Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has constituted a 5-member committee to examine the issues related to framing of a proper, structured scheme for providing insurance cover to advocates and suggest modalities for its implementation. The committee, under the chairmanship of Legal Affairs Secretary Alok Srivastava, will recommend a comprehensive insurance scheme for the welfare of advocates all over the country to address concerns relating to untimely death and medical insurance. The committee will submit its reports within 3 months.

Notes:
On 8th March 2019 , the first-ever India-Japan Space Dialogue was held in New Delhi that brought together outer space related ministries and agencies in two countries. The dialogue provided an opportunity to exchange information on the space policy of each country and to hold discussions on space security, bilateral cooperation between JAXA-ISRO. The space agencies Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) focused on Surveillance and Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) of the waters in the East China Sea, the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. The space industries of both the countries also focused on global navigation satellite system, space situational awareness (SSA), space security and space-related norms. The Indian delegation was led by Additional Secretary for Disarmament and International Security Affairs in Ministry of External Affairs, Indra Mani Pandey. The Japanese delegation was co-led by Deputy Assistant Minister in Foreign Policy Bureau of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador Policy Planning and International Security Policy, Kansuke Nagaoka and Director General of National Space Policy Secretariat in Cabinet Office Shuzo Takada.

Notes:
The book titled “Tiger Woman” has been authored by Bengali novelist Sirsho Bandopadhyay. It is translated by Arunava Sinha from the Bengali version “Shardulsundori” is set in the Calcutta of the 1880s. It’s a historical novel that places a tragic love triangle in an era of patriotism and the Great Bengal Circus became a metaphor for a frustrated social revolution.

Notes:
Vinod Kashyap (88), the veteran Hindi Newsreader, has passed in New Delhi on March 10, 2019. She served All India Radio (AIR) for about 30 years. She started her career in Radio as a drama artist.

Notes:
The Congress government in Madhya Pradesh has appointed self-styled godman Namdev Tyagi to the post of the chairperson of the ‘Ma Narmada, Ma Kshipra evam Ma Mandakini River Trust’. He is popularly known as “Computer Baba”. Notably, Tyagi was accorded minister of state (MoS) status by the previous BJP-led government in April 2018. However, he resigned in October 2018, claiming that the government was anti-religion and not fulfilling the promise of stopping illegal sand mining in the river Narmada.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently launched new Global Influenza Strategy for 2019-2030 aimed at protecting people in all countries from the threat of influenza. The strategy will provide a framework for WHO alongside countries and other partners to work to prevent seasonal influenza, control the spread of the infection from animals to humans and prepare for the next pandemic. A global influenza pandemic was listed as one of the WHO’s top ten threats to global health in 2019. Influenza is one of the world’s greatest public health challenges.Every year across the globe, there are an estimated 1 billion cases, of which 3 to 5 million are severe cases, resulting in 290 000 to 650 000 influenza-related respiratory deaths. WHO recommends annual influenza vaccination as the most effective way to prevent influenza.

Notes:
India’s first integrated community-based HIV treatment centre and clinic for LGBTQ has recently inaugurated at Humsafar Trust’s office in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The centre is supported by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Family Health International 360. The centre will give free counselling and provide Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). ART is the use of HIV medicines to treat the infection, and is recommended for everyone who is infected with virus and delays the progression of the disease. The centre will not only facilitate access to treatment among the most-at-risk communities, including transgenders and sex workers, but also provide the free HIV medications distributed by NACO. The acronym ‘LGBTQ’ stands for – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer.

Notes:
Jammu-born film director and novelist Ved Rahi has been selected for prestigious ‘Kusumagraj’ national award for literature. The award is instituted by the city-based Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) and carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, a memento and a citation. It is named after Jnanpith-laureate Marathi poet and playwright late VV Shirwadkar, popularly known as ‘Kusumagraj’. Born in Jammu in 1933, Rahi has penned seven novels in Dogri. He was given the Sahitya Akademi award for his Dogri novel, ‘Aale’ in 1983. Rahi also made the film ‘Veer Savarkar’ (2001), a biopic on the life of revolutionary Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. He was director of the 1991 Doordarshan television serial, ‘Gul Gulshan Gulfaam’. Rahi has written dialogues for several Bollywood movies, including ‘Bezuban’, ‘Charas’ and ‘Mom ki Gudiya’.

Notes:
As per the latest report by the World Gold Council (WGC), India has the 11th largest gold reserve with the current holding pegged at 607 tonnes. However, India is the world’s largest consumer of gold. The top slot is occupied by the U.S., which boasts of gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany with 3,369.7 tonnes. Italy and France complete the top five lists with reserves of a little over 2,400 tonnes each. India’s overall position in terms of total gold holding would have been tenth had the list included only countries. Whereas, International Monetary Fund (IMF) is included and is third on the list with total gold reserves of 2,814 tonnes. Pakistan, with its gold reserves of 64.6 tonnes, occupies the 45th position. The WGC is market development organization for the gold industry. It is headquartered in London, United Kingdom (UK).

Notes:
The 4th edition of the Internet of Things (IoT) India Congress 2019 will be held in Bengaluru on August 22-23, 2019. The event will see digital technology leaders converge to discuss and explore business opportunities in mainstreaming IoT. It will include tracks on segments such as healthcare, manufacturing, telecom, smart cities, energy, retail, cyber security, skills and development, IoT Standards, legal and regulatory, and agriculture. The two-day Congress will host live zones and hackathons where people can touch, feel and experience IoT and solve sector-specific challenges.