Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

Notes:
Indian wrestler Rahul Aware has won a bronze in men’s 61Kg free-style category at the 2019 World Championship in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. However, this was not an Olympic category and thus the bronze did not help Aware qualify for the Tokyo Games. It was India’s fifth medal at this edition of the World Championships with a total haul of 1 silver and 4 bronzes. In the ongoing event, Deepak Punia  in men’s 86kg category was forced to pull out of the final due to an injury and settled for silver.

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:
During the 52nd IAAF Congress at Doha, Indian track and field legend PT Usha has been honoured with a IAAF Veteran Pin by the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) in recognition of her contribution to the growth of the sport. She is often called the “queen of track and field”. At the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, Usha won silver in 100m and 200m events. At the Asian Championships in Kuwait City in 1983, she won gold in 400m. In the 1985 Jakarta Asian Championships, Usha won six medals – five gold and a bronze.

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:
The 5th edition of India International Science Festival (IISF- 2019)   will be held at Kolkata with theme “RISEN India – Research, Innovation, and Science Empowering the Nation” from 5th to 8th November. The event expects to host a gathering of approximately 12,000 participants from India and abroad.

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:
Japan has successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft “Kounotori8” towards the International Space Station (ISS) from the Tanegashima Space Center at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in southwestern Japan. The acronym ‘Kounotori8’ stands for “white stork” in Japanese & intends to deliver about 5.3 tonnes of supplies to astronauts at the ISS.

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 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.