Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2019

Notes:
The Western Railway (WR) has opened the first-of-its-kind printing press heritage gallery of the Indian Railways at Mahalaxmi in Mumbai. With this, the Western Railway Mahalaxmi General Stores Depot (GSD) has become the first in Indian Railways to portray a heritage gallery of the printing and allied machines used in the Western Railway Printing Press since 1948, which are still in working condition. The GSD Mahalaxmi is spread over 12,171 sq meter area, which is a British-era single-storey building made with black stone having interiors made with wood, has its own beauty and uniqueness. The press came into existence in 1912 under the Greater Indian Peninsular Railway (GIP) Bombay, as the railway needed stationery and tickets to run the operations.

Notes:
In a first, the Goa government has decided to ply ‘water taxis’ in its inland waterways between Panaji and Old Goa. The announcement was made while tabling the performance budget of the River Navigation department (RND) for the financial year 2019-2020. The department also plans to upgrade existing ferry ramps and jetties and provide better facilities on all the ferry routes. The RND has a fleet of 34 ferry boats which cater to different inland routes, connecting islands to the mainstream areas. The Central government’s Sagarmala project has also funded reconstruction of 9 jetties in Goa. A flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping, the Sagarmala project aims to promote port-led development by exploiting India’s 7,500 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and its strategic location on international maritime trade routes.

Notes:
Ehsan Mania, the current Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has been appointed chief of the ICC’s influential Finance & Commercial Affairs (F&CA). The move may not be music to Indian board’s (BCCI) ears. The fear within the Indian cricket circles is that it could pit India against Pakistan in the corridors of the game’s administration in the near future. F&CA is one of the ICC’s most important committees & is responsible for designing budgets for ICC events and distributing money to its member countries.

Notes:
Attoor Ravi Varma (88), the well-known poet and translator, has passed away in Thrissur, Kerala on July 26, 2019. He was considered as one of the pioneers of modern Malayalam poetry. He was recipient of many prestigious awards, including the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Ashan Award, Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, and Kendra Sahitya Academy Award. His poems ignored metre and used free verse. His major works include Kavitha; Attur Ravi Varmayude Kavithakal (1957-1994); Attur Ravi Varmayude Kavithakal (1995-2003); J.J. Chila Kurippukal; Oru Pulimarathinte Katha; Nale Mattoru Nal Matram; Randam Yamangalude Katha; and Puthunaanooru: Thamizh Kavithakalude Mozhimattam.

Notes:
In a bid to promote electric mobility, the GST Council has decided to reduce GST Rate on Electrical Vehicles from 12% to 5% and on charger or charging stations for Electric vehicles from 18% to 5%. The new rates will come into effect from the 1st of August 2019. The Council also approved an exemption from GST on the hiring of Electric Buses by local authorities. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held the meeting through video conferencing. This is the first GST Council meeting after the presentation of 2019 Union Budget in Parliament on 5th of July.

Notes:
The third edition of Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG-2020) is scheduled to be held in Guwahati, Assam from 18th January 2020. The Games will see participation of more than 10,000 athletes and officials. It will be conducted in partnership with Indian Olympic Association (IOA), School Games Federation of India & Assam as host State. The first edition was held in New Delhi, while Pune hosted the 2nd one in 2019.

Notes:
The World Hepatitis Day (WHD) is observed every year on 28rd of July to raise awareness about the disease which causes inflammation of the liver and claims around 1.4 million lives every year. The date of 28 July was chosen because it is the birthday of Nobel-prize winning scientist Dr Baruch Blumberg, who discovered hepatitis B virus (HBV) and developed a diagnostic test and vaccine for the virus. The host country for WHD 2019 is Pakistan and the theme for this year is “Invest in eliminating hepatitis“. Hepatitis is preventable, treatable, and in the case of hepatitis C, curable. However, over 80% of people living with hepatitis are lacking prevention, testing and treatment services.

Notes:
Jaipal Reddy (77), the former Union Minister & Senior Congress leader, has passed away in Hyderabad on July 28, 2019. He joined politics as a student leader of Osmania University and went on to become Congress MLA in 1970s . In the wake of an upsurge of opposition to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after she imposed Emergency in the country, Reddy joined Janata Party and later Janata Dal in the splinter groupings that took place. He rejoined Congress in 1999 and was elected to Lok Sabha from Miryalguda in 2004. He won the next time in 2009 from Chevella constituency. He was Union Minister in Federal front government earlier and Congress-led UPA I and UPA II regimes. He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times and Rajya Sabha twice.

Notes:
After nearly four decades, Chandigarh has finally received affiliation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Now, the city can also have its own team in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments organised by the BCCI. This was stated by Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA) President Sanjay Tandon. Following the development, Chandigarh cricketers, who were earlier forced to represent Punjab or Haryana to be able to play at the national or international level, can now directly represent the city. UTCA was registered in 1982 and since then various attempts were made to get the affiliation. Delhi is the only other Union Territory with BCCI affiliation.

Notes:
The Ministry of Culture has recently announced to include the remaining languages from 8th schedule of the Indian Constitution — Nepali and Santhali in the Sub-Field of Field “Literature” in the scheme component ‘Award of Senior/Junior Fellowships to Outstanding Artistes in the Fields of Culture’. The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) of Dwarka is the nodal institute for handling the scheme of the fellowship till selection process. “Literary Arts” is one of the Fields under this Scheme where candidates can apply for research in 22 languages as their Sub-Field. These 22 languages include the following 20 languages from the 8th Schedule of Articles 344(1) and 351 of the Indian Constitution along with English and Khasi:- (1) Assamese, (2) Bengali, (3) Bodo, (4) Dogri, (5) Gujarati, (6) Hindi, (7) Kannada, (8) Kashmiri, (9) Konkani, (10) Maithili, (11) Malayalam, (12) Manipuri, (13) Marathi, (14) Oriya, (15) Punjabi, (16) Sanskrit, (17) Sindhi (18) Tamil, (19) Telugu and (20) Urdu.