Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

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:
Facebook has launched its first interactive game show titled “Confetti” in India, which will start from June 12 on its dedicated video platform – Facebook Watch. The interactive show will air from Wednesday to Sunday and will challenge participants to answer pop culture trivia questions for a chance to win Rs 3 lakh as cash prize every day. In 2018, the social networking giant globally rolled out Facebook Watch as its video-on-demand service in an attempt to take on its rival YouTube. The video service allows users to enjoy videos from different genres, including entertainment, sports and news in their personalised “Watch Feed” that carries a collection of recent videos from the pages they follow.

Notes:
The US aircraft maker Boeing co and national airports body Airports Authority of India (AAI) have signed a technical assistance agreement for developing a comprehensive roadmap for modernisation of air traffic services in the country. The air traffic services comprise Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) and Air Traffic Management (ATM). The 10-year modernisation roadmap will be undertaken with a grant from the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA ). The agreement is aimed at developing a roadmap for AAI to use as guidance in the modernisation of the Indian National Airspace System (NAS) based on global and local best practices to optimally utilize airspace capacity, enhance CNS/ATM. Under the agreement, Boeing will analyse current technologies and processes to identify efficiency improvements that can be implemented while maintaining a practical and safe airspace system.

Notes:
China has successfully launched a space rocket from sea for the first time and became the third nation to successfully demonstrate the ability to launch satellites into orbit from a floating platform after Russia and United States. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has announced that a Long March 11 rocket was launched from a floating launch pad in the Yellow Sea just off the coast of Shandong on 5th June 2019. China now spends more than Russia and Japan on its civil and military space programmes. Earlier this year, China became the first nation to land a rover on the far side of the moon. It also unveiled ambitious plans to build a research base on the lunar surface, send a probe to Mars and build a space station in Earth orbit.

Notes:
The Delhi Metro has become the India’s first-ever project to receive power generated from a waste-to-energy plant. According to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), the project is also in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Swachh Bharat Mission”. This will also help in creating awareness on the importance of waste management and utilizing waste in a sustainable manner. The DMRC has started receiving 2 MW power from a 12 MW capacity plant in Ghazipur. The DMRC will take approximately 17.5 million units per annum from this plant. However, the energy off-take will depend upon the actual generation of the plant. The waste-to-energy plant set up by East Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited (EDWPCL) is based on a public private partnership (PPP) involving the Delhi government, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) and EDWPCL. The waste-to-energy plant will mitigate over 8 million tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) over the life of the project.

Notes:
The first-ever World Food Safety Day (WFSD) has officially celebrated on 7th June 2019 to strengthen efforts to ensure that the food we eat is safe. The theme of this year’s inaugural WFSD ‘Food Safety, everyone’s business’ invites us to recognize that food safety is everyone’s business. The day gives us an opportunity to share the outcomes of the two food safety conferences, discuss ways in which food safety can incentivize healthy diets, and discuss how the United Nations in New York can further support the efforts to improve food safety. The day was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in December 2018. The UN has designated two of its agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) – to lead efforts in promoting food safety around the world.

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:
India is planning to conduct its first-ever simulated space warfare exercise titled ‘IndSpaceEx’ in the last week of July under the aegis of the Integrated Defence Staff of the defence ministry. All military stakeholders, including those from the scientific community, will participate in it. The purpose of the exercise is to understand the possible challenges in space warfare and to counter China’s growing influence in this domain, which poses a major threat to India’s national security interest.