Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2019

Notes:
Bengaluru FC won the 5th edition of the Indian Super League (ISL-2019) by defeating FC Goa 1-0 in the final at the Mumbai Football arena on 17th March 2019. It’s their first-ever ISL title. The two teams were locked 0-0 after 90 minutes. Even the first extra time saw no goals but Bengaluru got better of a 10-men Goan team 1-0, 4 minutes from the end of the second extra half. In it, Bengaluru FC defender Rahul Bheke became the match winner for the team in the dying minutes of the final.

Notes:
Recently, Italian Premier Premier Giuseppe Conte has pledged to make Italy the first Group of Seven nation to join China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, despite objections from the United States and concerns within his governing coalition. While, on 20th March 2019, India signalled that it will boycott China’s second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for a second time. It stated that no country can participate in an initiative that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity. India boycotted the first BRF in 2017 after protesting to Beijing over the controversial China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) overriding New Delhi’s sovereignty concerns. China has already deepened its commitment to expand the USD 60 billion CPEC, which aims to connect China’s Xinjiang province with Pakistan’s Gwadar port with a host of road, rail, gas and oil pipelines.

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:
In football, India has clinched the SAFF Women’s Championship for the fifth time in a row. In thefinal, they defeated hosts Nepal 3-1 at Biratnagar on 22nd March 2019. In the first half, Dalmia Chhibber of India scored the first goal of the match which was equalled by Nepal’s Sabitra Bhandari at the 33rd minute. In the second half, Grace Dengmei scored the second goal at 63rd minute and Anju Tamang scored third and decisive goal in the 76th minute. This was India’s 23rd straight victory in the championship since its inception in 2010. India has clinched all five editions of SAFF championship.

Notes:
Researchers from the University of Arkansas and Argonne National Lab in the US have identified more cost-effective and efficient ways of producing hydrogen fuel by splitting water. They showed that nano-particles composed of nickel and iron are better alternatives than more costly materials when used as catalysts in the production of hydrogen fuel through water electrolysis. The team demonstrated that using nanocatalysts composed of nickel and iron increases the efficiency of water electrolysis, the process of breaking water atoms apart to produce hydrogen and oxygen and combining them with electrons to create hydrogen gas. When nanoparticles composed of an iron and nickel shell around a nickel core are applied to the process, they interact with the hydrogen and oxygen atoms to weaken the bonds, increasing the efficiency of the reaction by allowing the generation of oxygen more easily.This marks a step toward making water electrolysis a more practical and affordable method for producing hydrogen fuel. Current methods of water electrolysis are too energy-intensive to be effective.

Notes:
Australian researchers, at the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, have developed a new automated non-invasive technique for diagnosing eye surface cancer. The novel technique involves custom-building of an advanced imaging microscope linked with computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) operations. It results in an automated system that is able to successfully identify between diseased and non-diseased eye tissue, in real-time, through a simple scanning process. The new technique scans natural light given off by specific eye cells — diseased cells — that have their own unique ‘light-wave signature’. This new technique offers the potential to reduce the need for biopsies, prevent therapy delays, and make treatment far more effective for patients. Eye surface cancer, also known as Ocular Surface Squamous Neoplasia (OSSN), is a common malignancy of the cornea and conjunctiva parts of the eye.

Notes:
Indian paddler Archana Kamath clinched a silver in the under-21 women’s singles section of the Seamaster ITTF Challenge Plus 2019 Oman Open table tennis tournament at Muscat. Archana started playing table tennis at the age of 9 years. She won her first U-12 and also a U -18 State title in 2011, and retained her Karnataka State No 1 Sub-Junior ranking throughout 2012 with some consistent performances. Since 2013 her career graph has seen a very steep rise. As a player, she describes herself as a fierce attacker.

Notes:
The Financial Technology (Fintech) Conclave has been organized by NITI Aayog in New Delhi and was inaugurated by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das. The objective of the conclave is to shape India’s continued ascendancy in FinTech, build the narrative for future strategy and policy efforts, and to deliberate steps for comprehensive financial inclusion. Nearly 300 Representatives from across the financial space – central ministries, regulators, bankers, startups, service providers and entrepreneurs are participating in the conclave. India is one of the fastest growing FinTech markets globally and industry research has projected that USD 1 Trillion or 60% of retail and SME credit, will be digitally disbursed by 2029. The Indian FinTech ecosystem is the third largest in the globe, attracting nearly USD 6 billion in investments since 2014.

Notes:
The Langkawi International Maritime Aero Expo (LIMA-2019) has started in Langkawi, Malaysia from 26 March 2019 to 30 March 2019. Indian Air Force (IAF) is participating in the Maritime Aero Expo for the first time, during which it will showcase its indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)-Tejas. The participation of IAF in LIMA-2019 will provide an opportunity to air-warriors to interact with their Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) counterparts and foster close relationship between the two services. This will serve as a foundation for any future interaction with the Malaysian Air Force. It will also provide an opportunity to RMAF to assess the capabilities of LCA.

Notes:
The World Tuberculosis Day (WTD) is observed every year on 24th March to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease. The 2019 theme “It’s time” pressurizes world leaders to act on their commitments.