Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

Notes:
An Iranian naval force has started a massive three-day drill, codenamed “Velayat 97”, across two million square kilometers of sea between the Straits of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean, including a sensitive global shipping route. The drill will showcase Iran’s submarines, warships, helicopters and drones. It is being held from the Strait of Hormuz to the southeastern coasts of Makran, the Sea of Oman and the northern parts of the Indian Ocean, down to the 10-degrees latitude. The naval exercise comes at a time of tensions with the US, after Washington condemned Iran at the summit in Warsaw. In addition Iran has upped tensions with Saudi Arabia after a terror attack in southeastern Iran, which Tehran blamed partly on Riyadh. Iran has also recently condemned the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the US. Sending its navy to the Strait of Hormuz, a major chokepoint for the world’s oil, is provocative. The Strait of Hormuz is an international transit route where American forces routinely pass and which has seen tense encounters between them and Iranian forces in the past.

Notes:
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has formed a four-member committee to look into the matter of taxation related pain points and submit its final report and recommendations by mid-March 2019. Its recommendations could include applying a filter for tax officer before a notice is issued and setting a time limit for concluding an investigation. The committee is head by income tax commissioner Sanjeev Sharma.

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.

Notes:
Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has been elected third time unopposed as the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI). The elections of the office bearers and executive committee members of WFI for the next four-year term (2019-2023) were held at the Constitution Club of India (CCI). Along with Brij Bhushan, I.D. Nanavati has been elected as the Senior Vice President, V.N. Prasood as the Secretary General and Satyapal Singh Deshwal as the Treasurer. Singh, who is also a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Kaiserganj constituency of Uttar Pradesh, was the chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent for the Asian Games 2018 held in Jakarta and Palembang.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
An American biographical comedy-drama film “Green Book” has won the Best Picture at 91st Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on 25th February 2019. Green Book also won best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali and best original screenplay. In it, British actress Olivia Colman won the best actress award for “The Favourite” for her performance as Queen Anne in the period comedy-drama. Rami Malek won the best actor for a biographical film “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director Oscar for ‘Roma’, which is an American and Mexican drama. ‘Roma’ also won Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography category. Pop diva Lady Gaga got the Best Original Song Academy Award for “Shallow” from her feature debut “A Star is Born”. Marvel’s Black Panther too won 3 Oscars – Best Original Music, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.

Notes:
The book titled “ India in Distress” has been authored by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which is scheduled to be launch in the National Capital on February 27. Banerjee has so far published 87 books. Among the seven books that Banerjee has penned this time, there are ones for children, of poems in Bengali, Urdu and English and a couple of books on politics – in Hindi and Bengali.

Notes:
Zimbabwe has recently introduced its new currency, dubbed as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dollar, after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced measures to try and resolve a chronic monetary crisis. The new currency replaces electronic bank savings called digital dollars and the bond notes, and was named after the RTGS system that banks use to transfer money between each other. The currency was launched at an initial rate of 2.5 RTGS dollars per US dollar. The RTGS dollar is supposed to bring together bond notes and debit card and mobile money payments to make sure that they are all worth the same.

Notes:
The Indo-Bangladesh joint military exercise ‘Sampriti-2019’ is scheduled to be held at Tangail in Bangladesh from 02 March to 15 March 2019. It will be the 8th edition of the exercise which is hosted alternately by both countries. The 14-day exercise is aimed to strengthen and broaden the aspects of inter-operability and co-operation between the Armies of both countries. The exercise will involve tactical-level operations in a counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism environment under the UN mandate.

Notes:
Leg-spinner Rashid Khan claimed a hat-trick and became the first-ever bowler to bag four wickets in four deliveries in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) on February 17, 2019. Rashid’s impressive bowling performance in the third and final T20I also helped Afghanistan sweep the T20I series by a margin of 3-0 against Ireland in Dehradun. With this feat, Rashid also became the 7th bowler in the T20I history to bag a hat-trick and in the process also completed his second five-wicket haul in the format. Overall, Khan became the 2nd bowler in the history of the sport to do so in international cricket after Sri Lankan veteran Lasith Malinga pick up 4 wickets in 4 balls. Malinga achieved the milestone during the 2007 Cricket World Cup against South Africa.