Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2019

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a new strategy to dramatically cut deaths and injuries from snakebites, and also warned a lack of anti-venoms could soon spark a “public health emergency”. Each year, nearly three million people are bitten by poisonous snakes, with an estimated 81,000-138,000 deaths. The aim of the strategy is to cut snakebite-related deaths and disabilities in half by 2030. An important part of the strategy is to significantly boost production of quality anti-venoms. The strategy also called for integrating snakebite treatment and response into national health plans in affected countries, including better training of health personnel and educating communities. Snake venom can cause paralysis that stops breathing, bleeding disorders that can lead to fatal haemorrhage, irreversible kidney failure and tissue damage that can cause permanent disability and limb loss. Most snakebite victims live in the world’s tropical and poorest regions, and children are worse affected due to their smaller body size. In a new report, the UN health agency urged the international community to take steps to address the problem, which it warned had long been dangerously under-estimated and neglected.

Notes:
On May 23, the NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL) has officially inaugurated in Bengaluru, Karnataka to scale up industry participation in Indian space programmes. It is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). NSIL will act as an aggregator for all space related activities in industry and develop private entrepreneurship in space related technologies. Specifically, it will be responsible for manufacturing the and production of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) through technology transfer mechanisms. It will also cater to emerging global commercial SSLV market demand, providing satellite building and satellite-based services, including supply of sub-systems for various domestic and international application needs and will enable space technology spin-offs through Indian industry interface.

Notes:
On May 24, the Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested a 500 kg class Inertial Guided Bomb (IGB) from Su-30 MKI Aircraft from the Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. The guided bomb achieved the desired range and hit the target with high precision. The weapon system is capable of carrying different warheads. The test firing of the guided bomb came two days after the Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test fired the aerial version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The 2.5 tonne air-to-surface missile has a range of around 300 km, and it will significantly enhance the IAF’s combat capability. The BrahMos cruise missile travels at a speed of Mach 2.8, nearly three times that of sound.

Notes:
In Ukraine, comedian and political newcomer Volodymyr Zelensky has been sworn-in as the new President of war-torn country. He starred in the long-running satirical drama ‘Servant of the People’ in which his character accidentally becomes Ukraine’s president. He plays a teacher who is elected after his expletive-laden rant about corruption goes viral on social media. He ran under a political party with the same name as his show. With no previous political experience, Mr Zelensky’s campaign focused on his difference from the other candidates rather than on any concrete policy ideas. Despite this, he stormed to victory and won 73% of the vote.

Notes:
Cardiologist Prof. Balram Bhargava has won the 2019 Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva. He bagged the award for his achievements as a clinician, innovator, researcher and trainer. Prof. Bhargava is the Director-General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). His passion to know how things work, and to make them work, has resulted in a long list of innovative medical devices – affordable, created and applied in India. In cooperation with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a devoted follower group of more than 100 young innovators, his work on developing low-cost devices is already saving thousands of lives.

Notes:
Rahi Sarnobat booked an Olympic quota place for India at World Cup rifle pistol stage in Munich, Germany by winning gold in women’s 25m pistol event. Asian Games champion Rahi clinched her career’s second World Cup Gold, which helped India win its sixth quota place in shooting for 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Now, India tops the Munich World Cup medals tally with three gold. China is at 2nd position with one gold, one silver and three bronze.

Notes:
The commandant of the Indian Army Infantry School, Lieutenant General Shailesh Tinaikar has been appointed as the new Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). He succeeded Lieutenant General Frank Kamanzi of Rwanda who completes his assignment on May 26. India is the fourth largest contributor of uniformed personnel to the UN peacekeeping missions, and currently contributes more than 6,400 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, the Middle East, South Sudan and the Western Sahara. India is the second highest troop contributing country to UNMISS with 2,337 Indian peacekeepers, second only to Rwanda with 2,750. In addition, India currently contributes 22 police personnel to UNMISS.

Notes:
The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers is observed every year on May 29 to pay tribute to the invaluable contribution by the uniformed and civilian personnel and to honour more than 3,800 peacekeepers who have lost their lives while rendering peacekeeping services. The 2019 theme is “Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace”. This is the date when in 1948 the first UN peacekeeping mission named the “United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), began operations in Palestine. Since then, more than one million men and women have served in 72 UN peacekeeping operations, directly impacting the lives of millions of people, protecting the world’s most vulnerable and saving countless lives. India is the 4th largest troop contributor to the UN peacekeeping missions. UN peacekeeping has helped countries move from war to peace. At present, India contributes about 6,400 peacekeepers to various missions across the world.

Notes:
Murray Gell-Mann (89), a Jewish American physicist who theorized the existence of the quark and won a Nobel Prize for his method of classifying particles, has passed away in New Mexico on May 24, 2019. He transformed physics by devising a method for sorting subatomic particles into simple groups of eight, based on electric charge, spin and other characteristics. He called his method the “eightfold way” after the Buddhist Eightfold Path to enlightenment. Later he developed the theory that identified “quarks,” indivisible components of Earth’s matter that make up protons, neutrons and other particles.

Notes:
The scientists at the Stanford University in the US have developed a more stable prosthetic foot which they say could make challenging terrain more manageable for people who have lost a lower leg. The new design has a kind of tripod foot that responds to rough terrain by actively shifting pressure between three different contact points. Prosthetic emulators allow them to try lots of different designs without the overhead of new hardware. According to the study published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, prosthetic limbs can better handle the rough ground. Outfitted with position sensors and motors, the foot could adjust its orientation to respond to varying terrain, much as someone with an intact foot could move their toes and flex their ankles to compensate while walking over rough ground.