Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

Notes:
Top Indian sprinters Hima Das and Mohammad Anas have won a gold each in women’s and men’s 300m races respectively at the 2019 Athleticky Mitink Reiter event in Czech Republic. This was Hima’s 6th gold in 2019 in European races since July 2. On the other hand, Mohammad Anas won the gold clocking 32.41 seconds. India’s Nirmal Tom clinched a bronze in the same event by clocking a timing of 33.03 seconds. National record holder Anas has already qualified for 400m event for the World Championships to be held in Doha in September-October while Hima is yet to achieve it.

Notes:
Wipro has partnered with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to conduct advanced applied research in autonomous systems – robotics and 5G. Both the organizations have jointly set up a hybrid industry-academia collaboration unit – Wipro IISc Research and Innovation Network (WIRIN) – which will drive idea discovery, research and innovation in technology and product design. Both will focus on the research and development of cutting-edge technologies in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Visual Computing, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Vehicle-to-everything communication (V2X). The insights from the research will be leveraged by Wipro for its customers and the industry ecosystem.

Notes:
The State of Karnataka has got the first position in the SARAL – ‘State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index’ that evaluates Indian states based on their attractiveness for rooftop development. The index has recently launched by the Union Minister of State for Power and New & Renewable Energy (IC), RK Singh. Telangana has acquired the 2nd position, followed by Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The index has been designed collaboratively by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation (SSEF), Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Ernst & Young (EY).

Notes:
The Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network “TRAFFIC” has recently revealed a new report titled ‘Skin and Bones Unresolved: An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 2000-2018’. As per new TRAFFIC analysis, India topped in the trafficking of tigers and tiger body parts over 19 years since 2000. Apart from tiger skin and bones, live tigers are also traded illegally in a number of cases. It accounted for 40.5% of total incidents (463) and 26.5% of tigers seized (626). Overall, the analysis estimated that 2,359 tigers and tiger body parts were seized during the period across 32 countries and territories globally, resulting from 1,142 seizure incidents. Around 95% of these seizures were recorded in countries that are home to tigers. The study was launched to coincide with discussions around the trade in tigers and other big cat species at the 18th meeting of governments that are parties to the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. It must be noted here that India has the world’s largest wild tiger population. The headquarters of TRAFFIC is located in Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK).

Notes:
Prof. Meeta Narain of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been conferred the prestigious ‘Pushkin Medal – 2019’ for her contribution to Russian studies abroad. Narain has contributed towards re-writing of Russian studies textbooks for graduate students after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Her work gave a contemporary flavour to the textbooks, which are now being used in departments of Russian language studies at various universities of India, in many former Soviet nation institutes, Europe, the US and other countries. The Pushkin Medal is the highest honour given to an Indian scholar by the Russian government in recognition of outstanding contributions to the promotion of the Russian language and culture. It was instituted in the name of famous Russian author and poet Alexander S. Pushkin.

Notes:
The Telangana Government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Google India for ‘Digital Telangana’. The MoU will improve and get more local language content online using Google’s digital publishing tool “Navlekha”. As part of the MoU, Google will work with the state government to help digitize the government’s content in Telugu to make it easier for the common man to get access to all the information and services on government sites in their local languages. Apart from this, Google will also collaborate with the government to support its digital literacy vision and aid in the overall digitization agenda of the state.

Notes:
The Asia-Pacific Group (APG) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a global watchdog for terror financing and money laundering. It has recently put Pakistan in the Enhanced Expedited Follow Up List (Blacklist) for its failure to meet its standards. The APG has also found that Pakistan was non-compliant on 32 of the 40 compliance parameters of terror financing and money laundering. On 11 effectiveness parameters of terror financing and money laundering, Pakistan was adjudged as low on 10. According to officials, Pakistan could not convince the 41-member plenary to upgrade it on any parameter. Now, Pakistan has to focus on avoiding the blacklist in October 2019, when the 15-month timeline ends on the FATF’s 27-point action plan.

Notes:
The first-ever World Youth Conference for Kindness has been inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. It organized by the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP). The theme of the conference was ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World: Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’. The conference was in commemoration of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi. Its purpose is to provide youth with creative, effective methods of engaging and in realizing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It sought inspiration from Gandhi’s championing of non-violence. The conference hosted 60 international delegates from over 27 countries, each of whom work in the field of positive social change.

Notes:
South Korea has recently conducted 2-day drill exercise to practise defending disputed islands off its east coast against an unlikely attack from Japan. The annual drills come just days after Seoul terminated a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo. The exercise will involve warships and aircraft. The drill — re-named “East Sea territory defence training” — will solidify the military’s resolve to defend the Dokdo islands and the area surrounding the Sea of Japan. The delayed exercise comes as tensions with neighbouring Japan continue. Seoul has controlled the rocky islets in the Sea of Japan since 1945 when Tokyo’s 35-year colonial rule over the Korean peninsula ended. Tokyo also claims the islands and accuses South Korea of occupying them illegally. The two nations are both market economies, democracies and US allies, and both are threatened by nuclear-armed North Korea.

Notes:
The Jabalpur-based Tropical Forest Research Institute (TFRI) has launched a mobile phone application containing details about insects and pests and their management. The app “INSECT PESTS” is a tool that provides information on insect and pests found in various forest areas and their management in tropical forests of central India. The app contains information in three categories– insect and pests of forest nurseries, of plantations, of natural forest–and their management. The app also has various features to identify pests, their host plants, infestation period, the nature of damage, their brief life history and also the measures to control them. The TFRI works under the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.