GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 19, 2017

Notes:
The 9-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar will determine whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right or not under the Constitution. The nine-judge bench also comprises Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer. The bench is dealing with the limited issue of right to privacy and matters challenging the Aadhaar scheme would be referred back to a smaller bench. The hearing is in progress.

Notes:
TR Zeliang, a leader of the Nagaland People’s Front, has been sworn-in as the new chief minister of Nagaland by the Governor PB Acharya on July 19, 2017. With this, the Naga Peoples’ Front led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland Government in the State will have the fourth Chief Minister within its five years term of ruling the State. Zeliang has to prove his majority on the floor of the House on or before July 22, 2017. He succeeded Shurhozelie Liezietsu, who did not turn up to face a floor test with his MLAs at a special session of the state assembly on July 19, 2017.

Notes:
The Ministry of Science and Technology (S&T) has launched a low-cost indigenous newborn hearing screening device “Sohum” in New Delhi to detect a congenital hearing loss in newborns. The device has been developed by School of International Biodesign (SIB) startup M/s Sohum Innovation Labs India Pvt. Ltd. The portable Sohum hearing screening device measures auditory brain waves via three electrodes placed on the baby’s head. When stimulated, they detect electrical responses generated by the brain’s auditory system. If there is no response, the child cannot hear. The battery-operated device is non-invasive, which means babies do not need to be sedated, which is the current and risky, testing in process at present. It must be noted that 800,000 hearing impaired babies are born annually across the world, of which nearly 100,000 are in India.

Notes:
Amit Saroha of India has won silver in the club throw event in the F-51 category (below waist paraplegic category) at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London, United Kingdom (UK). The event is the equivalent of the hammer throw, only para athletes throw a wooden club. Saroha is the former national-level hockey player, who has been wheelchair-bound, after a horrific a road accident in 2007.

Notes:
The International Swimming Federation (FINA) has recently selected the Russian city of Kazan and Budapest (the capital of Hungary) to host the 2022 and 2024 World Short Course Swimming Championships, respectively. The 25-meter pool championships are staged every two years in December and include hosting the FINA World Aquatics Convention. Apart from this Hangzhou in China in 2018 and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2020 are due to host the World Short Course Championships and Convention.

Notes:
Internationally-acclaimed senior kathak dancer Dr. Pandit Nandakishore Kapote has recently conferred with a fellowship by the Department of Culture, Government of India (GoI). Kapote is the only male senior kathak dancer in the country to receive the honour. Through this fellowship, Kapote will carry out a detailed study on ‘Hand Gestures and Kathak Dance in Abhinaydarpan’. Earlier, Kapote was awarded with scholarships by the central government, cultural department of Maharashtra, Dr Ambedkar Dalit Mitra Award, Balgandharva Award by PMC, Nehru Award, among others.

Notes:
Recently, Indian junior judokas won a gold and three bronze medals in the ongoing 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games being held in Nassau, Bahamas. Antim Yadav of Madhya Pradesh won a bronze in the below 48Kg weight category, surpassing Russelll Jasmine of Bahamas in Repechage bout. Soni from Haryana won the gold medal in the below 73Kg Weight Category, after beating Nikolic Uros of Australia in the final bout, while Ashish won a bronze in the below 60Kg weight category, defeating Zain Prosser Harry of England in bronze medal bout. Manipur’s Rebina Devi Chanam also won a bronze medal in the below 57Kg Weight category after getting the better of Saskia of Australia. The Organising Committee of the Games that would conclude on July 24, 2017 had allowed the participation of only four weight categories Judo players (2 Boys & 2 Girls) from each country, and all the Indians won medals.

Notes:
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has recently launched mAadhaar app for mobile users that will allow users to carry unique identification profile on mobile. A user can download Aadhaar number profile through their smartphones and will therefore not require hard copies of the card, wherever applicable. It allow users to carry their Aadhaar demographic information, i.e. name, date of birth, gender, address and the photograph linked with their Aadhaar number, on their smartphones. Currently, the app is available for Android users and will soon be available for iOS users. A user can not only carry Aadhaar data on their mobiles as an identification proof, but one can also lock/ unlock their biometric details linked to Aadhaar to secure their personal data. Besides this, mAadhaar app users can also update their profile via QR code and share eKYC details with service providers such as telecommunications companies.

Notes:
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the UAE Minister of State for Tolerance, has topped a poll of the most powerful Arab women in government 2017, according to latest Forbes Middle East report. Ms Qasimi was followed by Sahar Nasr, Ghada Wali, Hind Subaih Barrak Al-Subaih, Iman Houda Feraoun and Iman Houda Feraoun. Forbes has also released a list of the top 100 most powerful Arab businesswomen for 2017, and the UAE represents the highest number of women, with 18, followed by Egypt, with 16. As per the report, women in the Arab world were pioneering in the banking sector and women in this industry represents 28% of the 2017 businesswoman list. The rankings were compiled by taking into account scope of the role or ministry, years of experience and company revenues, or GDP in the case of government.

Notes:
The Nahar Wildlife Sanctuary (NWS) is located at Rewari district in Haryana State and spread over an area of 211.35 hectares. It is home to neelgai, geedar, langur, blue peafowl (mor), rufous treepie, greater coucal, Indian grey hornbill, coppersmith barbet, etc.