Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
On January 29, UNESCO official launched the International Year of the Period Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT-2019) at its headquarters in Paris to raise awareness of chemistry and its applications for sustainable development. The year 2019 also marks the 150th anniversary of its creation by Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev. The aim of the year-long celebration is to recognize the importance of the periodic table as one of the most important and influential achievements in modern science, reflecting the essence not only of chemistry, but also of physics, biology and other basic sciences disciplines. The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is a unique tool that enables scientist to predict the appearance and properties of matter on the Earth and in the rest of the Universe.

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The central banks of the UAE and Saudi Arabia have launched a common digital currency called “Aber”, which will be used in financial settlements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies. It will establish an additional means for the central financial transfer systems of the two countries and enable banks to directly deal with each other in conducting financial remittances. Through this digital currency, both the United Arab Emirates Central Bank (UAECB) and the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) are studying the impact on the improvement and reduction of remittance costs and the assessments of risks.

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After Srinagar (J&K), India’s second Tulip Garden will come up at Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand over 50 hectares of forest land near Chandak hill top at a cost of Rs 50 crore. The proposed tulip garden will be developed by the ONGC under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. Tulip is the flower from Holland that blooms from mid March to May. The site in Mad village near Chandak hilltop for the garden has been selected under the state Government’s ’13 districts, 13 new destinations’ scheme to attract more tourists to the district. According to the project officer of the scheme the land available for the project in Chandak hill top is ideal for the growth of the flower as it is situated at a height of 1,950 metres from the sea surface and remains sunny and cold throughout the year. Tulip is the flower from Holland that blooms from mid March to May.

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On 30th January2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial at Dandi in Navsari district, Gujarat to the nation on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary. At the memorial site, there are statues of Mahatma Gandhi and 80 Satyagrahis who had marched with him during the historic Dandi Salt March in 1930 to make salt from sea water against the British law. The memorial also has 24-narrative murals depicting various events and stories from the historic 1930 Salt March. Solar trees are installed to meet the energy requirements of the memorial complex. The memorial project of the Union Ministry of Culture is advised by a High Level Dandi Memorial Committee (HLDMC), and is designed, coordinated and implemented by IIT Bombay in association with an international design team.

Notes:
As per the National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO’s) periodic labor force survey (PLFS), India’s unemployment rate hit a 45 year high of 6.1% in 2017-18. The latest data on unemployment in India is the first comprehensive survey on employment conducted by a government agency after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation move in November 2016. The report, which is yet to come in public domain, stated that this level of unemployment was last seen in 1972-73. According to the survey, the rate of unemployment among rural males in the age group of 15-29 years was at 17.4%, more than three times the 2011-12 rate of 5%. A similar trend was seen in females in the same age group, where the rate jumped from 4.8% in 2011-12 to 13.6% in 2017-18. The rate of joblessness for urban youths was a whopping 18.7% for males and 27.2% for females.

Notes:
Rishi Kumar Shukla, a 1983-batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh Cadre, has been appointed the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He will serve in the post for a period of two years. The High-Level Committee chaired by Prime Minister approved the appointment of Mr Shukla to the post. He succeeded M. Nageshwara Rao, who was working as Interim Chief of the Agency. The post of CBI Chief has been lying vacant since 10th of January 2019 after the exit of Alok Kumar Verma following accusations of corruption against him by former CBI Special Director Rakesh Asthana who is also allegedly accused of corruption charges. Prior to being appointed as the director of the CBI, Mr. Shukla has served as Madhya Pradesh DGP in 2016 and was presently the chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Police Housing Corporation (PHC) in Bhopal.

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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 Aus$100,000 (US$72,600) 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:
In Tamil Nadu, the 37th edition of the ICT Academy Bridge 2019 conference was held in Chennai with theme “Fostering India for Industry 4.0″. The event brought together industry experts, academic leaders and government policy-makers to address the challenges faced by India Inc. in the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution & therefore creating a correlated education ecosystem and formulating a strategic regulatory framework. It is the largest Industry-Institute Interaction Event of Asia and is organized by ICT Academy. The city witnessed more than 1,000 participants from government, industry and academia.

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In Rajasthan, the joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise ‘RAHAT-2019’ will be conducted by Jaipur based Sapta Shakti Command on behalf of Indian Army from 11th February. The 2-day exercise will be conducted simultaneously in three places viz. Jaipur in the form of a table top exercise and at Kota and Alwar on-ground capability and coordination. The Joint exercise in coordination with NDMA is being conducted to synergise efforts for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. Representatives from Armed Forces, National Disaster Management Response Mechanism (NDMRM), SDMA Rajasthan and DLMAs will be participating in the exercise.

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In Mumbai, the India Size project has recently launched by the Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani. It’s a first-of-its-kind project in the history of the country, which aims to arrive at a standard Indian Size for the ready-to-wear clothing industry, on the lines of the standardized sizes available in countries such as the USA, the UK and Mexican. A size chart that is specific to Indian consumers’ measurements will be developed. The project is being undertaken by the Ministry of Textiles, in collaboration with The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI). The Minister also launched a Study of Apparel Consumption in India. The report of this study would be ready for release by July 2019. Under India Size, an all-India anthropometric study of measurements of the average Indian apparel consumer will be undertaken. The study will include an analysis of close to 25,000 consumers spread over various age groups, and covering the cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Shillong. This will enable the study to cover all important regions of the country.