Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
The National Book Trust (NBT) has appointed educationist and author Govind Prasad Sharma as its new Chairman. Born in 1939, Sharma has served as the Principal of Government P.G. College, Madhya Pradesh. Later, he was appointed as the Additional Director of Higher Education (Gwalior Chambal Division) and has also been the Director of Madhya Pradesh Hindi Granth Akademi. He is the author of more than six academic books and several research papers, and has edited a few collected works. NBT is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Higher Education of Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD). The activities of the Trust include publishing, promotion of books and reading, promotion of Indian books abroad, assistance to authors and publishers, and promotion of children’s literature.

Notes:
Eminent Indian playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar has been chosen for the 2019 META Lifetime Achievement Award. He will be conferred upon with the award on March 12, along with the winners of the 14th Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META) festival. Elkunchwar is critically-acclaimed and widely-known for having experimented with a wide range of drama and is considered a powerful force in both Indian and Marathi theatre scene. He has over 30 plays and essays to his credit including works like ‘Sultan’, ‘Holi’, ‘Garbo’, ‘Yatanaghar’, and ‘Atmakatha’. His 1985 play ‘Wada Chirebandi’ (Old Stone Mansion) has been staged in Marathi, Hindi and Bengali, besides being adapted for television.

Notes:
The West Bengal government has launched ‘Banglar Shiksha’ portal to provide real-time data on state-run and aided schools. The portal, ”Banglar Shiksha” (banglarshiksha.gov.in), will store real-time data of 1.5 crore students, 5 lakh teachers and 1 lakh schools. It will be operated on a trial basis for two months to remove glitches, if any and will be fully functional by 1st May 2019. The system will enable the headmaster and class teacher to access the academic performance of a student. Parents, too, can access the information by downloading the Banglar Shiksha app.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently addressed the Network-18 Rising India Summit 2019 in New Delhi and laid out his vision for a ‘New India‘. The theme of the summit was, ‘Beyond Politics: Defining National Priorities’. The summit is a News18 Network enterprise where newsmakers from the world of politics, governance, economics, sports and entertainment, and above all well-wishers of India, gather to discuss the country’s rising global stature. It is a showcase of India’s unbounded potential as well as a celebration of its significant achievements.

Notes:
Karnataka has launched a major water conservation scheme titled ‘Jalamrutha’, which focusses on drought-proofing measures, including protection and rejuvenation of water bodies. The state the largest swathe of drought-prone land in the country next only to Rajasthan. ‘Jalamrutha’ will deploy scientific approaches to water budgeting, water harvesting and water conservation through the use of geospatial data, satellite imagery, topographical and geological data. It will be a community driven movement, which will be implemented by key line departments of the government, Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and private sector institutions. Water conservation strategy under this scheme comprises four components of water literacy, rejuvenation of waterbodies, creation of new waterbodies as well as development of watersheds and afforestation activities. It will operate on a four-tier institutional structure with planning and execution committees being set up at village, taluk, district and State levels.

Notes:
On Feb 28, Union Minister for Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani launched a comprehensive programme for the development of knitting and knitwear sector in the country under the PowerTex India scheme in New Delhi. The total outlay for the knitwear scheme is Rs. 47.72 crore & would be in operation till March 31, 2020.The programme for knitting and knitwear units, catering to domestic and exports markets, has 8 components where the industries would get support to install machinery under group work shed scheme, buy yarn, go in for solar energy, have common facilities and create new service centres under public private partnership mode. The scheme envisages creation of new service centres on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model by industry and association in the knitting and knitwear clusters. Some of the major knitwear clusters in the country are Tiruppur, Ludhiana, Kanpur, and Kolkata.

Notes:
The Lignocellulosic biomass (or LC biomass) refers to plant biomass that is composed of carbohydrate polymers (cellulose, hemicellulose), and an aromatic polymer (lignin). It is the most abundantly available raw material on the Earth for the production of biofuels, mainly bio-ethanol. It is in news recently because the Union Cabinet has approved the “Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan- Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana” for providing financial support to Integrated Bioethanol Projects using lignocellulosic biomass and other renewable feedstock. It has been launched as a tool to create 2G Ethanol capacity in the country and attract investments in this new sector. The scheme focuses to incentivize 2G Ethanol sector and support this nascent industry by creating a suitable ecosystem for setting up commercial projects and increasing Research & Development in this area. The ethanol produced by the scheme beneficiaries will be mandatorily supplied to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to further enhance the blending percentage under Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme. The JI-VAN Yojana will be supported with total financial outlay of Rs.1969.50 crore for the period from 2018-19 to 2023-24.

Notes:
Macky Sall has been re-elected for a second term as President of Senegal with a 58% majority in the first round voting in February 2019 Senegalese presidential election. The President of Senegal is elected using the two-round system; a candidate must receive over 50% of the vote to be elected in the first round. If no candidate crosses the threshold, a second round will be held with the top two candidates. According to the 2001 Constitution of Senegal, the president is elected for a 5-year term.

Notes:
The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) has been honoured with the coveted SKOCH award for 2018 for its remarkable achievements in the field of disaster management at the 56th SKOTCH Summit at New Delhi on February 25, 2019. The Skoch award covers the best efforts in the areas of finance, governance, banking, disaster management, technology, economics and inclusive growth. The OSDMA received an Order-of-merit in the Gold category for constructing 879 multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters that played a key role in saving human lives during Cyclone Phailin in 2013. It also bagged an ‘Order-of-merit’ in the silver category for constructing disaster resilient houses for about 17,000 Phailin affected families by relocating them to safer places. The ‘Order-of-merit’ Bronze was given to the OSDMA for its Early Warning Dissemination System for different hydro-meteorological disasters across the coastline of Odisha which will benefit 1,205 villages in 22 blocks of six coastal districts.

Notes:
India’s aerospace scientist and Chief of the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), Dr. G Satheesh Reddy has been conferred the Missile Systems Award 2019 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Satheesh is the first Indian to win the award, which recognises his leadership role in the Indian missile programme. He will share the prize with Rondell J. Wilson, a former Principal Engineering Fellow of Raytheon Missile Systems. Dr. Reddy, who is Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, is considered the architect of advanced missile technologies and smart guided weapons technologies in India. As Project Director, he led the design and development of the India’s first 1,000 kg class guided bomb which has enhanced precision strike capabilities. AIAA is the world’s largest and reputed aerospace technical society.