GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 02, 2018

Notes:
Former India captain Rahul Dravid and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting have been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame for their stupendous achievements in international cricket. Along with Dravid and Ponting, retired England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor was also named in the ‘Hall of Fame’ during a ceremony in Dublin, Ireland on July 1, 2018. With this, Dravid became only the 5th player from India to be named in the elite list. The other four Indians are former skippers Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble.

Notes:
As per US State Department’s 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report, North Korea has been tagged “worst human trafficking nation” for the 16th straight year, citing the use of forced labour. North Korea has been included in the Tier 3 category, which is the lowest ranking, along with China, Russia and Iran. The report stated that the North Korean government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. It is continued to use forced labour in prison camps and labour training centres. In a stark contrast, South Korea has been ranked at the highest category, that is, in the list of Tier 1 countries for the 16th consecutive year, along with US, UK, France and Canada.

Notes:
NITI Aayog and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) have signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) to implement fertiliser subsidy disbursement through Blockchain Technology. Both will work on implementing a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) application for using the technology in subsidy disbursements. They will jointly develop the use case, under take research, interact with multiple stakeholders, develop Blockchain solutions, exchange learnings, organise forums, and disseminate learnings across their networks. It must be noted that approximately Rs 70,000 crore of subsidy is disbursed to manufacturing units every year for selling around 31 million MT of fertilisers below cost and the fertilizer subsidy disbursal takes two to three months’ time. With the implementation of Blockchain Technology, it is expected that the distribution will become effective and efficient, and subsidy transfer could be automated and made real time.

Notes:
The first-ever International Day of Parliamentarism is celebrated across the world on 30th June 2018 to recognize the importance of parliaments and their responsibility of representing the people. The day is not only an occasion to stress the critical importance of parliaments in any democratic society but also to reinforce the call for a global parliament. It is also an opportunity for parliaments to take stock, identify challenges, and ways to address them effectively. This date was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in a resolution 72/278 adopted on May 22nd as it coincides with the day in 1889, on which the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) — the global umbrella organization of parliaments — was founded. The parliamentary systems fall into two categories: bicameral and unicameral. Out of 193 countries, 79 are bicameral and 114 are unicameral, making a total of 272 chambers of parliament with over 46,000 members of parliament. The oldest parliament is the Althingi, the Icelandic Parliament, founded in 930.

Notes:
Rajat Sharma, who is the Chairman and Chief Editor of Hindi news channel INDIA TV, has become the new president of Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) for a period of 3 years. He beat former cricketer Madan Lal by 517 votes in the DDCA election 2018. The results of the DDCA polls were announced on 2nd July 2018 and Sharma’s group swept the elections winning all 12 seats. Sharma’s team will consist of Rakesh Kumar Bansal, who has been elected as the vice-president with 48.87% votes in his favour. Meanwhile, Vinod Tihara has been elected as Secretary, Om Prakash Sharma is the new Treasurer and Rajan Manchanda is the Joint Secretary. Rajat Sharma was conferred with Padma Bhushan award in 2016.

Notes:
Australian hockey team has won the 2018 Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy by defeating India in the final via penalty shoot-off at Breda, the Netherlands on July 1, 2018. It was Australia’s record 15th Champions Trophy title. While India won their second consecutive silver medal, hosts the Netherlands bagged the bronze beating Olympic champions Argentina 2-0 in the third-fourth place match. The 2018 Hockey tournament was the 37th and the last edition of the prestigious Hockey Champions Trophy for men. It will be replaced by the Hockey Pro League (HPL) in 2019.

Notes:
Anjolie Ela Menon, the well known muralist, has recently been conferred with the prestigious National Kalidas Samman by the Madhya Pradesh government in Delhi for her contribution in visual arts. The award was conferred in recognition of her insightful and sensitive portrayal of the identity and spirit of women through her meaningful paintings in a variety of media. Beside her, Artist A. Ramachandran was also conferred with the Kalidas Award. Menon is counted among India’s most accomplished artists and is the recipient of numerous national and international awards including the Padma Shri. She recently received a doctorate from Rabindra Bharati University.

Notes:
For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the world’s first-ever cannabis-based medicine “Epidiolex” made from marijuana. It is a milestone approval that could spur more research into a drug that remains illegal under federal law. The drug, manufactured by UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals, will be used to cure children aged 2-years old, who suffer from Dravet Syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, rare childhood-onset forms of epilepsy. Epidiolex is a purified form of cannabidiol (CBD), one of the hundreds of molecules found in the marijuana plant. It contains less than 0.1% of Tetra-Hydro-Cannabinol (THC), which makes people high. In simple words, the new drug is an oral solution of cannabidiol (CBD) and does not cause intoxication or a high.

Notes:
The International Asteroid Day (IAD) is observed every year on June 30 to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard and to inform the public about the crisis communication actions to be taken at the global level in case of a credible near-Earth object threat. In December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted resolution A/RES/71/90 to proclaim Asteroid Day globally on June 30. The day is an annual global event which is held on the anniversary of the Siberian Tunguska event that took place on 30th June 1908, the most harmful known asteroid-related event on Earth in recent history.

Notes:
On July 2, the first meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) will be held at Central Water Commission (CWC) office in New Delhi to resolve disputes over sharing of river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The meeting of the 9-member Authority will be chaired by the CWC Chairman S Masood Hussain, who is also heading the Cauvery Authority. The meeting will discuss the issues including water storage in Cauvery basin reservoirs, the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka as per the schedule and duly complying with all aspects of the judgement of the Supreme Court in this regard. As per Supreme Court’s direction, the Central Government constituted CWMA on 1st June 2018. The CWMA is an umbrella body, which will monitor water management on a day-to-day basis, including the water level and inflow and outflow of reservoirs in all the basin states.