GK & Current Affairs Quiz: March 13, 2018

Notes:
The Delhi End TB Summit has started in New Delhi on 13th March 2018, which is co-hosted by the Union Health Ministry, WHO South East Asia Regional Office and Stop TB Partnership. In it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a TB-free India Campaign to eradicate Tuberculosis (TB) from India by 2025, five years ahead of a globally-set deadline. The campaign will take the activities of National Strategic Plan (NSP) for TB elimination forward in a mission mode. The NSP is backed by a funding of over Rs 12,000 crore over the next three years to ensure that every TB patient has access to quality diagnosis, treatment and support. The new NSP adopts a multi-pronged approach which aims to detect all TB patients, with an emphasis on reaching TB patients seeking care from private providers and undiagnosed TB in high-risk populations. The Delhi End TB Summit 2018 will set the stage for United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB in September 2018, where for the first time, TB will be discussed in the UN General Assembly at the Heads of State level.

Notes:
The first-ever Indo-French Knowledge Summit was held in New Delhi and coincided with the state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to India. The purpose of the summit was to design a roadmap of Franco-India cooperation for the next five years, in collaboration with companies. It was organized by the French Embassy in India and co-hosted by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. The Knowledge summit was successfully ended with a landmark agreement on mutual recognition of educational qualifications between the two countries and a record 15 other MoUs between universities and research institutions on joint initiatives and partnerships. More than 350 people from nearly 80 Indian Institutions and 70 French Institutions along with key enterprises participated in the Summit which also received the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Campus France and Confederation of Indian Industry.

Notes:
The Union Government has constituted a 3-member Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal to adjudicate the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing the river’s water. Supreme Court Judge AM Khanwilkar will be the Chairman of the tribunal, with Justice Ravi Ranjan of the Patna High Court and Justice Indermeet Kaur Kochhar of the Delhi High Court being the other two members. The Tribunal, which will have its headquarters in Delhi, has been constituted following the Supreme Court orders in January in a suit filed by the Odisha Government. The apex court had sought to refer the dispute to a Tribunal for adjudication under the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

Notes:
The Festival of Democracy will be celebrated in Jaipur, Rajasthan on March 17, 2018 to discuss developmental dialogues relevant to democracy in the country. It is being organised by Anjaneya Seva Samiti in collaboration with Talk India Foundation. It will hold discussions about vivid aspects of the nation ranging from politics to cinema. The 2-day festival will be a platform to discuss substantive dialogue about vivid aspects of the nation, including politics, literature, art, health, sports, education, cinema and others. Eminent personalities from across the country are expected to take part in the event which includes former MP CP Joshi, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Delhi Power Minister Satyendra Jain and AAP leader Ashutosh Gupta.

Notes:
India’s first national coastal policing academy has been set up in Devbhumi Dwarka district of Gujarat to train police forces in effectively safeguarding the Indian shoreline. The academy, named National Academy of Coastal Policing (NACP), will start functioning from a campus of Gujarat’s Fisheries Research Centre located in coastal Okha from April 2018. The NACP will be run by a multi-agency team of paramilitary and defence forces. It will train the marine forces of states, which have sea lines.

Notes:
During the visit of President Ram Nath Kovind, India has offered a $100 million dollar Line of Credit (LoC) to Mauritius for defence procurement to help its security capacity. India also agreed to sell a Multi-Purpose Offshore Petrol Vessel to the island nation, which will be financed through the LoC. It will also have a $5-million-dollar grant component in addition to the LoC. Earlier, both the countries signed four MoUs to further strengthen bilateral cooperation. These agreements are in the fields of education, health, culture and civil services. The MoUs were exchanged in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth in Port Louis.

Notes:
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) celebrated its 33rd Inception Day on March 11, 2018 in their newly constructed Complex at Mahipalpur, New Delhi and released “Citizen Services” Mobile APP. This single App is a bouquet of various essential police related services to the citizen. The app can be used by citizen for various services such as Complaint Registration & Status Check, View FIR Detail, SOS – Stay Safe, Locate Police Stations, Vahan-Samanvay, Emergency Contact List, Police Stations Telephone Directory etc. The NCRB is an Indian government agency responsible for collecting and analysing crime data as defined by the Indian Penal Code (IPC). It is headquartered in New Delhi and is part of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Notes:
P K Sinha, the Union Cabinet Secretary , has launched “I-METROS” an association of all Indian Metro Rail companies at the Conference on “Indian Metros: Collaborating for Excellence” in Metro Bhawanhere on March 8. The platform will be a forum for exchange of ideas, pooling of knowledge and sharing of experience, best practices, innovations etc. among the Indian Metro Rail companies to nurture excellence in performance. It will also safeguard the interest and rights of metro rail companies and will be resource tank of information for decision making.

Notes:
The ICICI Bank has launched instant overdraft ‘InstaOD’ facility for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in a completely online and paperless manner. Customers can get overdraft facility up to Rs 15 lakh for a year anytime, anywhere using the bank’s Internet and mobile banking app. The new facility will enable a few lakh of pre-qualified current account customers of the bank to instantly avail of the facility without visiting a branch and submitting physical documents. ICICI Bank will also offer the facility for instant online sanction of overdraft facility to MSME customers of other banks shortly.

Notes:
The Gangrel Dam, also known as the R.S. Sagar Dam, is built across the Mahanadi River in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh. It is the longest dam in Chhattisgarh. This dam supplies year round irrigation, allowing farmers to harvest two crops per year. The dam also supplies 10 MW of hydro-electric power capacity.