Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

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:
The World Resources Institute (WRI) has recently released a report titled “Reducing Food Loss and Waste” with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation. The report has quantified global food wastage — nearly one-third of the food i.e. produced each year goes uneaten, costing the global economy over $940 billion. The uneaten food is responsible for emitting about 8% of planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Some of these actions include developing national strategies for food loss and waste reduction, creating national public-private partnerships, launch supply chain initiatives, reducing small-holder losses and shifting consumer social norms. The WRI is a global research non-profit organization that was established in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation under the leadership of James Gustave Speth. Its headquarters is located at Washington, United States.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be honoured with the prestigious ‘ 2019 Global Goalkeeper Award’ by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for his leadership and commitment to his ambitious pet project “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA)” on 24th September 2019. The Prime Minister will also address global leaders and corporate executives at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum during his visit here for the high-level UN General Assembly (UNGA) session. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA), which was launched on 2nd October 2014, is a nationwide initiative aimed to inspire the public to voluntarily clean public spaces as a service to the nation. The aim of the campaign is to achieve the vision of a ‘Clean India’ by 2nd October 2019. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a private foundation owned by billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates.

Notes:
The World Coconut Day (WCD) is observed every year on 2nd of September to increase coconut farming with focus on productivity and product diversification. The day is also celebrated to commemorate the formation day of Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC). In India, the day is celebrated every year under the aegis of Coconut Development Board (CDB) in various coconut growing states across the country. The 2019 theme is ‘Coconut for Family Wellness’. The APCC is an inter-governmental organisation of 18- member countries mandated to promote, coordinate, and harmonise coconut developmental activities of the Asian Pacific region.

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 Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has partnered with State Bank of India (SBI) for direct transfer of benefits electronically into bank accounts of all stakeholders. As per pact, SBI will provide e-payment services directly to bank accounts of all ESIC beneficiaries and payees without any manual intervention as an integrated and automated process. The bank would provide e-payment integration with the enterprise resource planning processes of ESIC through its cash management product e-payment technology platform. The e-payment integration would effect statutory benefit payments to ESIC beneficiaries as well as other payees on real time basis, reducing time lags and delays and at the same time, help eliminate mistakes and errors caused by repetitive and manual data entries. 

Notes:
Kiran Nagarkar (77), the acclaimed English-Marathi novelist and playwright, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on 5th September 2019. He was known for his works  such as ”Saat Sakkam Trechalis” (Seven Sixes Are Forty Three) (1974), ”Ravan and Eddie” (1994) and the epic English novel ”Cuckold” (1997). He  released his latest novel ”Jasoda” in November 2017.

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.

Notes:
Abdul Qadir Khan (63), Pakistan’s master leg-spinner, has passed away in Lahore on 7th September 2019. He played in 67 Tests and 104 ODIs had a total 368 wickets in his international career. Cricket pundits and writers believe that his biggest achievement was to keep the art of wrist spin alive during the eras of the 70s and 80s when fast bowlers dominated world cricket. 

Notes:
Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has kick-started POSHAN Maah (nutrition month) 2019 with a year-long social and mass media campaign on the Eat Right India movement. This movement is aligned with the government’s flagship public health programmes such as POSHAN Abhiyaan, Anemia Mukt Bharat, Ayushman Bharat Yojana and Swachh Bharat Mission. Dr. Vardhan also launched the new Eat Right India logo that represents a healthy plate, an online eat right quiz and online course for frontline health.