Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

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:
Aparna Kumar has become the India’s first woman Indian Police Service (IPS) DIG and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) officer to successfully complete the South Pole expedition. She unfurled the National and the ITBP flags at the South Pole on 13th January 2019 after covering 111Km of walking on the snow. Aparna will now attempt to conquer the North Pole this April. She has covered six of the highest peaks across continents including the Mount Everest. The one left for her to scale is the Mount Denali in Alaska.The ITBP is a Central Armed Police Force which is primarily deployed to secure the icy Himalayan borders of the nation since its Inception in 1962.

Notes:
The National Voters Day (NVD) is celebrated every year in India on January 25 since 2011 to enhance participation of citizens in the electoral process. The day also marked the Foundation day of Election Commission of India (ECI), which was established on 25th January 1950. The main purpose of the celebration is to encourage, facilitate and maximize the enrollment, especially for the new voters. In view of the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections, ‘No Voter to be Left Behind’ has been selected as the theme for the 9th National Voters’ Day. During the 9th NVD 2019, the National Awards for the Best Electoral Practices were conferred on Officers for their outstanding performance in the conduct of elections. President Ram Nath Kovind was the Chief Guest at the main function being organized by Election Commission in New Delhi.

Notes:
On 70th Republic Day parade 2019, women power displayed at Rajpath, with contingents of the Indian Navy, India Army Service Corps and a unit of Corps of Signals (transportable satellite terminal) were all led by women officers and a woman officer exhibiting stunts on bike. In it, Major Khushboo Kanwar led all-women Assam Rifles contingent has created history by participating for the first time in a Republic Day parade. Capt Shikha Surabhi from the Corps of Signals became the first woman to perform bike stunts alongside her male teammates as part of daredevils, a major attraction every Republic Day. For the first time, a lady officer, Lt. Bhavana Kasturi led a contingent of the India Army Service Corps and Capt Bhavna Syal, a third-generation officer in the armed forces, led the transportable satellite terminal’s contingent.

Notes:
Sultan Abdullah of Pahang has been elected as the new King of Malaysia, after Malaysian King Sultan Muhammad V step down from the throne before completing his five-year tenure on 6th January 2019. Sultan Abdullah will be sworn-in as the Nation’s 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong (or head of state) in a traditional ceremony on 31st January 2019. Malaysia is the only country in the world to have a rotational monarchy since the country became independent from Britain in 1957. The country has nine royal households, who typically take turns to sit on the throne. King’s constitutional powers include the ability to veto the appointment of key political office holders, including the prime minister. The king also has powers to grant full pardons to citizens convicted in the courts.

Notes:
Atin Bandyopadhyay (85), the renowned Bengali writer, has passed away in Kolkata on 19th January, 2019. Born in 1934 in Dhaka, he had taken up various jobs as a sailor, school teacher, factory manager, journalist to finally became a writer. He won the 2001 Sahitya Akademi award for his compilation of short stories ‘Panchashati Galpo’. His masterpiece is considered to be a four-part tetralogy on the Partition: “Nilkantha Pakhir Khonje”, ”Manusher Gharbari”, “Aloukik Jalajan” and “Ishwarer Bagan”.

Notes:
The International Customs Day (ICD) is observed every year on January 26 to recognize the role of custom officials and agencies in maintaining border security. It focuses on the working conditions and challenges that customs officers face in their jobs. The 2019 theme is “SMART borders for seamless Trade, Travel and Transport”. This reflects the fact that the expectations of travellers and businesses around the world are changing.

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:
Suman Kumari has become the first Hindu woman in Pakistan to be appointed as a civil judge after passing an examination for induction of judicial officers. She hails from Qambar-Shahdadkot & will serve in her native district. Suman passed her LLB examination from Hyderabad and did her masters in law from Karachi’s Szabist University. This is not the first time that a person from the Hindu community has been appointed as a judge. The first judge from the Hindu community was Justice Rana Bhagwandas, who served as the acting chief justice for brief periods between 2005 and 2007. Hindus make up nearly 2% of Pakistan’s total population and Hinduism remains the second largest religion in Pakistan after Islam.

Notes:
On 26th January 2019, Nepalese batsman Rohit Paudel created history by becoming the youngest player in men’s international cricket to hit a half-century surpassing the likes of batting legends Sachin Tendulkar (in Tests) and Shahid Afridi (in ODIs). He accomplished the feat in the 2nd ODI against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai at the age of 16 years and 146 days. Hence, Paudel overtook the long-standing record held by Tendulkar, who achieved the feat in a Test against Pakistan at the age of 16 years and 213 days. In ODI cricket, the record was held by Shahid Afridi who creamed a maiden 50-over century aged 16 years and 217 days in his maiden international innings against Sri Lanka. Though, the overall record for the youngest player to hit a half-century in international cricket is held by South African female player Johmari Logtenburg who recorded Test and ODI half-centuries at the age of 14.