Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2019

Notes:
Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. Karnataka Governor Vajubhai R Vala administered the oath of office to Justice Oka at the Raj Bhavan. He succeeded Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, who was elevated as a Supreme Court judge in January 2019. Justice Oka has given many landmark judgements including those revolving around noise pollution, the rights of atheists and the right to give “no religion” as an option in government application forms, a judgement striking down the beef ban in Maharashtra and encouraging prison reforms, among others.

Notes:
In Madhya Pradesh, women will handle the entire work of counting votes in Harda district of the state. As per reports, the initiative is probably the first of its kind. Harda district is a part of Betul parliamentary seat and the counting of votes of Timarni and Harda assembly segments will take place at Harda district headquarter. At present, 84 women are being trained for counting in Polytechnic College. Apart from the counting of votes, only women will be deployed for the security of the counting centre. Betul was voted on 6 May and the women had taken the responsibilities of voting in 60 all women polling booths in Harda district. Now they are ready to take accountability of counting on 28 tables. More than 75 percent of voting has been recorded in Harda district, so the number of votes is also high.

Notes:
On May 9, the Indian Armed Forces carried out Exercise Bull Strike at Teressa Island in Andaman and Nicobar (A&N). The military drill was conducted to showcase joint operations capability of the armed forces. During the exercise, the army personnel got the chance to display their prowess by undertaking company level airborne operation at Teressa island. Around 170 troops from three services – Army, Navy and the Air force undertook Para drop Ops in a Combat Free Fall & Static Line mode from the C-130 J. There were 149 Indian Army, 12 Indian Air Force and 9 Indian Navy soldiers who participated in several combat drills ahead of the jumps and during jumps.

Notes:
China has expanded its ban on Wikipedia to block the community-edited online encyclopedia in all available languages. Hence, Wikipedia had joined thousands of other websites which cannot be accessed in China. According to a report by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), China started blocking all language editions of Wikipedia from April 2019. China’s online censorship apparatus — dubbed the ‘Great Firewall’ — blocks a large number of foreign sites in the country, such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and The New York Times. Topics that are deemed too sensitive are also scrubbed. An earlier enforced ban barred Internet users from viewing the Chinese version, as well as the pages for sensitive search terms such as Dalai Lama and the Tiananmen massacre.

Notes:
Sanjiv Puri has been appointed as the new CMD (Chairman and managing director) of ITC Ltd, India’s largest cigarette maker. He will take over the legacy of noted industry leader and erstwhile ITC Chairman Y.C. Deveshwar, who passed away on 11 May. Prior to this post, Mr. Puri was the Managing Director since 2018. He was appointed on the board in December 2015 and as the CEO in February 2017. Deveshwar had played the role of mentor to the executive management led by Sanjiv Puri. ITC Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal.

Notes:
The International Day of Families is observed every year on May 15 to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families. The 2019 theme “Families and Climate Action: Focus on SDG 13” focuses on families, family policies and major SDG 13 targets such as improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and impact reduction and early warning.

Notes:
The 5th edition of “International Army Scout Masters Competition” will be organized under the aegis of Konark Corps at Jaisalmer, Rajasthan from 24 July to 17 August 2019. This is the first time that India is the venue for the Army Scouts Masters Competition, which is part of International Army Games steered by Russia. It is also for the first time that an Indian team will participate in this competition. The event will witness participation of the Mechanised Infantry Scout Teams of 8 countries including Russia who is the founding member of this format of International Army Games. The competition will be conducted in five stages, which will test the overall skills of Mechanised Infantry Scouts in simulated battle field scenarios. The combat skills will be adjudicated by a panel of international judges and referees. The competition will showcase combat training and promote camaraderie amongst the contestants, facilitate sharing of best practices as well as develop military and technical cooperation between participating nations.

Notes:
As an initiative towards a greener ecosystem in Ganga Basin, the tripartite MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) was signed between National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), HCL Foundation and INTACH for taking up a project of ‘Plantation of Rudraksh Trees in Uttarakhand’ under the ‘Namami Gange’ Programme. The aim of the project is to plant 10 thousand Rudraksh trees in the catchment area of river Ganga in Uttarakhand in association with local community and other stakeholders. It will also help in generating income for people residing in those areas. The aim of the Namami Gange Mission is to provide comprehensive and sustainable solutions for a cleaner ecosystem along the stretch of 97 towns and over 4 thousand 4 hundred villages on the Ganga stem and a public-private partnership will provide the initiative a much-needed impetus

Notes:
The 8th edition of Indo-Myanmar Coordinated Patrol (IMCOR-2019) has started at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Command on May 20. The CORPAT (coordinated patrol) initiative between Indian and Myanmar navies is meant to address issues of terrorism, illegal fishing, drug trafficking, human trafficking, poaching and other illegal activities inimical to interest of both nations. Myanmar ships – UMS King TabinShweHtee and UMS Inlay – would undertake a coordinated patrol with Indian Naval Ship Saryu from 20 – 28 May 19. The patrolling effort will be augmented by Maritime Patrol Aircraft from both the navies. The ships would patrol along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) between the two countries covering a distance of approximately 725 Kms over a period of four days. The ships will also undertake joint manoeuvres and drills during the sea phase of coordinated patrol (CORPAT) prior ‘Closing Ceremony’ of the CORPAT onboard Myanmar Naval Ship.

Notes:
The National Anti Terrorism Day (NATD) is celebrated every year in India on May 21 to spread the message of global peace and non-violence and stop youngsters from following cult practices and being misguided. The day also honours the sacrifices made by thousands of soldiers who fought against terrorism. It’s a day to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in terrorist attacks. It was on this day in 1991, the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide squad of Liberation of Tamil Tigers Eelam (LTTE), while attending a rally in Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu. The aim behind the observance of Anti-Terrorism Day is to wean away the people from terrorism and violence.