GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 29, 2019

Notes:
The third edition of Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG-2020) is scheduled to be held in Guwahati, Assam from 18th January 2020. The Games will see participation of more than 10,000 athletes and officials. It will be conducted in partnership with Indian Olympic Association (IOA), School Games Federation of India & Assam as host State. The first edition was held in New Delhi, while Pune hosted the 2nd one in 2019.

Notes:
The Hindu Economic Forum (HEF) has launched its Nepal Chapter. On this occasion, the founder of World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) Swami Vigyananand said economic empowerment is very necessary to get due respect and recognition in the modern world. The basic objective of Nepal chapter is to increase economic cooperation between India and Nepal and to connect the Himalayan nation with a global network for its economic prosperity. HEF brings together financially successful elements within Hindu society so that each group can share their business knowledge, expertise and resources with their fellow brethren to trigger the creation of surplus wealth and make society prosperous. HEF is affiliated with WHEF. It has national chapters in various countries like Bharat, Germany, Kenya etc. and city chapters within those countries such as HEF-Mumbai, HEF-Washington DC etc.

Notes:
The scientists at the IIT-Kanpur have developed two-finger robotic hand (exoskeleton) to help paralysed stroke patients. For the exoskeleton, Prof. Ashish Dutta and Prof. KS Venkatesh have partnered with the University of Ulster (based in the United Kingdom) and their teacher Girijesh Prasad, who belongs to Gorakhpur. The exoskeleton uses a four-bar mechanism and has four degrees of freedom (DOF). It can be used by a patient on the hand. It uses brain signals, with the help of the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) that is worn on the head, and helps paralyzed patients to open and close the movement of their thumb, forefinger and middle fingers for physical practice. The exoskeleton is operated by a MEGA microcontroller of 300 Mhz and powered by a battery. The device will cost around Rs 15,000.

Notes:
The World Hepatitis Day (WHD) is observed every year on 28rd of July to raise awareness about the disease which causes inflammation of the liver and claims around 1.4 million lives every year. The date of 28 July was chosen because it is the birthday of Nobel-prize winning scientist Dr Baruch Blumberg, who discovered hepatitis B virus (HBV) and developed a diagnostic test and vaccine for the virus. The host country for WHD 2019 is Pakistan and the theme for this year is “Invest in eliminating hepatitis“. Hepatitis is preventable, treatable, and in the case of hepatitis C, curable. However, over 80% of people living with hepatitis are lacking prevention, testing and treatment services.

Notes:
Jaipal Reddy (77), the former Union Minister & Senior Congress leader, has passed away in Hyderabad on July 28, 2019. He joined politics as a student leader of Osmania University and went on to become Congress MLA in 1970s . In the wake of an upsurge of opposition to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after she imposed Emergency in the country, Reddy joined Janata Party and later Janata Dal in the splinter groupings that took place. He rejoined Congress in 1999 and was elected to Lok Sabha from Miryalguda in 2004. He won the next time in 2009 from Chevella constituency. He was Union Minister in Federal front government earlier and Congress-led UPA I and UPA II regimes. He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times and Rajya Sabha twice.