Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

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.

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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.

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The media-savvy former mayor of San Salvador, Nayib Bukele of the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) has won a landslide victory in 2019 El Salvador presidential election by winning over 53% of the total vote. With this, he brought an end to a two-party system that has held sway over the violence-plagued Central American country for three decades. Bukele will succeed Salvador Sánchez Cerén , after whom the leadership chair was vacant for a period of time. He will assume office on 1 June 2019.

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Ladu Kishore Swain (71), the senior Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader, has passed away in Bhubaneswar on 5 February 2019. He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in May 2014 from Aska constituency of Odisha.

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The National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC) has been selected as winner under the Miniratna Category by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). This has been done as part of endeavor by Ministry of MSME to felicitate select Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to recognize their exemplary work towards promotion of SC/ST entrepreneurs. As per data uploaded on Sambandh Portal , the performance parameters for the felicitation were procurement from SC/ST entrepreneurs, number of vendor development programmes for SC/ST and number of SC/ST entrepreneurs benefitting. The NFDC, incorporated in the year 1975, was formed by the Government of India (GoI) with the primary objective of planning and promoting an organised, efficient and integrated development of the Indian film industry.

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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.

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The Dard Aryan Tribe of Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region known for its liberal customs and ornate costumes is struggling to keep its vibrant cultural legacy alive. Recently, at the 2019 Dard Aryan Festival (Aryan Utsav) in New Delhi, the delegation of the Dard Aryans has requested the Central government to make serious interventions. The rich heritage of the Dard Aryans — believed to be the original descendants of ‘pure Aryan race’ — is under threat due to rapid modernisation, migration and religious conversion. The Dard Aryans inhabit Dha, Hanu, Beema, Darchik and Garkone villages in Leh and Kargil districts. The villages are together called the Aryan valley. The people of this region have unique physical features, social life, ethnic culture and language. Many researchers believe that the ‘Aryans of Ladakh’ or the ‘Brokpas’ were a part of Alexander’s army and had come to the region over 2,000 years ago. The word ‘Dard’ is derived from a Sanskrit word, ‘Daradas’, which refers to people who live on hillsides.

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The Union Cabinet has recently approved the establishment of Circuit Bench of Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri. Te proposed bench will have jurisdiction over four districts namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. The decision comes in the backdrop of the decision of the Calcutta High Court Full Court Meeting in 1988. The Union cabinet had also approved the move in June 2006. A circuit bench is for territories which are far flung, but do not have too many matters to justify a full-fledged permanent bench. The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The High Court building’s design is based on the Cloth Hall, Ypres, in Belgium.

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Oscar-nominated British actor Albert Finney (82) has passed away in London on 7th of February 2019. He was a five-time Oscar nominee who began his career at the Royal Shakespeare Company before making his mark in film. He is known for his roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (also 1960), Tom Jones (1963), Two for the Road (1967), Scrooge (1970), Annie (1982), The Dresser (1983), Miller’s Crossing (1990), etc.

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The book titled “Let’s Talk On Air: Conversations with Radio Presenters” has been authored by Rakesh Anand Bakshi, which serves as a comprehensive guide on radio-presenting in India. The new book celebrates the lives of 14 popular radio presenters in India – from the legendary Ameen Sayani to present-day RJs who have been entertaining us via the airwaves. Besides Sayani, among those RJs featured in the book are Yunus Khan, Rohini, Mamta Singh, Sayema, Hrishikay Kannan, Anuraag ‘picture’ Pandey and Anmol. This book can help shed light on intricacies of radio as a medium and the RJs behind the microphones, connect fans to their favourite RJs and, eventually attract more talent to be part of the industry. The book, published by Penguin Random House, will be launched on World Radio Day (WRD-2019) on February 13 in Mumbai.