Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
Justice Dhirubhai Naranbhai Patel was sworn in as new Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. Lt Governor Anil Baijal administered the oath of office to Justice Patel at a function held at Raj Niwas. Earlier, Justice Patel was posted at the Jharkhand High Court. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended his name for the appointment as Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court. With an approved strength of 60, the Delhi High Court has a shortage of around 24 judges.

Notes:
American author Tayari Jones has won the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel “An American Marriage”. The book portraits a young African American’s wrongful conviction and how it affects his marriage. It is a story of love, loss and loyalty, the resilience of the human spirit painted on a big political canvas – that shines a light on today’s America. Jones wins £30,000 and the “Bessie” – a limited edition bronze figurine. The prize is one of the biggest international celebrations of women’s creativity.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently reconstituted the federal policy think-tank National Institution of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog by introducing key Cabinet ministers as members as ex-officio members. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, Home minister Amit Shah, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar are now ex-officio members of the think tank that is headed by Mr. Modi. Rajiv Kumar will continue to be the vice-chairperson, along with full time members—Ramesh Chand, VK Saraswat and VK Paul.On 15th June 2019, Prime Minister will chair the 5th meeting of NITI Aayog’s Governing Council to discuss various issues concerning water management, agriculture and security. The council includes all chief ministers, lieutenant governors of union territories, several union ministers and senior government officials. This will be the first governing council meeting under the new Modi government. NITI Aayog was constituted via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on 1st January 2015 & replaced the erstwhile planning commission.

Notes:
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has instituted the first Antarashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman (AYDMS) for 2019 to mark the contribution of media in spreading the message of Yoga. The AYDMS will be conferred to print and electronic media houses. The contribution of the media in popularizing Yoga would be assessed by six juries. A total of 33 awards, under three categories, will be conferred. The award will comprise a special medal, plaque and trophy and a citation. The duration of the coverage for AYDMS would be from June 10 to June 25. Yoga has been universally acknowledged by the United Nations (UN) and is now practiced globally around 200 countries on June 21 every year.

Notes:
Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has recently launched the ‘Pink Sarathi’ vehicles to attend to the complaints of women passengers travelling in city buses. The vehicles are procured by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) under the ‘Nirbhaya’ scheme. The corporation had received Rs 56.07 crore from the Union government under the scheme and had taken up various measures for the safety of women passengers, including the launch of Pink Sarathi vehicles.

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:
The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry & Railways, Piyush Goyal led the Indian delegation for the 2-day G20 Ministerial meeting on Trade and Digital Economy at Tsukuba city in Japan on June 8. The G-20 Trade Ministers deliberations will form part of the G-20 Summit Leaders agenda in the formal discussions and will also be a part of the Summit Declaration. Over 50 Trade and Digital Economy Ministers get together for the first time in G20 history in Tsukuba, to discuss how G20 economies can promote trade and investment and maximize benefits from the development of the digital economy. The Trade and Digital Economy meeting is one of the 8 Ministerial meetings taking place in Japan alongside the 2019 G20 Summit. The other seven Ministerial meetings are Agriculture Ministers’, Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ meeting, Labour and Employment Ministers’ meeting, Tourism Ministers meeting, Ministerial meeting on Energy Transitions and Global Environment for Sustainable Growth, Health Ministers’ meeting and Foreign Ministers’ meeting. The G20 members represent two-thirds of the world’s people and 85 percent of its economy.

Notes:
On 9 June, Interim President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has won the 2019 Presidential election of Kazakhstan with 70.96% of the vote. He was recognised as the elected president by the Central Election Commission (CEC) and will take an oath of office June 12. Earlier, on 20th March 2019, Tokayev took office as the Interim President of Kazakhstan & succeeded Nursultan Nazarbayev who served as the President from the country’s independence in 1992 until his resignation. The President of the Republic of Kazakhstan is the head of state, commander-in-chief and holder of the highest office within the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Notes:
The 16th Asia Media Summit 2019 has started in Siem Reap, Cambodia on June 12. The theme of the summit this year is Media Digitisation with a focus on developing markets. Over 600 delegates from 42 countries are participating in the 3-day summit which is hosted by the Ministry of Information, Cambodia in partnership with Asia Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD). One of the highlights of the summit is a round table among CEOs of broadcasting networks which will discuss digitisation and its impact on media credibility. The Asia Media summit is one of the leading international broadcasting events. It gives the opportunities to Information Ministers, broadcasters, media practitioners, industry leaders, academia, researchers, experts and media policymakers throughout the globe to gather and discuss on developing media’s quality and to cope with challenges during the times of high technological revolution.

Notes:
China has appointed veteran diplomat Sun Weidong as its new envoy to India. He is an expert in South Asian affairs and worked closely with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during his tenure in Beijing as the Indian ambassador from 2009 to 2013. Sun, who also served as the ambassador to Pakistan, is currently the Director General of the Policy and Planning Department of the Foreign Ministry. He will succeed Luo Zhaohui, who has been appointed as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.