Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2019

Notes:
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recently announced that Bengaluru-based educational technology and online tutorial firm Byju’s has replaced Chinese mobile manufacturer Oppo as the official Team India sponsor. The deal period will begin from 5 September, 2019 until 31 March, 2022. BYJU’s is a leading education and learning app and has superstar Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador. Byju’s will now be seen on the Indian team jersey from September 2019 when the home series against South Africa begin.

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Six companies — Tata Power, ReNew Power, Hindustan Zinc, Aditya Birla Capital Ltd., YES Bank Ltd. and Mahindra & Mahindra — emerged winners in the CSR Journal Excellence Awards. In the 3rd edition of awards, there were six categories — education and skill training, women empowerment and child welfare, agriculture and rural development, sports, health and sanitation and environment. The awards are instituted by The CSR Journal, a digital and print news publication. The theme of the event was ‘India First’.

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The Indian scientists at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) have recently discovered 28 new variable stars in the Milky Way galaxy using 3.6 metre Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) established in 2016 near Nainital. The ARIES team of researchers was led by Dr. Sneh Lata and Dr. A K Pandey. It is for the first time that variable stars have been identified in Globular cluster NGC 4147 in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Besides the detection of new variable stars, the study also provides important insights into the internal structure of NGC 4147 which is located closer to the Earth than previously thought. A variable star is a star whose luminosity or brightness changes. This change may be caused due to periodical swelling and shrinking of the star or occasional block of light due to an eclipse by some other solar body. NGC 4147 was discovered by British astronomer William Herschel in 1784. A globular cluster is a spherical collection of stars that orbit a galactic core, as a satellite. Globular clusters are very tightly bound by gravity, which gives them their spherical shapes, and relatively high stellar densities towards their centres.

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Jordan has recently launched its first Underwater Military Museum on the bed of Red Sea off the coast of Aqaba. The dive Site includes several tanks, an ambulance, a military crane, a troop carrier, an anti-aircraft battery, guns and a combat helicopter. The kingdom is hoping the 19 decommissioned pieces of military hardware, submerged at depths up to 28 metres (92 feet), will attract tourists to the already popular diving resort of Aqaba. The aim of the museum is to offer a new and unique museum experience where adventure-loving tourists can experience the interaction between sports, the environment and the display pieces. Coral reefs in the northern Red Sea are a popular destination for divers and other tourists due to its good health despite global reef depletion due to global warming.

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Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani has launched an account aggregator model – Sahamati – via which, individuals and small businesses can share their digital financial data with third-parties in a safe and secure manner. For example, a user seeking a loan will be able to quickly share bank statements and other details required by lending institutions digitally through their choice of preferred Account Aggregator (AA). So far, six AAs have received in-principle approval from the RBI. These include NESL Asset Data, CAMS Finserv Financial Services, Cookiejar Technologies Pvt Ltd, FinSec AA Solutions Pvt Ltd, Yodlee Finsoft Pvt Ltd, and Jio Information Solutions. In order to support the ecosystem, Sahamati has been formed as a Section 8 non-profit. It will be headed by BG Mahesh who founded OneIndia.com. Sahamati will apply for the SRO (self-regulatory organisation) licence with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which will give it a self-governing body status, allowing it to work on a code of conduct and best practices for member organizations. The technology framework was developed by non-profit iSpirt.

Notes:
The researchers at the IIT Kanpur and the Lucknow-based Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) have designed a novel molecular framework to destroy superbugs, which are becoming increasingly resistant to most known antibiotics. It would help drugs latch on to the germs and prevent them from multiplying. For the study, the scientists used bacteria – Staphylococcus Aureus – which are frequently found in the nostrils, upper respiratory tract and on the skin of nearly 30% of people. According to researchers, a substance called gyrase is essential for bacteria’s survival and multiplication. In most organisms, there are two types of gyrases — gyrase A and gyrase B. The new molecule targets gyrase B, which is more conserved in organisms and hence difficult to mutate. The strategy is very attractive because it makes it possible to destroy these bacteria with the same class of drugs to which they have developed resistance.

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The Hindu Economic Forum (HEF) has launched its Nepal Chapter. On this occasion, the founder of World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) Swami Vigyananand said economic empowerment is very necessary to get due respect and recognition in the modern world. The basic objective of Nepal chapter is to increase economic cooperation between India and Nepal and to connect the Himalayan nation with a global network for its economic prosperity. HEF brings together financially successful elements within Hindu society so that each group can share their business knowledge, expertise and resources with their fellow brethren to trigger the creation of surplus wealth and make society prosperous. HEF is affiliated with WHEF. It has national chapters in various countries like Bharat, Germany, Kenya etc. and city chapters within those countries such as HEF-Mumbai, HEF-Washington DC etc.

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The 5th International Dharma-Dhamma conference was held in Rajgir, Bihar from 27-28 July 2019. Approx 200 delegates from 15 countries participated in the conference. The main purpose of this conference was to address people about the terror, violence and global warming prevalent in the world. This two-day conference addressed the subjects of Sat-Chit-Ananda and Nirvana which are the pivotal topics of Buddhism. The Dharma-Dhamma conference will act as a platform for the Hindu and Buddhist thinkers to express their views.

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Pakistan has opened a 1,000-year-old Hindu temple in eastern city Sialkot for worship for the first time since partition on the demand of the local Hindu community. The step was taken on the direction of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The Shawala Teja Singh Temple in Dhaarowal was built by Sardar Teja Singh and closed during partition. The Hindus of Sialkot stopped visiting the temple after a mob damaged it in 1992 while protesting the demolition of the Babri Masjid in India. According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus live in Pakistan. However, according to the community, over 90 lakh Hindus are living in the country.

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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.