreneurs, service-providers and vendors.

Notes:
Lt Gen Rajeev Chopra has taken charge as new Director General of National Cadet Corps (NCC) in New Delhi. Commissioned in the Madras Regiment in December 1980, Lt Gen Chopra is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla and Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. The NCC is an Indian military cadet corps with its headquarters at New Delhi, It is the world’s largest uniformed youth organization. Its motto is ‘Unity and Discipline’.

Notes:
On January 29, the 2-day International conference on 8th century Himalayan sage Guru Padmasambhava was held in New Delhi that saw the participation of distinguished scholars from both countries. The conference titled ‘Life and Legacy of Guru Padmasambhava’, was organized by the Centre for Escalation of Peace (CEP). Scholars from both countries discussed the Guru who was born in India and moved towards Bhutan in the 8th century to spread Buddhism and Buddhist teachings all across the Himalayan region. The conference was dedicated to the 50 years of diplomatic relations between India and Bhutan. In Tibetan Buddhism, Guru Padmasambhava is generally referred to as Guru Rinpoche, which means “precious master.” Guru Rinpoche is a totally enlightened being, a fully awakened one, a buddha.

Notes:
Vani Kapoor has become the first Indian golfer to earn a card for the Australian Ladies PGA Tour (LPGA) after coming through its first-ever Qualifying Tournament at the Ballarat Golf Club. Vani shot rounds of 71, 78 and 69 to finish at two-over 218 and was tied-12th with three others. Vani has also qualified for Vic Open, co-sanctioned by the Australian LPGA and the US LPGA.

Notes:
The Kurdish Iranian journalist, filmmaker and detained refugee, Behrouz Boochani has won the Victorian Prize for Literature for a book he reportedly wrote using the online messaging service WhatsApp. He was awarded the Aus100,000 (US72,600) prize for his book “No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison”. He will receive an additional Aus$25,000 after it also won the non-fiction category. The award was accepted by the book’s translator Omid Tofighian, who worked with Boochani over five years to bring the stories to life. It is the most valuable literary prize of Australia. Boochani is an Iranian asylum-seeker, who detained in Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s Manus Island since 2013 under Australian asylum laws when he was found attempting to enter mainland Australia without a valid visa. He is among 600 refugees who remain in camps on the island despite Australia having closed its “regional processing center” there in 2017. Under Australia’s hardline immigration policy, asylum seekers who try to reach the country by boat to Manus Island or Nauru in the Pacific for processing, with those found to be refugees barred from resettling in Australia. The harsh policy is meant to deter people embarking on treacherous sea journeys, but the United Nations and other rights groups have criticised the camps’ conditions and long detention periods.

Notes:
The World Cancer Day (WCD) is observed every year on 4th of February to spread awareness about cancer, its treatment and to encourage methods of its prevention. The aim of the day is to save millions of preventable deaths each year through education, raising awareness and by pressing governments and individuals across the world to take action against the deadly disease. This year, in 2019, Union for International Cancer Control, which organizes WCD, has launched a new 3-year campaign with the theme: “I Am and I Will”. The campaign is an empowering call-to-action urging for personal commitment and represents the power of individual action taken now to impact the future. Over 9.6 million People die each year from cancer which is more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. India has around 2.25 million cases with over 1 lakh new cases being registered every year. In 2018, the disease led to nearly 7 lakh deaths. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) estimates that the country is likely to register over 17 lakh new cases and report over 8 lakh deaths by 2020.

Notes:
Ramesh Bhatkar (70), the veteran Marathi actor, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on February 4, 2019. He was known for his roles in the TV series “Commander” and “Hello Inspector” and worked for more than 30 years as an actor in mainstream Hindi and Marathi films such as “Aai Pahije”, “Kucch To Hai” and “Bhavesh Joshi Superhero”. For the last 30 years, Ramesh has played lead roles in such plays as Ooghadale Swargache Daar (1982), Denaryaache Haath Hazaar (1980), Shadyantra (1991), Kevha Tari Pahate, Akher Tu Yeshilach, Rahu Ketu, Mukta, The Boss- Sutradhar, Kinara.

Notes:
Kerala has become the first State to set up a Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO). The move comes more than 5 years after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) proposed such a system for the States and the Union Territories. The new watchdog will offer technical help to the State Drug Controllers and the NPPA to monitor notified prices of medicines, detect violation of the provisions of the DPCO, look at price compliance, collect test samples of medicines, and collect and compile market-based data of scheduled as well as non-scheduled formulations.

Notes:
Manipur-based filmmaker and music composer Aribam Syam Sharma has decided to return his 2006 Padma Shri award in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that the Centre wants to push through. The 83-year-old filmmaker made the decision after families of around 855 martyrs of the anti-foreigners Assam Agitation of 1979-85 returned the citation that the Sarbananda Sonowal government had given them in 2016. The government had also honored these families with Rs 5 lakh each for the sacrifice of the martyrs. The protests have rocked the entire northeast against the proposal to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries. The film fraternity of the region backed the decision of Manipur filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma to return his Padma Shri in protest against the bill. The Bill seeks to fast-track the process of granting citizenship to non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to India till December 31, 2014, allegedly because of religious persecution.