Test : August 2019 Weekly Current Affair - 4" - Current Affairs MCQ

On August 11, 2019, Conservative Alejandro Eduardo GiammatteiFalla was elected as Guatemala’s 51st President defeating Sandra Torres, Former first lady(spouse of Alvaro Colom- 47th Guatemala president) by gaining more than 58% of the votes. Giammattei succeeds outgoing corruption tainted president Jimmy Morales (50th president of Guatemala). Morales will be leaving office in 2020 in the month of January.Giammattei, a 63 year old doctor and former prison chief was defeated in three previous presidential elections.

The three newly added sports are Women’s T20 (twenty-twenty) cricket, beach volleyball and Para-table tennis.Birmingham will also have the largest Commonwealth Para-table programme. There are a total of 7 mixed events with the additional confirmed programme.

23 year old Indian motorsport rider, AishwaryaPissay from Bengaluru became the first woman from India as well as the first Indian to win the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) Bajas World cup with a tally of 65 points. The final round of the championship was held at Varpalota, Hungary. She was the only one to compete all the four rounds over her rivals and represented TVS (Thirukkurungudi vengaram Sundaram) motors.

On August 14, 2019, Jal Shakti Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat launched the 2nd Edition of Swaccha Survakshan Grameen, India’s largest sanitation survey, for 2019 in New Delhi. Description: Under the Swachh Survekshan Grameen, districts and states will be ranked on data collected from citizen feedback, direct observation and service-level progress.Coverage: 45-day long survey will take place in 18 thousand villages of 698 districts.

RBI will launch the sandbox for companies/banks that meet the criteria of the minimum net worth of Rs.25 lakh and the promoter/director of the entity should meet fit and proper framework.

A high level steering committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) headed by Injeti Srinivas, Corporate Affairs Secretary has recommended to make CSR expenditure tax-deductible and that non-compliance of CSR norms be treated as a civil offence. The committee presented its recommendations to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

On August 13, 2019, India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) stated that, for regulatory purposes, Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) will be treated as one of the categories of NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies) & it will come under RBI’s supervision.This comes after the Finance (No 2) Act, 2019 (23 of 2019) amended the National Housing Bank Act, 1987, granting certain powers to RBI for the regulation of HFCs.RBI will review the regulatory framework applicable to the HFCs & release a revised guideline for these companies. Till the time RBI issues fresh revised guideline, HFCs will continue to comply with the National Housing Bank’s(NHB) directions and instructions and submit various returns to it.

Geographical Identity (GI) tag was given to the famous Panchamritham, an offering of the Palani Dandayuthaswamy temple, in Tamil Nadu. It became the first temple offering – Prashad – from Tamil Nadu to be conferred this honour.Panchamirtham.Panchamritam (Five Nectars) of Palani temple is prepared using 5 sweet substances including plantains, jaggery, grapes, forest honey and ghee.The quality of the offering is monitored by the Central Research Institute of Food Technology in Mysore, Karnataka.

On August 13, 2019, Queen of Indian athletics, P T Usha (Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha) from Payyoli (Kerala) has appointed as one of the six members of the Asian Athletics Association’s (AAA) Athletes Commission, in recognition of her outstanding achievements at the continental stage. This is the 2nd time she has been appointed a member of the Commission.

22 year old American Artistic gymnast Simone Arianne Biles became the first woman in the world to make a “triple-double” floor exercise landing which is a finale featuring two flips and three twists at the 2019 US(United States) Gymnastics Championships held at Kansas city, Missouri, US.Simone Biles.The event was held from August 8-11.The triple double involves two flips and three twists in the air( only 2 men in the world have done the move successfully).Biles was part of the “final five” gold medal winning team at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Inter-State Council was reconstituted with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairman and 6 Union ministers and chief ministers as members. The Article 263 of the Constitution provides for the establishment of an Inter-State Council which is mandated to inquire into and advise upon disputes which may arise between states, investigate and discuss subjects in which some or all of the states, or the Union and one or more of the states, have a common interest. The government reconstituted the standing committee of the Inter-State Council with the chairmanship of Home Minister Amit Shah. 4 Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Thaawar Chand Gehlot & Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and 8 chief ministers are the members.

On July 26 2019, the first space museum of India opening new attraction to space enthusiasts, was set up at Hyderabad in association with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The museum is housed in the Birla Science Museum. It gave Space of 9000 square feet to set up the space museum. It was inaugurated on the celebration on golden jubilee year of the Birla Archaeological and Cultural Research Institute (BACRI).

External Affairs Minister(EAM) of India Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited(3-day from August 11 to 13,2019)Beijing, China during which he had bilateral meetings with his counterpart Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, Vice President Wang Qishan, 4th meeting of the India-China Media Forum on cultural and people-to-people exchanges & signed 5 MoUs(memorandum of understanding) during the visit.

Denmark’s third-largest bank, Jyske Bank has launched the world’s first negative interest rate mortgage – handing out loans to homeowners where the charge is minus 0.5% a year. It has begun offering borrowers a 10-year deal at -0.5%. Negative interest rates effectively mean that a bank pays a borrower to take money off their hands, so they pay back less than they have been loaned.Another Danish bank, Nordea will begin offering 20-year fixed-rate deals at 0% and a 30-year mortgage at 0.5%.

Government to invest Rs 100 lakh cr in infrastructure building. One nation, one constitution spirit has become a reality after scrapping of provisions of Article 370. There is a ‘huge’ scope for improvement in the tourism sector and everyone should visit at least 15 tourist destinations within India by 2022. India can become a 5 trillion dollar economy in the next 5 years. Jal Jeevan Mission to ensure safe drinking water to all households was announced. Government will spend Rs 3.5 lakh crore for it. Government has an aim is to reach among first 50 nations in ease of doing business. Implementation of GST achieved One Nation, One Tax. India achieved One Nation, One Grid in the energy sector. Arrangements have been made for One Nation, One Mobility Card and India endorsed the idea of One Nation, One Election emphasizing the need for democratic discussions on the issue. PM gave a motto to boost digital payment- ‘Yes to digital payment, No to cash’.

INS Tarkash, a state-of-the-art stealth frigate of the Indian Navy equipped with a versatile range of weapons visited Norway as part of Western Fleet Overseas Deployment. The ship is part of the Indian Navy’s Western Fleet and is under the operational command of Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command based in Mumbai.

The Ministry of Environment approved 13 wildlife sanctuaries, including one tiger reserve in Chhattisgarh, as eco-sensitive zones (ESZ) for scientific conservation of the ecosystem. 11 sanctuaries in Tamil Nadu are Vaduvoor Bird Sanctuary, Kanjirankulam Bird Sanctuary, Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel sanctuary, Megamalai Wildlife sanctuary, Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, Vettangudi Birds sanctuary, Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary, Sakkarakottai Bird Sanctuary, Vallanadu Blackbuck Sanctuary, Oussudu Lake Bird Sanctuary and Point Calemere Wildlife Sanctuary. The Achanakmar Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh and Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra have also been approved as ESZ.

Lt Gen YK Joshi, General Officer Commanding, Fire and Fury Corps flagged off a mountaineering expedition to Mount APSARASAS-II in the Ladakh region. The expedition is being undertaken by ‘Tejasvi Teen’ Battalion under the aegis of ‘Patiala Brigade’. The expedition team comprises of seasoned mountaineers who will attempt to summit the technically challenging peak located in the Siachen Muztagh mountain ranges. With an elevation of 7,239 metres, MOUNT APSARASAS-II figures amongst the 100 highest peaks of the world.