Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2019

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:
Kalidas Karmakar (73), an internationally acclaimed painter of Bangladesh, has passed away in Dhaka on 18th October 2019. Kalidas was prolific in using new mediums and style for his art work while maintaining his signature style. He called his work alluvial art meaning the art of the delta land which gave expression to the precarious nature of the alluvial land and its people, their struggles and hopes. Karmakar also experimented with performance art which combined artist’s body as an object of art along with his paintings.

Notes:
SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar has been appointed as the new chairman of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) for 2019-20. He succeeded Sunil Mehta, who was the MD & CEO of Punjab National Bank (PNB). The IBA represents banks’ interests with the government and regulators.

Notes:
Bengal Warriors became the champions of Vivo Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 7. In the final, they defeated Dabang Delhi by 39-34 at the EKA Arena by TransStadia in Ahmedabad. This is Bengal’s first PKL title.

Notes:
Indian cyclist Ronaldo Singh has won gold in the men’s junior Keirin event at the 2019 Asian Track Cycling Championships at Incheon in South Korea. Apart from Ronaldo, James Singh clinched a bronze medal in the same event. India also secured 2 bronze medals in men’s and women’s Jr. sprint team.

Notes:
Indian sprinter Dutee Chand has won the  Sportsperson of the Year 2019 in the 3rd edition of the Vogue Women Of The Year awards. Besides winning the prestigious honour, Dutee will also feature on the cover of Vogue India’s November 2019 edition. Dutee broke the national record in the 100-metre event at the National Open Athletics Championships in Ranchi Ocrober 11. Besides her record-breaking feats on the track, she is also considered as India’s first openly gay athlete.

Notes:
The Data Security Council of India (DSCI)  in partnership with  National Cyber Security Coordinator’s office has recently launched national repository ‘TechSagar’ to facilitate new opportunities for businesses and academia to collaborate, connect and innovate, in future. The TechSagar provides insights about capabilities of more than 4000 entities from industry, academia and research across 25 technology areas like Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, blockchain, cloud and virtualization, robotics and Automation and more. The online portal also allows one to sort startups by filtering the technology they work on, their headquarters.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has formed a committee to resolve differences between the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) over who will implement its ambitious Artificial Intelligence (AI) mission. The committee will be headed by principal scientific advisor K Vijay Raghavan and represented by the secretary in the department of science and technology, the CEO of NITI Aayog and secretary of MeitY.

Notes:
Praveen Kumar has become the first Indian man to win gold in the 48kg category at the  15th Wushu World Championships. In the final, he beat Russel Diaz of Philippines in the men’s Sanda event in Shanghai. Wushu is a Chinese martial art which combines full-contact kickboxing, including close-range punches and kicks, with wrestling, takedowns, throws, sweeps and kicks catch.

Notes:
India has been ranked 32nd among 39 nations at the 2019 Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index (MMGPI). The index is based on how they fare on providing pension and retirement benefits to citizens across different income groups. India’s index value increased largely due to the improvement in all three sub-indices of adequacy, sustainability and integrity. As per the index, the improvement was due to slight increase in scores across various dimensions, including net household savings, greater flexibility in managing retirement and part time work, steady progress in governance and reporting around private pension plans.