Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

Notes:
Bhanu Prakash Singh (90), the former Union minister, ex-Goa Governor and head of the Narsinghgarh royal family, has passed away in Indore, Madhya Pradesh on January 24, 2019. He was elected as an MP from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat in 1962 as an independent candidate. Singh later became close to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and joined the Congress in 1964. He became a minister in her cabinet. However, when Indira Gandhi abolished privy purses, Singh revolted and resigned from the Congress. In 1991, he became the Governor of Goa.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has recently instituted an annual award titled Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar. The award is to be announced every year on 23rd January on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. For the year 2019, 8th Battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) located at Ghaziabad has been selected for the award for its commendable work in Disaster Management. The Award recipient will receive a certificate and a cash prize of Rs. 51 lakh. The 8th Battalion of NDRF was raised in 2006 and is a highly specialised Rescue and Response Force with large area of responsibility covering National Capital Region (NCR), Uttarakhand, Western UP & Haryana. The battalion has participated in 314 major operations and rescued over 50,000 people. In the devastating Kerala floods in 2018, the battalion had rescued 5,338 victims and evacuated 24,000 people to safety. Other major disasters in which this NDRF battalion participated are Leh cloud burst (2011), Kedarnath floods (2013), cyclone Hudhud (2014), Chennai floods (2015) and Tripura floods (2018).

Notes:
Krishna Sobti (94), the famous Hindi fiction writer and essayist, has passed away in New Delhi on January 25, 2019. She had won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1980 for her novel Zindaginama and was awarded the Jnanpith in 2017 for her contribution to Indian literature. Sobti is best known for her 1966 novel Mitro Marajani, an unapologetic portrayal of a married woman’s sexuality. Some of her notable works are as follows: Daar Se Bichchuri, Surajmukhi Andhere Ke, Yaaron Ke Yaar, Zindaginama. Some of her well-known short stories are Nafisa, Sikka Badal gaya, Badalom ke ghere.

Notes:
The Indian Railways has named the indigenously manufactured Train 18 as Vande Bharat Express. The train is set to run between Delhi and Varanasi at a maximum speed of 160kmph. The 16-coach train is designed and manufactured by the Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at a cost of approx Rs 97 crore. It is regarded as a successor to the 30-year-old Shatabdi Express. Train 18 is also the first locomotive-less train in the country. The fully air-conditioned train will stop at Kanpur and Allahabad and will have two executive chair cars. It has diffused lighting, automatic doors and footsteps besides GPS-based Passenger Information System.

Notes:
Novak Djokovic from Serbia defeated Rafael Nadal to win his 7th Australian Open Men’s Singles title at Melbourne on 28th January 2019. The resurgent world No.1 outplayed the second-ranked Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in a largely one-sided match. With this, Djokovic has surpassed American legend Pete Sampras to elevate himself to outright third on the all-time Grand Slam title leaderboard. Earlier, In 2019 Women’s Singles, Japan’s Naomi Osaka clinched her first-ever Australian Open Grand Slam Singles title in Melbourne. With this, Osaka became the first Asian player to achieve the world number one ranking.

Notes:
Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh has been appointed the South-East Asia regional director of the World Health Organization (WHO) for a second five-year term. Under her leadership, the Region has made remarkable progress. In her first term, she focused on building an increasingly responsive and accountable WHO in the Region, while prioritizing persisting and emerging epidemiological and demographic challenges; promoting universal health coverage and building robust health systems; strengthening emergency risk management and articulating a strong regional voice in global health agenda. In the last five years, four countries eliminated measles and six controlled rubella. Thailand became the first in Asia-Pacific and the first with a large HIV epidemic—to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. Maldives and Sri Lanka were certified malaria free. Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand eliminated lymphatic filariasis, India was declared yaws-free and Nepal trachoma-free.

Notes:
On the occasion of 70th Republic Day 2019, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath announced the launch of the ‘Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’ for youths from the Economically Weaker Sections (EWSs) in urban areas. The purpose of the scheme is to empower the unemployed youth candidates. Under this scheme, 100 days of employment will be provided to youngsters from economically weaker sections of the society in urban areas. Apart from this, they will also be given skill training by the government.

Notes:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently announced to launch “Jiban Sampark” project in partnership with UNICEF India to generate awareness about the development and welfare initiatives of state government among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) of the state. The announcement was made at the annual tribal fair popularly known as “Adivasi Mela” on 70th Republic Day 2019. The focus areas of the Project will include skill development, empowering communities, cooperation and innovation among the groups. Of 75 tribal communities in the country, 13 PVTGs reside in remote and far-off areas of 12 districts in Odisha.

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The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed every year on 27th of January to commemorate the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated 6 million Jews and others by the Nazi regime.

Notes:
India received the Award of Excellence for ‘Best in Show’ at the recently concluded New York Times Travel Show (NYTTS-2019). It is the largest travel show in North America which is held from 25th – 27th January at the Jacob K Javits Centre in New York, United States. The Ministry of Tourism (Government of India) participated as the ‘ Presenting Partner’ in the NYTTS 2019 with a view to scale up its tourism promotional efforts in the US, enhance India’s visibility and to increase its share of US Outbound travel market. A high-level delegation led by Tourism Ministry Secretary Yogendra Tripathi and a number of stakeholders from India’s tourism industry participated in the Show.