GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 25, 2018

Notes:
Fakhar Zaman from Pakistan has become the fastest player to score 1000 runs in One-Day International (ODI) cricket during the 5th match against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on July 22, 2018. He took 18 innings to achieve the feat and broke West Indies great Vivian Richards’ record. Richards was the first crickter to complete 1000 runs in ODIs, in Jan 1980, in his 21st innings. Apart from this, Zaman also became the first Pakistan batsman to score a double ton in ODI cricket history and also stitched a world record partnership of 304 runs for the opening wicket with Imam-ul-Haq. For India, Captain Virat Kohli holds the record for being the fastest Indian to cross the 1000-run mark after he took 24 innings to reach the milestone.

Notes:
The NITI Aayog has signed Statement of Intent (SoI) with Lupin Foundation to collaborate in Aspirational Districts Programme. The purpose of the programme is to improve indicators in education, health and nutrition, financial inclusion and skill development, agriculture and water resources, and basic infrastructure in Aspirational Districts of India. As per the terms of the SoI, Lupin Foundation, with the NITI Aayog, will work in 3 states – Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan – to facilitate the creation of an ideal template to develop economic strength, technological viability and moral leadership across three districts in these states as part of Phase I of the cooperation. The phase I of this cooperation with NITI Aayog will focus on the districts of Dholpur in Rajasthan, Nandurbar in Maharashtra and Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, and help develop a comprehensive district-level action plan with integrates various initiatives and interventions.

Notes:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has set up a ministerial committee to prepare a draft policy for the development of Odia film industry. The committee will also examine different problems being faced by the Odia cinema industry and recommend measures for renovation of the Kalinga Studio, located on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The committee, headed by Finance Minister S B Behera, will have to submit its report to the government within one month suggesting steps to be taken for the purpose.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government has launched ‘e-Pragati core initiative’ at Undavalli to provide integrated services to citizens. The aim of the digital initiative is to connect citizen to 34 departments, 336 autonomous organisations and 745-plus government services. In simple words, e-Pragati will act as a platform to connect all departments and stand alone to resolve the issues. As of now, the initiative offers around 20 services and 100 more will be added by the year-end. The e-Pragati authority will achieve the goals of the project by supporting the seven development missions launched in the areas of e-Governance, Social Empowerment, Skill Development, Urban Development, Infrastructure, Industrial Development and the Services sector. Through this project, the State government intends to realise the vision of ‘Sunrise AP 2022’.

Notes:
Justice Tahira Safdar has been named as the new Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court. With this, she will become the first-ever female high court chief justice in Pakistan. Justice Safdar will take charge of her new role following the retirement of incumbent Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Mohammad Noor Muskanzai, who attains superannuation on 31 August. Safdar belongs to Quetta and is the daughter of renowned lawyer Syed Imtiaz Hussain Baqri Hanafi. She made history in 1982 when she became the first woman civil judge in Balochistan. Currently, Justice Tahira is a member of the 3-judge special court conducting the trial of former president Pervez Musharraf for committing treason by proclaiming a state of emergency on 3 November, 2007.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon issue new Rs 100 denomination currency notes in the Mahatma Gandhi series. The base colour of the new denomination is lavender and contains other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme both at the observe and reverse. The dimension of the banknote will be 66m x 142 mm which is the same size as that of the Rs 200 note. The obverse (front) side of the note contains a see-through register with denominational numeral 100, a latent image with the numeral and also a Devanagari version of the same. The new banknote has a motif of ‘Rani Ki Vav’ (the Queen’s Stepwell) on the reverse, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The heritage site is a stepwell located on the banks of Saraswati river in Patan, Gujarat. It was built as a memorial to an 11th-century king Bhima I .

Notes:
On July 23, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released the first-ever tribal atlas of Odisha — a set of maps and statistics – to highlight the tribal demography of the state. The atlas has been brought out utilising the data of Census 2011 and other relevant statistics, which is said to be the first of its kind in the country. The atlas has been prepared by the SC & ST Research and Training Institute in collaboration with Academy of Tribal Language and Culture. It has been edited by Prof A B Ota, director of SC & ST Research Institute, and reviewed by development commissioner R Balakrishnan. The atlas displays the salient features of tribal population of Odisha with a series of maps, charts and diagrams. It contains 60 plates pf maps along with corresponding graphs and diagrams which portray the distributional aspects of the Odisha’s tribal population, ecological setting of the tribal habitats, their socio-cultural attributes such as linguistic/dialectical affinity, sex composition and literary levels.

Notes:
On July 23, the Union government has constituted a high-level committee to suggest laws against mob lynching and violence. The high-level committee, headed by the Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, will submit its suggestions to the Home ministry within 4 weeks. Beside this, the government has also constituted a Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, to consider the recommendation of the high level committee. The GoM will then examine the report and submit its suggestions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The move came after the Supreme Court asked the government to enact a law to deal with such incidents, terming them as “horrendous acts of mobocracy”.

Notes:
The first meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Committee on Border Haats was held in Agartala, Tripura on July 22-23, 2018. In the meeting both sides noted the positive impact of Border Haats on the livelihoods of the people living in areas adjoining the Haats. Extensive discussions were held on issues related to review of operations of the four functional Border Haats and suggestions for improvement, timeline for setting up the six additional Border Haats that had earlier been agreed to by both sides and the roadmap for further expansion of Border Haats. It was agreed that the next meeting would be held in Bangladesh on mutually agreed dates. The Joint Committee also visited the Border Haat at Kamlasagar (Sipahijala District, Tripura) – Tarapur (Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh) on 22 July 2018, appreciated its vibrant functioning and noted the need for improvement of infrastructure.

Notes:
On July 23, the Lok Sabha passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 that allows a court hearing a cheque bounce case to direct the drawer — the person who wrote the cheque — to pay interim compensation to the person who filed the complaint. The interim compensation, to be paid within 60 days of the court’s order, can be up to 20% of the value of the cheque. The court may direct the payee to repay the interim compensation, with interest, if the drawer is acquitted. Now , the bill will go to the Rajya Sabha for its nod. If bill gets Parliament’s nod, it will preserve the sanctity of cheque transactions by stopping the practice of people trying to deliberately delay cases through filing of appeals and obtaining stay a on proceedings. The bill, which amends the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, is aimed to reduce the number of cheque dishonour cases pending in courts.