GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 01, 2019

Notes:
In Squash, India won a gold as Veer Chotrani beat compatriot Yash Fadte to win the Under-19 title at the Asian Junior Championship in Macau, China. With this victory, Veer became the third Indian to win the Asian trophy after Ravi Dixit and Vela Senthilkumar. It was a contest of fluctuating fortunes until Veer held his nerve to beat Fadte 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7. In the other two finals, India bagged two silver medals through Neel Joshi in the boys Under-17 category and Yuvna Gupta in the girls Under-15 section. India finished the tournament with one gold, three silver and as many bronze medals.

Notes:
Arvind Kumar, a 1984 batch IPS officer from Assam- Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed as the new chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB). Kumar is considered an expert on Kashmir, with specialisation in counter-terrorism and is said to have been closely involved in tackling Left-wing extremism at the IB. He also holds charge as the special director of Kashmir in the intelligence agency. Kumar succeeded Rajiv Jain as IB chief, who completed his tenure of two and half years. IB is India’s internal intelligence agency and is headquartered at New Delhi.

Notes:
For the 2019 kharif season, the West Bengal government has rolled out a free crop insurance scheme in collaboration with the Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AIC). The scheme called Bangla Shashya Bima (BSB) is applicable for farmers in 15 districts – Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman, Purba Medinipur, Malda, Hooghly, Nadia, Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, Birbhum, Purulia, Dakshin Dinajpur, North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas. The crop insurance scheme would be free of cost for the farmers since the government will pay the full premium. The crops that will come under insurance are aman paddy, aus paddy, jute and maize. All farmers taking loans (granted or applied for) and even those not taking loans can avail of the insurance. The insurance will be paid in four stages – for any losses suffered during planting, during cultivation, during the period post-cutting when crops are lying in the field, and for adverse weather situations. The amount will be decided by the state government and will be calculated per hectare.

Notes:
Abburi Chaya Devi (86), the popular Telugu fiction writer, has passed away in Hyderabad on June 28, 2019. Born on 13th October 1933 in Andhra Pradesh, she was active in literary circles since the fifties and even in her 70s, was still known as a creative feminist writer. She highlighted the cause of women in her writings & received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005 for her book ‘Thana Margam’. Chaya Devi is the wife of the late Abburi Varada Rajeswara Rao, who himself was a writer, critic and former Chairman of Official Languages Commission (OFC). Her works are Anaga Anaga (folk stories for children), Abburi Chayadevi Kathalu (short stories), 1991, Mrityunjaya (long story),1993 Tana Margam (short stories about the exploitation of women in the guise of family bonds).

Notes:
The World Vitiligo Day (WVD) is observed every year on June 25 to raise awareness about the condition. The 2019 theme ‘The Quality of Life of a Vitiligo Patient’ focuses on mental and medical journey of vitiligo. Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder wherein the immune system of the body attacks the healthy cells and in turn starts affecting the body. The condition is characterized by white patches on the skin that develops as a result of melanocytes within the skin. These are the cells that are responsible for the skin pigment melanin that gives color to your skin. The white patches appear when the melanocytes die off. The condition is also termed as Vitiligo or Leucoderma or White Leprosy.