Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

Notes:
Dr. Pramod Kumar Mishra, a Gujarat cadre IAS officer belonging to the 1972 batch, has been appointed as the new Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with effect from September 11. He succeeded Nripendra Misra. Prior to this appointment, he was the additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister and was holding the rank of a Cabinet minister.

Notes:
Rajasekar (61), the veteran Tamil actor, cinematographer and director, has passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 8th September 2019.  He also acted in a number of successful television serials and he became popular for his role in the popular daily – Saravanan Meenatchi.

Notes:
The International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer is observed every year on 16th of September  to commemorate the date of the signing of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer in 1987. The 2019 theme ‘32 Years and Healing’ celebrated over 3 decades of remarkable international cooperation to protect the ozone layer and the climate under the Montreal Protocol. It reminds us that we must keep up the momentum to ensure healthy people and a healthy planet.

Notes:
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh has been conferred the Dr Kalam Smriti International Excellence Award 2019 in Dhaka for her vision of a peaceful and prosperous South Asia, free of tension, conflicts and terrorism. It acknowledged her contribution to fostering cooperation between India and Bangladesh. The award has been instituted in the memory of former Indian President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. It is given every year to honour statesmen or leaders who have shown excellence in their fields to achieve the best for their countries

Notes:
Recently, a unique exercise of re-habitating deer population has been started in the Kodiakkarai Wild Life sanctuary in Tamil Nadu. This follows up-gradation works being undertaken at the cost of Rs 8 crores in the Sivagangai Gardens of Thanjavoor under the smart city scheme of the Central government. The graceful deers have been transported by using special trucks to Kodiyakkarai, in Vedaranyam district on the shores of the Bay of Bengal.

Notes:
The World Bamboo Day (WBD) is celebrated every year on on 18th of September by the World Bamboo Organization to generate awareness about conserving and promoting the bamboo industry. India is the world’s second-largest cultivator of bamboo after China with over 130 species. In the Budget presented in Parliament on July 2019, Government of India (GoI) focused on reviving traditional industries such as bamboo, khadi and honey, through a cluster-based approach. It will be done under the Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries (SFURTI), which aims to organise such industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive.

Notes:
The book titled “The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of their Senas” is written by journalist-author Dhaval Kulkarni.  The book is a deep-dive narrative into the history of the Thackeray family, life and times of their grandfather, social reformer-author Prabodhankar Thackeray, and the childhood and political careers of Uddhav and Raj Thackeray. It also examines questions about identity politics, and the social, cultural and economic matrix that catalyzed the formation of the Shiv Sena and the MNS from it. 

Notes:
The Airtel Payments Bank has launched the Bharosa Savings Account to deepen the financial inclusion in the country. It has been designed to serve the unique needs of under-banked and unbanked population of India. The account offers free Personal Accident Insurance cover worth Rs 5 Lakhs on maintaining a balance of just Rs 500 along with one debit transaction per month. Customers will be also eligible for cashback – if they decide to receive government subsidies in their Bharosa Account or if they make cash deposits in it.

Notes:
The Telangana government has decided to declare 2020 as Year of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by organizing various activities related to the emerging technology. The state government has also signed pact with NITI Aayog, which released the ‘National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence’ to run pilot projects in the state.

Notes:
The first-ever World Patient Safety Day (WPSD) is observed on 17th of September to raise global awareness about patient safety and encourage global solidarity and action. The theme of the very first WPSD is “Patient Safety: a global health priority” and the slogan is “Speak up for Patient Safety!”.