Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2019

Notes:
In a first of its kind offer from any national carrier, IRCTC will compensate passengers of India’s first corporate train – New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express – in case of delay in the train schedule. An amount of Rs 100 will be paid in case the delay is for over an hour and Rs 250 for delay of over two hours. The latest offer is in addition to the Rs 25-lakh free insurance that will be given to passengers of the train. This travel insurance also includes coverage of Rs 1 lakh against household theft and robbery during travel period of the passengers, which is again a first for those travelling on board trains. The train will be flagged off on October 4.

Notes:
The Union Water Ministry has  excavated an old, dried-up river in Prayagraj (formerly Allahabad) that linked the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. The aim is to develop a newly discovered river as a potential groundwater recharge source. This “ancient buried river” is around 4 km wide, 45 km long and consisted of a 15-metre-thick layer buried under soil. The discovery was made by a team of scientists  from the CSIR-NGRI (National Geophysical Research Institute) & the Central Groundwater Board (CGB) during a helicopter-borne geophysical survey covering the Prayagraj and Kaushambi region in Uttar Pradesh.

Notes:
The Delhi Cabinet has recently approved a Bill to set up India’s first sports university in Delhi, which will offer graduation, post graduation and doctorate degrees in cricket, football, and hockey among other sports. The Delhi Sports University (DSU) is proposed to be set up as a State university and it will have a full-fledged Delhi Sports School (affiliated to the CBSE) for imparting education with emphasis on sports and to groom the students for a career in sports. The university will come up in 90 acres of land in Mundka and there will also be sports schools.

Notes:
The Uttarakhand government has launched an awareness campaign – Urjagiri – to stop power theft & saving. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat  has instructed the officers of UPCL Vigilance Cell to effectively stop the power theft so that honest customers do not have to bear the brunt of the power theft.

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:
England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been named the 2019 PCA (Professional Cricketers’ Association)  Player of the Year award after his splendid show in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and a remarkable unbeaten 135 run to win the third Ashes Test against Australia at Headingley. 

Notes:
Surender Singh of India created three world records at the ongoing 2019 World Powerlifting Championship in Berlin, Germany. Surender bagged gold in 110 kg category, Classic Raw and the Best Lifter Award in Classic Raw and Single Ply. While, 3-time World Champion Mukesh Singh went on to add another feather to his cap by winning yet another gold only to be known as 4-time World Champion.

Notes:
Pakistan pacer Mohammad Hasnain has become the youngest-ever cricketer to take a hat-trick in T20I. He achieved the feat against Sri Lanka in the first Twenty20 international in Lahore.

Notes:
The World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is observed every year on 10th of October by World Federation for Mental Health to raise awareness of the scale of suicide around the world and the role that each of us can play to help prevent it. The 2019 theme is “Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention”.

Notes:
The Nobel Prize 2019 for Chemistry has jointly been awarded to three scientists – John D. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino – for the development of lithium-ion batteries that we use in everyday life from mobile phones to electric vehicles.