Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2019

Notes:
India has been ranked 102nd out of 117 nations at the 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI) that tracks hunger and malnutrition. The GHI is a peer-reviewed annual report, which is jointly published by Ireland’s Concern Worldwide and Germany’s Welthungerhilfe. It scores countries on a 100-point “severity scale”, where zero is the best score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. With a score of 30.3, India suffers from a level of hunger that is serious threat.

Notes:
The Culture Department of Uttar Pradesh government has decided to organise India’s first training and performance programme of world famous KHON (खोन) Ramlila. The artists will get training from experts of Thailand as part of cultural exchange programme between two nations. Then, they will perform at Grand Deepotsav function which will be organised on 26th of October 2019 in Ayodhya. The KHON Ramlila of Thailand is included in the list of UNESCO’s Intangible cultural heritage and it’s a form of masked dance depicting the scenes of Ramlila. It has no dialogues and background voices narrate the whole story of Ramayana. KHON Ramlila’s performance is also a visual delight famous for its beautiful attire and golden masks

Notes:
The 129th death anniversary of the mystic bard Fakir Lalon Shah is observed in Bangladesh on October 17, 2019. The devotees of Lalon from across the country and the world have congregated at the shrine to participate in the 3-day-long programme which is being organised by the Lalon academy and the culture ministry of Bangladesh. Lalon is believed to be born in 1774 though no written records exist. He died in 1890. His songs talk about humanism, love and equality going beyond the limitations imposed by religion, caste and creed.  His contemporary Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore got some of his songs transcribed and published.

Notes:
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is celebrated every year on October 17 for eradication of poverty. The day also reflects the willingness of people living in poverty to use their expertise to contribute to the eradication of povertyThe 2019 theme is “Acting Together to Empower Children, their Families and Communities to End Poverty”.

Notes:
A Chinese company “Sam Enterprise Group” has signed a secretive deal with the  government of the Solomon Islands to lease an entire Tulagi island for up to 75 years but the status of the lease remains unclear since it is a non-binding agreement. The deal was signed just a few days after the Solomon Islands abandoned Taiwan and began diplomatically recognizing Chinese aid and investment to flow. The purpose of the deal is to establish a Pacific military base on a strategic gateway to Australia. The island of Tulagi served as a South Pacific headquarters for Britain and then Japan. It is the site of a former Japanese naval base and was the scene of fierce fighting in World War II.

Notes:
The book “Dark Fear, Eerie Cities: New Hindi Cinema in Neo-liberal India” has been authored by Sarunas Paunksnis. The book analyses the wide array of films made in the early 21st century to offer a philosophical and psychoanalytical critique of the transforming cinematic imaginary – from the pre-1990s feudal family ideal to the contemporary construction of the new middle class’s subjectivities in the post-colonial context.

Notes:
India will host the 91st Interpol General Assembly in the year 2022 after a proposal received the overwhelming support of member countries at the 2019 congregation at Santinago in Chile. The 91st Interpol General Assembly (IGA-2022) will be held as part of celebrations of the 75th anniversary of Indian Independence. Based in Lyon, France, Interpol (International Criminal Police Organisation) has 194 member states and 100 years of experience of international cooperation in policing.  The organisation has 90-million records spread across 17 databases.

Notes:
In Washington DC, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led the Indian delegation at G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as well as the BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meetings on the side-lines of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings. The focus of discussions in the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting was on the current challenges to the global economy and possible responses to mitigate them.

Notes:
In Jakarta, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has been sworn-in for a second and final 5-year term with a pledge to take bolder actions in the course of a string of fresh challenges around security, corruption and economic slowdown. Widodo clinched victory with 55.5% of the vote in the April presidential election.

Notes:
India’s first plant to convert paddy straw into Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) will come up  at Gharaunda village in Karnal, Haryana. The biogas generated at the Indra Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) ‘s plant will be used as CNG in vehicles and as piped cooking gas and help fight menace of stubble burning in fields.  The plant is estimated to be completed by May 2020. It will  have the capacity to convert stubble generated from  20,000 acres in a year into gas, which will then be sourced by IGL for its City Gas Distribution (CGD) network in Karnal. This unit has been set up by Ajay Bio-Energy Pvt Ltd under ‘SATAT’ (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) scheme on CBG launched by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.