Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to prepare a noise pollution map and remedial action plan to solve the issue across the country. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the CPCB to identify noise pollution hotspots and categorise cities with specified hotspots and propose a remedial action plan within 3 months. It also directed state pollution control boards to undertake noise level monitoring in conjunction with police administration and take remedial action. The NGT further stated that the absence of implementation of noise pollution norms affects health of citizens, especially infants and senior citizens. It also affects sleep, comfort, studies and other legitimate activities. Additionally, the green panel suggested manufacturing of public address systems with equipment that can monitor the noise pollution parameters and alert authorities once the prescribed limits are crossed. The CPCB is a statutory organisation under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFC). Its head office is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
Indian psychologist, psychoanalyst and co-founder of the postcolonial theory, Prof. Ashis Nandy has been chosen for the prestigious 2019 Hans Kilian award for his efforts to adapt western traditions of thought such as psychoanalysis to non-western context. With this, he will become the first Asian to receive the prestigious award on May 9 at the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. The award is given to researchers whose outstanding scientific achievements provide insight into the historical and cultural existence of humankind and the constantly evolving human psyche. It was instituted by the Kohler Foundation in Germany and named after social psychologist and psychoanalyst Hans Kilian. It is awarded every two years and was first awarded in 2011. The prize includes 80,000 euros.

Notes:
Diksha Dagar, an Indian female professional deaf golfer, has created history by becoming the youngest Indian woman to win on the Ladies European Tour (LET) at the age of 18 as she won the 2019 Investec South African Women’s Open in Cape Town on 16th March. She also became the 2nd Indian woman golfer to win a title after Aditi Ashok.

Notes:
Nursultan Nazarbayev, the longest-serving post-Soviet leader, has unexpectedly resigned as president of Kazakhstan after 29 years in power in a surprise public address on national television. But, he would remain the chairman of the country’s powerful security council, the leader of the Nur Otan party, which dominates parliament, and his official title as “The Leader of the Nation”. The move comes on the back of growing social discontent and an economy still recovering from an oil price plunge in 2014. Western sanctions against Russia, a key trading partner, have also hit the economy. Known as “Papa” to many Kazakhs, Nazarbayev has ruled the vast oil and gas-rich Central Asian nation since 1989, when it was still part of the Soviet Union. He has been Kazakhstan’s President since 1990 and was formally elected in 1991 after the fall of the Soviet Union. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, speaker of the upper house of parliament, will take over as Kazakhstan’s acting president for the remainder of his term in line with the constitution.

Notes:
In its latest Global Economic Outlook (GEO), Fitch Ratings has recently cut India’s economic growth forecast for the financial year FY20 starting April 1, to 6.8% from its previous estimate of 7%, on weaker than expected momentum in the economy. According to Fitch, the RBI has adopted a more dovish monetary policy stance and cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage at its February 2019 meeting, a move supported by steadily decelerating headline inflation. Fitch Ratings cut India’s FY19 GDP growth forecast to 7.2% from 7.8% on December 6. The rating agency has also cut growth forecasts for FY20 and FY21 to 7% from 7.3% and 7.1% from 7.3%, respectively.

Notes:
Hindi writer Leeladhar Jagudi will be honoured with the Vyas Samman 2018 by the KK Birla Foundation for his collection of poems “Jitne Log Utne Prem”. The book, published in 2013 was selected by a Chayan Samiti presided over by litterateur Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari. Born in Dhangal village in Tehri Garhwal of Uttarakhand, Mr. Jagudi was awarded the Padma Shri in 2004 apart from other awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award, Akashvani National Award, Uttar Pradesh Hindi Institute and Uttarakhand Gaurav Samman. The Vyas Samman, started in 1991 is given to an outstanding literary work in Hindi authored by an Indian citizen which has been published in the last decade. The award carries an amount of Rs. 4 lakh.

Notes:
Vice Admiral Karambir Singh has been appointed the next Chief of Naval Staff (CNS). Singh will succeed Admiral Sunil Lanba who retires on May 31. At present, Vice Admiral Singh is serving as the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief of the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. In his 36-year-old career, Karambir Singh has commanded an Indian Coast Guard Ship, a Naval Missile Corvette as well as Guided Missile Destroyers. The Chief of the Naval Staff is the commander and the highest-ranking officer in the Indian Navy. The position is abbreviated CNS in Indian Navy cables and communication, and usually held by a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral.

Notes:
On 25th March, US President Donald Trump has officially recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. With this, Israel has got an absolute right to self-defence. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, and subsequently annexed it in 1981. But, Israel’s sovereignty over the territory is not recognized by the international community. Mr Trump’s move reversed more than a half-century of the US policy over the issue. Meanwhile, Russia said, it feared a new wave of tensions in the West Asia following the decision by Washington to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights, which are claimed by Syria. The Syrian government has criticized the move calling it a blatant attack on its sovereignty. The Golan Heights is a rocky plateau in south-western Syria. It is located about 60km south-west of the Syrian capital ‘Damascus’, and covers about 1,200 sq km. The area is also a key source of water for an arid region. Rainwater from the Golan’s catchment feeds into the Jordan River. The area provides a third of Israel’s water supply. The land is fertile, and the volcanic soil is used to cultivate vineyards and orchards and raise cattle. The Golan is also home to Israel’s only ski resort.

Notes:
Peter Tabichi, a science teacher from rural Kenya who donates most of his salary to help poorer students, has been crowned the world’s best teacher and awarded a $1m prize in Dubai. He is the maths and physics teacher at Keriko secondary school in Pwani Village, in a remote part of Kenya’s Rift Valley, has won the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2019. Tabichi gives away 80% of his income to help the poorest students who live in poverty and are either orphans or from single-parent families. He changed the lives of his students in many ways, including the introduction of science clubs and the promotion of peace between different ethnic groups and religions. He has also helped to address food insecurity among the wider community in the famine-prone Rift Valley. Drug abuse, teen pregnancies, drop-outs, and suicide are common, and the school has one computer, poor internet access, and a student-teacher ratio of 58:1. In spite of those circumstances, Tabichi’s science students have won various national science competitions, and qualified to participate at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2019 in the US.

Notes:
The United States has recently clinched a strategic port deal with Oman that allow American ships and warplanes to take advantage of two Arabian Sea ports of Duqm and Salalah located near strategic Strait of Hormuz. The framework agreement is aimed at bolstering Omani-American military relations. With this pact, the US military will have better access to Gulf region and will reduce the need to send ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime choke point off Iran. The agreement will allow the US forces to take advantage from the facilities offered at some of the Sultanate’s ports and airports during visits of the US military vessels and aircraft. These two Omani ports – Duqm and Salalah are located just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow outlet through which about a 5th of the world’s oil trade exits the Persian Gulf. The Port of Duqm is located on the south-eastern seaboard of Oman, overlooking the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The narrow waterway is also an international transit route where American forces routinely pass and which has seen tense encounters between them and Iranian forces in the past.