Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
In a huge relief to a number of students who fail to qualify to enter into prestigious institutions like IITs due to negative marking, the Madras High Court ruled against negative marking in competitive examinations saying they are bad in law. The Court stated that the practice of awarding negative marks will eradicate intelligent guessing in competitive exams. The judgment was passed while disposing of a writ petition filed in 2013 by an IIT JEE aspirant S. Nelson Prabhakar (a Scheduled Caste student), who failed to clear the Mains due to negative marking.

Notes:
Dakshayani, an 88-year-old captive she-elephant in Kerala, has died at a care centre at nearby Pappanamcode in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on 5th February 2019. She was the oldest captive elephant in Asia and Guinness record holder. She was also called the ‘Gaja Muthassi’ (grandmother of elephants). In 2016, she was conferred the “Gaja Muthassi” (elephant granny) title and entered the Guinness book of records. The Postal department had also brought out a postal cover on the elephant. Dakshayini had been a resident at the Chengallur Mahadeva temple in Thiruvananthapuram for the last 70 years and was owned by Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

Notes:
The 2nd National Conference of Micro Missions of National Police Mission (NPM) has started in New Delhi on 7th of February 2019, which is organized by Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D). The two day Conference will discuss the issues of Skills and Competence at the grass-root level, Attitudinal Changes in Police, Gender Sensitization, harnessing technology and Community Policing. A mega-d version of NPM Compendium on the projects developed by the Mission will also be released. The NPM awards will be given to 09 officers for their contribution in Micro Missions and successful preparation of the implementable projects. NPM Division of BPRD strives to transform the Police Forces of the country into an effective instrument for the maintenance of Internal Security. To achieve the mandate of NPM, 8 micro missions are working under BPRD. BPRD organizes Conference on National Police Mission annually.

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.

Notes:
The 2nd edition of the Asia LPG Summit 2019 was held in New Delhi with theme ‘LPG – Energy for Life’. The summit was organized by the World LPG Association (WLPGA) in association with major Indian public-sector oil companies (OMCs) Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat Petroleum. In it, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stated that India has become the world’s second largest importer of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as its government pushes cleaner alternatives to traditional cooking fuels such as firewood and cow dung. The imports of LPG grew 12.5% over the past five years to 12 million metric tons (13 million tons) in 2018-19. Hence, in terms of LPG import, India has surpassed Japan to acquire 2nd spot. China is at first spot. India imports LPG mainly from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Iran. The summit offered a unique opportunity to the global LPG industry to interact with development agencies, NGOs and non-profit organizations who have facilitated last-mile access to LPG for the beneficiaries.

Notes:
The National Deworming Day (NDD) is an initiative of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to make every child in the country worm free. The day is observed every year on 10th of February to tackle worm infections among pre-school (anganwadi) and school-age children across India. On 8th of February 2019, Union Health Ministry conducted its 8th round of NDD across the country to reduce the prevalence of parasitic intestinal worms among children. During the programme, Albendazole tablets were orally administered to pre-school and school-going children in the age group of 1 to 19 years. As per World Health Organization (WHO) report, 64% of the Indian population less than 14 years are at risk of Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH) infections. During this round, over 24 Crore Children and Adolescents will be covered.

Notes:
India has signed a MoU with Bangladesh to train 1800 Bangladesh Civil Servants at the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) over the next 6 years. They will be trained in e-governance and service delivery, public policy and implementation, information technology, decentralization, urban development and planning, ethics in Administration and challenges in implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is the second time that NCGG signed an MOU for a training program for Bangladesh Civil Servants. Under the first MOU signed 5 years ago, 1500 Bangladesh Civil Servants have already been trained in NCGG. The NCGG is an autonomous institute under the aegis of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG), Government of India. Its head office is at New Delhi. It’s a think tank for governance & policy reforms.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet has recently approved establishment of a unified authority for regulating all financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in India through IFSCs Authority Bill of 2019. The establishment of a unified financial regulator for IFSCs will result in providing world-class regulatory environment to market participants from an ease of doing business perspective. This will provide a stimulus for further development of IFSCs in India. Currently, the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors in IFSC are regulated by multiple regulators — the RBI, SEBI and IRDAI, respectively. An IFSC caters to customers outside the jurisdiction of the domestic economy. Such centres deal with flows of finance, financial products and services across borders. It provides business and regulatory environment that is comparable to other leading international financial centres in the world like London and Singapore. IFSC provides Indian companies easier access to global financial markets. The first IFSC in India was set up at GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Notes:
The book titled “Law, Justice and Judicial Power – Justice P N Bhagwati’s Approach” has been authored by Professor (Dr.) Mool Chand Sharma. It was formally released by Chief Justice of India, Justice Ranjan Gogoi at a function held in New Delhi. The first edition of the book was received by President Ramnath Govind. Justice Bhagwati has been called the father of Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in India. The book is a collection of 24 essays written in honour of Justice Bhagwati, celebrating his judicial work and landmark judgments as well as his work towards introducing PIL in India.

Notes:
On 9th of February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated and dedicated to the Nation the Hollong Modular Gas Processing Plant (HMGPP) of Hindustan Oil Exploration Co. Ltd. (HOEC) at Dirok Field in Assam. Initially, the HMGPP will have a capacity to process 35 million standard cubic feet per day of gas equivalent to 15% of Assam gas production and 800 barrels of condensate. The plant is located in Margherita, Tinsukia district of Assam. The gas produced from this field will be supplied to consumers in the North-East region, including Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Ltd. Dirok Field is being developed in phases by HOEC along with its JV partners – Oil India Ltd. and Indian Oil Corporation.