GK & Current Affairs Quiz: May 11-12, 2019

Notes:
On May 6, US President Donald Trump bestowed Tiger Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. He won his first major in nearly 11 years at last month’s Masters Tournament, a comeback that captivated the sporting world. Woods is only the fourth and the youngest golfer ever to have received the highest American civilian award. The other golfers were Arnold Palmer (74), in 2004; Jack Nicklaus (65), in 2005; and Charlie Sifford, (92), in 2014. Sifford was the first African American to play on the PGA tour. The Medal of Freedom is America’s highest honour for civilian accomplishment. President Truman first established the medal to honour extraordinary civilian accomplishments related to World War II. President Kennedy re-established the medal by executive order in 1963.

Notes:
Lakshadweep is an archipelago of 36 islands and scattered over approximately 78,000 square km of the Arabian Sea with population of approximately 65,000. Recently, the team of scientists at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) carried out first-ever genetic studies on the people of Lakshadweep Islands. The team was was led by Dr. K Thangaraj . The scientist have studied the major islands of Agatti, Andorth, Bitra, Chetlat, Kadmat, Kalpeni, Kiltan and Minicoy of Lakshadweep and demonstrated a close genetic link of Lakshadweep islanders with people from Maldives, Sri Lanka and India. They analyzed DNA samples of 557 individuals from these 8 major islands for mitochondrial DNA and 166 individuals for Y chromosome markers. The paternal and maternal ancestries of the majority of island populations suggest their arrival from distinct sources. They found that the maternal ancestry was closer to South Indian populations, whereas the paternal ancestry is more similar to the Maldives and North India. In conclusion, the first genetic data suggest that the majority of human ancestry in Lakshadweep is largely derived from South Asia with minor influences from East and West Eurasia.

Notes:
The 5th edition of United Nations (UN) Global Road Safety Week has started from 6th May with theme “leadership for road safety”. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes road safety as a means to reduce traffic-related injuries. Hence, UN Global Road Safety Weeks and its’ campaigns are chaired by WHO and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The 5th edition acknowledges that strong leadership is needed to advance road safety in countries and communities and achieve related Sustainable Development Goal and other global targets. Therefore, it launched action through the ongoing campaign: Save Lives – #SpeakUp. The #SpeakUp campaign provides an opportunity for civil society to generate demands for strong leadership for road safety, especially around concrete, evidence-based interventions which will save lives. It will also inspire leaders to take action by showcasing strong leadership for road safety within governments, international agencies, NGOs, foundations, schools and universities and private companies.

Notes:
India and Bangladesh will jointly produce a film on the life & works of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and also a documentary on Bangladesh Liberation War. He was the founding father of Bangladesh. The movie will be directed by the acclaimed Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal and will be written by Atul Tiwari. The decision was taken after a Bangladeshi delegation led by Dr. Gowher Rizvi met Information and Broadcasting Secretary Amit Khare. The Bangladesh Delegation assured full cooperation in ensuring smooth logistics for shooting the movie in Bangladesh. It was mutually agreed that the director of the documentary would be from Bangladesh who would be assisted by a co-director from India. Prasar Bharati has decided to carry Bangladesh TV on DD Free Dish platform without charging carriage fees. As a reciprocal gesture, Bangladesh Delegation announced that a Doordarshan channel will be adopted on the soon-to-be launched DTH platform of Bangladesh.

Notes:
Mrinal Mukherjee (74), the veteran film and TV actor, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on May 8, 2019. Mukherjee had worked for over five decades in the Bengali film industry and acted in films like ‘Dui Bon’, ‘Chhuti’, ‘Shriman Prithviraj’ and more recently ‘Byomkesh’ and ‘Chiriakhana’. He had also acted in several Bengali TV serials and was a known face in Bengali theatre as well. Apart from being a versatile actor, Mrinal Mukherjee was a great singer as well. Some of his major Bengali hits were Nayika Sangbad, Golpo Holeo Sotti, Shriman Prithviraj, Chuti and others. Mrinal Mukherjee also did some Bollywood movies too and was best known for his role in Gulzar’s Mausam. The movie is one of Gulzar’s best works.