GK & Current Affairs Quiz: August 13, 2018

Notes:
Justice Manjula Chellur has been appointed the new chairperson of Appellate Tribunal for Electricity (ATE), which is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Power. Prior to this, she was Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. The tribunal has been established by Central Government for those who are not satisfied with the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) order or with a state. It has the authority to overrule or amend that order, just like the Income-Tax tribunal or the Central Administrative Tribunal. Justice Chellur was the first woman Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. She also served as the Chief Justice of Kerala High Court and the first female judge of the Karnataka High Court.

Notes:
In Hyderabad, India’s first genetic bank for wildlife conservation has been inaugurated by Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan at the Laboratory for Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) in CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) to protect India’s biodiversity and environment. It is dubbed as National Wildlife Genetic Resource Bank (NWGRB), which can store 17,000 vials worth of samples. Currently genetic material, including DNA, cells and tissues besides semen and eggs of 23 wildlife species are stored. This facility would also facilitate exchange of genetic material between Indian zoos for maintaining genetic diversity and conservation management made accessible to scientists and wildlife managers for implementing conservation programmes. The Genetic Resource Bank (GRB) is the systematic collection and preservation of tissues, sperm, eggs and embryos, genetic material (DNA/RNA).

Notes:
The World Elephant Day (WED) is observed every year on August 12 to bring the world together to help protect & honour these gentle giants and to spread awareness about the critical threats they are facing. The day is also observed to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants and to share knowledge & positive solutions for the better care and management of captive and wild elephants. It’s also India’s National Heritage Animal. On the occasion of 2018 WED, the festival Gaj Mahotsav has started in Delhi to showcase 101 elephant installations, photographs by artists and performances by Delhi-based rock bank Euphoria. The event is organised by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

Notes:
The Nepal-India Literature Festival 2018 was held in Birgunj, Nepal on August 12 to strengthen Indo-Nepal ties. On this occasion, the renowned writers from both the countries were also felicitated. Approx 250 participants from India and Nepal attended the two day festival. The event was organized by Nepal India Co-operation Forum.

Notes:
Michelle Bachelet, the former two-time President of Chile, has been officially appointed new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a period of 4 years. She will succeed Jordanian diplomat Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein in September 2018. The High Commissioner is the principle official who speaks out for human rights across the whole UN system. It strengthens human rights mechanisms, enhance equality & fight discrimination in all its forms. It also strengthens accountability & the rule of law and widens the democratic space & protecting the most vulnerable from all forms of human rights abuse.

Notes:
The Indian Army has launched the major rescue and relief operation “Operation Sahyog” at Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Idukki after incessant rain and landslides hit various northern districts of Kerala. The army constructed temporary bridges for the evacuations of the stranded people from the isolated villages. Apart from the Army, the Southern Naval Command of Indian Navy has also launched ‘Operation Madad’ to assist the state administration and undertake disaster relief operations due to unprecedented flooding in many parts of Kerala following incessant rainfall and release of excess water from Idukki and other dams. Naval helicopters are also deployed for ferrying divers, power tools, axes and relief material to the flooded areas to augment ongoing relief operations.

Notes:
On August 12, the US space agency NASA has successfully launched the Parker Solar Probe mission to send a satellite closer to the Sun than any before. The rocket carrying the Parker Solar Probe lifted off from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida in the US. It is the world’s first mission to touch the Sun that will unlock the mysteries of star’s fiery outer atmosphere and its effects on space weather during the 7-year long journey. The car-sized spacecraft will travel directly into the Sun’s atmosphere, about four million miles from its surface and more than 7 times closer than any spacecraft has come before. The US $1.5 billion mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona. It is the first space craft to be named after a living person – astrophysicist Eugene Parker (91), who first described solar wind in 1958.

Notes:
Somnath Chatterjee (89), the former Lok Sabha Speaker & veteran leader, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on August 13, 2018. Mr. Chatterjee was the Speaker in the first five-year term (2004-2009) of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and was elected to the Parliament’s Lower House ten times since 1971. He joined Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in 1968 and was a member till his expulsion in 2008. He was expelled from CPI-M in July 2008 for refusing to resign as Speaker after CPI-M withdrew support from the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. After that, he was independent in the last decade of his life.

Notes:
Viraj Madappa (20) from Kolkata has become the youngest Indian golfer to claim the Asian Tour title after lifting the 2018 TAKE Solutions Masters trophy in Bengaluru on August 12. Beside this, Madappa has also become the first rookie and youngest player to win on Tour this season. He takes home a winner’s prize purse of US$63,000 and earned a one-year winner exemption on the region’s premier Tour. The earlier record was held by Gaganjeet Bhullar, who won the Indonesia Invitational, when he was 21 years and three months, while Shubhankar Sharma won Joburg Open when he was 21 years and five months old.

Notes:
Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of the Madras High Court (MHC) by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit at a ceremony in Raj Bhavan in Chennai on August 12. Justice Tahilramani is the third woman chief justice of the MHC. She succeeded Justice Indira Banerjee, who has been elevated to the Supreme Court. Apart from this, Justice Mukesh R Shah and Justice Aniruddha Bose have been sworn in as the Chief Justice of Patna High Court and Jharkhand High Court, respectively.