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:
Tamil Nadu has become the first State in India to introduce Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) in the government sector to spread awareness on newer heart valve treatments without open surgery. TAVI was launched at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital (TNGMSSH), Omandurar Estate, in November 2018. With the help of TAVI, two persons have undergone the procedure free of cost. Conventionally, an open heart surgery is performed for replacing the aortic valve for treating aortic stenosis. But not all patients such as the elderly are fit to undergo open heart surgery. This is where TAVI helps as in this procedure the valve is replaced through a keyhole procedure from the groin. The procedure costs Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh in the private sector, while it is done free in the government sector.

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.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently constituted an 8-member task force headed by its former deputy governor Usha Thorat to examine issues related to offshore rupee markets and recommend policy measures to ensure the stability of the external value of the domestic currency. The task force will assess the causes behind the development of the offshore rupee market and study the effects of the offshore markets on the rupee exchange rate and market liquidity in the domestic market. It would also recommend measures to address concerns, if any, arising out of offshore rupee trading besides proposing measures to generate incentives for non-residents to access the domestic market. The panel would submit its report by the end of June 2019.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently addressed the Construction Technology India 2019 conference on ‘Global Housing Technology Challenge’, in New Delhi. Here, PM Modi declared the 2019-2020 as the Year of construction technology in a bid to increase the use of modern technology in the construction sector. The purpose of the 2-day conference was to identify innovative and globally established technologies that can be used in the Indian context. In the event, developers, academia, technology providers, researchers etc. participated. Those technologies which are identified during the conference will be invited to design and build lighthouse projects of around one thousand housing units each in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.

Notes:
On 4th March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which will function on the “One Nation One Card” model across the country. The NCMC is the India’s first indigenously developed payment platform for transport that can be used to make payments across public transport anywhere in the country, including Metro, bus and suburban railways, for toll and parking, and for retail like any credit or debit card. The stored value on card supports offline transaction across all travel needs with minimal financial risk to involved stakeholders. The service area feature of this card supports operator specific applications e.g. monthly passes, season tickets etc. The card will address the challenges associated with the cash payment e.g. cash handling, revenue leakages, cash reconciliation etc. Beside this, PM Modi also launched an Automatic Fare-Collection system (AFC) called ‘SWEEKAR’, and a gate and card-reader system called ‘SWAGAT’ . The three together will enable the use of the national mobility card across the country without a conflict with existing Point-of-Sale (PoS) machines. The cards can be issued by all public and private banks the same way credit, debit, and prepaid cards are issued.

Notes:
The Tea Board of India is a state agency of the Government of India (GoI) established to promote the cultivation, processing, and domestic trade as well as export of tea from India. It was established by the enactment of the Tea Act in 1953 with its headquarters in Kolkata. The Tea Board India is responsible for the assignment of certification numbers to exports of certain tea merchants. Recently, it is in news because the Union Ministry of Commerce has reappointed P K Bezbaruah as the chairman of Tea Board for a period of three years. Bezbaruah, the owner of Bokahola Tea Company in Assam, was earlier appointed as chairman of Tea Board as its first non-IAS officer. He was also instrumental in initiating a revamp of the old electronic auctioning system.