GK & Current Affairs Quiz: September 27, 2018

Notes:
The United Nations (UN) has recently declared the period from 2019 to 2028 as the Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit in New York on 24 September 2018. UN has called for redoubling efforts to pursue international peace and security, development and human rights. This political declaration was unanimously adopted by nearly 100 nations from around the world to revive the values for which Nelson Mandela stood by emphasising human dignity. A statue of Nelson Mandela has been unveiled at the United Nations to honour the late South African leader’s 100th birth anniversary.

Notes:
The International Day of Sign Languages (IDSL) is observed every year on September 23 along with International Week of the Deaf. It highlights the importance of sign language in the full realization of the human rights of people who are deaf. It is the first ever IDSL, which was officially adopted at the 72nd United Nations General Assembly in December 2017. The 2018 theme “With Sign Language, Everyone is Included!” recognizes the importance of preserving sign languages as part of linguistic and cultural diversity. It also emphasizes the principle of “nothing about us without us” in terms of working with deaf communities.

Notes:
The IIT Kharagpur has developed a community supported supply of purified drinking water project at Porapara in West Midnapore district of West Bengal. Dr Somnath Ghosal of the Rural Development Centre of IIT KGP has installed a fully-automated multi-filtered UV treated drinking water facility which can provide close to 1000 litres of purified drinking water to 60 families every day at Rs one per family. The land was freely provided by a villager & on it, IIT KGP build the infrastructure and funded the entire project. The entire operation of the unit, its upkeep and daily management, are being done by the villagers who have formed 3 committees to manage the operations. It is an “install and self-operate” arrangement in which the current and future financial needs are to be met by the villagers from the fund collected in the form of the daily payment for water. Dr. Ghosal has recently filed for a patent for the technology used in Porapara.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India (SCI) has recently constituted a Committee on Prison Reforms chaired by former apex court judge, Justice Amitava Roy, to examine the various problems plaguing prisons in the country. The committee has been asked to recommend steps for the psycho-social well-being of minor children of women prisoners, including their education and health. It would also probe the reasons for violence in prisons and correctional homes and recommend measures to prevent unnatural deaths and assess the availability of medical facilities in prisons and correctional homes and make recommendations. It would assess the availability and inadequacy of staff in prisons and correctional homes, suggest training and educational modules for the staff and assess the feasibility of establishing open prisons. The court asked the committee to complete the collection of data and information and make submit it in a year.

Notes:
India has been ranked 158th among 195 countries in 2016 for investment in health care and education, according to the first-ever scientific study by University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). The study, which is published in the international medical journal The Lancet, ranked countries for their levels of human capital. It highlighted that when a country’s human capital score increases, its economy grows. The Lancet stated that India’s ranking of 158th in 2016 represents an improvement from its 1990 ranking of 162nd. It showed that India is falling behind in terms of health and education of its workforce, which could potentially have long-term negative effects on the Indian economy. The study is based on analysis of data from sources, including government agencies, schools & health care systems. The study claims that these rankings give us an idea about the number of years a worker can be expected to work at peak productivity levels between the ages of 20 and 64 years.

Notes:
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has signed a cooperation agreement with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to support the humanitarian response plan in Yemen, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in addition to support ICRC’s budget, totaling $11 million. Under the agreement, the UAE will provide the ICRC with $6 million to support health centres, water and sanitation facilities in Yemen, $1 million to support the Organisation’s humanitarian efforts in Myanmar, $1 million to support humanitarian efforts in DRC, in addition to $3 million to support general programmes. The agreement also includes support to health centres, water and rehabilitation of sanitation structures and meeting basic needs of those affected, as well as assisting disabled persons through the provision of physical rehabilitation services. The UAE is a member of the donor support group of the ICRC.

Notes:
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host the Interfaith Alliance Forum at the nation’s capital, Abu Dhabi on 19th and 20th November. The forum aims to address and discuss social challenges and to strengthen efforts by religious leaders to formulate cohesive ideas that enhance the protection of the young individuals from extortion and crime via the internet. The Interfaith Alliance Forum will coincide with World Children’s Day (WCD), which is celebrated on 20th November. The forum will highlight the importance of unifying views among religions and cultures to ensure the protection of children. An estimated 450 religious leaders and spiritual advisors are expected to participate in the Forum, which will be a platform for promotion of humanitarian values and spreading the principles of tolerance and religious co-existence.

Notes:
In Nepal, the famous Indra Jatra festival 2018 is being celebrated in Kathmandu with gaiety and religious fervor. The 8-day long annual festival is observed to worship Indra, the lord of rain and good harvest. It also marks end of monsoon and beginning of harvest season and festivity. The chariot procession and mask dances are the main attraction of Indra Jatra. On fourth day of festival the chariot procession of living Goddess Kumari, Lord Ganesha and Lord Bhairav began from historic Basantapur Durbar Square on Monday. Nepal’s living Goddess Trishna Shakya made her first public appearance after she was appointed in September 2016. President Bidya Devi Bhandari and thousands of people attended the Jatra celebrations.

Notes:
Dr Harsh Vardhan, the union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate change (MoEF&CC), has inaugurated air pollution control device – Wind Augmentation Purifying Unit (WAYU) at ITO in New Delhi. WAYU is developed by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research –National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) to mitigate air pollution at traffic junctions. The prototype device has the capacity to purify air in an area of 500 meter square. It consumes only half a unit of electricity for 10 hours of running and has a maintenance cost of only Rs. 1500 per month. Along with particulate matter, the device will remove poisonous gases such as volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide. This device works on two principles mainly wind generation for dilution of air pollutants and active pollutants removal.

Notes:
India will organise ‘Gandhi March’ from the iconic Peace Palace at the Hague in Netherlands to Grote Kerk on September 25 to launch the two-year long celebrations of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. According to a statement issued by the Indian Embassy in Hague, the ‘Gandhi March’ will see participation of people of all nationalities and around 20 ambassadors of different countries. On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, marked as International Day of Non-Violence, five other events will be held in The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Zoetermeer. The Netherlands has a special connection to India and Mahatma Gandhi. There are around thirty streets in the country named after Mahatma Gandhi.