Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

Notes:
Ace Indian boxer Amit Panghal settled for a silver at the AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships at Ekaterinburg in Russia. He lost to Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan Zoirov in flyweight (48-52 kg) category. Though, Panghal created history as he became the first Indian male boxer to qualify for the final of the Championships. He has already secured a berth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Notes:
The UK government has launched its biggest peacetime repatriation – Operation Matterhorn – in its history, after British  travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed on 23rd September 2019. Thomas Cook’s administration puts 22,000 jobs at risk worldwide. The corporate bankruptcy left some 6, 00,000 tourists stranded worldwide. The travel company was founded in 1841 by a Derbyshire-based cabinet-maker named Thomas Cook.

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:
Vasai-based Catholic priest Father Francis D’Britto, who is writer and environmentalist, has been elected president of the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan (ABMSS) 2020. He is the first Christian to be elected president of the ABMSS.  Fr. D’Britto is known for serving people beyond the four walls of the Catholic Church & attributed his success to the people who have stood by him for several decades.

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:
The mascot ‘Tikki Mausi’ has been launched by the Odisha government in collaboration with UNICEF to spread awareness about child and woman’s nutrition. The mascot has been named as ‘Tikki Mausi’ in reference to the second mother of a child. The mascot resembles a typical friendly neighbourhood aunty that has words of advice for everyone starting from mothers to children and adolescents.  

Notes:
The West Bengal government has decided to set up a museum at the north Kolkata house of 19th century social reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar where he had spent the last few years of his life. The museum chronicles his life from his birth place at Birsinghapur village in Paschim Medinipur district to the house in north Kolkata. He was a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance and the most prominent campaigner for Hindu widow remarriage.

Notes:
NASA has successfully launched the RamanSat 2 miniature satellite designed by 17-year-old Indian student Aabhaas Sikka. The satellite was developed by Sikka during his internship with SPACE India with help from SPACE Group Founder and CMD Sachin Bahmba along with the company’s research team. It is carrying equipment to measure the radiation from Sun and space.