Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
The Jakham Dam is located in Pratapgarh District in Rajasthan. It is built on the Jakham river, which originates from a small village Jakhamia in Chhoti Sadrisub division. The length of the Dam is 253 meters, out of which spill way is in 90 m in length.

Notes:
Young Indian shuttler Siddharth Pratap Singh has won the 2018 Swedish Open Junior International Series by defeating Denmark’s Mads Christophersen in the finals by 21-15, 21-11 in Uppsala in Sweden. It is his maiden international title. Siddharth, who has never played outside Asia, will next play in the Iceland International at Reykjavik to be held from January 25 to 28.

Notes:
S Somanath, an Indian aerospace engineer and rocket technologist, has taken charge as the new Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). He succeeded K Sivan, who has become the ISRO Chairman recently. Prior to this post, he was director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) at Valiamala in Thiruvananthapuram, the lead centre responsible for liquid engines and stages for all launch vehicles and satellite programs of ISRO. Somanath is known for his contributions to launch vehicle design, particularly in the areas of launch vehicle systems engineering, structural design, structural dynamics, and pyrotechnics.

Notes:
To mark the silver jubilee of India-ASEAN partnership, the 2018 India-ASEAN Business & Investment Conference was organized by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in collaboration with Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). It was held in New Delhi on January 22-23 to promote mutual trade and investment for shared prosperity. This initiative was held ahead of the landmark 2018 ASEAN-India commemorative summit on the 25th of January. India & ASEAN partnership began in 1992 completed 25 years in 2017. India adopted the Act East policy in 2014 which has led to ties with South Asian nations reaching new highs. Top leaders of all 10 ASEAN nations would also be guests of honour at the 2018 Republic Day celebrations. It would be the first time that the Republic Day parade would be graced by such a large number of heads of state or govt.

Notes:
The National Girl Child Day (NGCD) is celebrated every year on January 24 with an aim to raise awareness about sex ratio levels and promote the empowerment of girls.

Notes:
The National Voters’ Day (NVD) is observed every year by India on January 25 with an aim to increase the enrolment of voters, especially of the newly eligible ones. The day is also observed to mark the establishment of the Election Commission on this day in 1950, a day before India became a republic. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has celebrated the 8th National Voters’ Day 2018 with theme ‘Accessible Elections’ across the country, which will be used to spread awareness among voters regarding effective participation in the electoral process.

Notes:
India has been ranked 81st out of 119 countries in the 2018 Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI). The list was developed by Yale and Columbia Universities along with the World Economic Forum (WEF). The global index measures how countries grow attract and retain talent. The list is topped by Switzerland, followed by Singapore and United States. The 2018 report investigates the theme of ‘diversity for competitiveness and explored the benefits of diversity, such as how it can be leveraged for retention, talent development, innovation and sustainability.

Notes:
Maharashtra’s tableau titled “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj coronation” has won the best tableau award at the 69th Republic Day Parade 2018. Assam’s tableau depicting traditional “masks and sastras” bagged the second prize. The third prize went to Chhattisgarh’s display of Ramgarh’s ancient amphitheatre and artistes performing dance based on Kalidasa’s Meghadootam. Among the tableaux by Union Ministries and departments, the first prize went to “Khelo India” of the Youth Affairs and Sports Ministry. The Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave away the awards at Cariappa Parade Ground in Delhi Cantonment on January 28, 2018. Apart from this, the Punjab Regiment has bagged the award for the best marching contingent among the three services and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) among the paramilitary and other auxiliary forces in the 69th Republic Day parade.

Notes:
The documentary titled ‘Kailash’ has won the US Documentary Grand Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival at Park City in Utah on January 28. The documentary, which is directed by Derek Doneen, traces the journey of Indian Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and his efforts to eliminate child trafficking and child labour. The film has been produced by Davis Guggenheim and Sarah Anthony, and co-produced by Purnima Raghunath.

Notes:
The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has planned to set up a ‘Social Media Communication Hub’ that would help it keep a tab on trending news in districts and gather feedback on the Centre’s flagship schemes. Under the project, media persons would be employed on contractual basis in each district to be the eyes and ears of the government and provide real-time updates from the ground. They would also take the people’s feedback on the government’s policies and follow the news trending in their areas. Experts would also be employed at the central level to analyse the feedback. Recently, the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the ministry, had floated a tender to supply a software for the project. The tender document stated the platform is expected to provide automated reports, tactical insights and comprehensive work-flows to initiate engagement across digital channels.