Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2019

Notes:
Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has flagged off  the nation-wide ‘Fit India Plog run’ at Indira Gandhi stadium in New Delhi to mark 150th Gandhi Jayanti. Plogging is a concept brings together fitness and cleanliness as participants pick up plastic and other waste from the road while jogging. The run is being organised at over two thousand places all over the country including 225 places in the national capital.

Notes:
The Bank of Baroda (BoB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Army under which the bank would offer customised services along with a host of facilities to account holders. The MoU offers handsome free personal accident insurance cover, free air accident insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and an overdraft facility up to 3 times of monthly net salary. The features are also applicable for pensioners of Indian Army up to the age of 70 years.

Notes:
The 2019 edition of World Space Week (WSW) is celebrating the 50th anniversary of humankind’s first step on the Moon on 20th July 1969 with theme “The Moon: Gateway to the Stars” from 4th to 10th October. The theme is devoted to our nearest space neighbor to celebrate the incredible achievement of landing on the Moon and to spark consideration of the value of the Moon in humankind’s future space endeavors.

Notes:
Satyapriya Mohathero (89) was the 2nd highest Buddhist leader of Bangladesh and head of Sima Bihar of Ramu in Cox’s Bazar. He was  passed away in Dhaka on 5th October 2019. He was awarded the second-highest civilian award of Bangladesh Ekushey Padak in 2015 for social work. The Ramu monastery had provided shelter to a large number of people during the Liberation War of Bangladesh 1971 in the face of Pakistani atrocities. However, in September 2012, it suffered massive damage as mobs attacked it, angered by an alleged post on Social Media derogatory to Islam.

Notes:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently launched a new governance initiative ‘Mo Sarkar’ on the occasion of 150th Gandhi Jayanti. The objective of the ‘Mo Sarkar’ is to provide service with dignity to people who are coming to government offices for different purposes. The phone numbers of people who are coming to government offices will be collected randomly with the purpose to improve the governance system by collecting feedback on behaviour and professionalism of government officers. The employees will be ranked as good or bad on the basis of the feedback and those with good rank will get out-of-turn promotion and action will be taken against employees with bad rank.

Notes:
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched the YSR Vahana Mitra welfare scheme under which the owner-driver of an auto-rickshaw (or taxicab) gets Rs 10,000 grant per annum. The amount is meant to meet maintenance expenses, and for obtaining insurance and fitness certificates among other documents.

Notes:
Bahrain sprinter  Salwa Eid Naser has become the first woman athlete from Asia to win the 400m gold in the ongoing IAAF World Athletics Championships (WAC) Doha 2019.  She clocked 48.14 seconds i.e., the third-fastest lap in history and the fastest in 34 years.

Notes:
Indian captain in the shortest format, Harmanpreet Kaur has become the first Indian cricketer to play 100 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) as she took the field against South Africa in Surat on 5th October 2019. She achieved this milestone before MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, who have played 98 T20Is for India. Beside this, she is also the first Indian cricketer – male or female – to sign a Big Bash League contract with Sydney Thunder in Australia. In June 2017, she became the first Indian to sign with Surrey Stars in ECB’s Kia Super League.

Notes:
The “Spirit Of Kerala”, which is directed by Arun Joseph, has become the first Indian short film that bagged the People’s Choice Award at the recently concluded My Rode Reel film competition. It is a short film by a group of Malayali youngsters on Vallamkali (boat racing) that showed the celebration of the spirit of survival in the face of disaster. My Rode Reel film competition is touted as the ‘world’s largest short film competition’.

Notes:
Kadri Gopalnath (69), the well known Saxophone master & Padma Shri awardee, has passed away in Mangaluru on 11th October 2019.  He was considered as a pioneer in playing Carnatic ragas on his Saxophone. His production East-West is a fusion of western and Indian music.