Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will chair the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs and be part of the all-important panel on political affairs headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Singh was also made a member of two new committees set up by the Modi government — the Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth and the Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development, to propel growth and investment. Both the committees will be chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah.

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:
Maldives has conferred ‘Nishan Izzuddin’ award on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is the highest award to honour foreign nationals. On June 8, Mr. Modi arrived in Male on the first leg of his two-nation tour to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. This will also be the first bilateral visit to the Maldives of an Indian Prime Minister after 2011. Mr. Modi will have bilateral discussions with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, hold meetings with Vice President Faisal Naseem and Speaker of Majlis and former President Mohamed Nasheed during his visit. He will also address the legislative body of the island nation called the People’s Majlis. Along with President Solih, Prime Minister Modi is likely to inaugurate the Coastal Surveillance System (CSS) and the Comprehensive Training Centre for National Defence Forces of Maldives. The two projects have been developed with Indian Grants. India is likely to announce a few new projects to the Maldives including building a cricket Stadium there and renovating the Friday Mosque by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Notes:
The women members of Telangana-based Deccan Development Society (DDS) sanghams (groups) have bagged the prestigious United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Equator Prize for 2019. They have been selected for standing as ‘an outstanding example of a local, nature-based solution to climate change and sustainable development. The women farmers have been building their own seed banks and growing millets in the predominantly rain-fed villages of Sangareddy district. The women farmers of DDS are the first group in the Telugu states to have been selected for the prestigious award which will be presented at a ceremony in New York in September 2019. The US$10,000-prize is given annually for nature-based solutions to climate change as well as sustainable development. The award recognizes local and indigenous community initiatives.

Notes:
The Thai parliament has recently elected ex military government chief Prayuth Chan-ocha as its new Prime Minister. He beat the popular billionaire leader of the anti-junta Future Forward Party, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, with 500 votes to 244 after a 12-hour session that included 10 hours of fierce debate in Parliament on June 5. Prayuth will now head a coalition government led by the pro-military Palang Pracharat Party. Prayuth’s appointment becomes official when it is endorsed by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. Thailand is a constitutional monarchy and has not had a royal run for frontline office since 1932.

Notes:
Former President Jimmy Carter will be bestowed with the George H. W. Bush Award for Statesmanship for his contributions to relations between the U.S. and China. A private award ceremony is scheduled June 12 at the Carter Center in Atlanta. The George H. W. Bush Foundation has said that the award goes to people who have made profound contributions to the development of constructive and mutually beneficial relations” between the U.S and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Notes:
The 16-year-old Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and her “Fridays for Future” global movement has won a prestigious Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2019. She has been recognized for mobilizing world public opinion on the looming peril of global warming. The Fridays for Future movement was started in August 2018 by Greta Thunberg, who decided to miss school every Friday and protest outside the Swedish parliament until it took more serious action to tackle climate change. Her efforts to raise awareness of the climate crisis quickly went global. Her strike inspired millions of students to skip school to join protests demanding faster action on climate change. The movement has now spread beyond Sweden to other European nations.

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:
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:
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.