Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

Notes:
Young shooter Yashaswini Singh Deswal from Delhi has recently won gold in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event at the ISSF World Cup at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. With the win, she has also secured an Olympic quota for India. This is India’s 9th quota in shooting for 2020 Tokyo Games. World no.1 Olena Kostevych of Ukraine claimed the silver, while Serbia’s Jasmina Milavonovic bagged the bronze in the ongoing event.

Notes:
In Delhi, a cultural event ‘Namaste Pacific’ was recently jointly organised by the High Commissions of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji to showcase in India the culture of the Pacific countries. Aaradhna, a multi-award-winning R&B and soul artist from New Zealand, performed with her band. Aaradhna is part Indian and part Samoan and has to her credit four individual albums. Traditional masks and artefacts from Papua New Guinea and Pacific Green furniture and other products from Fiji were also displayed. There was also showcase of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and Pollinate Energy based in Australia, Nepal and India, and solar lanterns from Barefoot College in Rajasthan.

Notes:
The Government of Bangladesh has signed an agreement with Reliance Power of India to set up 750 Mega Watt gas-based power plant in Meghnahat near Dhaka. The construction of the plant will be completed by 2022 and its estimated cost is one billion dollars. Under the agreement, Bangladesh will purchase electricity from the project for a period of 22 years at a pre-decided tariff rate equivalent to 5.85 Takas per unit at a total cost of approximately 8 billion dollars. Apart from this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has also been signed with Petro Bangla to set up 500 Million standard cubic feet per day LNG terminal at Kutubdia Island near Chittagong in Bangladesh.

Notes:
Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Prahalad Singh Patel has inaugurated the first-ever architectural LED illumination at the historic Qutb Minar in New Delhi. With the illumination, the architectural beauty of the 12th century monument will display its historic magesty after sunset. The new illumination comprises lighting that accentuates the silhouette of the monument with the interplay of light and shade. The duration of illumination will be from 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM daily with a monthly cost of Rs16,615/- which comes out merely to Rs 1,99,388/- for a year. The aim to illuminate the historic monuments is to showcase monuments during late evenings & to enhance the visitor experience. The Qutb Minar is a UNESCO World Heritage Site & is one of most visited historical site in the national capital.

Notes:
Sunil Arora, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, has recently assumed Chairmanship of Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB) for the term 2019-21 as India takes over the Chair from Romania. He succeeded Lon Mincu Radulescu. The AWEB Flag was handed over to the new Chairman, Sunil Arora and it will remain with Election Commission of India (ECI) for the 2 year term till 2021. More than 110 delegates from 45 countries attended the meeting. A-WEB is the first global organization of election management bodies, and the membership currently consists of 97 organizations from 94 countries. The constituent units of the A-WEB are the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) of different countries, structured to work together and learn from the experiences and best practices from one another.

Notes:
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has recently confirmed the presence of tigers in high-altitude regions of Sikkim, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Arunachal Pradesh in a study submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment. The Ministry will use a study on the status of tiger habitats in high altitude ecosystems to have a high altitude tiger master plan. The report provides the action strategy for a high altitude tiger master plan with gainful portfolio for local communities and ensuring centrality of tiger conservation in development, through an effective coordination mechanism, involving stakeholders and line departments operating within the landscape. The study is led by the Global Tiger Forum (GTF) with range country governments of Bhutan, India and Nepal. It is also supported by the Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHPC) of the IUCN and KfW (German Development Bank). The GTF is the only intergovernmental and international body established with members from willing countries to embark on a global campaign to protect the Tiger. Its headquarters is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
The 15th edition of the joint military exercise “Yudh Abhyas 2019” is being conducted between India and United States at Joint Base Lewis Mc Chord in Washington, USA from 05-18 September. It is one of the largest joint running military training and defence corporation endeavors between India and USA. The exercise will provide an opportunity to the armed forces of both countries to train in an integrated manner at Battalion level with joint planning at Brigade level. Both armies will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed operations for neutralization of threats of varied nature.

Notes:
The Gujarat Government has recently signed the Sister State MoU with elaware State of America in Gandhinagar.  This is the first sister state MoU signed by Gujarat with any state of America. According to official sources, cooperation in the field of services and investment opportunities in GIFT IFSC have also been discussed during the meeting. The sectors like Biotechnology University, bio sciences, financial services, animal husbandry and dairy, port services have been short listed for future cooperation.

Notes:
The World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2019 has been released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). In it, India has moved up six places to rank 34th because of its rich natural and cultural resources and strong price competitiveness.  Spain topped the index, followed by France, Germany, Japan and the United States. The index covered 140 economies & measures the set of factors and policies that enable sustainable development of travel and tourism sector which contributes to the development and competitiveness of a country. 

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the first Indian premier to visit the Far East Russia in Vladivostok. He attended the 20th India-Russia annual summit with President Putin and announced $1 billion loan for the development of Far East region. Mr. Modi also attended 5th Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). The forum focuses on development of business and investment opportunities in the Russian Far East Region, and presents enormous potential for developing close and mutually beneficial cooperation between India and Russia in the region.