Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
Dr. Evan Atar Adaha, surgeon and medical director at a hospital in Bunj of north-eastern South Sudan, has won the prestigious the 2018 UNHCR Nansen Refugee for his outstanding 20-year commitment in providing medical services to people forced to flee conflict. He also provides health services to locals as well as refugees from Sudan’s neighbouring Blue Nile State, in the small town of Bunj. South Sudan hosts nearly 300,000 refugees, of whom 92% are Sudanese from the South Kordofan and the Blue Nile regions close to the South Sudanese border. The prestigious award is presented every year to an individual or organization who has dedicated their time going above and beyond the call of duty to help people forcibly displaced from their homes. The Award is named after Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who served as the first high commissioner for refugees during the failed League of Nations. The 2018 award ceremony will be held on October 1st in Geneva, Switzerland.

Notes:
Renowned hindi commentator Jasdev Singh (87), who was the voice of Indian sports on Doordarshan, has passed away in New Delhi on September 25, 2018. He was a rare commentator who excelled in commentating on every sport including hockey and cricket. Interestingly, he started his career in All India Radio (AIR) in 1955 at their Jaipur station. He was also the voice of sports in AIR for a long time. From 1963, he was also an official commentator on Independence Day and Republic Day parade broadcasts for 48 long years. He had covered 9 editions of Olympics from Helsinki (1968) to Melbourne (2000), 8 hockey World Cups and six Asian Games. Jasdev was also awarded the ‘Olympic Order’ by IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch at the Seoul edition in 1988 for his role in spreading the Olympic movement. He was conferred with the Padma Shri in 1985 and Padma Bhushan in 2008.

Notes:
The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Dr. James P. Allison of the United States and Dr. Tasuku Honjo of Japan for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. Both the doctors, working separately, showed in the 1990s how certain proteins act as “brakes” on the immune system’s T-cells, limiting their ability to attack cancer cells, and that suppressing those proteins could transform the body’s ability to fight cancer. They used immunotherapy to help the cells of the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. Until their breakthroughs cancer treatment consisted of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Their work led to a fourth class of treatment, harnessing the immune system, what the Nobel committee at the Karolinska Institute called “an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.”

Notes:
The 17th century ‘Oonth Kadal’ is a Mughal period arch-shaped bridge, located at the middle of the picturesque Dal lake in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. Recently, it is in news because the Government of Germany has granted Rs 32 lakh for the conservation of the camel hump-shaped bridge. The restoration of the bridge will bring focus on significance of Dal Lake as part of global cultural and natural heritage. The Oonth Kadal project has come as a shot in the arm for the six Mughal gardens located near the Dal lake, which has made its entry into UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. Built in 1670s, Oonth Kadal attracted foreign photographers and Bollywood directors, who shot many songs around it. Of late, it was crumbling due to the apathy shown towards conservation by the local authorities. Oonth Kadal is a stone masonry bridge and was essentially part of the erstwhile Chaudhri Soth (also called Soth-i-Chodri) that started at end of Naidyar Bridge in Kralyar, Rainawari and opened at Ishber Nishat.

Notes:
On the occasion of 149th Gandhi Jayanti, the Odisha government has launched its own food security scheme to benefit 25 lakh poor people that were excluded from the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The scheme was launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar. The beneficiaries will get 5 kg of rice per person per month at the rate of Rs 1 per kg. The State government will spend Rs. 443.5 crore per annum to support the scheme and Rs. 221.75 crore in the current financial year.

Notes:
American scientist Arthur Ashkin, French engineer Gerard Mourou and Canadian professor Donna Strickland have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in the field of laser physics. Dr. Ashkin has been awarded the Prize “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems. Dr. Mourou and Dr. Strickland have been awarded “for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses”. With this, Dr. Strickland has become the third female laureate to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, after Maria Goeppert-Mayer and Marie Curie.

Notes:
Rio Paralympic gold medallist Thangvellu Mariyappan has been named as flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the 3rd Paralympic Asian games to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from October 6-13. India will field its biggest ever contingent of 302 members including athletes, coaches, support staff, escorts and officials. The Indian contingent were initially denied entry on Oct 1 when they arrived at the Games Village as the Sports Ministry had not till then cleared funds to the tune of $2.5 lakh. However, the issue was later resolved.

Notes:
On October 3, the Government of India (GoI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $240 million loan for providing safe and sustainable drinking water to about 1.65 million people in three districts of the state of West Bengal affected by arsenic, fluoride, and salinity. The purpose of the project is to mitigate these risks through provision of continuous potable water through metered connections to about 390,000 individual households in three districts – Bankura, North 24 Parganas, and Purba Medinipur. The project is supported by a grant of $3 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan, and a $2 million grant from ADB’s Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF). This will support the state government in strengthening its smart water management system, improve flood-related early warning and response, and provide training on operation and maintenance as well as climate change and disaster resilience.

Notes:
On the 149th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a National Level Entrepreneurship Awareness Campaign – Udyam Abhilasha, in 115 aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog in 28 States. The purpose of the campaign is to inspire rural youth in aspirational districts to be entrepreneurs by assisting them to set up their own enterprise. The 6-day campaign would run parallel from 3rd October across India. It would create and strengthen cadre of more than 800 trainers to provide entrepreneurship training to the aspiring youths, encouraging them to enter the admired segment of entrepreneurs. The SIDBI has partnered with Common service centres, e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle, set up by the Ministry of Electronics and IT for implementing the campaign. SIDBI is the principal financial institution for the promotion, financing and development of the MSME sector.

Notes:
The World Habitat Day (WHD) is observed every year on first Monday in October across the world to raise awareness about need for affordable housing for all in urban areas, cities and towns. The purpose of day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. The day is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns. On 1st October 2018, the day is celebrated with ‘Municipal Solid Waste Management’ & slogan ‘Waste-wise cities’ to highlight the issue of municipal solid waste management challenge as global issue that affects everyone.