Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

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:
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 Qatar national football team has won their first major football title after defeating four-time champion Japan 3-1 in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup final on 1st of February in United Arab Emirates (UAE). It was an improbable run to glory for the Gulf nation as it prepares to host the 2022 World Cup. In it, Almoez Ali has broken the record for the most goals ever scored by a single player at an Asian Cup tournament (9) and won most valuable player award of 2019 tournament. Earlier, the record was held by Ali Daei who scored eight for Iran in the 1996 edition. Almoez Ali is a Qatari professional footballer of Sudanese descent who plays for Qatar and Al-Duhail in the Qatar Stars League as a forward.

Notes:
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has prepared the report titled ‘The Future of Rail’ in association with the International Union of Railways (UIC). This first-ever global report has a specific focus on India, where rail passenger traffic increased by nearly 200% since 2000. The report stated that Indian railways will account for nearly 40% of total global rail activity by 2050. The investments in Indian urban rail infrastructure are estimated to reach nearly $190bn by 2050. As a result, India can save up to $64bn on fuel expenses by that time. The IAEA report analyses the current and future importance of rail around the world through the perspective of its energy and environmental implications. As per the report, the rail sector carries 8% of the world’s passengers and 7% of global freight transport but it utilises only 2% of total transport energy demand. The regions with the highest share of electric train activity are Europe, Japan and Russia, while North and South America still rely heavily on diesel. Most conventional rail networks are located in North America, Europe, China, Russia, India, and Japan.

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:
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:
In Iraq, a renowned novelist & critic Alaa Mashzoub (51) was shot dead by unknown assailants on 2nd of February in the city of Karbala. He was known as a bold writer who was not afraid to broach political and religious taboos in his writings. His research into the history of his hometown was published in two parts as ‘A Summary of Karbala Cultural History’. Mashzoub spoke out against sectarianism and militias. He was known as an outspoken writer who published in a variety of newspapers and wrote several novels, including The Chaos of the Nation (2014) Crime on Facebook (2015), and The Jewish Baths (2017). Mashzoub has 20 published books and has written extensively about Karbala’s history and culture. He has also written about Iraq’s once-thriving Jewish minority. He had been recognized by a number of filmmaking and writing prizes, including a Katara Prize for Arabic Fiction and a prize for his documentary film ‘Doors and Windows’. In recent times, Iraq has seen a number of political assassinations, particularly of outspoken activists. Karbala is about 100 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.

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:
In Keonjhar district, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched the new ‘KALIA Chhatravritti Yojana’ to facilitate the children of the farmers, who are the beneficiaries of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme. Under this scholarship scheme, the beneficiaries will be provided scholarships for pursuing higher education in professional courses free of cost. Children of farmers who have taken admission at Government Professional colleges on merit basis will be eligible for the scholarship scheme. The state government has also launched drinking water projects worth Rs 1,050 crore to supply safe drinking water in the district. Patnaik also launched Mission Shakti Conclave dedicated the development projects worth Rs 45 crore.

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.