Current Affairs Quiz- September, 2019

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:
Film star Govinda has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Madhya Pradesh to promote the state’s traditions and tourist places. It is state government’s intention that the message about the state’s traditions and tourist destinations should reach the masses. The Kamal Nath government has also plans to set up a film city in the state and plans to promote Madhya Pradesh as a destination for film making.

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:
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:
On 24th September 2019, the Gandhi Solar Park (GSP) and the ‘Gandhi Peace Garden’ have inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with others world leaders at UN headquarters. On the occasion, a special UN Postage on Mahatma Gandhi’s 150 years also released.  The GSP is a first-of-its-kind symbolic Indian effort at the UN that highlights India’s willingness to go beyond the talk on climate change and climate action. While, the  Peace Garden is dedicated in the memory of Gandhi and is a crowd-sourced project, with people adopting trees in the memory of their loved ones. Mr. Modi  was also conferred the “Global Goalkeeper” award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by his government.

Notes:
The 17-year old Payal Jangid from Rajasthan has become the first Indian to win the Goalkeepers Global Goals Changemaker Award by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in New York. She  was recognised for her campaign to end child labour and child marriage. Jangid, who fought against her own marriage at a young age, work towards the abolition of child marriage in her village “Hinsla”, which is a child-friendly village (Bal Mitra Gram), and other neighbouring villages. Her campaign includes organizing rallies, putting up posters, paining walls and going door-to-door to speak to families on the same.

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 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 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.