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:
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:
In Guwahati, the Assam Government has rolled out a housing loan subsidy scheme – Aponar Apon Ghar – where in financial relief will be provided towards purchase or construction of the first house for the family. The subsidy up to Rs 2.50 lakh will be provided for loan amounts from  Rs 5 to Rs 40 Lakh. This move will boost the demand and led to the expansion of real estate in the state.

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:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the first-ever India-Caricom summit in New York with a focus on fighting climate change and increasing India’s participation with the grouping. Mr Modi announced a $14 million US dollar grant for community development projects in the Caricom and another $150 million line of credit for solar, renewable energy and climate change related projects. The Caricom grouping has 15 members-states and 5 associate members. Mr. Modi also invited them to join the International Solar Alliance (IAS) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.

Notes:
Italian journalist Paolo Borrometi, who was assaulted over his coverage of mafia activity in Sicily and now living under police protection, has won the prestigious 2019 Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism.   

Notes:
As per latest IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019 (WDCR), India has been ranked at 44th position in terms of digital competitiveness in the world as the country has made improvement in terms of knowledge and future readiness to adopt and explore digital technologies. The ranking measures the capacity and readiness of 63 nations to adopt and explore digital technologies as a key driver for economic transformation in business, government and wider society.  

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:
The National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has recently discovered 30 reels of unedited footage on Mahatma Gandhi that amounts to almost 6 hours of duration. These 35mm celluloid footages, unedited and stock shots with title cards in between, belonged to several prominent film studios of the time like Paramount, Pathe, Warner, Universal, British Movietone and Wadia Movietone. The major highlight of the discovery is a rare half-an-hour footage that has visuals of a special train carrying Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes, after his assasination on 30th January 1948, from Madras to Rameshwaram. In 1964, the NFAI was established as a media unit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) with headquarters at Pune, Maharashtra.

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.