Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
The Financial Technology (Fintech) Conclave has been organized by NITI Aayog in New Delhi and was inaugurated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das. The objective of the conclave is to shape India’s continued ascendancy in FinTech, build the narrative for future strategy and policy efforts, and to deliberate steps for comprehensive financial inclusion. Nearly 300 Representatives from across the financial space – central ministries, regulators, bankers, startups, service providers and entrepreneurs are participating in the conclave. India is one of the fastest growing FinTech markets globally and industry research has projected that USD 1 Trillion or 60% of retail and SME credit, will be digitally disbursed by 2029. The Indian FinTech ecosystem is the third largest in the globe, attracting nearly USD 6 billion in investments since 2014.

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Chennai Super Kings star Suresh Raina has scripted history as he became the first cricketer in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to score 5,000 runs. He reached the milestone during the first match of the 2019 IPL season against Royal Challengers Bangalore at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Raina has 5000 runs from 177 matches at a strike-rate of 138.15 including 35 fifties and one hundred.

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On 1st of April 2019, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch a 436 kg electronic intelligence satellite Emisat for the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) along with 28 satellites of international customers from the spaceport of Sriharikota. It will also demonstrate its new technologies like three different orbits with a new variant of PSLV rocket ‘PSLV-C45’. Emisat is a satellite based on ISRO’s Indian Mini Satellite -2 (IMS-2) bus platform. It has been developed for monitoring radar network by India and is intended for electromagnetic spectrum measurement. It will be placed in an orbit of about 753 km altitude. The customer payloads are from Lithuania, Spain, Switzerland and the US. They will be hurled into space at an altitude of about 505 km.

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On 27th March, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully conducted its first-ever Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) missile test ‘Mission Shakti’ from the Dr AP J Abdul Kalam Island in Odisha. A DRDO-developed Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Interceptor Missile has successfully shot down a live satellite on a Low Earth Orbit (LEO), which is 300km from the earth, within three minutes. Hence, Mission Shakti is an important step towards securing India’s safety, economic growth and technological advancement. With this feat, India has joined elite group of four along with US, Russia & China. A-SATs are space weapons designed to disable or destroy satellites for strategic military purposes. Most military satellites orbit up to 2,000 km above the earth’s surface on LEO. However, no country has used A-SAT system in warfare till now. Several nations have shot down their own (defunct) satellites to demonstrate their ASAT capabilities in a show of force.

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The researchers at IIT-Delhi have designed an “Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based low-power electronic hardware system” to easily detect Malaria, Tuberculosis (TB), Intestinal parasite, and Cervical cancer in a few milliseconds. The research is focused on building an intelligent Neuromorphic system which can be used for healthcare access in resource-constrained areas with limited access to human specialists. The approach demonstrated by the researchers is portable, low-power and can classify with high accuracy in detection of the diseases.The long-term impact and goal of this work will be to enable potential future deployment of the platform in rural and resource-constrained areas and improve the access to diagnostic health-care. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), cervical cancer is the 4th most frequent cancer in women with an estimated 570,000 new cases in 2018 representing 6.6% of all female cancers.

Notes:
Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi (99), the eminent folk artist, radio commentator, harmonium player, music composer and author, has passed away at Houston in the USA. She used music as a tool to spread the message of social equality in the days when the society considered women coming out of their homes as a taboo. Born on 1920 in Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), she had actively participated in Indian freedom struggle and represented her talent in front of freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarvepally Radhakrishnan. She had composed and sung “Jaya Jaya Jaya Priya Bharathi”, a famous patriotic song written by her uncle Devulapally Krishna Shastry. She recently published her two books, Bava Geetalu and Compilation of Folk Songs. She was honoured with a Doctorate by Andhra University in 1977 and received a lifetime achievement award in America and ‘Queen of Folk’ award in Paris.

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According to the 2018 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), India has reduced its poverty rate drastically from 55% to 28% in 10 years between 2005-06 and 2015-16. The report, covering 105 countries, dedicates a chapter to India because of this remarkable progress. In India, a total of 271 million (27.10 crore) people moved out of poverty during these ten years. However, India still had 364 million poor in 2015-16, the largest for any country, although it is down from 635 million in 2005-06. The report was recently released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). The report said that across the 640 districts in India, the poorest district is Alirajpur in Madhya Pradesh, where 76.5% of people are MPI poor. Among states, Jharkhand had the greatest improvement, with Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Nagaland only slightly behind. However, Bihar is still the poorest state in 2015-16, with more than half of its population in poverty.

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There was a proposal of the Pakistan government to establish a corridor that will allow Hindu pilgrims from India to visit Sharda Peeth, an ancient Hindu temple and cultural site in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). However, on 28 March 2019, Pakistan said no decision has been taken so far on the opening of the Sharda temple corridor for Hindu pilgrims from India in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and asserted that there should be “a positive atmosphere” for taking such steps.

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Vijayawada Railway Station has received Gold Rating by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) for Green Measures. The station boasts of 100% LED lighting, five star rated fans, pumps and motors and solar water heating systems. It is one of the busiest railway junctions in the country. IGBC with the help of Environment Directorate of Indian Railways has come up with a system called Green Railway Stations Rating System (GRSRS) where railway stations will be encouraged to adopt more eco-friendly ways. The aim is to reduce the adverse effects to the environment because of the operation of the railways, and also to make the experience of the journey better for the passengers. The rating system helps to address national priorities like water conservation, handling of waste, energy efficiency, reduced used of fossil fuel, lesser dependence on usage of virgin materials and health and well being of occupants.

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The book “Gandhi: The Writer” was authored by Bhabhani Bhattacharya, who wrote social-realist fiction. He is described as belonging to the social realism school of Indo-Anglian literature. His writings exhibit the influence of Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. Unlike other social realists like Premchand, Bhattacharya adopted a pedagogical approach to making novels out of ideas, utilizing satire and making his ideas more tangible through situational examples.