Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
The National Science Day (NSD) is observed every yearon 28th of February to mark the discovery of Raman effect by Physicist C V Raman on 28th February, 1928. For his discovery, Sir CV Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. In honour of this discovery and as a mark of tribute to the scientist, National Science Day was marked for the first time on February 28, 1987. The purpose of the day is to spread the message of importance of science and its application among the people. This year, the theme for the 2019 NSD is, ‘Science for the People and the People for Science’. The Raman Effect is the inelastic scattering of a photon by molecules which are excited to higher energy levels. It forms the basis for Raman spectroscopy which is used by chemists and physicists to gain information about materials.

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:
On Feb 26, the former England opener Alastair Cook has officially received the knighthood for his services to cricket by the Queen in an official ceremony at the Buckingham Palace. He is the first English cricketer to get the honour since Sir Ian Botham in 2007. Overall, Cook is the 11th Englishman to be knighted for services to cricket. Cook, who made his Test debut in 2006 against India, captained England for a record 59 Test matches and led the country to 24 wins in the longest format of the game. He has appeared in a total of 160 Tests for the national side. He retired from the Test cricket following the five-match series against India in September 2018.

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:
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:
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:
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 8th edition of joint military exercise ‘Sampriti-2019’ between the armies of India and Bangladesh has recently started at Bongobondhu Cantonment in Tangail, Bangladesh. The aim of the 14-day exercise is to increase mutual cooperation, bonhomie and camaraderie between the armies of two countries. The exercise is a part of the ongoing India-Bangladesh defence cooperation. The Bangladesh contingent was represented by 36 East Bengal Battalion, while Indian side was represented by 9th Battalion of the Rajputana Rifles.

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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.