Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
The government policy think tank, Niti Aayog has recently released Delta ranking report. In it, the Hailakandi district of Assam has been ranked first among the 112 aspirational districts of India, followed by Kondagaon district of Chhattisgarh. Hailakandi has made a giant leap from 52nd position to no. 1 position on the basis of its performance during November-December 2018 and January 2019. For securing the first rank as an aspirational district, Hailakandi will be given an allocation of Rs. 10 crore.

Notes:
Indore has been adjudged India’s cleanest city for the 3rd straight year in the central government’s cleanliness survey ‘Swachh Survekshan 2019’. The second and third positions in the category were grabbed by Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Mysore in Karnataka. The Swachh Survekshan awards 2019 were conferred by President Ram Nath Kovind at a function in New Delhi. Top ranked cities received a statue of Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi as award for their work towards cleanliness. Every year, cities and towns across India are awarded with the title of ‘Swachh Cities’ on the basis of their cleanliness and sanitation drive as a part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that was launched in 2014. Three cities Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh bagged top awards. It was hat trick for Bhopal too. Bhopal was adjudged the cleanest capital city in the 2019 survey. Ujjain was awarded Cleanest Medium city in 3 lakh to one million category. While the New Delhi Municipal Council area was given the ‘Cleanest Small City’ award, Uttarakhand’s Gauchar was adjudged the ‘Best Ganga Town’ in the central government survey. The ‘Cleanest Big City’ award has been bagged by Ahmedabad, while Raipur is the ‘Fastest Moving Big City’.

Notes:
Union Minister Dr. Mahesh Sharma has recently inaugurated ‘Azaadi Ke Diwane’ museum at the Red Fort premises in New Delhi. The museum is dedicated to the unsung heroes of the country’s freedom struggle and is built by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). It is a modern, state-of-the-art, informative and educational exhibition involving multi-sensory technology to engage the visitors. The ‘Azaadi Ke Diwane’ is the 5th in a series of recently inaugurated ones — the others being the Subhash Chandra Bose and INA museum, the Yaad-e-Jallian museum, the Museum on 1857 (on the India’s first war of Independence) and the Drishyakala (a museum on Indian Art) — on the sacrifices of India’s freedom fighters.

Notes:
In Madhya Pradesh, ancient tribal language Gondi will be taught in tribal districts to save it from becoming a thing of the past. The rapid decline in the number of people who speak that tongue is a matter of concern; hence, Chief Minister Kamal Nath has decided to include Gondi in the primary education curriculum of the state’s tribal-dominated districts.

Notes:
The Rice Knowledge Bank – Assam (RKB-Assam) is an agriculture web portal i.e. dedicated to enhancing knowledge on rice production techniques, agricultural technologies, best production practices and state agriculture facts. It serves to address the challenges for agricultural development by supporting fast and effective transfer of technologies and knowledge from the research laboratory to farmer’s fields. RKB-Assam has been launched as part of the World Bank funded project- Assam Agri-business and Rural Transformation (APART). The portal is the result of efforts of Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services Society (ARIAS), Assam Agricultural University (AAU); with technical assistance from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

Notes:
Hewlett Packard India has recently signed a MoU with the Andhra Pradesh Innovation Society (APIS) and Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB) to build a Center of Excellence (CoE) for Additive Manufacturing (AM) powered by HP’s 3D printing technology. APIS would provide infrastructural support and enable necessary certifications and accreditations while APEDB will drive and encourage the usage of the CoE by government departments, defence and public sector enterprises. The CoE is part of the state government’s vision to accelerate adoption of 3D printing in various industry sectors such as automotive, aerospace, defence, consumer goods, healthcare, apparel and construction. It will be equipped with HP’s 3D printers that can handle short run production and functional prototyping. The 3D printing centre would give Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) and start-ups in Andhra Pradesh an opportunity to learn more about the benefits of Additive Manufacturing (AM).

Notes:
Indian-American television personality and internationally acclaimed food expert, Padma Lakshmi has been appointed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as its newest Goodwill Ambassador on the eve of International Women’s Day (IWD-2019). In this new role, Lakshmi will mobilise support for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on fighting inequality, discrimination and empowering the disenfranchised.

Notes:
Distinguished scientist Dr Ajit Kumar Mohanty has been appointed new Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) for a period of 3 years. He is at present Director, Physics Group, in BARC and Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics. The BARC is India’s premier nuclear research facility based in Mumbai. It is a multi-disciplinary research centre with extensive infrastructure for advanced research and development covering the entire spectrum of nuclear science, engineering and related areas.

Notes:
A 116-year-old Japanese woman, Kane Tanaka has been honoured as the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records. The global authority on records officially recognised Kane Tanaka in a ceremony at the nursing home where she lives in Fukuoka, in southwest Japan. Born in January 1903, Tanaka loves playing the board game ‘Othello’ and enjoys studying mathematics. The previous oldest living person was another Japanese woman, Chiyo Miyako, who passed away July 2018, aged 117.

Notes:
Krishna Kumari Kohli has become the first-ever Thari Hindu woman to be elected to the Senate of Pakistan in March 2018 and chaired the session of the Upper House of Parliament on the occasion of the International Women’s Day (IWD-2019). She is known for her campaigns for women’s rights, against bonded labour, and against sexual harassment in the workplace. Her election to Senate represented a major milestone for women and minority rights in Pakistan. Krishna belongs to the Kohli community from the remote village of Dhana Gam in Nagarparkar area of Sindh province where a sizeable number of Hindus live. Hence, Krishna became the first Hindu Dalit woman and the 2nd Hindu woman elected to the Senate after Ratna Bhagwandas Chawla.