Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2019

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:
Krishnaswamy Natarajan has beenappointed as the new Director General (DG) of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). He will take over the charge after incumbent Rajendra Singh retires on 30th June 2019. An alumnus of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Natarajan is now serving as Additional Director General and Coast Guard Commander (West) at Mumbai. He was instrumental in giving a fillip to the overall growth of the Coast Guard, post 26/11, in terms of assets and infrastructure development including a dedicated academy.

Notes:
Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri inaugurated the Central Command Centre for Air Traffic Flow Management (C-ATFM) at Vasant Kunj, New Delhi. The C-ATFM system is primarily meant to address the balancing of capacity against the demand to achieve optimum utilization of the major resources viz., airport, airspace and aircraft at every Indian airport where there is a capacity constraint. It integrates flight data from various subsystems like ATC Automation System, flight updates and flight update messages. The system also displays weather information along with static information about airports, airspaces and air routes. The system processes the demand and capacity information and provides decision-making tools to the ATFM Flow Manager for collaborative decision making and to ensure regulated flow of traffic at each airport in India. After successfully implementing the AFTM, India has become the 7th country after the US, Europe, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Brazil.

Notes:
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has recently approved a proposal to provide 10% reservation for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) of the general category in jobs and education. The family should not own more than 5 acres of agricultural land or a house measuring more than 1,200 square feet in municipal corporation limits. The size limit for the house would be 1,500 square feet in municipality areas and 1,800 square feet in Nagar Panchayat areas. In rural areas, size of the house won’t matter. The state cabinet also approved a proposal to enter into a tripartite agreement with the Union government and Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Company for metro rail projects in Bhopal and Indore.

Notes:
India’s chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand has been bestowed an honorary doctorate by IIT Kanpur on the occasion of their 52nd convocation on June 28, 2019. He received the honour from former ISRO chairman and Chairman of the board of Governors of IIT Kanpur, Prof K Radhakrishnan. The past recipients of the honour are Former President Prof. APJ Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Gopichand, as a player, won the 2001 All England Open Badminton Championship. He became the second Indian after Prakash Padukone to achieve this feat. Post retirement, the Hyderabad-based shuttler started his own badminton academy — Gopichand Badminton Academy — in 2008. Many top Indian players including the likes of Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu, Srikanth Kidambi, Parupalli Kashyap etc. have been trained at Pullela Gopichand’s academy in Hyderabad.

Notes:
In Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, tourist’s promotional festival – Ladakh Singhey Khababs Sindhu Festival celebrated on the bank of Indus River at Leh. The festival presents the Indus River as a symbol of the multi-dimensional cultural identity of India that got its name from the Indus River. Folk songs and dances are performed and local handicrafts and ethnic foods are being exhibited before the tourists during the festival.

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Samant Kumar Goel, a 1984 batch IPS officer from Punjab cadre, has been appointed as the new of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW). He succeeded Anil Dhasmana. He is said to have been involved in the planning of the Balakot air strike and played an important role in checking militancy in Punjab. Mr. Goel, a recipient of the Police Medals for Gallantry and Meritorious Service, joined the RAW in 2001. The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. It was established in 1968 following the intelligence failures of the Sino-Indian War, which persuaded the Government of India (GoI) to create a specialised, independent agency dedicated to foreign intelligence gathering. The head of RAW is designated Secretary (R) in the Cabinet Secretariat, and is under the direct command of the Prime Minister, and reports on an administrative basis to the Cabinet Secretary of India, who reports to the Prime Minister. It is headquartered in New Delhi.

Notes:
On July 28, the Union government has launched the Go Tribal Campaign in New Delhi to promote the use of tribal handicrafts and natural products. TRIFED has organized this event to institutionalize collaborations and partnerships with different organizations to promote tribal products. During the event, Tribes India and Amazon Global Marketing (AGM) have launched TRIBES India products globally through Amazon platform. With this collaboration, tribal products will be available in the US and will help establish an export market with tribal products. The collection of Madua, Jowaer, Bazra, Red Rice, Honey, Lac products, Spices, Coffee, Tea and Handmade Soaps produced by Tribals in various parts of the country will also be showcased.

Notes:
Sarada Kumar Hota has been appointed as the new Managing Director of National Housing Bank (NHB) for a period of three years. Prior to this appointment, Hota was Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Can Fin Homes. NHB, which is now 100% owned by the government, is the nodal agency for supervision, refinance and development of the housing finance segment.