GK & Current Affairs Quiz: March 20, 2018

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has recently released coins in denominations of Rs 10 and Rs 1,000 commemorating Nabakalebara festival of 2015 during the centenary celebration of Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Puri, Odisha on March 18, 2018. The Nabakalebara festival is an ancient ritual that is observed in most of the Jaganath temples in Odisha. In this fest, the idols of Lord Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra and Sudarshan are replaced by new idols. The occasion occurs every 8th, 12th, or 19th year of the previous Nabakalebara.

Notes:
Satya Pal Malik, the Governor of Bihar, has been given additional charge as the Governor of Odisha after Dr. SC Jamir completed his five-year tenure. A communique issued by the President’s Secretariat stated that Malik will remain in-charge of Odisha until regular arrangements are made for the office of Odisha Governor.

Notes:
India and the European Union (EU) have signed an agreement that will enable them to share earth observation data from each other’s satellites. The pact was inked in Bengaluru by Philippe Brunet, Director for Space Policy, Copernicus and Defence, on behalf of the European Commission, and by Scientific Secretary, PG Diwakar. The Copernicus programme provides a wide range of applications like climate change, land, ocean and atmosphere monitoring as well as support in forecasting, management and mitigation of natural disasters. Under this arrangement, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will share data from its earth observation satellites. The European Commission will provide India with free, full and open access to the data from the Copernicus Sentinel family of satellites using high bandwidth connections from data hub to data hub. This will provide both the sides, the data on climate change, weather forecasting and natural disasters.

Notes:
The 3rd edition of National Conclave on Mines and Minerals has started in New Delhi on March 20, 2018. The representatives of various state governments, mining industry, industry associations, financial and academic institutions will participate in the event. The conclave will provide an effective platform to showcase the recent policy initiatives of the government. It was also enable intensive discussions on issues, challenges and opportunities in the mining sector to realize its optimum potential for the sustainable development of the country. The first edition of the conclave was held in July, 2016 at Raipur, while the second took place in February 2017 in New Delhi.

Notes:
The first-ever National workshop on Poshan Abhiyaan has started at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi on March 20, 2018 to implement the campaign in a fast track mode across the country. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is organising the day long workshop in which all states and union territories are participating. The workshop will provide a complete orientation on the campaign to provide handholding in using the softwares involved and to augment the convergence with different Ministries in implementing the campaign for improved Nutritional outcomes. POSHAN Abhiyaan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan on March 8, 2018. It has been set up with a three year budget of Rs 9046.17 crore commencing from 2017-18. It aims to ensure holistic development and adequate nutrition for pregnant women, mothers and children. The programme also targets to reduce the level of stunting, under-nutrition, anaemia and low birth rate.

Notes:
Kedarnath Singh (84), Jnanpith awardee and renowned Hindi poet, has passed away in New Delhi on March 19, 2018. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award in Hindi in 1989 for his poetry collection ‘Akaal Mein Saras’ and the Jnanpith Award in 2013. He had been a professor and head of the Department of Hindi Language at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Indian Languages Centre.

Notes:
The 7th edition of the Women Science Congress (WSC-2018) has inaugurated by West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi at Manipur University, Imphal on March 18, 2018. The theme of this edition “Reached the Unreached Through Science and Technology” is apt to those areas where the light of scientific development has not spread yet and to those areas where we have not done research on. The WSC-2018 has started in the backdrop of the ongoing 105th Indian Science Congress (ISC-2018) in Manipur University.

Notes:
The World Sparrow Day (WSD) is observed every year on March 20 to highlight the declining population of the bird due to modern infrastructure, pollution by microwave towers and pesticides and lesser green spaces. It is an international initiative by the Nature Forever Society of India in collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and numerous other national and international organisations across the world.

Notes:
Sunil Sharma (49), the senior journalist, has passed away in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh on March 19, 2018. Presently, he was working as the bureau chief of Hindi daily ‘Divya Himachal’.

Notes:
The Salal Hydroelectric Power Station (SHPS) is a run-of-the-river power project on the Chenab River in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).