Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Germany, France and the UK have officially set up a payment channel with Iran called INSTEX, to help continue trade and circumvent US sanctions. The long-awaited special payment system will help save the Iran nuclear deal by allowing Tehran to keep trading with EU companies despite Washington re-imposing sanctions after US President Donald Trump abruptly quit the accord in 2018. The three countries have launched the device at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Bucharest, Romania. The new institution ‘INSTEX’ is a project of the three governments and will receive the formal endorsement of all 28 EU members. The Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) is registered in France and will be headed by German banker Per Fischer, a former Commerzbank director.

Notes:
As per latest survey conducted by Transparency International (TI), Assam has occupied the top slot in the ranking of best practices followed by states in Budget formulation and is followed by Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The states which figured lower in the ranking were Meghalaya, Manipur and Punjab. The survey was carried out on the basis of four parameters – public disclosure, budgetary process, post budget fiscal management and efforts to make budget more transparent and citizen friendly. Transparency International has stated in its survey report that Assam is the only state out of the 29 states and two union territories which has published a Citizens Budget in the public domain. It also stated that the Assam Government is the only government that has conducted budget awareness campaigns across 17 districts.

Notes:
Nilambar Acharya, Nepal’s former law minister, has been appointed as the country’s ambassador to India. The position of the Nepalese ambassador to India was vacant for more than a year after Deep Kumar Upadhyay resigned to join politics in October 2017. President Bidya Devi Bhandari has recently administered oath of office to Acharya at Rastrapati Bhawan at Sheetal Niwas. Acharya is the first Nepalese ambassador to take oath of office and secrecy from the president under a new provision. Earlier, ambassadors were administered oath of office by Supreme Court chief justice.

Notes:
Punjab has recently declared the endangered Indus river dolphin as the state’s aquatic animal. The decision was recently taken at a meeting of the state board for wildlife chaired by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Indus Dolphin is an endangered freshwater aquatic mammal found only in Indian and Pakistan in the Beas river. These are brown/grey in colour, but blind and live for at least for 30 years. The Chief Minister also gave approval to declare Kanjli Wetland and holy Kali Bein River as a wildlife conservation reserve to mark the historic 550th Parkash Purb of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The sacred Kali Bein River was associated with the life of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, who got enlightenment while taking a dip in the holy river.

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:
Indian squash player Ramit Tandon has won the 2019 Seattle Open title by defeating Mohamed El Sherbini of Egypt in the final in USA. It is his fourth title in his career. The Seattle Open is a Professional Squash Association (PSA) challenger squash Tour event.

Notes:
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made an unexpected discovery of a new dwarf galaxy in our cosmic neighborhood. Named Bedin 1, the galaxy is approximately 30 million light-years away and 2 million light-years from the nearest plausible large galaxy host ‘NGC 6744’. The object is classified as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy because it measures only around 3,000 light-years at its greatest extent, and it is roughly a thousand times dimmer than our own Milky Way Galaxy. The galaxy is named after discovery team leader Dr. L. R. Bedin of the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova in Italy. The dwarf spheroidal galaxies are not uncommon, Bedin 1 has some notable features. Not only is it one of just a few dwarf spheroidals that have a well established distance but it is also extremely isolated. This makes it possibly the most isolated small dwarf galaxy discovered to date. The Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are defined by their small size, low-luminosity, lack of dust and old stellar populations. 36 galaxies of this type are already known to exist in the Local Group, 22 of which are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. The researchers used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study white dwarf stars within the globular cluster NGC 6752. The aim of their observations was to use these stars to measure the age of the globular cluster, but in the process they made an unexpected discovery of Bedin 1.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
In Tamil Nadu, the 462nd annual Kandoori festival 2019 has started at nearby Nagore Dargah, a famous Muslim pilgrim centre in Nagore. The 14-day long festival began on 6th February after the holy flag was brought in a procession and hoisted. The Kandoori festival is held to commemorate the death anniversary of 16th century saint Hazrath Syed Shahul Hameed Quadir Wali, who migrated from his native Manickapur near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and lived in Nagore till his death. As per tradition, one of the five flags was brought from Singapore. The main event of the festival-‘Sandanakoodu'(sandal pot) procession- will be held on February 15. The Dargah of Saint Hazrath Syed Shahul Hameed in Nagore is more than 500 years old. Saint Hazrath Syed Shahul Hameed came to Thanjavur on a pilgrimage during the 16th century AD when he cured the illness of the then King of Thanjavur Achuthappa Naicken. The King gifted the saint lands in Nagore where the latter lived for the rest of his life serving the people, irrespective of religion, caste or creed.