Current Affairs 31st May 2019

Current Affairs 31st May 2019 - Important Points

• Nine Dots Prize 2019-20 won by -  Indian writer Annie Zaidi
• Criiio Campaign on eve of Men’s World Cup launched by - ICC
• International Everest Day celebrated on - 29th May 2019
• MoU inked between IAF and ISRO planned for - 2022
• Hawa Aane De’ song  launched by - Environment Ministry  

Current Affairs 31st May 2019 - Details

Nine Dots Prize 2019-20 won by -  Indian writer Annie Zaidi

Mumbai based journalist and playwright Annie Zaidi has announced the winner of the Nine Dots Prize 2019 for her essay ‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’. She is a freelance writer whose effort includes reportage, essays, short stories, poetry and plays. She has been declared as the winner for year 2019-2020.
Annie Zaidi’s work, ‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’, includes reportage and memoir to explore ideas of home and  fitting rooted in her experience of modern life in India, where migration (within the nation), especially from villages to cities is on higher side. The projected book will answer the big question via assessing how an inhabitant’s sense of ‘home’ might collapse/recovered.
More about Annie Zaidi

• She has issued both fiction and non-fiction, including a collection of essays Acknowledged Turf:
  Bantering with Bandits and Other True Tales, which was nominated for the Crossword Book Award in 2010. Her collection of short fictional Love Stories 1 to 14 was issued in 2012.
• Her new suggested book, grounded on her Nine Dots Prize winning essay ‘Bread, Cement, Cactus& will be issued by Cambridge University Press, in May 2020.
• She also writes poetry- Crush, in 2007, short stories including ‘The Good Indian Girl, in year 2011,
  plays and novels.
• In June 2012, Elle magazine termed Zaidi as one of the evolving South Asian writers ‘whose writing we believe will enrich South Asian literature.’
• In 2015, Zaidi issued an anthology called Unbound: 2000 Years of Indian Women's Writing.

Criiio Campaign on eve of Men’s World Cup launched by - ICC

The International Cricket Council released the ‘criiio’ campaign on the occasion of ICC Men’s World Cup 2019. The move will bring together about 460 million people playing cricket universally and to rejoice
magnificent diversity of cricket.
More about ‘Criiio’

• It is a festivity of all brilliant and unique ways people play cricket game which can be played and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and at any time of the day. Worldwide, millions of supporters are playing cricket in the way they like to including on their backyard, on beach, in a car park/gully.
• The International Cricket Council has asked cricket supporters internationally to join the social cricket community by sharing their photos and videos about where and how they play cricket by using the freshly released #criiio & visiting their site “criiio.com.”
• This is the 1st of a series of programmes that will be released by the International Cricket Council over the subsequent year and is assembled on the success of current user-generated social media initiative known as #WorldWideWickets.

International Everest Day celebrated on - 29th May 2019

The International Everest Day was celebrated as it is celebrated every year on 29th May. The day is
celebrated with demonstrations, memorial programmes, and special programmes in Kathmandu, Nepal and  the Everest region.
More about Mount Everest

• It is the world’s highest mountain above sea level with elevation of 8848 metres.
• It is called Sagarmatha in Nepali and as Chomolungma in Tibetan.
• The mountain was termed as “Everest” as a tribute to Sir George Everest, the Surveyor General of India from 1830-1843.

Did you know?

The day is celebrated every year in memory of the 1st summit of Mt.Everest on 29th May 1953
undertaken by Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand and  Tenzing Norgay Sherpa from Nepal who became 1st individuals to accomplish the feat. In 2008, the Nepal government finalised to celebrate day as International Everest Day when legendary climber Hillary decreased.

MoU inked between IAF and ISRO planned for - 2022

The Indian Air Force has inked a MoU with Indian Space Research Organisation for astronaut selection and  training for determined Gaganyaan Program, planned for 2022.
Key Highlight

• Indian Air Force has inked MoU with Indian Space Research Organisation for crew selection and training for admired Gaganyaan Program. The Memorandum of Understanding was handed over by R.G.K Kapoor, Air Vice Marshal to the Project Director of Gaganyaan Program, R Hutton.
• The inking of Memorandum of Understanding was a formal formality that will now initiate the selection procedure which would take 12-14 months after which training will start.
• Most of the basic training will occur in India but Indian Space Research Organisation is also pursuing for overseas help for advanced training. From Indian Air Force’s side, the Institute of Aerospace Medicine will undertake and head the selection and training of astronauts.
  Procedure Undertaken:
  The Institute of Aerospace Medicine will 1st began with a pool of 30 applicants, of whom, only 15 will be selected and given basic training.
  As the plan is to send 3 membered crew so Institute of Aerospace Medicine will finalise 3 sets of 3- total 9 & will let 1 set go about 3 months before planned launch with others remaining in program till the launch date.
  The 1st set of assessments will take around 3 months as Institute of Aerospace Medicine will have to make sure that it shortlists best crew whose physical condition is among best in India and they also have right mental make-up.

Hawa Aane De’ song  launched by - Environment Ministry  

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released a song called “Hawa Aane De” to spread awareness about Air pollution.
Key Highlights

Program Includes publish of several books, release of a film competition on environment and 3 thematic sessions on Air Pollution, Waste Management and Forests: The Green Lungs of cities.
About “Hawa Aane De” Song
It is the theme song for World Environment Day 2019 and was released in New Delhi by Shri C.K. Mishra, Secretary Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in presence of artists involved with song.

• Objective of the song is a call to action for all people to come together to battle environmental tasks of our time. It requests each one of us to explore green technologies and measures to advance air quality and  make India polluted.
• Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in association with Bhamla Foundation, Mumbai has created this song.
• The song “Hawa Aane De” is done with celebrities and trend setters with aim to carry out message of Air Pollution.
• The song is written by Shri Swanand Kirkire and is sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, Shri Shantanu Mukherjee Shankar Mahadevan and Kapil Sharma.
• The picturization has been directed by Shri Romanchak Arora.