Current Affairs Quiz- November, 2019

Notes:
Wildlife biologist Dr. K Ullas Karanth has been conferred the George Schaller Lifetime Award in Wildlife Conservation Science for his contribution to the field of conservation. He is the first recipient of the award instituted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) of New York in honour of Dr. George Schaller, who is considered one of the greatest wildlife scientists and conservationists globally. Dr.Karanth is the Director of Centre for Wildlife Studies (Bengaluru). His area of research and study focused on the ecology of tigers, sympatric predators and other large mammals, predator-prey population ecology, and mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts.

Notes:
The UN Women has proposed to partner with Kerala’s Gender Park to take forward projects and campaigns aimed at securing gender parity in South Asia. The aim of partnership is to make The Gender Park (a gender equity and empowerment initiative)  as the South Asian hub of UN Women. The 3-key areas of co-operation of the partnership will be setting up of the Gender Data Centre at The Gender Park in Kozhikode, holding events during the 64th session of Commission on Status of Women (CSW64) in March 2020 and 75th session of UN General Assembly in September 2020 and launch of a focused campaign called 16 Days of Activism in Kerala from November 25 to December 10, 2019. This partnership marks recognition of Kerala’s long and hard campaigns and policy initiatives to achieve gender justice and parity.  

Notes:
Sri Lanka has become the first South Asian nation to criminalize several offences related to match-fixing after it passed a bill labelled “Prevention of Offences Related to Sports” in which offences related to corruption in sports will carry a prison term of up to 10 years, as well as various fines. The legislation not only seeks to punish any person related to a sport who is directly involved in fixing, but also those who provide inside information. If a curator prepares a pitch to benefit betting operators or any other ground staff or support staff receives money or any other reward to disclose the condition of the playing surface comes under the ambit of a criminal offence. 

Notes:
Nita Ambani, the founder and chairperson of the Reliance Foundation, has been named an honorary trustee of “The Metropolitan Museum of Art”. This decision was taken due to her commitment to preserve and encourage Indian art and culture. She is the first Indian to be so honoured on the museum’s Board of Trustees in its nearly 150-year history.

Notes:
The 2019 World Kabaddi Cup is being organized by the Punjab government i.e. scheduled to be held from December 1 to 9. This year’s tournament would be dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Sikh guru – Guru Nanak Dev ji. Nine teams — India, USA, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan and Canada — are expected to take part in the tournament.

Notes:
The Suranga Bawadi is an integral part of the ancient Karez system of supplying water through subterranean tunnels built during Adil Shahi era in Vijayapura, Karnataka. It is in news recently because Bawadi has been selected as the World Monument Watch List for 2020 by the New York-based non-governmental organisation under the category of “Ancient Water System of the Deccan Plateau” along with 24 monuments across the world. Now, the unique underground water system in Vijayapura will receive funds for restoration work. According to historians, the Karez system was built in the 16th century by Ali Adil Shah–I & his successor Ibrahim Adil Shah–II brought in several changes by adding more structures to strengthen it.

Notes:
Ravi Prakash, a PhD scholar of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI- Bengaluru), has won the $25,000 BRICS-Young Innovator Prize for inventing an affordable indigenous milk chilling unit for smaller and marginal rural dairy farmers. Prakash was a part of 21-member delegation sent to Brazil by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) for the 4th BRICS-Young Scientist Forum (YSF- 2019).

Notes:
Renowned mathematician Vashishtha Narayan Singh passed away in Patna on 14th November 2019. Born in 1942 in Basantpur village of the Bhojpur district in Bihar, Singh became a legend as a student when he was allowed by Patna University to appear in the two-year course of B.Sc (Hons) in Mathematics in its very first year.

Notes:
The first-ever international buyer seller meet on agriculture and horticulture produce has started at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. As per the Union Ministry of Agriculture, this event is part of the initiative of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) to bring the North-Eastern states of India on the export map.The 10 International buyers from 7 countries of Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, UAE, Sultanate of Oman and Greece participated in the meet and interacted with exporters.

Notes:
Pakistan has become the first country in the world to introduce WHO-approved Typhoid Conjugate Vaccine (TCV)  into its routine immunisation programme through a campaign mode in Sindh. Its an effort to combat a drug-resistant strain of the potentially fatal disease in the Sindh province. The two-week campaign has been launched with the support of Geneva-based Gavi vaccine alliance. The TCV is a one-dose vaccine, injected intramuscularly, that is lower in cost and has higher efficacy. It is expected to provide long lasting immunity in adults, children and infants older than 9 months of age. Typhoid is a highly contagious disease that spreads quickly when people live in crowded neighbourhoods with weak water and sanitation infrastructure.