GK & Current Affairs Quiz: May 17, 2018

Notes:
On May 16, Chennaiyin FC head coach John Gregory has been honoured with a Special Achievement Award by England’s League Managers’ Association (LMA) in London for becoming the first Englishman to win the Indian Super League (ISL). Chennaiyin FC had beaten Bengaluru FC in the ISL final in March 2018 to claim the trophy. This victory also ensured Chennaiyin FC a place in the 2019 AFC Cup. The LMA is a body in England for English coaches and all managers in English football. The LMA hosts an awards night annually to reward the best performing coaches in English football every season and also recognises efforts of English coaches from around the world.

Notes:
The 2-day regional conference on “Physical and Social Infrastructure for Regional Development” was held in Guwahati, Assam on May 14, 2018. It was inaugurated by Prof. Jagdish Mukhi, the Governor of Assam. The Seminar is organized in collaboration with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI). The conference provided an opportunity to do an in depth analysis of the core infrastructure related issues of the North Eastern States.

Notes:
The first-ever all-woman Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) has started operations in Phagwara, Punjab. The seva kendra was inaugurated by Union Minister Vijay Sampla in the local head Post Office. It was 192nd POPSK in the country, but the first one to be operated by an all-woman team. According to Jalandhar regional Passport Officer Harmanbir Singh Gill, the Phagwara Kendra will be headed by department’s Verification Officer Madhuri Bhavi. The Phagwara POPSK will cater needs of people from Kapurthala, Nawandhar and Jalandhar rural districts. It will benefit people immensely as the town was an NRI hub of Doaba region of the state.

Notes:
US-based Kathak dancer Anindita Anaam has been honoured with the prestigious ‘Shri Jayadev Rastriya Yuva Pratibha Puraskar 2018’ for outstanding contribution to the field of art. The award was presented to the Kathak exponent during the ‘Jayadev International Dance Festival’.The 4-day festival that began on May 13 has been organised under the aegis of Odisha’s culture department and National Culture Mission.

Notes:
To commemorate the National Technology Day (NTD-2018), the Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave away the DRDO Awards- 2016 & 2017 to various DRDO scientists for their outstanding contributions. Dr V K Saraswat, the former Secretary Department of Defence R&D, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri and Director General of DRDO, has been honoured with the DRDO Lifetime Achievement Award – 2017. Beside him, the DRDO Lifetime Achievement Award – 2016 has been conferred to Dr Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre, the former Secretary Department of Defence R&D, Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri and DG of DRDO. Meanwhile, Dr G Satheesh Reddy, the Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri, Distinguished Scientist & Director General (Missiles & Strategic Systems), won the Technology Leadership Award – 2016, etc.

Notes:
Lewis Hamilton, a British racing driver who races in Formula One for the Mercedes AMG Petronas team, has won the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix tournament 2018 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain on May 13. Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes stood second in the race. Sebastian Vettel finished fourth in the event.

Notes:
Indore has been ranked India’s first cleanest city, as per latest survey ‘Swachh Survekshan-2018’. Bhopal has been ranked second and Chandigarh third in the survey at the national level. Besides, Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh is India’s cleanest big city with a population of over 10 lakh. Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh is ‘Fastest Mover’ big city. New Delhi Municipal Council is country’s cleanest small city having a population between one lakh to three lakh. The Swachh Survekshan 2018 assessed 4203 urban local bodies and was organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban). The exercise was undertaken from 4th January to 10th March, 2018. It enhanced the scope to cover a record number of Urban Local Bodies impacting around 40 crore urban citizens by 2700 assessors.

Notes:
Susheela Jayapal, who is the sister of Indian American Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, has become the first South Asian to be elected as a member of the Board of Commissioners of Multnomah County in Oregon in the western US State on May 16, 2018. She won the District 2 seat on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners with 57% of the vote. She will represent North and Northeast Portland commissioner’s seat. Susheela, a former corporate lawyer and longtime community volunteer, defeated construction contractor Sharon Maxwell and two others.

Notes:
Yudhvir Singh Malik, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, has been given additional charge of the post of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) chairman on May 17, 2018. Malik currently is the Secretary of Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. He succeeded Deepak Kumar, who was sent back to his cadre state Bihar before completion of his tenure. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the premature repatriation of Kumar to his parent cadre with immediate effect without citing any reason. Kumar, a 1984 IAS officer of Bihar cadre, had taken over as the NHAI chief on June 2017.

Notes:
The Supa Dam is a concrete gravity dam built across Kali River in Joida taluk of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. The dam was built by Hindustan Steel Works Construction Limited (HSCL) and is now operated by Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL). It has a gross storage capacity of 4178 Mcum and a live storage of 4115.25 Mcum of water.