Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

Notes:
The Shondol dance of Ladakh has created history again by breaking into the Guinness book of world records as the largest Ladakhi dance when 408 women artists in traditional dresses performed gracefully the folk dance on the occasion of the 2019 Buddhist carnival ‘Naropa Festival’. The fest was held near the 11th-century world-famous Hemis Monastery in Ladakh & was organised by the Live to Love India, Drukpa Charitable Trust and Young Drukpa Association. Earlier, this famous dance was used to be performed by artists for King of Ladakh on special occasion.

Notes:
The National e-Assessment Centre (NeAC) has been set up by the  Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in the national capital as part of the government’s ambitious plan to launch faceless and nameless assessment for Income Tax  (IT) payers from October 2019. K M Prasad, the 1984-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, has been appointed as the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-tax (PCCIT) of the new Centre.

Notes:
At Nur-Sultan (Astana) in Kazakhsta, the Kerala Tourism has won three prestigious Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold awards viz. for an ethnic food restaurant run by women at Kumarakom under its Responsible Tourism Mission, for an advertisement campaign of Kerala Tourism ‘Come Out and Play’ and for its website (www.keralatourism.org) respectively. The ad campaign was run by Stark Communication & the Kerala Tourism website has been designed and maintained by Invis Multimedia.

Notes:
Mathematician Adam Harper of University of Warwick (England) has been awarded the 2019 SASTRA Ramanujan prize for several outstanding contributions to analytic and probabilistic number theory. The prize carries a citation and an award of $10,000 and is conferred annually on mathematicians from across the world who are less than 32 years of age, working in an area influenced by the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Every year, this prize is awarded by SASTRA University on its campus near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, on Ramanujan’s birth anniversary (December 22).

Notes:
Bhagat Ram Vats (97), a former PTI senior correspondent who covered India’s first Lok Sabha polls, has passed away on 18th September 2019. He started his career with The Statesman, New Delhi, and later joined the Press Trust of India (PTI). He travelled extensively with first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for 14 years & covered his activities in India and abroad, especially his election tours in 1952, 1957 and 1962. Vats authored a book — ‘Foreign Intrigue Against India’ — on different aspects of the country’s Partition and its neighbours.

Notes:
At Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the 6th edition of ”India Water Week (IWW-2019)”, which is organised by Ministry of Jal Shakti with the theme of ”Water cooperation-coping with 21st-century challenge’ . Japan and European Union have been associated as partner countries for this mega event. Under this campaign, the entire Government of India (GoI) machinery of over 1000 senior Central Government officers have joined the States to promote focused interventions for water collection and conservation, including restoration and renovation of traditional water bodies.

Notes:
During the 52nd IAAF Congress at Doha, Sebastian Coe from Britain has been re-elected as president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for a second term for 4 years. Coe is the former Olympic and world champion middle-distance runner. Beside this, Adille Sumariwalla (the President of Athletics Federation of India (AFI)) was re-elected as member of the Council of IAAF for a 2nd four-year term.

Notes:
Infosys has won the prestigious United Nations Global Climate Action Award in the ‘Climate Neutral Now’ category. With this feat, Infosys has become the only corporate from India to earn the recognition for its efforts to combat climate change. The award will be presented to Infosys at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Santiago, Chile on December 2019.   

Notes:
The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is observed every year on 26th of September to provide an occasion for world community to reaffirm its commitment to global nuclear disarmament as high priority.  

Notes:
England wicketkeeper Sarah Taylor, who is regarded as one of the world’s best wicketkeepers, has recently retired from international cricket because of her ongoing battle with anxiety. Sarah made her England debut in 2006 and scored 6,553 international runs. She was also a magnetic keeper behind the stumps, creating waves with her innovative methods that led her to 232 dismissals, the most in women’s cricket. Taylor had previously gone on an indefinite break from cricket after the 2016 World T20 in India before returning for the 2017 World Cup.