Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
Bancha in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh has become the first village in India to have zero wooden stoves and almost no use for LPG cylinders with all its 75 houses relying on solar-powered stoves to meet their cooking needs. The team of IIT Mumbai has designed a special solar stove & now no trees are being cut by the villagers for lighting their stoves. The project of installing solar power plates, batteries and stoves in all the 74 houses was started in September 2017 and got completed by December 2018. The success story of Bancha is an eye opener which shows the potential of renewable energy. Not only will it help the nation economically but will also prove to work wonders for the environment if implemented across India.

Notes:
Girish Karnad (81), well-known writer, playwright, actor and public intellectual, has passed away on June 10 in Bengaluru. Born in May 1938, he was one of the most prominent theatre personalities of the 60s and 70s, a period regarded as the Renaissance of Indian theatre. He worked with mythology and history and gave them a contemporary resonance in plays such as Nagamandala, Tughlaq and Hayavadana. He wrote his first play Yayati in 1961 when he was a Rhodes Scholar in England. Karnad translated most of his plays himself. His last play was ‘Rakshasa Tangadi’, published in 2018, set in the last years of the Vijayanagar empire. He was a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award — the highest literary honour conferred in India. He was also conferred the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, and had won several accolades for direction in Kannada cinema. He predominantly worked in South Indian cinema and Bollywood. In 2012, he played the role of RAW chairman, Shenoy, in Salman Khan-starrer ‘Ek Tha Tiger’. He reprised his role of Shenoy in ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’. Karnad was also a presenter of award-winning TV series – Turning Point on Doordarshan National during the 1990s. The show was based on science and new discoveries.

Notes:
India has partnered with Portugal to set up a national maritime heritage museum at the ancient Indian site of Lothal in Gujarat. It is likely to come up on the lines of a similar museum at Lisbon, which is administered by the Portuguese Navy. The Government of India (GoI) has allocated a grant for building the maritime museum and the foundation stone for the project was laid by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019. The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Shipping through its Sagarmala programme, with the involvement of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the State government and other stakeholders.

Notes:
R V Janakiraman (79), the former Puducherry Chief Minister and senior Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader, has passed away in Puducherry on 10th June 2019. He began his career as a taxi driver and later went on to become a fleet operator before foraying into politics. He was the Chief Minister between 1996 and 2000, heading the coalition government of DMK and the Tamil Maanila Congress. Mr. Janakiraman became the Chief Minister in 1996 and represented the Nellithope Assembly constituency for five consecutive times.

Notes:
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has recently announced that harmful single-use plastics will be banned in the country from 2021 to reduce ocean waste. He declared it a global challenge to phase out the plastic bags, straws and cutlery clogging the world’s oceans. Currently less than 10% of plastic used in Canada gets recycled. The Canadian government said that one million birds and over 100,000 sea mammals worldwide are injured or die each year when they mistake plastic for food or become entangled. Single-use items represent some 70% of the plastic waste littering the marine environment. Canada’s move follows one by the European Union (EU), which late last year announced a similar ban. Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Italy, along with the European Union, subscribed at 2018 G7 summit in Quebec to a new charter against pollution in the world’s oceans. The non-binding Ocean Plastics Charter called on participating countries and the EU to commit to making all plastics reusable, recyclable or recovered by 2030.

Notes:
Amasebailu village in Kundapura Taluk of Udupi district has become Karnataka’s first solar-powered Gram Panchayat. Over 1800 houses were provided solar lamps at a total cost of Rs 2.13 crore. The project was funded by Centre and State Government in the ratio of 30:20 and the rest was paid by the Panchayat and charitable organizations. As per the agreement with Selco Light Pvt. Ltd, the solar lamps have a guarantee of 5 years and any faulty lamps will be replaced by the supplier within the guarantee period.

Notes:
Bestselling author and one of India’s leading contemporary writers, Amitav Ghosh has been conferred the 54th Jnanpith award for the year 2018 for his outstanding contribution towards literature. The writer was felicitated for his outstanding contribution by former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at a function in New Delhi on 13th June 2019. Mr Ghosh is the first Indian author in English language to be honoured with the Jnanpith award. The works of Amitav Ghosh portray a vast range of subjects. His famous books include The Circle of Reason (1986), The Shadow Lines (1988), The Calcutta Chromosome (1996), The Hungry Tide (2004), Sea of Poppies (2008), The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016). Instituted in 1961, the Jnanpith award is bestowed only on Indian writers writing in Indian languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and English with no posthumous conferral. The recipients of Jnanpith award are given a cash prize of Rs 11 lakh, a citation plaque and a bronze replica of Goddess Saraswati.

Notes:
Bollywood Superstar Shah Rukh Khan will be the chief guest at the 10th edition of Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM), which is scheduled to be held between 8th to 17th August 2019. Every year, one of the leading film celebrities head to Australia to attend the fest held during the month of August. During their visit, the celebrities hoist the Indian National Flag in the presence of many Indians and other dignitaries as a part of the festival. The IIFM is a Victorian Government initiative that aims to strengthen ties between the Indian film industry and Victoria.

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The World Blood Donor Day (WBDD) is observed every year on June 14 to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank blood donors. The 2019 theme “Blood Donation and Universal Access to Safe Blood Transfusion” is a component of achieving universal health coverage. The slogan – Safe Blood for All – has also been adopted. The theme strongly encourages more people all over the world to become blood donors and donate blood regularly. The day is an important occasion for all governments, national health authorities and national blood services to provide adequate infrastructures to increase collection of blood from regular unpaid blood donors. Blood is vital for treating the wounded during emergencies like natural disasters, accidents and armed conflicts. It has an essential, life-saving role in maternal care. For an effective health system, access to safe blood and blood products in sufficient quantity is a must.

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The Government of India (GoI) has recently constituted a 5-member committee to review existing marketing structure in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) marketing in India. The committee, headed by economist Kirit Parikh, will look into issues related to definition or quality standards of LPG being marketed. Its terms of reference also include scope for liberalizing government policies for private participation. The committee is expected to submit its report by end-July. Based on the LPG control order, domestic LPG should be supplied to oil-marketing companies (OMCs) only. The committee will also identify the grey areas that might allow private entities like Reliance Industries to sell subsidized cooking gas.