Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
Elina Svitolina, a Ukrainian professional tennis player, has won the 2018 women’s singles Brisbane International tournament in Brisbane, Australia on January 6, 2018. She beat Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-1 in the final to win her 10th title on the women’s elite tour.

Notes:
Sunny Verghese, the Singapore-based Indian-origin businessman, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Geneva-based World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). He succeeded Paul Polman, the CEO of Unilever, on January 1 and will serve a two-year term. The WBCSD is a global network of more than 200 CEOs who are responsible for a combined revenue of more than $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees.

Notes:
The World Bank (WB) in its latest report “Global Economic Prospects (GEP-2018)” has projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.3% in 2018 and 7.5% for the next two years. As per report, despite initial setbacks from demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), India’s economy is estimated to have grown at 6.7% in 2017. Ayhan Kose, the Director of World Bank(WB)’s Development Prospects Group (DPG), stated that India’s growth potential will be around 7% for the next 10 years. For global economy, World Bank’s outlook, for the first time in many years, is better than expected with all regions seeing improved growth. However, it has warned that countries must make investments to improve their growth prospects, and the time to do that is before the next crisis hits, as it inevitably will.

Notes:
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, has launched a common mobility card scheme to aid seamless travel between the city’s bus transport and the Metro system on January 8, 2018. With this, Delhi has become the India’s first city to have a common mobility card, which can at present be used on 200 DTC and 50 cluster buses plying on different routes, apart from metro trains. The card, which will function like a debit card, will be operational in all DTC and cluster buses from April. The city has around 3,900 DTC and over 1,600 cluster buses.

Notes:
The Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), the research arm of Union Ministry of Railways, has launched “New Online Vender Registration System” on January 9, 2018. This new system provides major improvements and paradigm changes in the registration system over the earlier system. Public access to the information, expeditious process completion with defined timelines, simplification of procedures, round-the-year services, availability of all related information on RDSO Website, constant monitoring at all levels, reduction in cycle timelines, regular updation of online data, user friendly interface etc. are the hallmarks of the new system. And also, there is no need for vendors to visit RDSO office for any activity related to his case for registration.

Notes:
The 4th edition of International Dharma Dhamma conference (IDDC-2018) has inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind in Rajgir, Bihar on January 11, 2018. This 3-day conference has been jointly organised by India Foundation, Nalanda University, Ministry of External Affairs, ASEAN-India and Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha. The conference is an endeavour of Nalanda University as a bridge between India and other nations. Over one hundred dignatories and experts from 11 countries will hold deliberations and present research papers on various topics related to Buddhism and other religions and global peace. The conference brings together a wide array of dignatories who are responsible for governance, policy making and giving directions to countries. Sages, monks and Swamis will also share their spiritual views in different sessions.

Notes:
The Punjab government has rolled out e-Raktkosh web portal in all the 45 government blood banks. The web portal provides the guidelines and streamlines the workflow of blood blanks and storage centres across the nation and interconnects all blood banks with a single network. Brahm Mahindra, the State Health Minister, has stated that in the next phase all 59 private blood banks of the state will be linked with the e-Raktkosh application software.

Notes:
Dr. K Sivan will be the new Secretary of the Department of Space, and Chairman of the Space Commission and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Sivan is popularly known as the “Rocket Man” for his significant contribution in the development of cryogenic engines for India’s space programme. Currently, he is director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). He will succeed A.S. Kiran Kumar, who is going to retire on January 14, 2018. He joined ISRO in 1982 in the then young PSLV project and has been project director of the GSLV rocket.

Notes:
The Uri Dam is a 480 MW hydroelectric power station on the Jhelum River near Uri in Baramula district of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It is located very near to the Line of Control, the de facto border between India and Pakistan. The station is largely built under a hill with a 10 km tunnel. It is of the run-of-the-river type without a large dam, since the Indus Waters Treaty gives Pakistan the exclusive right to regulate the Jhelum River.

Notes:
French President Emmanuel Macron has been ranked first in the latest Gallup international annual survey “Opinion of Global Leaders”, followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and PM Narendra Modi. The survey was conducted across 50 nations and interviewed 53,769 people. In each country a representative sample of around 1,000 men and women was interviewed either face-to-face, or via phone, or through online mediums. The field work was conducted during October-December 2017. The survey shows that PM Modi is a popular leader in the Indian subcontinent with 69% of respondents in Afghanistan and 51% in Bangladesh holding a favourable view towards him.