Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

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:
The World Milk Day (WMD) is observed every year on 1st of June to provide an opportunity to focus attention on milk and to publicise activities connected with milk and the milk industry. In 2001, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) selected June 1st as World Milk Day, which celebrates the important contributions of the dairy sector to sustainability, economic development, livelihoods and nutrition. The 2019 theme is “Drink Milk: Today & Everyday”.

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:
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:
Jaspal Inder Singh Kalra (71), the celebrated chef and culinary revivalist , has passed away on June 4 in New Delhi. He earned epithets like ‘Czar of Indian Cuisine’ and ‘Taste Maker to the Nation’, and was popularly known as Jiggs Kalra. Kalra was the first Asian to be inducted in the International Food and Beverage Gourmet Hall of Fame. Born on May 21, 1948, Kalra was a pioneering food columnist, author and food consultant. In a career spanning close to five decades, he was instrumental in introducing Indian cuisine to the international audience as well as setting standards of the same. He is also credited with establishing some of the most critically acclaimed and best performing restaurants in the country. He represented India at various international food festivals and summits, apart from having served the likes of British royals Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana, apart from former US President Bill Clinton. He was behind the launch of restaurants like Masala Library by Jiggs Kalra, Made in Punjab, Farzi Café and Pa Pa Ya.

Notes:
Sheela, the veteran Malayalam actress-director, has been chosen for the prestigious J C Daniel Award for her contributions to the film world. She is only the second woman to get it, after Aranmula Ponnamma in 2005. The award comprising a cash prize of Rs 5 Lakh, a citation and plaque will be given away at a function here on 27th July 2019. It is the Kerala’s highest award in Malayalam cinema. The award is named after J C Daniel, who made the first silent movie in Mollywood. Sheela is popularly called as Sheelamma by her admirers. She had debuted in the tinsel town through the MG Ramachandran-starrer Tamil movie “Paasam” during early 1960s. She was the first recipient of the ‘Best Actress’ award instituted by the Kerala government through the 1969 movie “Kallichellamma”. In 2005, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Malayalam film ‘Akale’. Sheela also holds the Guinness World Record for acting in the largest number of films opposite the same hero- late Prem Nazir- in nearly 130 films.

Notes:
Dinyar Contractor (79), the veteran actor and theatre legend, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on June 5, 2019. He was best known for his comic roles in films and was awarded a Padma Shri in 2019. He was appeared in many Bollywood films like Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Khiladi, Badshah, Daraar and 36 China Town. He was also part of many TV shows such as Khichdi and Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah.

Notes:
In United States, Google’s India-born CEO Sundar Pichai and Nasdaq President Adena Friedman have been chosen for the prestigious Global Leadership Awards 2019 by business advocacy group USIBC in recognition of the two companies’ contribution as the leading technology-driven platforms. The award by Washington-based US-India Business Council (USIBC) would be conferred upon them during the 2019 India Ideas Summit. Given annually since 2007, the USIBC Global Leadership Awards recognise top corporate executives from the United States and India whose companies play a major role in catalysing growth in the US-India commercial corridor.

Notes:
The World Environment Day (WED) is observed every year on 5st of June to raise awareness of the environment and specific environmental issues. The theme for 2019 “Beat Air Pollution” is a call to action call to combat this global crisis. To celebrate the 2019 WED, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) of India has launched the song ‘Hawa Aane De’ to spread awareness about Air pollution. The theme song is written by Swanand Kirkire and sung by Shantanu Mukherjee, Kapil Sharma, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shankar Mahadevan. On this Day, the Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar has launched #SelfiewithSapling campaign to promote awareness about environmental protection. Mr. Javadekar also urged people to plant a sapling and post a selfie with it on the social media.