Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2019

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 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in collaboration with the Union Health Ministry has recently launched the first-ever website and mobile application “e-Dantseva” on oral health awareness. The digital platform will provide oral health information gathered from authentic scientific resources and connect the people to timely advise for managing any dental emergency or oral health problem. It contains information about the National Oral Health Programme (NOHP), a detailed list of all the dental facility and colleges, Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material and a unique feature called the ‘Symptom Checker’. The website also provides GPRS route and satellite images of the facility for easier access to the people.

Notes:
The book titled “How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need” has been authored by founder of Microsoft Corporation and American philanthropist Bill Gates. In the book, Gates will explain why he cares so deeply about climate change and what makes him optimistic that the world can prevent the worst impacts of the climate crisis. The book will hit the stands on June 24, 2020.

Notes:
Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel participated in 2019 BRICS Culture Ministers’ meetingheld in Curitiba, Brazil. He reaffirmed India’s commitment to contribute towards strengthening bonds between member countries and also proposed to add literature as another field of cooperation between the countries to enhance cooperation in the field of literary works.

Notes:
The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction  (IDDR) is observed every year on 13th of October to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. The 2019 theme “Reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption of basic services” is based on Target (d) of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030: ‘Substantially reduce disaster damage to critical infrastructure and disruption services, among them health and education facilities, including through developing their resilience by 2030’.

Notes:
National award winning director Atanu Ghosh’s upcoming Bengali film ‘Binisutoy’ (Without strings) has been selected for International Film Festival of Kerala. The movie tells the story of how two strangers meet at the audition of a game show, become friends and try to find out the meaning of their lives through some strange pattern of existence. Besides ‘Binisutoy’, the six other films selected in the ‘Indian Cinema Now’ section of the festival are Anandi Gopal (Marathi), Axone (Hindi/English), Mai Ghat: Crime No 103/2005) (Marathi), Hellaro (Gujarati), Market/Lewduh (Khasi), and The Funeral/Ram Prasad Ki Tehrvi (Hindi). Every year, Indian Cinema Now of prestigious International Film Festival of Kerala features only 7 noteworthy Indian films.

Notes:
Air India has become the first airline in the world to use a Taxibot on a A-320 aircraft with passengers on board. Taxibot is a robot-used aircraft tractor for taxiing an aircraft from parking bay to runway and vice-versa. Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani flagged off flight AI665 and it was carried to runway using Taxibot at Terminal 3 of the Delhi Airport – to Mumbai. It is a pilot controlled semi-robotic towbar-less aircraft tractor used as alternate taxiing equipment.

Notes:
Indian shuttler Priyanshu Rajawat has won the men’s singles title at the 2019 Bahrain International Series Badminton at Isa Town. He beat top-seed Jason Anthony Ho-Shue from Canada in the finals 16-21, 21-7, 21-12 in the summit clash. Top-seeded Indian mixed double pair of Juhi Dewangan and Venkat Gaurav Prasad also finished at the top. In women’s singles, Ira Sharma finished second best.

Notes:
I&B Secretary Amit Khare,  an IAS officer of 1985 batch from Jharkhand cadre, has been given the additional charge of Secretary of Department of School Education and Literacy in Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD). The Department of Higher Education is in charge of secondary and post-secondary education. It is empowered to grant deemed university status to educational institutions on the advice of the University Grants Commission (UGC) under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act of 1956.

Notes:
The 3rd edition of the Shirui Lily Festival 2019 has recently started at Shirui Vangayan Ground of Ukhrul in Manipur. The 4-day state festival was inaugurated  by Union Tourism Minister  Prahlad Singh Patel along with State Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. Folk dances and folk songs of different ethnic groups and performance by rock bands are the main attractions of the Festival which will showcase the rich cultural heritage of the State.