Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

Notes:
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the first-ever Global Aviation Summit (GAS-2019) in Mumbai on January 15. The two-day summit, with a theme ‘Flying for all-especially the next 6 Billion’, is being organised by Ministry of Civil Aviation in association with FICCI. It offers stakeholders an opportunity to explore, deliberate and understand how technology-driven innovations will change air travel in the decades to come. The event will host experts and CEOs from Global Aviation Fraternity emphasizing upon the latest trends, futuristic aircraft and cutting-edge technologies. It also gives the opportunity to highlight latest concepts like drones, air taxis, volocopters, new jets and ultra-light aerial electric vehicles etc. It will also entail discussions on airports of future, innovations, safety & security, financing & leasing, sustainability and growth drivers – cargo, logistics.

Notes:
In Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Kamal Nath launched the Rs 50,000-crore farm debt-waiver scheme named ‘Jai Kisan Rin Mukti Yojana’ on January 16, 2019. It would benefit 55 lakh small and marginal farmers. Under this scheme, Farmers who have registered themselves to pay GST and are paying income tax cannot avail benefits.

Notes:
The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) has recently given its approval for the Trishna Gas project of ONGC to extract Natural Gas from Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) in Belonia subdivision of Gomati district of Tripura. ONGC has discovered 10-12 gas bearing wells in the sanctuary. The gas extracted from the Sanctuary would be transported to the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) owned 100 MW gas-based thermal power project at Monarchak in Sonamura subdivision of Sipahijala district. The Tripura unit of ONGC would provide Rs 25 crore to the state government for carrying out Swacch Bharat Abhiyan. The NBWL is a statutory organization constituted under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, and is chaired by the Prime Minister. It is an apex body to review all wildlife-related matters and approves projects in and around national parks and sanctuaries. It is chaired by the Prime Minister.

Notes:
Mohammed Ali Qamar, India’s first Commonwealth Games gold medal in boxing, has been named as the chief coach for the Indian women boxers. With this new role, he became the youngest ever person to get the top job. Ali Qamar replaced veteran Shiv Singh as the women’s coach. Prior to this, Ali Qamar was an assistant coach in the national camp for more than a year. Ali Qamar had created history in the 2002 Manchester edition of the Commonwealth Games, when he became the first Indian ever to win a Commonwealth Boxing Gold.

Notes:
Manu Sawhney, a veteran media professional, has been appointed the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Cricket Council (ICC). He will join the organisation in February and take formal charge of his position in July, once incumbent David Richardson steps down following the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Sawhney is the former CEO of Singapore Sports Hub and Managing Director of ESPN Star Sports.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Finance has started ‘Know Your Budget’ fortnight series on its Twitter handle to educate general public about the budgetary process. The series would explain the importance of Union Budget and its making, and would continue for about a fortnight. In the first series of tweets, the Ministry explained the terms – Union Budget and Vote on Account. These are as follows: The Budget is the most comprehensive report of the government’s finances in which revenues from all sources and outlays for all activities are consolidated. The Budget also contains estimates of the government’s accounts for the next fiscal year called Budget estimates. The Vote on Account is defined as a grant made in advance by Parliament for expenditure for a part of the next financial year.

Notes:
The world’s first television channel dedicated to human rights has been launched in London with a promise to deliver hidden stories ignored by mainstream media into people’s living rooms. The International Observatory of Human Rights (IOHR) stated that its web-based channel would bring human rights issues to audiences in over 20 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Topics will include refugees, press freedom and the incarceration of journalists, extremism, women’s rights, LGBT+ issues and the plight of the world’s stateless people. Broadcasts can be viewed via the netgem.tv interactive platform and will shortly be available via a mobile app.

Notes:
On 19th January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) in Mumbai, Maharshtra. The state-of-the-art Museum has been built at a cost of over Rs 140 crore. The objective of the Museum is to take its visitors through an absorbing journey of over a century of Indian cinema in a story telling mode with the help of visuals, graphics, artifacts, interactive exhibits and multimedia expositions. The Museum is housed in two buildings – the New Museum Building and the 19th century historic palace Gulshan Mahal in the Films Division campus in Mumbai. The New Museum Building has four Exhibition Halls which encapsulate Gandhi and Cinema, Children’s Film Studio, Technology, creativity and Indian Cinema and Cinema across India. The museum will not only cater to the needs of film critics and enthusiasts but also enthral visitors through visuals, graphics, interactive exhibits and multimedia expositions about India’s century-long cinematic journey.

Notes:
India’s first PolicyHack for Teachers has been launched by Dell in partnership with the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) and Ignus. As a part of its three-city PolicyHack series, Dell hosted an interactive hackathon where teachers focused on their learning journey. It’s first-of-its-kind hackathon for teachers which will create a platform where teachers, school representatives and a cross-sectional group experts related to education can interact with each other.

Notes:
Shivakumara Swami (111), a revered seer of the Lingayat-Veerashaiva faith, has passed away in Tumkur, Karnataka on January 21, 2019. He was affectionately referred to as Nadedaduva Devaru (Walking God) in the State. He was also the head of 5-centuries-old Sree Siddaganga Matha, which educated and hosted lakhs of students from economically deprived backgrounds. In recognition of his humanitarian work, the Swami was conferred with an honorary degree of Doctor of Literature by Karnataka University in 1965. On his centenary in 2007, the Government of Karnataka awarded Swamiji the prestigious Karnataka Ratna award, the highest civilian award of the state. In 2015 the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan.