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:
In New Delhi, the Minister for Human Resources Development, Prakash Javadekar has launched the Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS) for providing industry apprenticeship opportunities to fresh graduates through the National Apprenticeship Promotional Scheme (NAPS). The aim of the program is to enhance the employability of Indian youth by providing ‘on the job work exposure’ and earning of stipend. SHREYAS is a programme basket comprising the initiatives of three central ministries, including the HRD, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Notes:
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled that the United Kingdom must transfer the Chagos Islands (Diego Garcia) to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965. It has ruled that continued British occupation of the remote Indian Ocean archipelago is illegal. In a non-binding opinion issued on 25th Feb 2019, the ICJ ruling deals a humiliating blow to the legitimacy of Britain’s territorial claim over the Chagos islands, which they call the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). The ruling is not legally binding. It must be noted that UK retained possession of the Chagos archipelago, which includes the strategic US airbase of Diego Garcia, after Mauritius gained its independence in 1968 & effectively paying Mauritius more than £4m for the islands. About 1,500 native islanders were deported so the largest island could be leased to the US for the airbase in 1971. They have never been allowed to return home.

Notes:
India has been ranked 47th out of 100 countries in the Inclusive Internet Index (3i) 2019, which is prepared by the ‘Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for Facebook. The list is topped by Sweden, followed by Singapore and the US. As per index, there are demonstrable benefits from comprehensive female e-inclusion policies, digital skills programmes and targets for women and girls to Study Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This year, the index represented 94% of the world’s population and 96% of global GDP. The study revealed stalled progress on closing the digital divide.

Notes:
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu inaugurated National Institutes of Design (NID) at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Jorhat in Assam through video conference from New Delhi on 22nd February 2019. Both institutes are autonomous institutions under Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The establishment of new NIDs will help produce highly skilled manpower in design which, in turn, will create job opportunities, both direct and indirect, by providing sustainable design interventions for crafts, handloom, rural technology, small, medium and large-scale enterprises and outreach programs for capacity, capability and institution building. The National Design Policy 2007 had recommended setting up design institutes on the lines of NID Ahmedabad in other parts of India to promote design programs. Four new NIDs have been set up in Andhra Pradesh (Amaravati), Assam (Jorhat), Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal) and Haryana (Kurukshetra) with a total outlay of Rs. 434 crore.

Notes:
The 7th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Intersessional Ministerial Meeting (7th RCEP ISSL MM) will be held in Siem Reap, Cambodia on 2nd March 2019. The aim of the 16-member RCEP is to cover issues related to goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights. From India, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu will attend the meeting. The RCEP is a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between 16 countries namely 10 countries of ASEAN (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners (also known as AFP’s or ASEAN FTA Partners) namely Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

Notes:
In Tripura, the joint border guarding exercise “Mainamati Maitree Exercise 2019’ was held between the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) as a part of ‘Confidence Building Measures’ between the two border guards. The exercise was named after the Mainamati hill range situated 8 km west of Comilla township in Bangladesh, which is home to an ancient Buddhist archaeological site in the region. The main purpose of this exercise was to plan and conduct anti-smuggling and anti-criminal activity related operations with an aim of achieving better joint operational efficiency and border management in the area.

Notes:
On 1st of March 2019, the Supreme Court pulled up the Haryana government for passing amendments to an act which allows construction in the ecologically-sensitive Aravalli hills. A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta stated that the step will destroy the forest and it cannot be permitted. Terming the move as shocking, the bench asked the state not to take any further action on the law. It said that the Haryana government has taken the step despite the apex court’s directive in this regard. On 27th Feb 2019, the state assembly had passed an amendment to the centuries-old Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 (PLPA) Act & opened up thousands of acres of land for real estate developers and for mining in the Aravallis and Shivalik ranges. The decision meant it would not only burden the already ecologically-fragile system, but would also pose a major environmental and ecological threat to the national capital region.

Notes:
India’s Shashank Shekhar has won the 10 kilometre race of Nepal’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Open Marathon and Run for Fun held in Kathmandu. Shekhar of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Contingent at Embassy of India in Kathmandu secured first position. RD Murgan also from CISF got third place. A total nine CISF personnel participated in 10 KM race category. The remaining seven personnel also successfully completed run and received Certificate of Achievement. COAS Open Marathon and Run for Fun is an annual event organised by the Nepal Army.

Notes:
The BCG-IBA report titled ‘EASE Reforms for Public Sector Banks’ has measured the performance of each Public Sector Bank (PSB) on 140 objective metrics across six themes, including customer responsiveness, credit off-take, and digitization. As per report, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) with a score of 78.4 out of 100 has been ranked first in the EASE (Enhanced Access & Service Excellence) index, followed by BoB (77.8), SBI (74.6), Oriental Bank of Commerce (69), Canara Bank (67.5) and Syndicate Bank (67.1). PNB has shown strong performance in parameters such as customer responsiveness, responsible banking, credit off-take and financial inclusion.