Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

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:
Crazy Mohan (67), prominent theatre artiste and ace scriptwriter for Tamil films, has passed away in Chennai on 10th June 2019. Born in 1952, as Mohan Rangachari, ‘Crazy’ was an epithet that he acquired after his popular play ‘Crazy Thieves in Palavakkam’. An engineer by profession, Mohan started writing stage plays and established his own drama troupe called “Crazy Creations” in 1979. He entered the film industry after a long and successful career as a theatre personality. He penned the scripts for several super hit films, including Kamal Haasan-starrer “Avvai Shanmugi”, “Vasool Raja MBBS”, and “Michael Madhana Kamarajan”, besides acting in many.

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:
The researchers from Ohio State University in United States have created high-resolution maps of points around the globe where groundwater meets the oceans — the first such analysis of its kind that may help protect both drinking water and the seas. The study showed that nearly one-half of fresh submarine groundwater discharge flows into the ocean near the tropics. They also found that regions near active fault lines send greater volumes of groundwater into the ocean than regions that are tectonically stable. The findings may help coastal communities better protect and manage their drinking water. The research work is the first near-global and spatially distributed high-resolution map of fresh groundwater flow to the coast. It could give scientists better clues about where to monitor groundwater discharge.

Notes:
The World Day Against Child Labour (WADCL) is observed every year on June 12 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. The day brings together governments, employers and workers organizations, civil society, as well as millions of people to highlight the plight of child labourers and the measures to help them. The 2019 theme is – “Children shouldn’t work in fields, but on dreams!”.

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.

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.

Notes:
On June 13, the meeting of Council of Heads of States (CHS) of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has started in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. This is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first multi-lateral summit after his re-election as the Prime Minister. This is also the second CHS meeting after India became member of SCO. Presidents and Prime Ministers of 8 member countries will participate in this multilateral international forum which will also be attended by 4 head of states as observers. The leaders participating in the Summit are expected to focus their discussions on the global security situation, multilateral economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and also on topical issues of international and regional importance. The SCO is a China-led 8-member economic and security bloc. The CHS is the supreme decision-making body in the SCO.

Notes:
Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has recently launched 118 websites that would enable citizens get building plan approvals, diversion of land use change and other related permissions through online submissions, avoiding middlemen and delays. It will bring greater transparency and end corruption and save people’s time and money. The initiative of state government will save people from running from pillar to post to get approvals. These websites and softwares integrate 14 departments and forms can be submitted online. The status of their applications will be shared through SMS to the applicants.

Notes:
Chinese President Xi Jinping has been conferred the Kyrgyzstan’s highest national award titled “Manas Order of the First Degree” at the Ala Archa state residence in Bishkek. Xi, along with other leaders of the group including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is in Bishkek (the Kyrgyz capital) to attend the 19th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on June 14-15, 2019. The SCO is a China-led 8-member economic and security bloc. The founding members of the SCO are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan were admitted to the Beijing-based regional security grouping in 2017.