Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist, has been nominated for 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts in climate activism and fighting global warming. Ms. Thunberg is the founder of the School Strike for Climate movement, which is a global, growing movement of students demanding more action from authorities regarding global warming and climate change. The movement began last year as a solo protest by Thunberg outside the Swedish Parliament building. She encouraged students to skip school to join protests demanding faster action on climate change. It has since grown, and on 15th March 2019, thousands of students from across continents skipped school and take part in protests. It is said to be the largest such protest. If she won, Thunberg would be the youngest person to become a Nobel peace prize laureate, a title Malala Yousafzai took as a 17-year-old in 2014for her work on the right to education. The winner of the Nobel peace prize will be announced in October 2019.

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India (SCI) has appointed senior advocate P.S. Narasimha as mediator for resolving various disputes related to cricket administration in the country. Narsimha is also assisting the apex court as amicus curiae in the BCCI matter. A bench of Justices S.A. Bobde and A.M. Spare also asked Mr. Narasimha to look into the dispute relating to release of funds by the court appointed committee of administrators to various cricket associations. In addition, the Supreme Court has also directed that no Court or Tribunal in India shall entertain or proceed with any matter pertaining to BCCI or any State Cricket Association(s) till Narsimha submits his report. Earlier, the apex court had appointed its former judge Justice (retd) D K Jain, as the first court-appointed ombudsman for Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Notes:
On March 15, the first-ever BRICS Sherpa meeting under the Presidency of Brazil concluded at Curitiba in Brazil. T S Tirumurti, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the MEA, led the Indian delegation at the 2-day meeting. During the meeting, India conveyed its support for the priority areas set out by Brazil, particularly to take forward BRICS cooperation on counter terrorism in a meaningful and concrete manner with BRICS member countries. New Delhi also underlined the need to take forward people-to-people cooperation and cooperation in science and technology and innovation and in health and traditional medicine.

Notes:
The West Nile Virus (WNV) fever is a mosquito-borne viral infection, which is rare in India. It is a single-stranded RNA virus that causes West Nile fever. It is a member of the family Flaviviridae, specifically from the genus Flavivirus, which also contains the Zika virus, dengue virus, and yellow fever virus. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that the WNV is transmitted to humans through bites from Culex mosquitoes which get infected when they feed on infected birds. The infection could be confirmed only if the second samples test positive. Hence, birds are the natural hosts of WNV. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body aches, nausea, vomiting, occasionally with a skin rash on the trunk of the body, and swollen lymph glands. It is in news because a 7-year-old boy from Kerala was recently diagnosed with the WNV fever. For this issue, the Union has dispatched a multi-disciplinary Central team from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to assess the spread of WNV in Kerala.

Notes:
Darryl D’Monte (74), the senior journalist and environmental activist, has passed away in Mumbai on March 16, 2019. During his long career, D’Monte worked as the resident editor with leading media organisations such as ‘The Times of India’ and ‘Indian Express’ in Mumbai. He also wrote for websites and penned the book ‘Ripping the Fabric’ on the decline of cotton mills in Mumbai and the resulting challenges. He had also served as the chairperson of the Forum of Environmental Journalists of India (FEJI) and was the founder-president of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists (IFEJ) in Dresden, Germany, in 1993.

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.

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Prof. Karen Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin has become first woman to win the Abel Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious international mathematics awards. The award is sometimes called the Nobel Prize of mathematics. She has been awarded the 6 million Norwegian kroner ($700,000) prize for her work in the fields of geometric partial differential equations, gauge theory and integrable systems and for the fundamental impact of her work on analysis, geometry and mathematical physics. The prize was first awarded in 2003 to honor the 19th-century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.

Notes:
The World Water Day (WWD) is observed every year on 22nd March to tackle the global water crisis in households, schools, workplaces and farms. This day is also celebrated as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. an opportunity to learn more about water related issues, be inspired to tell others and take action to make a difference. Water is an essential building block of life. It is more than just essential to quench thirst or protect health; water is vital for creating jobs and supporting economic, social, and human development. The 2019 theme ‘Leaving no one behind’ is the central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The aim of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030. By definition, this means leaving no one behind.

Notes:
Haku Shah (85), the renowned Indian artist, has passed away in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on March 21, 2019. He was best known for his themes of tribal and folk art. Born on 26th March 1934, Shah did his Masters in Fine Art under renowned artists like K G Subrahmanyam. A large part of his work was deeply influenced by tribal art and culture, as well as the Bhakti movement, especially its Nirguna poetry. Shah was also a cultural anthropologist. He carried out extensive field research and documentation on rural and tribal arts and crafts, traditions and folk lore, and established a tribal museum at Gujarat Vidyapith. Fondly known as “Haku bhai”, the award-winning artist also set up the first of its kind Crafts Village – Shilpgram in Udaipur in Rajasthan in the 1980s. Shah, who published his memoirs, “Manush” in 2009, received several awards including the Padma Shri (1989), the Jawarharlal Nehru Fellowship and the Kala Ratna for his contribution to art.

Notes:
Indian technology company Infosys has signed a three-year partnership agreement with Roland-Garros to provide technology solution for tennis tournament The French Open, also called Roland-Garros. The 3-year deal, running from 2019 to 2021, is aimed at enriching the game by providing fans, players and coaches with a new experience leveraging Infosys’ expertise in digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data and analytics, mobility, virtual and augmented reality. As part of the partnership, Infosys and Roland-Garros will work on several new digitally-enabled experiences. These include a re-imagined fan experience powered by data and analytics, which will enable fans to follow live scores, “feel the pulse” of live matches, delve deeper into match analytics and understand what ultimately influenced the outcome of the match. The tool will be available on the official Roland-Garros website during the tournament.