Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
For the first time in the world, researchers at the GRAPES-3 muon telescope facility in Ooty have measured the electrical potential, size and height of a thundercloud that passed overhead on December 1, 2014. The study of thunderclouds is helpful in navigation of aircraft and preventing short circuits in aeroplanes. At 1.3 gigavolts (GV), this cloud had 10 times higher potential than the previous record in a cloud. This is not because clouds with such high potentials are a rarity, but rather, because the methods of detection have not been successful so far. The structure of Cloud is that clouds have negative charges along their lower side and positive charges on top and can be several kilometres thick. If balloons are used to measure the potential difference between the top and bottom, they will take hours to traverse the distance. Unfortunately, thunderstorms last only for about 15-20 minutes, and this method fails. The GRAPES-3 experiment (or Gamma Ray Astronomy PeV EnergieS phase-3) located at Ooty in Tamil Nadu and is designed to study cosmic rays with an array of air shower detectors and a large area muon detector.

Notes:
In the wake of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Facebook has launched two new India-specific -tools to boost civic engagement on its platform — Candidate Connect and Share You Voted. The first feature ‘Candidate Connect’ allows people to see short 20 second videos uploaded by candidates and cross compare them with what other candidates have to say on the same pre-selected topic in 12 Indian languages. While, the “Share You Voted” will provide people with polling information and enable them to announce and celebrate their vote. Facebook has also set up 24×7 response team for elections for monitoring and tracking of objectionable content in real time round the clock. The election response team will be based in Singapore and will work closely with the Election Commission of India (ECI).

Notes:
Justice (Retd.) DK Jain, who is the newly appointed ombudsman for the BCCI, will also be its ad-hoc Ethics Officer. The mandate of the Ethics Officer is to look into matters of conflict of interest involving players, coaches and officials. Justice Jain is already looking into Hardik Pandya-KL Rahul chat show controversy due to which the duo served provisional suspension. The Rule 39(1) of the new BCCI Constitution states: “The BCCI shall appoint an Ethics Officer at the Annual General Meeting for the purpose of guidance and resolution in instances of conflict of interest. The Ethics Officer shall be a retired Judge of a High Court so appointed by the BCCI after obtaining his/her consent and on terms as determined by the BCCI in keeping with the dignity and stature of the office. The term of an Ethics Officer shall be one year, subject to a maximum of 3 terms in office.

Notes:
The International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade is observed every year on 25th of March to honour and remember those who suffered and died at the hands of the transatlantic slavery system. The day also aims to raise awareness about the dangers of racism and prejudice today. The 2019 theme “Remember Slavery: The Power of the Arts for Justice”, aims to recognize the importance of art in confronting slavery, to raise awareness of the struggles and to empower those who have been affected by it.

Notes:
The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has recommended adding Break dancing, skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games when the full membership meets in June. A final decision must be made by the board in December 2020 after further monitoring of the four. The addition of these four sports to the Paris medal program offers the opportunity to connect with the young generation. All four sports will be assessed in terms of how they are managed, the integrity of competitions and judging, before being finalized for Paris.

Notes:
Manu Gulati, a teacher from a Delhi government school, was honoured with the 2019 Martha Farrell Award in the category of ‘Most Promising Individual’ for her decades of efforts in enabling a gender-neutral society by coaching boys and girls in Delhi schools. The Martha Farrell awards were instituted in memory of Martha Farrell, who was a passionate civil society leader, renowned and respected in India and around the world for her work on women’s rights, gender equality and adult education. The awards are given in two categories – ‘Most Promising Individual’ and ‘Best Organization for Gender Equality’ – to individuals and organizations working toward issues pertaining to gender equality. In the Gender Equality category, the 2019 award went to Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti (MJAS), a women-led organisation which started as a collective of rural women and, eventually, transitioned into a registered organisation in 2000 to fight against domestic violence.

Notes:
Israeli researchers have discovered the world’s longest salt cave, called Malham. It stretches over 10 km, runs through Mount Sodom, Israel’s largest mountain. The cave is a network of twisting passageways at the southern tip of the Dead Sea. It is near the desert site where, according to the Bible, Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt. The Malham cave is larger than the previous record-holding cave in Iran. Iran’s Cave of the Three Nudes (Namakdan) on Qeshm Island, which is about 6km in length, was identified as the longest salt cave after a study by Czech and Iranian scientists in 2006. Mount Sodom is named after a location mentioned in the Book of Genesis, describing how Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt after she looked back at Sodom.

Notes:
In a bid to strengthen Indo-French ties, India has been designated as the Guest of Honour at Paris Livre (Paris Book Fair) in 2020, while France will be the guest country at the New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) in 2022. The announcement was recently made by the nodal agency – National Book Trust (NBT). The Livre Paris (Paris Book Fair) will take place from March 20 to 23, 2020. The designation of India as the guest country was declared in the joint statement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron during the latter’s visit to India in March 2018. The statement also mentions France as NDWBF’s 2022 guest country.

Notes:
‘The State of the Global Climate’ report has recently launched by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The report presented a grim picture of the accelerating physical signs and socio-economic impacts of the climate change across the world as record greenhouse gas concentrations drive global temperatures towards increasingly dangerous levels. UN Chief Antonio Guterres has asked world leaders to come with concrete, realistic plans to boost climate action as greenhouse gas concentrations are driving global temperatures towards increasingly dangerous levels impacting millions of people. The report notes that 2018 was the fourth warmest year on record and 2015–2018 were the four warmest years on record as the long-term warming trend continues. Ocean heat content is also at a record high and global mean sea level continues to rise, while Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice extent is well below average. Average global temperature reached approximately 1°C above pre-industrial levels and nations are not on track to meet climate change targets and rein in temperature increases.

Notes:
In New Delhi, the Ministry of commerce has launched a blockchain-enabled marketplace app for coffee to help farmers integrate with markets so that they can realise fair prices for the commodity. The app is developed in coordination with Eka Software Solutions and is intended to bring in transparency in coffee trade and maintain the traceability of Indian coffee from bean to cup so as the consumer tastes real Indian coffee and the grower is paid fairly for his produce. The blockchain will also reduce the number of layers between coffee growers and buyers and help farmers double their income. India is the only country in the world where entire coffee is grown under shade, handpicked and sun dried. Indian coffee is highly valued in the world market and sold as premium coffees. The share of farmers in the final returns from coffee is very meagre.