Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2019

Notes:
In chess, the TePe Sigeman & Co International tournament has started in Malmo, Sweden on May 3. According to the World Chess Federation(FIDE), the tournament will have 8 players with an average rating of 2663, making it a Category 17 tournament. The field is led by the India No. 2 Grand Master Pentala Harikrishna. Harikrishna will open his campaign against Persson while Nihal Sarin is set to meet Saric in the opener. In it, 14-year old Indian Grandmaster Nihal is training his sight to become the youngest Indian to break the 2600 rating barrier from this event. Nihal goes into the tournament with a live rating of 2598. He hopes to break the Indian record set by Parimarjan Negi almost a decade back in 2009.

Notes:
Ace Indian squash players Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinappa won their respective Asian Individual Squash Championship titles in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 6. Saurav Ghoshal defeated Leo Au Chun Ming of Hong Kong 11-9, 11-2, 11-8 to win the men’s title. On the other hand, Joshna Chinappa retained her title as she beat top seed Annie Au of Hong Kong, 11-5, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6 in the women’s final event. Ghoshal who had become the first Indian male player to reach top ten of the world rankings is the finalist of the previous edition.

Notes:
For the first time, researchers have recently sighted nests of the grizzled giant squirrel (Ratufa macroura) at Pakkamalai Reserve Forests near Gingee (Tamil Nadu) in the Eastern Ghats. It is an endangered species listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. The grizzled giant squirrel is usually known to nest in the Western Ghats in Southern India ranging from Chinnar Wildlife sanctuary in Kerala to Anamalai Tiger Reserve and Palani hills in Tamil Nadu. Owing to habitat loss and poaching, the species has been categorized as near threatened by the Red List and listed under Schedule II of CITES. The grizzled giant squirrel has a body length of 25-45 cms, with an equally long or slightly longer tail. It can weigh anything between 1.5-3 kg.

Notes:
The 5th edition of United Nations (UN) Global Road Safety Week has started from 6th May with theme “leadership for road safety”. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes road safety as a means to reduce traffic-related injuries. Hence, UN Global Road Safety Weeks and its’ campaigns are chaired by WHO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The 5th edition acknowledges that strong leadership is needed to advance road safety in countries and communities and achieve related Sustainable Development Goal and other global targets. Therefore, it launched action through the ongoing campaign: Save Lives – #SpeakUp. The #SpeakUp campaign provides an opportunity for civil society to generate demands for strong leadership for road safety, especially around concrete, evidence-based interventions which will save lives. It will also inspire leaders to take action by showcasing strong leadership for road safety within governments, international agencies, NGOs, foundations, schools and universities and private companies.

Notes:
Mrinal Mukherjee (74), the veteran film and TV actor, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on May 8, 2019. Mukherjee had worked for over five decades in the Bengali film industry and acted in films like ‘Dui Bon’, ‘Chhuti’, ‘Shriman Prithviraj’ and more recently ‘Byomkesh’ and ‘Chiriakhana’. He had also acted in several Bengali TV serials and was a known face in Bengali theatre as well. Apart from being a versatile actor, Mrinal Mukherjee was a great singer as well. Some of his major Bengali hits were Nayika Sangbad, Golpo Holeo Sotti, Shriman Prithviraj, Chuti and others. Mrinal Mukherjee also did some Bollywood movies too and was best known for his role in Gulzar’s Mausam. The movie is one of Gulzar’s best works.

Notes:
The UN report titled “IPBES Global Assessment” has been released by IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services). It is compiled by 145 expert authors from 50 countries. The IPBES report found that around 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history. The threatened list includes more than 40% of amphibian species, almost 33% of reef-forming corals, and more than a third of all marine mammals. The study is a cornerstone of an emerging body of research that suggests the world may need to embrace a new post-growth form of economics if it is to avert the existential risks posed by the mutually-reinforcing consequences of pollution, habitat destruction and carbon emissions. The report tells us that it is not too late to make a difference, but only if we start now at every level from local to global. The headquarters of IBPES is located in Bonn, Germany.

Notes:
Thopil Mohammed Meeran (74), the well-known Tamil novelist and Sahitya Akademi awardee, has passed away at Pettai in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu on May 10, 2019. Born in the coastal hamlet of Thaengaaipattinam in Kanniyakumari district on 26th September 1944, Mohamed Meeran authored the novels – Oru Kadalora Graamaththin Kathai, Thuraimugam, Koonan Thoppu, Saaivu Naarkkaali and Anju Vannam Theru – between 1988 and 2011. Of these, Saaivu Naarkkaali (The Reclining Chair) bagged him the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1997. His short story collections — Anbukku Muthumai Illai, Thangarasu, Ananthasayanam Colony, Oru Kutti Theevin Varippadam, Thoppil Mohamed Meeran Kathaigal and Oru Maamaramum Konjam Paravaigalum — and translations gave him a prominent place in the literary world.

Notes:
Veteran actor Pankaj Kapur will soon release his debut novel ‘Dopehri’, based on a play of the same name which he wrote and directed several years ago. “Dopehri” is the story of Amma Bi, an elderly widow who lives alone in her deserted family haveli in Lucknow. Her only companion is a dishevelled young servant who comes in twice a day. Every afternoon, Amma Bi hears the sound of footsteps on the stairs and her heart fills with panic. She peeks out the door only to find no one there. After considering a move to an old peoples’ home, an anxious Amma Bi ends up taking in a lodger, a young woman named Sabiha, with a mysterious occupation and a winsome personality. When Sabiha’s secret is revealed, Amma Bi discovers reserves of ingenuity, skill and love she never knew she had, and what started out as the tale of a haunted haveli turns into a heart-warming one about ageing, self-discovery and female bonding. Originally written in Hindi, “Dopehri” will be published simultaneously by HarperCollins in three editions: Hindi (in Devanagari script), Hindi (in Urdu script) and in English translation.

Notes:
BharatPe has launched India’s first UPI Bahi Khata for merchants, which allows merchants to record their cash/ credit (udhar) sales customer wise, request accounts receivable from customers via SMS payment links, and keep track of accounts payable to suppliers, among other services. It also serves as a networking platform for merchants to connect and collaborate with other BharatPe merchants near them to source and expand their businesses. BharatPe is the India’s first fintech start-up enabling payments for merchants through interoperable UPI QR codes.

Notes:
A team of herpetologists led by Ashok Captain have described a new species of reddish-brown pit viper — a venomous snake with a unique heat-sensing system — from a forest in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The discovery makes the Arunachal pit viper (Trimeresurus arunachalensis) the second serpent to have been discovered after the non-venomous crying keelback in the State’s Lepa-Rada district in 2018. The new species also makes Arunachal Pradesh the only Indian state to have a pit viper named after it. Before the Arunachal Pradesh discovery, India had four brown pit vipers — Malabar, horseshoe, hump-nosed and Himalayan — which were discovered 70 years ago. The discovery was recently published in the March-April volume of the Russian Journal of Herpetology.