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:
Director Zoya Akhtar’s musical drama film “Gully Boy” has been named as India’s official entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category to the 92nd Academy Awards (Oscars 2020). The movie chronicled the story of Mumbai’s street rappers and was said to loosely based on rapper Naezy’s life. 

Notes:
At Dubai, the world’s first camel hospital is all set to expand its facilities by an additional 50% in response to the increase in demand for its services. It is a unique hospital catering specifically to the needs of the burgeoning camel industry that has been flourishing and growing by leaps and bounds over the past few years. The aim of the hospital is to contribute significantly to the Research and Development (R&D) of camel medicine as part of increasing the global body of therapeutic knowledge related to the desert animal. Camels are an integral part of the United Arab Emirate (UAE)’s heritage. Historically, camels, known as the ‘Ship of the Desert’ were a source of transport as well as food and milk in the region.

Notes:
The Union Science and Technology (S&T) and Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has recently launched ‘UMMID (Unique Methods of Management and treatment of Inherited Disorders)’ initiative to tackle inherited genetic diseases of newborn babies. The aim of the new initiative is to create awareness about genetic disorders amongst clinicians and establish molecular diagnostics in hospitals so that the benefits of developments in medical genetics could reach patients. 

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has launched a month-long Swachhata hi Seva Abhiyan from 25th September to till October 25 against the single-use plastic. The campaign will encourage alternatives by eliminating single-use plastic and non-standard polythene in markets, malls and shops etc. The aim of the campaign is to administer oath to at least 50 lakh citizens against the use of single-use plastic. Through this campaign, the government has targeted to reach 2 crore urban population so that they can be made aware to single used the plastic-free city as well as to celebrate plastic-free Deepawali. People will also be made aware to use cloth bags in the campaign. The competition will be organized in the market places at the district level to free the markets from single used plastic. 

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:
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:
Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat has become the new chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC). He succeeded IAF chief – Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa. The COSC is consists of chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and the senior most member is appointed its chairperson. The Chairman of COSC is tasked with ensuring synergy among the three services and evolves common strategy to deal with external security challenges facing the country.

Notes:
The National Tourism Awards 2017-18 were recently presented by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on the occasion of World Tourism Day (WTD-2019). In it, Andhra Pradesh has bagged 3 national tourism awards in different categories viz. ‘Best State for comprehensive development of tourism’, ‘Excellence in publishing in English’ and the ‘Best tourist-friendly Railway Station (Visakhapatnam). Goa and Madhya Pradesh were the joint winners in the Adventure Tourism category and Uttarakhand won the award for the Best Film Promotion-Friendly State. Telangana won the award for the Best State for the innovative use of IT.

Notes:
Actor Madhuri Dixit has been chosen as goodwill ambassador by the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) in Maharashtra to create awareness among people about the importance of voting. The State Assembly polls are scheduled for October 21 and results will be declared on October 24. She will be seen in a video titled ‘Let’s Vote” speaking about the democratic process and role of voters in the development of the country.