Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to host the 79th session of Indian History Congress (IHC) at Barkatullah University in Bhopal from February 26 to 28, 2019. The 79th session was earlier supposed to be held at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) from December 28 but was cancelled due to financial reasons. Over 1,000 delegates including prominent historians are expected to participate in the IHC. This will be 2nd time Madhya Pradesh will host IHC after it was held earlier in 2011. IHC is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 10,000 members. It was established in 1935 and its first session was held at Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Pune. Its primary objective is to promote and encourage scientific study of Indian history.

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In Maharashtra, the International Vision Zero Conference was held in Mumbai from 18th to 20th February 2019 to promote Occupational Safety and Health. The conference provides a forum for promoting safety and health at work by exchanging knowledge, practices and experience. It is organized by the Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), IIT Bombay together with the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) and with strong support of the ISSA Sections on Construction, Electricity, Mining, Transportation and Information. The concept of Vision Zero is based on four fundamental principles viz. life is non-negotiable, humans are fallible, tolerable limits are defined by human physical resistance, and people are entitled to safe transport and safe workplaces. The Vision is based on principles of Controlling Risks, Ensuring Safety and Health in Machines, Equipment and Workplaces and Skill Upgradation of Workforce.

Notes:
President Donald Trump has recently signed an executive order ‘Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4)’ to establish its Space Force as a new military service within the Department of Air Force. The main goal of the Space Force is to secure and extend American dominance of the space domain. As per the order, the Space Force would be an armed branch of the military and include both combat and combat support functions to enable prompt and sustained offensive and defensive space operations in all domains. The force will be organized, trained, and equipped to meet and protect the US national interests in the space, consistent with international laws. Currently, the Air Force is the US military branch that currently has responsibility for space.

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On 22nd February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been honored with the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize – 2018 for his contribution to international cooperation and fostering global economic growth. The award credited ‘Modinomics’ for reducing social and economic disparity between the rich and the poor. The Peace Prize committee also credited him for his contribution toward reginal and global peace through a proactive policy with countries around the world.The award was presented to him by the Seoul Peace Prize Foundation at a grand ceremony in Seoul. A short film on the life and achievements of Prime Minister Modi was also screened at the event. He dedicated the $200,000 prize money to ‘Namami Gange Programme’, which is flagship programme of his government to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation and rejuvenation of River Ganga.Modi is the 14th recipient of the award and the past laureates included former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and renowned international relief organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam.

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The 12th edition of the country’s biennial air show and aviation exhibition – Aero India 2019 – has been launched by Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru on 20th Feb. The chiefs of the three Armed Forces — Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, Admiral Sunil Lanba and General Bipin Rawat — were in attendance at the show organised by the Ministry of Defence. The 5-day aero show is themed ‘The Runway to a Billion Opportunities’, to communicate India’s value proposition in addressing the immense opportunities in the aerospace and aviation sectors in the country today. This year, there are 403 registered exhibitors, of which 238 are Indian companies and 165 foreign companies. Around 60 aircraft are on display, including Rafale jet, Boeing planes, Airbus A330, Super Hercules and HAL’S Light weight helipcopter. The logo for Aero India 2019 is inspired by the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA).

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently launched the supercomputer ‘Param of 833 teraflop capacity built at the IIT-BHU. It is built at the cost of Rs 32.5 crore under the National Super Computing Mission. About 40% of the total computer power will be used by the students of Navodaya Vidyalaya. The institute claims that relevant social issues faced by common people like irrigation schemes, traffic management, health, an affordable drug will also be taken care of with the help of this supercomputer centre. The ‘Param Shivay’ will include 1 peta byte secondary storage and appropriate open source system and application software suite using 223 processor nodes, 384 GB per node DDR4 RAM, parallel file system, including CPU and GPU. India’s first supercomputer called PARAM 8000 was launched in 1991. At present, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) has Pratyush, National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) has Mihir and IISc has SERC-Cray as supercomputers in India.

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At Aero India show 2019, Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has launched its new product “Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG)” to meet the ever-increasing need for drinking water worldwide. The AWG employs a novel technology to extract water from the humidity present in the atmosphere and purify it. It uses heat exchange for condensing the atmospheric moisture to produce pure, safe and clean potable water. The AWG comes with a Mineralisation Unit, which is used to add minerals which are required to make the water potable. The AWG is configurable in static and mobile (vehicular) versions and is available in 30 litres/day, 100 litres/day, 500 litres/day and 1,000 litres/day capacities. The Atmospheric Water Generator can be used to provide drinking water in community centres and public places like health care centres, schools, colleges, offices, railway stations, bus stands, airports, sea ports, off-shore oil rigs, military establishments, remote field areas and remote establishments and residential complexes. It is manufactured by BEL in collaboration with CSIR-IICT and MAITHRI, a start-up company based in Hyderabad.

Notes:
Justice Uma Nath Singh, the former Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court, has been sworn-in as the first Lokayukta of Nagaland and will hold the office for a term of 5 years or till he attains the age of 70. Governor PB Acharya administered the oath to Justice Singh him at a function held at Raj Bhavan in Kohima on 22nd Feb 2019. The Lokayukta is an anti-corruption ombudsman organization in the Indian states. Once appointed, Lokayukta cannot be dismissed nor transferred by the government, and can only be removed by passing an impeachment motion by the state assembly. Maharashtra was the first state to introduce the institution of Lokayukta through The Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act in 1971. This was followed by similar acts that were enacted by the states of Odisha, Rajasthan, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Delhi.

Notes:
The Odisha government has launched a boat ambulance service to ferry patients to hospitals in remote areas. The service includes six boat ambulances and 60 jetties with walkway. The operational cost of the ambulances is estimated to be around Rs 90 lakh per annum. This new facility is hope for residents who live in far-flung areas and river-locked pockets of the state. The floating ambulances will cater to the needs of people in areas where the ‘108’ ambulance service has failed to make headway, due to lack of proper road route. The first boat ambulance was launched at Batighar in the Kendrapara district. The total project cost Rs 5.40 crore.

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The New Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line will be the world’s highest railway line, which will consists of total 30 stations. It will lie along the Indo-China border & is expected to be completed by the year 2022. This new rail line will not only increase tourism but, will also help the armed forces. And also, the journey from Delhi-Leh will be completed in half time. The estimated cost of the project is pegged at Rs 83,360 crore. Once complete, the 465-km railway line will be the world’s highest railway track. At its highest point, the track would be at a height of 5,360 m above sea level. The 52% of the total 465 km length will pass through tunnels. The longest tunnel will be 27 km long. The total length of the tunnels is expected to be around 244 km. The project will also have almost 400 small bridges, 124 major bridges and about 74 tunnels. Once completed, trains on this line will run at a speed of 75 Kmph, which will reduce the time required to travel between New Delhi and Leh from 40 hours to just 20 hours. Leh is the most important town in Ladakh region of J&K State having approximately 1.5 lakhs population. It has a high footfall of Indian & Foreign tourists each year.