Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
India has won the 2018 CAPAM (Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management) Award in Georgetown, Guyana. The initiative entitled “Unnayan Banka- Reinventing Education Using Technology of Banka District, State of Bihar has been awarded under the Category “Innovation Incubation”. Another initiative entitled “Unified Agriculture Markets” of Co-operation Department of Government of Karnataka has also been selected under the Category ‘Innovation in Public Service Management’. This initiative has also been awarded the overall Gold Award for CAPAM Awards, 2018. The CAPAM Awards celebrate the spirit of innovation in the public service by recognizing organizations that have made significant contributions to improve governance and services in the public sector. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) under Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is an institutional member of CAPAM. The CAPAM is a non-profit association representing an international network of over 1100 senior public servants.

Notes:
Asma Jahangir, Pakistan’s human rights activist and lawyer, has been posthumously awarded the 2018 UN Human Rights Prize along with three other winners. The other winners of the prize are Rebeca Gyumi of Tanzania, Brazil’s first indigenous lawyer Joenia Wapichana and Ireland’s human rights organisation Front Line Defenders. The United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights is an honorary award given for outstanding achievement in human rights. The award ceremony will take place on December 10 on World Human Rights Day (WGRD) in New York. Before Jahangir three Pakistani women, Begum Ra’ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1978), Benazir Bhutto (2008) and Malala Yousufzai (2013 have been accorded the honour.

Notes:
Clara Sosa from Paraguay has been crowned the Miss Grand International 2018 (MGI) at the sixth edition of the pageant held in Myanmar. In it, Meenakshi Chaudhary from India has been crowned the first runner-up & Indonesia’s Nadia Purwoko was declared the second runner-up. Sosa succeeded MGI 2017 Maria Jose Lora of Peru. It is a beauty contest that aims to participate in creating peace and stopping war.

Notes:
Madan Lal Khurana (83), the former Delhi Chief Minister, has passed awayin New Delhi on October 27, 2018. He was a member of Rashtriya Swayansevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In addition to holding posts including national vice-president and Delhi president within the BJP, Mr. Khurana also served as Governor of Rajasthan in 2004. He was the Union Minister of Parliamentary affairs and Tourism in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Notes:
India’s Sourav Kothari defeated Peter Gilchrist of Singapore 1134-944 to clinch the 2018 World Billiards Championship title at Leeds in UK. The former national and Asian Billiards champion Kothari was pipped at the post for the coveted World Billiards crown on two occasions in the last two years, including a loss to Gilchrist in the 2016 final in Bengaluru.

Notes:
The researchers at IIT-Madras have designed and booted up India’s first indigenously developed microprocessor that can be used in mobile computing devices, embedded low power wireless systems and networking systems besides reducing reliance on imported microprocessors in communications and defence sectors. The ‘Shakti’ family of processors was fabricated at Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Chandigarh. Hence, it is claimed that the launch would help reduce reliance on import of microprocessors. The SCL is an autonomous body engaged in research and development in microelectronics to meet strategic needs of the country.

Notes:
On October 30, the Union Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will lay the foundation of India’s largest Dry Dock at Cochin Shipyard in Kerala. The new Dry Dock is being constructed at a cost of Rs 1799 Crore. It will be 310 m long, 75m wide, with a depth of 13 m and drought of 9.5m. The dock will be designed to handle both ship building and repairs, and bear a load up to 600 T/m. It will be equipped with international safety standards. The dock will also have a water treatment plant and Green Belt Development. The project is expected to be completed by May 2021 and generate employment opportunities for about 2000 people. The Dry Dock will give an impetus to “Make in India” initiative under Sagarmala and raise India’s share in global shipbuilding to 2%. With this, Cochin Shipyard will be able to build specialized and technologically advanced large vessels.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has recently signed $75 bn bilateral currency swap agreement with Japan to bring greater stability in foreign exchange and capital markets in the country. The currency swap pact would enable the two major Asian economies to swap their local currencies – either Indian rupee or the Japanese yen against the US$ up to 75 billion. It will be used only when required, and will help meet short-term liquidity mismatches. The facility will also help in bringing down the cost of capital for Indian entities while accessing foreign capital market. The facility is entered between the central banks of both the countries. However, this is not the first time there has been such an offer from Japan. Japan had offered a $50 billion currency swap in 2013 as well and even before that, one for $3 billion in 2008.

Notes:
The Arunachal Pradesh Government has recently signed pact with British Council to strengthen educational & cultural cooperation between the state and the United Kingdom. The overarching MoU celebrates the British Council’s 70th anniversary in India and seeks to strengthen the relationship for the next 70 years. As a result of the MoU, 50 faculty members from government higher education institutions of the state would be trained by the British Council every year, starting in December 2018. The MoU will also work towards improving English communication of state’s civil servants, developing capacity-building initiatives in the state, supporting improvements in the teaching of Mathematics and Science, capacity-building programmes for faculty and senior administrators of higher education institutions and it will seek to increase student and academic mobility, for the state.

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On October 29, Justice A.S. Bopanna has recently taken oath as the new Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court. He took charge from the acting Chief Justice AK Goswami. The Guwahati High Court was established on 1 March 1948 after the Government of India Act 1935 was passed. It has largest jurisdiction in terms of states, with its area covering the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Mizoram. The principal seat of the High Court is at Guwahati in Assam.