Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2019

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:
Constable Monali Jadhav from Maharashtra was representing the Indian Police Force (IPF) at the recently concluded 2019 World Police and Fire Games International Championship held in Chengdu, China. She bagged the gold in target and field archery while settled for a bronze in the ‘3D Archery’ in the tournament. She also made a new record with a score of 716 out of 720 points in the game. Jadhav is attached to the Jalamb police station in Buldhana district of Maharashtra.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has recently notified the Sabka Vishwas – Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme 2019 to reduce legacy service tax and central excise cases in the pre-GST era. The scheme will be operationalized from 1st September 2019 & would continue till 31st December 2019. The two main components of the Scheme are dispute resolution and amnesty. The most attractive aspect of the scheme is that it provides substantial relief in tax dues for all categories of cases as well as full waiver of interest, fine and penalty. For all the cases pending in adjudication or appeal – in any forum – this Scheme offers a relief of 70% from the duty demand if it is Rs.50 lakhs or less and 50% if it is more than Rs. 50 lakhs. The same relief is available for cases under investigation and audit where the duty involved is quantified and communicated to the party or admitted by him in a statement on or before June 30, 2019. The scheme is especially tailored to free the large number of small taxpayers of their pending disputes with the tax administration.

Notes:
Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar has inaugurated the National Centre for Avian Ecotoxicology at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural Sciences (SACON) in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. The purpose of the center is to explore the impact of chemical contaminants on individual species of birds and, where possible, link them to population and communities. The centre would study the movement of environmental contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and drugs through the food chain, and their harmful effects on birds. The Union Ministry allocated Rs 4 crore for the centre, which contains instruments such as High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAC) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS).

Notes:
The 8th edition of joint military exercise titled Shaheen VIII has started between the air forces of China and Pakistan in Chinese city of Holton, which is closer to the Indian border near Ladakh. The purpose of the exercise is to improve training standards of the two air forces through mutual learning. It comes at a time when the country’s relations with Pakistan have hit rock-bottom. The air to air war games is said to be an exercise to develop a mechanism for interoperability of both countries’ air forces. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is keeping a close eye on the Pakistan-China aerial exercise in which both the countries have deployed latest fighter jets.

Notes:
The Bimal Jalan Committee has suggested that the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) economic capital framework must be periodically reviewed after every five years and its accounting year (July-June) be aligned with the fiscal year that ends on 31 March. The Committee has recommended that the central bank pay interim dividend to the government (a practice that started in 2016-17) only under exceptional circumstances. The committee also recommended that the RBI should put in place a framework for assessing the market risk of its off-balance sheet exposures in view of their increasing significance. The panel also suggested a clearer distinction between the two components of economic capital — realised equity and revaluation balances — mainly because of the volatile nature of the revaluation balances.

Notes:
S Aswatha Narayana from Odisha has created history by becoming the first Indian to win gold at 45th World Skills competition 2019 in Kazan city of Russia. He bagged the gold in water technology in the competition that was held between August 23-27. He was also rewarded as ‘Best of Nation’ amongst the Indian competitors. Pranav Nutalapati from Karnataka won Silver in Web Technologies. While Sanjoy Pramanik from West Bengal and Shweta Ratanpura from Maharastra both won bronze in Jewellery and graphic design technology respectively. Shweta has also earned the distinction of being the only female candidate to win a medal for India at World Skills Kazan 2019. In all, a 48-member Indian team returned with the best-ever finish at the competition by winning 19 medals and Medallions of Excellence.

Notes:
The Delhi Cabinet has given “in principle” approval to the free-ride scheme of providing free rides for women in city buses and metro trains. For this cause, the Delhi Assembly also passed Supplementary Demands for Grants of Rs 290 crore. Of the Rs 290 crore, Rs 140 crore is for free rides for women in buses and Rs 150 crore for rides in metro trains. The free-ride scheme is slated to begin from October 29. Though, women employees of the Delhi government, local bodies and undertakings will not be entitled for transport allowance if they opt for free ride in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses. Both DTC and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) will strengthen their ticket checking mechanisms prevent “misuse” and “pilferage” of single journey passes.

Notes:
On 2019 National Sports Day (NSD), Gagan Narang and Pawan Singh have been honoured with the Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar for their Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation (GNSPF) at the Arjuna Awards ceremony in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. The award recognizes their contribution in the growth of their favourite sport and a reward for sacrifices they have made to realize their dream. In 2011, Narang and co-founder Pawan Singh founded GNSPF to nurture budding talent and provide them training in a systematic and structured and also education to help carve out future champions. The Gun For Glory Shooting Academy — formed under the aegis of GNSPF — has 16 centres spread across India and has over 50 shooters getting international level coaching. The academy shooters have won over 165 international medals and many of them are a regular feature in the national team.

Notes:
To boost tourism and give and an all new experience to visitors, India’s first-ever sky cycling park will soon open at Gulaba area near Manali in Himachal Pradesh. It is 350m long & is located at a height of 9000 Feet above sea level. Forest Department and Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports have jointly developed an eco-friendly park. The adventure sport will give a fillip to tourism in Manali and visitors will get an enriching experience of adventure sports at this park. It will also help provide employment to locals.