Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
The Election Commission (EC) has constituted a 14-member committee to suggest changes to Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act in view of social media expansion. The Act prohibits poll campaign in the last 48 hours of voting. The Committee chaired by Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Umesh Sinha will study the impact of social media during the silence period and suggest modifications to the election law and model code of conduct.

Notes:
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has appointed Harjinder Singh as the Chef De Mission for the 23rd Winter Olympic Games (WOG-2018) to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea on February 2018. Currently, Singh holds the post of General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India.

Notes:
Doodhnath Singh (81), the well-known Hindi writer, critic and poet, has passed away in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh on January 12, 2018. In 2014, the government of Uttar Pradesh honoured him with their Bharat Bharti Samman. He is known for his works like “Sapaat Chehre Wala Aadmi”, “Aakhri Kalaam”, “Nishkaasan”, “Bhai Ka Shok Geet”, “Dharmakshetra-Kurukshetra” and “Surang se Lautate Huye”.

Notes:
12th International Film Festival on Art and Artist, which was presented by the JD Centre of Art (JDCA)’s Film Forum, was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha from January 12 to 14, 2018. This year’s festival was focused on Films on Arts & Literature. The 3-day non-competitive festival showcased 35-40 selected films and was attended by eminent artists, art lovers and film makers from across the country. The international award winning films like ‘Maya Miriga’, ‘Ahalyara Bahaghara’, ‘Mayurbhanj ra Chhau Nrutya’, ‘Dhauligiri ra Shanti Stupa’ and ‘Pattachitra’ directed by late Nirad Mohapatra, veteran director in Odia cinema, were screened as part of paying tribute to him. The JDCA’s Film Festival is possibly the only film festival in India that is dedicated to Art. Each year the festival features a different focus around which films are curated in addition to its annual celebration of the art and culture of Odisha. The JDCA was established by renowned artist and Padma Bhushan awardee Jatin Das in 2006.

Notes:
Aishwarya Tipnis, the Delhi-based conservation architect, has been conferred France’s top cultural award ” Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres” for her outstanding commitment to preservation of French heritage in India in Kolkata on January 12, 2018. This prestigious award honours people who have distinguished themselves in the field of art. This year, Tipnis has been associated with the ongoing ‘Bonjour India 2017-18’ as the curator for the multi- faceted ‘Know Your Indo-French Heritage’ in Chandannagar, a former French colony in West Bengal. She is also part of the UNESCO expert team on the preparation of a ‘Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan’ for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a world heritage, as well as the consultant to the Doon School on the restoration of their historic buildings.

Notes:
Shripad Naik, the Union minister of state for Ayush (independent charge), has inaugurated a Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) wellness centre in Bambolim, Goa on January 16, 2018. State health minister Vishwajit Rane was also present at the occasion. It will be attached to Goa Medical College and the state government would provide all assistance to facilitate CGHS operations for beneficiaries in the state. The facility would provide Allelopathy, Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddhi and Homeopathy services. Over 3,000 serving central government employees and around 1,500 pensioners would be benefitted.

Notes:
India has contributed $50,000 to the UN’s youth mission which works to raise awareness and attention to youth issues globally. UN Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake received the cheque from Paulomi Tripathi, a First Secretary in India’s UN mission at the UN headquarters in New York on Jan 12, 2018. The contribution is voluntary with no strings attached and is in addition to the regular payments India makes to the UN’s general and peacekeeping budgets. The Youth Envoy’s mission is to promote the engagement of youth and advocate for them across all the four pillars of the UN’s work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action.

Notes:
The newly-constituted 5-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court has been set up to hear a range of crucial cases & its hearings has started on January 17, 2018. The bench is headed by Chief Justice Dipak Mishra and also comprises of Justices AK Sikri, AM Khanwilkar, DY Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan. The cases that the bench will hear include challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act and the 2013 apex court judgement re-criminalising gay sex between consenting adults. The bench will also hear the issue of ban on the entry of women between 10 and 50 years of age in Kerala’s Sabarimala temple. It will also resume hearing a legal query on whether a Parsi woman would lose her religious identity if she marries a man from a different religion. The other issues to be dealt with by the bench include the pleas, which have raised a question as to when will a lawmaker, facing the criminal trial, stand disqualified. All these matters were earlier referred to larger benches for adjudication by different benches of the apex court.

Notes:
N. Vembusamy Sankaran (64), popularly known as Gnani, has passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on January 15, 2018. He was the veteran Tamil writer, journalist and theatre personality. Known as a firebrand writer, Gnani led a theatre group known as “Pareeksha,” produced television serials on social themes and has been participating in various television debates. He wrote articles under the pseudonyms Vamban, Cynic and Nandan, and is known for frank and uncompromising views on politics and culture, which he has expressed in the media for 30 years. He has also written several novels and for a brief time involved himself in politics too, though unsuccessfully.

Notes:
The NITI Aayog has launched the first Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) course on Sustainable Urban planning using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) has been launched at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur’s outreach center in Noida on January 15, 2018. The purpose of the course is to give participants state-of-the-art remote sensing and GIS skills which will allow them to rise to the challenge of managing the rapidly changing urban environment of Indian cities. The focus will be on issues such as water resource management, water pollution and strategic emplacements for water treatment facilities. The course is being coordinated by Professor Rajiv Sinha from the Department of Earth Sciences at IIT Kanpur and Dr. Patrice Carbonneau from the Department of Geography, University of Durham, UK.