GK & Current Affairs Quiz: October 14-15, 2017

Notes:
Audrey Azoulay, a French civil servant and politician, has been elected to become the new Director-General (DG) of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She will succeed outgoing DG Irina Bokova of Bulgaria. Azoulay was born in Paris to a Moroccan Jewish family from Essaouira, and is the daughter of Andre Azoulay, who is current adviser to king Mohammed VI of Morocco.

Notes:
Carnatic vocalist T M Krishna has won the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for 2015 -16 for his services in promoting and preserving national integration in the country. He will be presented with the honour by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on October 31, Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary. The award consists of a citation and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.

Notes:
The National Centre for Combustion Research and Development (NCCRD) was inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) in Tamil Nadu on October 12, 2017, which is the world’s largest combustion research centre. The NCCRD has been established at a total cost of Rs 90 crore. It will develop state-of-the-art capabilities in combustion research involving experts in the country. The establishment of the centre will give a major boost to the Indian scientific community and will provide an impetus to research in ‘Alternative Energy and Environmental Protection’ by focusing on effective utilisation of combustion as a means of thermo-chemical energy conversion. The NCCRD’s research interests will cover automotive, thermal power and aerospace propulsion, besides fire research and microgravity combustion to minor extent.

Notes:
Gautam Bambawale, an Indian foreign service officer of the 1984 batch, has been appointed as the India’s new ambassador to China and is expected to take up the assignment shortly. He will succeed Vijay Keshav Gokhale. After joining the post, one of the first tasks in front of Bambawale will be to stabilise India-China ties rocked by a military face off in the Dokalam area of Bhutan that lasted 73 days. Currently, he is high commissioner to Pakistan.

Notes:
The 2017 International Puppet Festival (IPF) will be held at Mohorkunj in Kolkata, West Bengal from October 26 to 31. The purpose of the fest is to regenerate the emotions attached to puppetry. Artists from the UK, Germany, Peru, Portugal, Italy, Lithuania, Brazil, Singapore and India would be participating in the festival. The fest will be inaugurated by the West Bengal principal secretary Tourism and Home Affairs Atri Bhattacharya.

Notes:
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched an innovative mobile health App ‘MedWatch’ TO Provide authentic health information to all IAF personnel at New Delhi on 11 Oct 17. The app has been developed in-house with zero financial outlay by the Directorate of Information Technology (DIT). The important component of the App is its ‘Reminder Tool’ that will enable timely immunization for the children of all Air Warriors. It will be available on the IAF’s AFCEL network and will directly enable ‘Mission Indradhanush’ of the Govt of India. It is the first mobile health app in the three Armed Services.

Notes:
The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), the public sector undertaking , has become the first Oil Marketing Company (OMC) from India that has started marketing lubricants in Myanmar and has chosen commercial hubs of Yangon and Mandalay.

Notes:
The world’s first negative emissions plant that turns carbon dioxide (CO2) into stone has begun operations in Hellisheidi, Iceland. In it, the CO2 is captured from ambient air, bound to water, and sent to more than 700 meters underground. There, the CO2 reacts with the basaltic bedrock and forms solid minerals, creating a permanent storage solution. Currently, the pilot system captures only 50 metric tons CO2, each year, about the same emitted by a single US household.

Notes:
The Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary (AWS) is located in Mungeli district of Chhattisgarh and covers an area of 557.55 square kilometers . It is home to the Bengal tiger, Indian leopard, gaur, chital, striped hyena, Indian jackal, sloth bear, Ussuri dhole, sambar, nilgai, four-horned antelope, chinkara, blackbuck and Indian muntjac.

Notes:
The International Day of Rural Women is observed every year on October 15 to recognize the crucial role that women and girls play in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall wellbeing. The 2017 theme is “Challenges and opportunities in climate-resilient agriculture for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.