GK & Current Affairs Quiz: May 25-26, 2019

Notes:
German payments company Wirecard has teamed up with India to simplify the process of issuing tax identity cards required to open bank accounts, transfer money or complete business transactions. The deal, with state company UTI Infrastructure Technology and Financial Services, seeks to widen the distribution of so-called PAN cards in the country of 1.3 billion where most people still live and work in the informal economy. Munich-based Wirecard, founded in 1999, runs a digital payments platform that handles payments for merchants and issues real and ‘virtual’ payment cards to consumers. It mainly operates under arrangements that allow their partners to rebrand their products. Wirecard is already has a presence in India and its network of 15,000 retail agents in 350 cities would help collect and scan in the documents that people need to apply for a PAN card.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a new strategy to dramatically cut deaths and injuries from snakebites, and also warned a lack of anti-venoms could soon spark a “public health emergency”. Each year, nearly three million people are bitten by poisonous snakes, with an estimated 81,000-138,000 deaths. The aim of the strategy is to cut snakebite-related deaths and disabilities in half by 2030. An important part of the strategy is to significantly boost production of quality anti-venoms. The strategy also called for integrating snakebite treatment and response into national health plans in affected countries, including better training of health personnel and educating communities. Snake venom can cause paralysis that stops breathing, bleeding disorders that can lead to fatal haemorrhage, irreversible kidney failure and tissue damage that can cause permanent disability and limb loss. Most snakebite victims live in the world’s tropical and poorest regions, and children are worse affected due to their smaller body size. In a new report, the UN health agency urged the international community to take steps to address the problem, which it warned had long been dangerously under-estimated and neglected.

Notes:
On May 23, the NewSpace India Ltd. (NSIL) has officially inaugurated in Bengaluru, Karnataka to scale up industry participation in Indian space programmes. It is the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). NSIL will act as an aggregator for all space related activities in industry and develop private entrepreneurship in space related technologies. Specifically, it will be responsible for manufacturing the and production of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) through technology transfer mechanisms. It will also cater to emerging global commercial SSLV market demand, providing satellite building and satellite-based services, including supply of sub-systems for various domestic and international application needs and will enable space technology spin-offs through Indian industry interface.

Notes:
NASA has recently unveiled the calendar for the “Artemis” program that will return astronauts to the Moon for the first time in half a century. It will also include 8 scheduled launches and a mini-station in lunar orbit by 2024. The original lunar missions were named for Apollo — Artemis was his twin sister in Greek mythology, and the goddess of hunting, wilderness and the Moon. The acronym ‘ARTEMIS’ stands for ‘Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon’s Interaction with the Sun’. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed that Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed mission around the Moon planned for 2020. Next will come Artemis 2, which will orbit Earth’s satellite with a crew around 2022; followed finally by Artemis 3 that will put astronauts on lunar soil in 2024, including the first woman. All the three will be launched into space by the Boeing-led Space Launch System (SLS), the biggest rocket of all time.

Notes:
On May 24, the Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested a 500 kg class Inertial Guided Bomb (IGB) from Su-30 MKI Aircraft from the Pokhran test range in Rajasthan. The guided bomb achieved the desired range and hit the target with high precision. The weapon system is capable of carrying different warheads. The test firing of the guided bomb came two days after the Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully test fired the aerial version of the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The 2.5 tonne air-to-surface missile has a range of around 300 km, and it will significantly enhance the IAF’s combat capability. The BrahMos cruise missile travels at a speed of Mach 2.8, nearly three times that of sound.