Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2018

Notes:
Dr Arif Alvi has been elected as the new President of Pakistan and will take the oath of the office on September 9. He will succeed Mamnoon Hussain. Dr. Alvi is a close ally of Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of the founding members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Notes:
Indian Shooter Om Prakash Mitharwal clinched his first gold in the 50m pistol event at the 2018 International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championships in Changwon, South Korea on September 4. Mitharwal, who won bronze in the 10m air pistol and the 50m pistol events of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, shot a score of 564 to finish on top at ISSF Championships.

Notes:
The joint maritime naval exercise “SLINEX-2018” will be held between Indian & Sri Lankan navy at Trincomalee, Sri Lanka from September 7 to 13. The exercise which was previously held biannually has been converted to an annual event from year 2018 to enhance cooperation in the maritime domain and to further strengthen mutual trust and interoperability between the two navies. The exercise to be conducted in two phases, namely the Harbour and Sea Phase, will involve conduct of joint training, exchange of expertise, helicopter and maritime patrol aircraft operations, search and rescue, and maneuvers at sea. It would also involve sports fixtures and cultural events which would provide an opportunity for personnel from both navies to learn from each other and to build individual bonds of friendship and camaraderie.

Notes:
India and France has recently signed an agreement to collaborate on ISRO’s first human spaceflight programme “Gaganyaan”. It was announcement by French space agency president Jean-Yves Le Gall at the 6th edition of the Bengaluru Space Expo. The first step under the MoU is to exchange specialists to work on (space) medicine. The ambit of the cooperation includes giving ISRO access to space hospital facilities in France and combining expertise of the two space agencies in fields of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring, life support, radiation protection, space debris protection and personal hygiene system. The two space agencies also plan to work on Mars, Venus and asteroids. The aim of the Gaganyaan mission is to send a 3-member crew to space for a period of 5 to 7 days by 2022. Its objectives are to inspire youth, increase science and technology levels in the country, improve industrial growth, develop technology for social benefits, etc.

Notes:
The International Day of Charity (IDC) is observed every year on September 5 to raise awareness and provide a common platform for charity related activities all over the world for individuals, charitable, philanthropic and volunteer organizations for their own purposes on the local, national, regional and international level. The day also recognizes the efforts of charitable organizations and individuals. The date was chosen by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in order to commemorate the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace.

Notes:
Turkey is hosting the 87th Izmir International tradeshow 2018 in Izmir from September 7th to 11th, in which India is the Partner Country. In this tradeshow, India will also launch a mega business pavilion ‘Source India’ to increase India’s exports to Turkey and other neighbouring countries. Owing to India’s participation as Focus Country status, India’s National Anthem will be played and the National Flag displayed on the screens put up in the show. Special signage will be erected to lead buyers and visitors to the ‘Source India’ pavilion. Source India, with 75 Indian participating companies, is a multi-product pavilion though some of the key potential areas for increasing trade with Turkey are ceramics, cereals and machinery or mechanical appliances.

Notes:
India Blue has won the 57th edition of Duleep Trophy 2018 by defeating India Red in the final by an innings and 187 runs to win. Spinners Deepak Jagbir Hooda and Saurabh Kumar shared 5 wickets each in just 10.5 overs on the 4th day to bundle out India Red for 172 in the second innings. India Blue scored 541 in the first innings while India Red scored 182 in the first innings and 172 in the second innings. Himachal Pradesh batsman Nikhil Gangta was named man of the match for his superb knock of 136. The Duleep Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket competition played in India. It was named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar, who played for England.

Notes:
Indian sprinter Hima Das has been officially named as the Sports Ambassador of Assam for her recent achievements in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and IAAF World U-20 Championship 2018 at a function held at Srimanta Sankardev International Auditorium, Guwahati. Beside this, Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal handed over a cheque worth Rs 1.6 crore to Hima and also offered her a job in the senior category of Sports and Youth Welfare Department. He also announced to develop 500 village stadiums in the state. In recently concluded Asian Games, she set a national record by clocking 51.00 to qualify for the 400m final and bettered it with 50.79 to clinch silver. She went on to win silver in the mixed 4x400m relay and bagged gold in the women’s 4x400m relay. Apart from this, she has already scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman athlete to clinch a gold in a track event at the IAAF World U-20 Athletics Championships 2018 in Finland.

Notes:
The Chagos Archipelago (or Chagos Islands) is a group of 7 atolls consists of more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean about 500 km south of the Maldives archipelago. The sovereignty over the Islands is disputed between Mauritius and the United Kingdom (UK). Recently, it is in news because India has supported Mauritius in International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the issue of de-colonisation of the Chagos Archipelago, which is home to Diego Garcia — the key military base of the U.K. and the U.S. in the Indian Ocean. India told ICJ that the historical survey of facts indicates that the Chagos Archipelago throughout the pre- and post-colonial era has been part of the Mauritian territory. These islands came under the colonial administration of the UK as part of Mauritian territory. Of the 22 countries which are giving their legal opinion at ICJ, the UK is supported by the US, Australia and Israel, while Mauritius is being supported by 17 countries, including India.

Notes:
The researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have developed cheaper and more flexible organic solar cells using a synthetic derivative of vitamin B12. An organic solar cell is made up of acceptor and donor materials. The donor absorbs light from solar radiation and the harvested energy is passed to the electrodes with the help of the acceptor. In the present study, the researchers synthesized the donor using an artificial aromatic chemical (corrole) which has a similar structure to the corrin ring in vitamin B12. The artificially synthesised corrole (Cor-BODIPY) absorbs light much like porphyrin in natural chlorophyll. Currently, corroles are used as sensors, catalysts and in biomedical imaging. This is the first study wherein a corrole has been utilised for a bulk heterojunction solar cell as a donor material.