GK & Current Affairs Quiz: June 08, 2018

Notes:
Andhra Pradesh will become the first Indian state to use auto-disable syringes for all clinical purposes to prevent infection. The move will be enforced from the World Hepatitis Day (WHD-2018) when the state government will declare itself as “Safety Injection Use State”. The initiative will ensure one injection will be given from one syringe by mandating universal usage of auto-disable syringes in all clinical/therapeutic cases as part of infection prevention. The move would strengthen the healthcare system by lowering the burden of infections and breaking the cycle of cross infection.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has recently declared the ‘Queen’ variety of pineapple as the state fruit of Tripura. The famous ‘Queen’ variety is spiny, golden yellow in color and emits pleasant aroma and flavor at the ripen stage. The fruits are harvested when eyes turns yellow during mid-May to mid-July when the fruit is available. The average weight of fruit varies from 600 Grams to 800 Grams. It got the Geographical Indication (GI) in 2015 and is the best quality of pineapple in the world. Tripura is one of the largest pineapple growing states in the country and there are more than 100 commercial scale pineapple plantations in the state. Earlier, President Kovind dedicated a 73.71km stretch of National Highway 8 from Mata Tripurasundari temple in Udaipur of Gomati district to Sabroom in South Tripura.

Notes:
Anthony Bourdain (61), the United States celebrity chef and television personality, has passed away in Strasbourg, France on June 8, 2018. He was a best-selling food, fiction and nonfiction author. He shot to fame in 2000 with a best-selling book “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly”, which is known for its treatment of the professional culinary industry. The book alternates between a confessional narrative and an industry commentary, providing insightful and humorous anecdotes on the cooking trade. Though best known for his culinary achievements and television presentations, along with several books on food and cooking and travel adventures, Bourdain’s lesser-known writings include both fiction and historical nonfiction.

Notes:
One June 7, India began their campaign at the 2018 Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Gifu, Japan with a strong start by clinching four medals- – a gold, a silver and two bronze. Ashish Jakhar created a new National U-20 record to clinch the gold medal with a hammer throw of 76.86 in his second attempt while Damneet bagged the silver with a best throw of 74.08. This shattered the previous mark of 75.04 meters that he himself had set at the Junior Federation Cup in April 2018. Beside them, Triple jumper Priyadarshini Suresh and long distance runner Poonam Sonune bagged bronze medals in women’s events.

Notes:
Indian captain Virat Kohli will receive the Polly Umrigar Award for the best international cricketer (2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons) at the BCCI awards, to be held in Bengaluru on June 15, 2018. Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana are set to be maiden recipients of the award for best international cricketer (women) for the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons respectively. The BCCI Awards recognizes and honours the top domestic and international cricketers across all age groups.

Notes:
Sudheesh Guruvayoor, an Indian farmer from Kerala, has set a Guinness World Record by distributing the largest number of curry tree saplings in Sharjah on 5th June 2018. He distributed 4,914 saplings of the organic curry tree and broke the record set by the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Dubai who had distributed 2,083 saplings of three varieties of trees to students of Delhi Private School in March 2018. The saplings from his own farm in Sharjah were distributed to the students of two campuses of the Sharjah Indian High School. He achieved the new feat as part of the World Environment Day (WED-2018) celebrations in the country. With five Limca Book of Records and other awards in his kitty, Guruvayoor stated that he had been growing curry tree saplings at his farm for almost three months for this dream project. Curry leaves are used for the aroma and flavour in the cuisine of various states in India, especially in the south.

Notes:
Dr. Sapan Kumar Murmu (58), the renowned doctor and Superintendent of VIMSAR, has passed away on June 8, 2018. Dr. Murmu started his career at Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) and held various important posts. He was also Head of the Department of Paediatrics at VIMSAR. The VIMSAR is a premier government-run medical college and hospital of Odisha. It was established in 1959 in Burla, a small town on the banks of the Mahanadi River in the Sambalpur district of Western Odisha. It is one of the oldest institutes in Odisha for imparting highly specialized medical education at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Notes:
The Mandela-Gandhi Youth Conference was held at Pietermaritzburg in South Africa on June 8, 2018. The conference was part of a 3-day commemoration of the historic incident 125 years ago when on June 7, 1893, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a young lawyer then, was thrown off a train compartment reserved for whites only. Delegates from a dozen countries in the Conference called for a return to Gandhian values to address global challenges threatening humanity. Diaspora youth from India, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia Egypt, Malawi, Seychelles and Mozambique joined more than 120 South African youngsters to debate and share views on whether the Gandhian philosophy of Satyagraha, Ahimsa and Sarvodaya was relevant today and whether it could be used to find solutions for the problems around the world. A resolution also passed unanimously at the conference which said the youth of this world, citizens of diverse nationalities, ideologies, backgrounds, colour, creed, race and sex, embrace the ideals of the Mahatma and Madiba as apostles of peace and truth.

Notes:
The Punjab government has launched a “Business First Portal” to give a big push towards the ease of doing business in the state. It was unveiled by Industry Minister Sunder Sham Arora in Jalandhar on June 7, 2018. The online portal will facilitate the industrialists for Regulatory Clearances and Fiscal Approvals, real-time tracking of applications at common platform.

Notes:
Mithali Raj has become the first Indian cricketer to score 2,000 runs in T20 International Cricket. She achieved the landmark during India’s 7-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the Women’s Asia Cup T20 at Kaula Lumpur on June 7, 2018. Mithali now has 2,015 runs from 75 matches. She is the seventh woman to reach 2,000 runs in T20 format. The list is headed by England cricketer Charlotte Edwards with 2,605, followed by Stafanie Taylor (2,582) and Suzie Bates (2,515). Interestingly, India men’s team captain Virat Kohli with 1,983 runs is the next on the list, followed by Rohit Sharma (1,852) and Suresh Raina (1,499).