Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2019

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.

Notes:
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 5th edition of the Economic Times (ET) Global Business Summit 2019 on Feb 23 to offer insights into the direction of future policy. The two-day summit hosted business leaders and technology entrepreneurs from some of the most talked about and disruptive companies across the globe including Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder of AirBnB, Martin Eberhard co-founder of Tesla, Sebastian Thrun CEO of KittyHawk and many more. The summit is a flagship initiative of the Times Group that envisions to bring together visionaries, thought leaders, heads of state, policy makers, academicians and corporate heads cohesively driving a singular agenda for Scripting Economic Change, by connecting the building blocks of Economics for India and the Globe.

Notes:
IIT-Madras has entered into an agreement with Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) to address public health issues and predict adverse pregnancy outcomes using technology. The aim of the pact is to bring physician-scientists, biologists, engineers and data scientists together to solve public health problems related to maternal and child health. The objective is to apply advanced analytical approach for prediction of adverse pregnancy outcomes, evaluate maternal and childhood consequences of exposure to environmental pollutants, among others. The THSTI is an autonomous institute of Department of Biotechnology (DBT). DBT is a department under Ministry of Science and Technnology.

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:
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), J P Nadda has inaugurated the 4th edition of Global Digital Health Partnership Summit in New Delhi on 25th February 2019. The global intergovernmental meeting on digital health is hosted by the MoHFW in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP). The GDHP is an international collaboration of governments, government agencies and multinational organisations dedicated to improving the health and well-being of their citizens through the best use of evidence-based digital technologies. The vision of the GDHP is to support governments and health system reformers to improve the health and well-being of their citizens through the best use of evidence-based digital technologies.

Notes:
On 24th February 2019, Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey rolled out “National Action Plan – Viral Hepatitis” to eliminate viral hepatitis at Mumbai in presence of Amitabh Bachchan, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in South-East Asia Region. The aim of the programme is to combat hepatitis and achieve countrywide elimination of Hepatitis C by 2030. The programme is also in line with the country’s global commitment towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.3. India has affirmed this commitment at the 69th World Health Assembly. Viral hepatitis is a global public health problem that kills nearly 2.72 lakh people annually. It is an inflammatory condition of the liver caused by five known hepatitis viruses — A, B, C , D and E. Of these, B and C are known to cause 96% mortality. India is one of the few countries to roll out management of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C in a public health approach and offer free diagnostics and drugs lifelong to its beneficiaries.

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On 26th Feb 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the International Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015, 16, 17 and 18 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan. For 2018, Japan’s Yohei Sasakawa was given the prize for his contribution in Leprosy Eradication in India and across the world. Ekal Abhiyan Trust was conferred the award for 2017 for its contribution in providing Education for Rural and Tribal Children in remote areas pan India, Rural Empowerment, Gender and Social Equality. For 2015, Vivekananda Kendra (Kanyakumari) was given the award for its contribution in Rural Development, Education and Development of natural resources. For 2016, the award was presented jointly to Akshaya Patra Foundation for its contribution in providing mid-day meals to millions of children across India and Sulabh International for its contribution in improving the condition of sanitation in India and emancipation of manual scavengers. The award comprises a cash award of Rs. 1 crore, a citation in a scroll, a plaque and a traditional handicraft item.

Notes:
The horrific forest fire has recently broken out in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. The fire is estimated to have gutted 2,000 hectares of the forest. Hundreds of forest department officials along with local volunteers have been trying to douse the fire. However, strong winds and dry grass have aided the fire to spread towards the roads on National Highway 67. As a result, NH 67 (which connects Ooty to Mysore) had to be closed for vehicles. There have been reports of loss of wildlife, but nothing has been confirmed so far. The Bandipur reserve is one of the first national parks in India and has the highest tiger density anywhere in the world. It has also been declared as an important area for elephant conservation. The reserve covers an area of 87,400 hectares and along with the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nagarahole National Park form one of India’s ecologically diverse regions. It is home to vulnerable species like elephants, gaurs, tigers and Indian rock pythons.

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.

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The World Day of Social Justice is observed every year on February 20 to recognize the need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion and unemployment. The day focuses on the plight of social injustice throughout the world and presses for improvements and solutions. The 2019 theme is “If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice”.