Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

Notes:
For the first time, India will host the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP-14) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in New Delhi between September 2 -14, 2019. It will see participation from at least 5,000 delegates from nearly 197 countries. Ahead of the COP-14, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar launched a flagship project (a part of a larger international initiative called the Bonn Challenge) to enhance India’s capacity for Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). It will be implemented during a pilot phase of three-and-a-half years in Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Karnataka. The project will aim to develop and adapt the best practices and monitoring protocols for the country, and build capacity within the five pilot States. The Bonn Challenge is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of the world’s deforested and degraded land under restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030. The United Nations has three major Conventions: UNFCCC, UNCCD and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Established in 1994, the UNCCD is the only legally binding international agreement linking environment and development issues to the land agenda.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government has decided to launch the Chief Minister’s Employment Generation Programme for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), which will create 10 lakh jobs in the next five years. The flagship programme of the Industries Department will have 30% reservation for women entrepreneurs. The scheme will be implemented on the lines of the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) with online applications and other procedures. This scheme is for promoting entrepreneurship and address unemployment issues. It will cover manufacturing, service and agro-based activities, including those in retail. The nodal bank for the programme will be Corporation Bank and beneficiaries will be financed by nationalised and private Sector banks like Yes Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. To supplement this programme, 50 new industrial parks will be developed at taluka level by the government.

Notes:
India has extended US$ 15 million grant assistance to Niger in support of organizing of the African Union (AU) summit scheduled from 7-8 July, 2019 in Niamey, the capital of Niger. The support of grant assistance was in response to a specific request made by Government of Niger. Niger is hosting the AU Summit for the first time. The AU Summit in Niamey is also expected to launch the historic African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). India is also establishing in Niamey, Mahatma Gandhi International Convention Centre (MGICC) under grant assistance. The MGICC honours the memory of Mahatma Gandhi whose 150th birth anniversary is being observed in 2019. The Centre is likely to host some meetings associated with the forthcoming AU Summit. India’s grant assistance for organizing the AU Summit will further contribute towards enhancing of bilateral ties. The grant assistance is also reiteration of India’s firm commitment towards Africa.

Notes:
India’s PU Chitra has won gold in women’s 1500m at Folksam Grand Prix 2019 held in Sollentuna, Sweden. Beside her, Asian Games gold medallist Jinson Johnson won the silver in the men’s 1500m clocking 3:39.69s as he finished behind Sweden’s Andreas Almgren (3:39.68s).

Notes:
The World Refugee Day (WRD) is observed every year on 20th of June to celebrate the stories and contributions of refugees. The 2019 theme is “#Step with Refugees – Take a Step on World Refugee Day”. According to the latest annual study released by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 70.8 million children, women and men were forcibly displaced at the end of last year. This is the highest number in the organization’s almost 70-year history. The study said wars, violence and persecution have driven record numbers of people from their homes worldwide. Almost two thirds of those uprooted from their homes are internally displaced people who have not left their homelands. About 80% of these refugees live in countries neighbouring their country of origin. On an average, one person is forcibly displaced every two seconds as a result of conflict or persecution and refugees are among the most vulnerable people in the world.

Notes:
A team of scientists from CSIR-NEIST Assam has developed a chemical process that turns ‘dirty’ coal into a biomedical ‘dot’ to help detect cancer cells. The team, led by Binoy Kumar Saikia and Tonkeswar Das, has applied for a patent for their chemical method of producing Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs) from cheap, abundant, low-quality and high-sulphur coals. CQDs are carbon-based nanomaterials whose size is less than 10 nm (or nanometer). The CQDs that the CSIR-NEIST team developed emit a bluish colour with high-stability, good-conductivity, low-toxicity, environmental friendliness, and good optical properties. CQDs are futuristic materials whose demand in India has been increasing leading to a considerable volume of import. The CSIR-NEIST technology can produce approximately 1 litre of CQDs per day at a low cost to become an import substitute. The acronym ‘CSIR-NEIST’ stands for “Council of Scientific & Industrial Research-North East Institute of Science and Technology”.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the 14th G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan on 28th and 29th of June 2019. Former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu will be India’s sherpa at the summit. More than 20 countries will be participating in the G20 Summit. Informal meeting of the BRICS leaders and bilateral meetings with other leaders would also take place on the sidelines of the summit. The theme of the summit is “Human-centred future society”. India has participated in all the G20 Summits held so far. It will host the G20 summit in 2022 for the first time.

Notes:
Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan has been sworn-in as new Chief Justice of Telangana High Court in Hyderabad. Governor ESL Narasimhan administered the oath of office to Justice Chauhan at Raj Bhavan. Justice Chauhan is the 2nd Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court after the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh High Court in 2018.

Notes:
The researchers at the University of St Andrews in Scotland have found that gray seals can copy the sounds of human words and songs including “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. The study showed that 3 trained seals were able to imitate parts of popular tunes. The study gave the researchers a better understanding of the evolution of vocal learning and human language development. It also suggested that gray seals could be a new model to study speech disorders since they use their vocal tracts the same way as humans. The grey seal is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae which are commonly referred to as “true seals” or “earless seals”. It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus.

Notes:
The second edition of the “Healthy States, Progressive India” report has been released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar. Kerala has topped among large states on overall health performance in NITI Aayog’s Health Index followed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Though, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have emerged as the worst performing states. However, in terms of incremental performance Haryana, Rajasthan and Jharkhand are the top three states who performed well in comparison to the last health index. The report ranks states and Union territories innovatively on their year-on-year incremental change in health outcomes, as well as, their overall performance with respect to each other. The report focuses on measuring and highlighting the overall performance and incremental improvement over a two-year period, 2016-17 and 2017-18 in the States and UTs. It takes a comprehensive look at health in terms of Health Outcomes, Governance and Processes and impact of policy interventions. The report has been prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and with technical assistance from the World Bank.