Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
The 2nd edition of India Heritage Walk Festival (IHWF-2019) is a one-of-its-kind month-long festival covering 37 cities has started from February 2. It is organized by Sahapedia in partnership with UNESCO. The fest is also supported by the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC). This festival offers the opportunity to discover the hidden gems linked to history. The primary objective of the festival is to widen access to various aspects of India’s tangible and intangible heritage. Through 87 heritage walks and over 100 outreach events, the event will explore the cultural fabric of India, focusing on museums, historically significant monuments and markets, natural landscapes, areas known for rich cuisine, and locations that are rooted in women-oriented narratives. For this edition, Sahapedia has collaborated with about 40 local-level partners to conduct its pan-India heritage walk festival. They include the Kerala History Museum, The Kochi Heritage Project, INTACH Srinagar Chapter, Art Deco Mumbai, Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation and Oxford Bookstore.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS 13) will be held at 15th to 22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Recently, the Government of India (GoI) has announced that the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) will be its mascot for CMS COP-13. It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Representatives from 129 Parties and eminent conservationists and international NGOs working in the field of wildlife conservation are expected to attend the COP. India has been a Party to the CMS since 1983. The Conference of Parties (COP) is the decision-making organ of this convention. CMS, also known as the Bonn Convention, recognizes that States must be the protectors of migratory species that live within or pass through their national jurisdictions and aims to conserve terrestrial, marine, and avian migratory species throughout their ranges.

Notes:
The 2nd ASEAN-India Youth Summit 2019 was held in Guwahati, Assam on the theme “Connectivity is the pathway to shared prosperity” from 03-06 February 2019. It is organized by India Foundation in collaboration with Union Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Government of Assam. Over 100 youth delegates the ten ASEAN countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam took part in the summit. The purpose of the summit was to strengthen the mutual cooperation among the youth leaders from India and the ASEAN countries. Hence, the 2019 summit is a step to facilitate Socio-cultural exchanges between the countries to further strengthen the values of tolerance, pluralism and diversity.

Notes:
The Himalayan Cloud Observatory has recently been set up in the SRT campus Chamba of Tehri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand to receive forecast and monitor cloud burst incidents in the Himalayan region and help minimise the damage. This is the second observatory in the country to monitor cloud activities by the Indian Science and Technology (IST) Department and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur that can function in high-altitudes. The cloudburst incidents are very frequent in the hilly areas of Uttarakhand and resulted in a huge loss of life. The Himalayan Cloud Observatory has recently prepared a six-month data while being in the testing period, so that after the completion of the testing period, cloud bursting incidents in future could be easily predicted and the severe loss of lives and property caused to the localities due to this could be stopped.

Notes:
The National Unani Day (NUD) is celebrated every year on 11th February to mark the birth anniversary of great Unani researcher Haqim Ajmal Khan. He was an eminent Indian Unani physician who was versatile genius, freedom fighter, educationist and founder of scientific research in Unani Medicine. As part of 3rd Unani Day 2019 celebration, the two-day National Conference on Unani Medicine was held at New Delhi with theme ‘Unani Medicine for Public Health’. It was organized by the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM). The conference highlighted the important role played by Unani Medicine in public health especially in combating NCDs, lifestyle disorders and various chronic diseases by providing cost effective treatment and quality products for patient healthcare. About 1300 delegates, resource persons, academicians, researchers and industry representatives participated in the conference.

Notes:
Indian Army has recently demonstrated its artillery firepower by using ultra light Howitzers and indigenous Swathi weapon-locating radar at the annual ‘Exercise Topchi 2019’ at the vast firing ranges at Deolali Camp near Nasik, Maharashtra. The aviation and surveillance capabilities were also showcased in the Exercise. In addition to the gun fire, the display of rockets, missiles, surveillance and target acquisition radars, remotely piloted aircraft and hi-tech equipments was awe-inspiring.

Notes:
Meghalaya’s state animal – Clouded Leopard will be the official mascot for the 39th National Games 2022, which is coinciding with the 50th year of the creation of the state. This decision was taken at the first National Games 2022 executive committee meeting chaired by Meghalaya Sports and Youth Affairs Minister . Meghalaya will be the third northeastern state after Manipur and Assam hosted the National Games in 1999 and 2007, respectively. It had co-hosted the 2016 South Asian Games with its neighbouring state Assam. An estimated 14,450 athletes and officials are expected to visit Meghalaya during the 2022 National Games. Clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa) is one of the wild cats that live throughout the forests of Garo, Khasi and Jaintia Hills. Since 2008, it is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

Notes:
The 5th International Dam Safety Conference – 2019 was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha during 13 and 14 February 2019. It is the joint initiative of the Government of India, Government of Odisha and the World Bank (WB) under aegis of the ongoing World Bank assisted Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) as a part of institutional strengthening. Dam Safety Conferences are being organized as an annual event in different DRIP States in collaboration with the Implementing Agencies and leading academic institutes to provide a common platform for all stakeholders including non-DRIP States. Presently, DRIP covers rehabilitation of 198 large dam projects located in seven States namely Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Uttarakhand. Globally, India ranks third after China and the USA in terms of the number of large dams with 5264 large dams in operation and 437 large dams under construction. The total storage capacity of the impounded water by these dams is about 283 billion cubic meters (BCM).

Notes:
On 14th of February, the Bihar government announced a universal old age pension scheme – Mukhyamantri Vridhajan Pension Yojna (MVPY) for all people above 60 years of age. The scheme will come into force from the 1st of April 2019. Except those senior citizens who have retired from government service, all will be eligible for Rs. 400 monthly pension irrespective of caste, religion or community. Currently old age pension scheme is applicable to only the BPL category. The Chief Minister also announced a pension of Rs. 6,000 for journalists above 60 years of age. Those who have been in regular service in the field of media and not getting any other pension will be eligible for Bihar Patrakar Samman Yojana (BPSY). This scheme will also be implemented from the 1st of April 2019.