GK & Current Affairs Quiz: January 09, 2018

Notes:
Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union Minister of Earth Sciences (MoES), has dedicated India’s fastest and first multi-peta-flops supercomputer “Pratyush’ to the nation in Pune on January 8, 2018. The supercomputer has been established at Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) and will be a national facility for improving weather and climate forecasts under the umbrella of the MoES. This facility is part of Ministry’s continuous endeavor to provide world class forecast services to the citizens of India through upgrading various operational and research activities and the needed infrastructure. Petaflops is a measure of a computer’s processing speed.

Notes:
Soumitra Chattopadhyay (82), the legendary film and theatre actor, will be conferred with the France’s highest order of merit ‘Legion of Honour at the 42nd International Kolkata Book Fair 2018. The honour will be bestowed on the actor who starred in many of Satyajit Ray’s iconic films by French culture and communication minister Francoise Nyssen in Kolkata. The book fair will open on January 30 and conclude on February 11. Chattopadhyay acted in several of Ray’s films,including Apur Sansar, Abhijan, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri and Sonar Kella.

Notes:
Sunny Verghese, the Singapore-based Indian-origin businessman, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). He succeeded Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever, on January 1 and will serve a two-year term. The WBCSD is a global network of more than 200 CEOs who are responsible for a combined revenue of more than $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees.

Notes:
Haryana has become the first Indian state to launch High-Risk Pregnancy (HRP) portal which helps in early identification of high-risk pregnant cases up to the grass-roots level and ensures their timely referral to the civil hospitals for further management and delivery by specialists. The High Risk Pregnancy Policy has been implemented across the State since November 2017, for identifying 100% name-based high-risk pregnancy cases, and ensuring their delivery by specialists at civil hospitals. This initiative will definitely increase the pace of decline in Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Still Birth Incidence as morbidity and mortality is quite high in high risk pregnant cases, if not managed timely.

Notes:
Soon, India’s second Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) will be set up by the Union Government in Arunachal Pradesh as part of tapping the potential of the Northeastern region. The first FTII was set up in Pune, an autonomous institute operating under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B). Film actor Anupam Kher is the current Chairman of this institute.

Notes:
John Watts Young (87), the legendary astronaut who walked on the Moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has passed away at Houston, United States on January 5, 2018. He became the 9th person to walk on the Moon as Commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to fly six space missions (with seven launches, counting his lunar liftoff) over the course of 42 years of active NASA service. He was the only spaceman to span NASA’s Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs and became the first person to rocket away from Earth six times.

Notes:
According to recently released report by Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Gujarat has topped the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index. Among 22 states, Punjab has acquired 2nd position followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Among the Union Territories, Daman & Diu occupied the top slot followed by Delhi and Chandigarh. As regards the hilly states, Tripura was on top followed by Mizoram and Meghalaya. The LEADS index is an indicator of the efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports in particular and economic growth in general. It is based on the analysis of perception with regard to eight parameters, including infrastructure, services, regulatory process and safety of cargo. The Report LEADS would help in identifying the right problem areas in the sector and prepare policy responses to deal with them.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the first-ever Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Parliamentary Conference in the Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra (PBK) in Delhi on January 9, 2018. Approx 124 Members of Parliament (MP) and 17 mayors from 23 countries will participate in this conference. The conference is a way of reaching out to the Indian community overseas by the Central government. The event will have two thematic sessions, the first one will have as special guest senior Congress leader and chairman of the parliamentary committee on external affairs, Shashi Tharoor. The session will be presided over by Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The second session will have Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumar as a special guest which will be chaired by Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Notes:
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated every year on January 9 to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India. The day was chosen to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India in 1915, which led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.

Notes:
The Pandoh Dam is an embankment dam on the Beas River in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. The dam was commissioned in 1977 and its primary purpose is hydroelectric power generation. The power house has an installed capacity of 990 MW. The water is used for power generation at the Dehar Power House before being discharged into the Satluj River, connecting both rivers. Apart from this, the Pandoh Lake is created by Pandoh Dam and is located about 19 km upstream from Mandi on the River Beas.