Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
Imran Tahir, the leg-spinner of South Africa, has scripted history by becoming the first-ever spinner to bowl the first over in a World Cup during the opening match of the 2019 World Cup against England at the Oval. Tahir (40 years and 64 days) also became the oldest South African to play in a World Cup match. Prior to this, New Zealand great Martin Crowe had surprised everyone in the 1992 cricket World Cup by bringing off-spinner Dipak Patel into the attack in the second over. Patel bowled the second over in his side’s clash with Australia, which the Kiwis won by 37 runs.

Notes:
Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh has become the first woman fighter pilot to fly by day a Hawk advanced jet aircraft. She achieved the feat at the Kalaikunda Air Force Station in West Bengal. Lt Mohana’s training involved flying both air-to-air combat and air-to-ground missions. She has undertaken many practice missions which involved firing of rockets, guns and dropping high calibre bombs and has also participated in various Air Force level flying exercises. She has a total of over 500 hours of incident-free flying, of which 380 hours are on the Hawk Mk 132 jet. She had, along with two other women pilots, Bhawana Kanth and Avani Chaturvadi, joined the fighter stream in June 2016. Earlier, in May 2019, Flight Lt. Bhawana Kanth became the first daytime woman fighter pilot to fly a MiG-21 Bison.

Notes:
The 10th edition of National Science Film Festival of India (NSFFl) is scheduled to be held in Agartala, Tripura on January and February 2020. The aim of the fest is to raise awareness about science and environment through films. This the second time the show will be held in a North Eastern city. The film festival is being held with the objective of highlighting science, technology, innovation, energy, environment, agriculture and traditional knowledge in a simple way that would bring science closer to common people through simple ways of explanation. The film festival would include films produced by UNICEF, UNESCO and filmmakers from different countries. It will also include entries from Tripura and other states.

Notes:
In Football, Liverpool FC won the Champions League for the sixth time at Madrid on June 1, 2019. In the final, Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur with a 2-nil after game defining moments at the start and end of the game . Mohamed Salah put Liverpool in front after just two minutes when he converted a penalty following a handball by Moussa Sissoko. Spurs created some chances but were denied by Liverpool keeper Alisson who saved well from Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Christian Eriksen. Then, with three minutes left, substitute Divock Origi drove low and powerfully past Tottenham keeper Hugo Lloris to ensure that Jurgen Klopp won his first trophy as Liverpool manager.

Notes:
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has recently ruled that all animals are legal persons entitled to legal rights like human beings in Haryana. The verdict comes nearly a year after Uttarakhand High Court passed a similar order to protect and promote greater welfare of animals. Both the orders were written by Justice Rajiv Sharma, who was transferred from Uttarakhand to the Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh in 2018. The order was passed in a case where the Punjab and Haryana High Court was informed that 29 cows were packed in a cruel manner while being transported from Uttar Pradesh to Haryana. In response, Justice Sharma’s order emphasizes that animals cannot be reduced to mere property. This includes a ban in using animals to pull vehicles in extreme weather, limits on loads and the number of people that animals are made to carry, limits on the distances that an animal is made to walk at a stretch, instructions on how to tether an animal to the vehicle it is made to pull and a ban on the use of spike sticks, harness and other sharp instruments to avoid injuring the animal. The Court has also directed that animal-driven carts are given the ‘Right of Way’.

Notes:
The researchers at the University of Warwick in the UK have discovered a rogue exoplanet – NGTS-4b – with its own atmosphere in the Neptunian Desert. The Neptunian Desert is the region close to stars where no Neptune-sized planets are found. This area receives strong irradiation from the star, meaning the planets do not retain their gaseous atmosphere as they evaporate leaving just a rocky core. However, NGTS-4b still has its atmosphere of gas. NGTS-4b, nick-named ‘The Forbidden Planet’ is smaller than Neptune but three times the size of Earth. The exoplanet has a mass of 20 Earth masses, a radius 20% smaller than Neptune, and temperature of 1000 degrees Celsius. It orbits around the star in only 1.3 days — the equivalent of Earth’s orbit around the Sun of one year. It is the first exoplanet of its kind to have been found in the Neptunian Desert. The NGTS telescopes are situated at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in the heart of the Atacama Desert, Chile.

Notes:
On 1st June 2019, Ex-President Pratibha Patil has been conferred the “Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca” (Order of the Aztec Eagle) in the MCCIA Bhavan, Pune. It is the highest civilian award of Mexico given to foreigners in recognition of their outstanding services to strengthening the bilateral ties between Mexico and other countries and outstanding services to the Mexican nation or humanity. Patil, India’s first woman President (2007-2012), became only the 2nd Indian head of state to get the award. Earlier, the late President S Radhakrishna had been conferred this honour.

Notes:
The Rajasthan government has recently increased the financial assistance given to school girls under the ‘Aapki Beti’ scheme and ex-gratia payment to the families of polling personnel who die during election duty. Under the Aapki Beti scheme, girls living under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) and whose mother or father or both have died get annual financial assistance in the state. The amount has been increased to 2,100 from Rs 1,100 for the girls studying in class 1 to 8 and for the girls in class 9 to 12, the financial aid has been increased to Rs 2,500 from Rs 1,500. Similarly, the government has also increased ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of an official killed on election duty to Rs 20 lakh from Rs 15 lakh.

Notes:
In Madhya Pradesh, the state Cabinet has passed a resolution to increase reservation quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) from existing 14% to 27%. The matter will now be taken up in the monsoon session of the state Assembly. The move will lead to reservation in the state breaching the Supreme Court-mandated 50% cap to reach 63%. If implemented, Madhya Pradesh will become the only state in the country to have a 27% quota for OBCs. Earlier, the Madhya Pradesh government passed an Ordinance on March 9 to implement the quota. However, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had stayed the Ordinance on March 19. Now the resolution will be taken in the monsoon session of the state assembly.

Notes:
Rajiv Mehrishi, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Indiam has been elected as external auditor of the World Health Organization (WHO) for four years from 2020 to 2023. He was elected at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 2019. This is the second major international audit assignment for the CAG this year following his selection for the post of External Auditor of Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome earlier this year in March 2019. Currently, Mehrishi is also on the Board of Auditors of the United Nations and Vice-Chair of the UN Panel of External Auditors.