Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2024

Notes:
On 31 July 2024, President Droupadi Murmu appointed Preeti Sudan, a 1983 batch IAS officer and former Union Health Secretary, as the new Chairperson of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), succeeding Dr. Manoj Soni. Sudan, the second woman to hold this position, has played key roles in government programs like Ayushman Bharat and Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao. The UPSC, established in 1950, is an independent constitutional body.

Notes:
PARAKH (Performance Assessment, Review and Analysis of Knowledge for Holistic Development), a unit within NCERT established in 2023, has recommended including student performance from Classes 9, 10, and 11 in the final Class 12 marks. Its goal is to standardize school board assessments across India, focusing on competency-based assessment, large-scale surveys, and equivalence of school boards. The unit, staffed by assessment experts, aims to align with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and create a common assessment platform.

Notes:
The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has granted permission for the first criticality approach of India’s 500 MWe sodium-cooled Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. This is India’s first indigenous PFBR, commissioned by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI), a government company under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

Notes:
Wayanad, Kerala, struck by a deadly landslide killing nearly 200 people, ranked 13th in ISRO’s 2023 Landslide Atlas of India. Prepared by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of ISRO, the atlas details landslide occurrences and damage in 147 districts across 17 states and two Union Territories. It includes 80,000 landslides mapped from 1998 to 2022, categorized by season, event, and route. The data, using high-resolution satellite imagery, ranked districts based on socio-economic exposure to landslides.

Notes:
Lieutenant General Sadhna Saxena Nair became the first woman to lead the Indian Army’s Medical Services on August 1, 2024. A third-generation armed forces member, she graduated from the Armed Forces Medical College and joined the Army Medical Corps in 1985. She previously served as Director General of Hospital Services and has received numerous honors, including the Vishisht Seva Medal and commendations from top Air Force officials.

Notes:
The Health Ministry has asked the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to stop surrogate advertising of tobacco and alcohol products by sportspersons. Surrogate advertising uses the brand image of one product to promote another, often due to legal restrictions on advertising the original product. Brands like liquor and tobacco companies use this method to subtly promote their products by advertising similar or different items under the same brand name. This helps maintain brand recognition and legally spread their message, a process known as “brand extension.”

Notes:
Indian astronomers have discovered 34 new Giant Radio Sources (GRSs) using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) near Pune. Operated by the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), GMRT has 30 large parabolic dishes that study radio waves. GRSs are massive cosmic objects with supermassive black holes at their centers. These black holes pull in matter, creating jets of hot plasma and producing large radio emission lobes.

Notes:
Athletes from Russia and Belarus are banned from competing under their national flags at the Paris Olympics. Instead, they compete as Athlètes Individuals Neutres (AIN), or Individual Neutral Athletes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) imposed this ban after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which violated the Olympic Truce that prohibits attacks between a week before the Olympics and a week after the Paralympics.

Notes:
Novak Djokovic became the fifth tennis player to achieve a Golden Slam by winning the men’s singles gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, defeating Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets. This victory, added to his Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open, places him alongside legends like Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Andre Agassi, and Steffi Graf. Djokovic had previously won a bronze medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics but did not medal in the subsequent Olympics.

Notes:
The “VIRAASAT” exhibition, celebrating the 10th National Handloom Day, is being held from August 3 to August 16, 2024, at Handloom Haat, Janpath, New Delhi. Organized by the National Handloom Development Corporation Ltd (NHDC) under the Ministry of Textiles, this event promotes India’s rich handloom traditions and supports weavers. National Handloom Day, established on August 7, 2015, commemorates the Swadeshi Movement of 1905 and the handloom sector’s socio-economic contributions.