GK & Current Affairs Quiz: March 15, 2018

Notes:
According to the World Bank’s latest report “India Development Update – India’s Growth Story”, India’s GDP growth has been projected at 7.3% for the financial year FY 19 (2018-19) and it is expected to accelerate further to 7.5% in 2019-20. As per report, the World Bank expects that the Indian economy to clock a growth rate of 6.7% in the current fiscal FY 18 ending March 31. However, the report observed that a growth of over 8% will require continued reform and a widening of their scope, aimed at resolving issues related to credit and investment and enhancing the competitiveness of exports. The World Bank report further said that accelerating the growth rate will also require continued integration into global economy. It pitches for making growth more inclusive and enhancing the effectiveness of the Indian public sector.

Notes:
The World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is observed every year on March 15 to promote basic rights of all consumers, demanding that those rights are respected and protected. It also gives people a chance to protest against the market abuses and social injustices. On this day in 1962, President John F Kennedy formally addressed the issue of consumer rights in US Congress. He was the first world leader to do so, and the consumer movement now marks that date every year as a means of raising global awareness about consumer rights. The first World Consumer Rights Day was observed in 1983 and has since become an important occasion for mobilizing citizen action. The 2018 theme is ‘Making Digital Marketplaces Fairer’. In India, besides the World Consumer Rights Day, we observe the National Consumer Day on 24th of December every year.

Notes:
The Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) was inaugurated by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on March 14, 2018. The theme of the 2-day conference is “Challenges to Policing in 2020 – How is Cyber Space shaping our approach to Cybercrime and Terrorism, how do we perform within it and take advantage of it”. The conference is mainly focused on holding discussions about the growing interest of various terrorist or organized groups and radical elements in exploiting the Cyberspace and its advanced technologies for their various heinous crimes and nefarious designs. The IACP is the world’s largest organization of Police and law enforcement executives that is highly regarded for its role in identifying and responding to changing needs of the law enforcement community.

Notes:
The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) has developed a coded drug AYUSH QOL-2C for improving the quality of life in cancer patients. The clinical studies were conducted at St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru and AIIMS, New Delhi in breast cancer patients and at Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Jaipur in lung cancer patients. This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on March 13, 2018.The CCRAS is an autonomous body under the Ministry of AYUSH and is headquartered at New Delhi.

Notes:
An India-UK Joint Team has won the Newton-Bhabha Fund for a project on Groundwater Arsenic Research in Ganga River Basin. The Department of Science and Technology has undertaken the project with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) of United Kingdom (UK) to find solutions to the water challenges faced in the pervasively arsenic-affected Ganga River Basin. The purpose of the project is to assess how the problem of arsenic poisoning can get aggravated in the next 25 to 30 years and influence groundwater management practices and suggest water remedial technologies accordingly. The Newton Bhabha Fund, provided by the British Council, aims to bring together the UK and Indian scientific research and innovation sectors to find joint solutions to the challenges facing India in economic development and social welfare.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) has bagged the award for best implementation of E-office on March 14, 2018. E-Office is one of the Mission-mode Projects under the Digital India programme. The e-Office solution enables core operations of the Government at all levels to be performed in a ‘paper-less’ environment, including the E-leave,E-tour,Knowledge Management, Notice Board, Download Forms, Inventory Control etc. In the MDWS, the entire e-office suite was implemented in December 2014 and since then it is being used by all stake holders in the Ministry. All the files in the Ministry are e-files and these have been successfully handled though this system for over 3 years now, when the transition to electronic mode first took place.

Notes:
The Pi Day is observed every year on March 14 (3/14) across the world. It is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. It’s an important part of the foundation of mathematics, most importantly geometry, where pi is key to equations calculating the area of a circle, A = πr2, and the volume of a cylinder, V = πr2h.

Notes:
The 105th session of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) will be hosted by Manipur Central University in Imphal from 16 to 20 March 2018. The focal theme of the ISC is “Reaching the Unreached Through Science & Technology”. The Indian Science Congress is an annual event, usually held in the first week of January. Top scientists from across the country and the world attend the event. The 104th ISC was held at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

Notes:
The Malampuzha Dam is the largest reservoir in Kerala, located near Palakkad in south India with the scenic hills of the Western Ghats in the background. It is a combination of a masonry dam with a length of 1,849 m and an earthen dam with a length of 220 m. The dam is 355 feet high and crosses the Malampuzha River, a tributary of Bharathappuzha, Kerala’s second longest river. The total catchments area is 145 square kilometres, while the reservoir has a capacity of 8000 square meters of water. The canal systems serve to irrigate farm land while the reservoir provides drinking water to Palakkad and surrounding villages.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have jointly inaugurated the 75MW solar power plant at Chhanvey block in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. The largest solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh has been built in collaboration with French solar power giant Engie Solar at Dadar Kalan village, some 25 kms from Mirzapur under the International Solar Alliance (ISA) programme. The power plant has been built at a cost of Rs 650 crore in Dadar kala over a stretch of 380 acres in the Vindhya mountain range. The plant has 1.18 lakh solar panels and the power produced from here will be transmitted to the Jigna Power sub-station of the power corporation. The plant has 3,18,650 solar plates with each plate having a generation capacity of 315 watts and will generate 15.6 crore units of electricity annually, about 1.30 crore units per month.