Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
On January 30, ISRO launched the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) at its headquarters in Bengaluru for the human spaceflight programme. The centre is the hub of ISRO’s future manned missions. HSFC shall be responsible for the implementation of Gaganyaan project — which involves mission planning, development of engineering systems for crew survival in space, crew selection and training and also pursue activities for sustained human space flight missions. HSFC will take the support of ISRO centres to implement the first developmental [crewed] flight. Under the Gaganyaan project, a 3-member crew will be sent to space for at least 7 days by 2022, the 75th year of Independence. Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair is the founder director of HSFC, while R Hutton is the project director of Gaganyaan.

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:
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 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:
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.

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:
P.S. Krishnan, former Secretary to Government of India (GoI), has been conferred prestigious K. Veeramani Award for Social Justice 2018 for his works in the field of social justice for SCs, STs, BCs for the last more than six-and-half decades. The Periyar International Inc., a Chicago-based voluntary organisation, gives an annual award for outstanding contributions to Social Justice at a function in New Delhi. The award carries a plaque and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.

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:
Sana Mir, the former Pakistan captain, has become the first Asian woman cricketer to play hundred T20 Internationals (T20Is). She achieved the feat when she took the field against West Indies during the third T20I in Karachi on February 3, 2019. Overall, Mir is the only sixth woman from around the world to play 100 T20Is. Daendra Dottin of West Indies tops the list with a total of 109 T20Is to her name. In the Asian list, Sana is followed by fellow Pakistan cricketer Bismah Maroo (94 T20Is) and India’s Harmanpreet Kaur on third position (93 T20Is).