Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
The French National Football team has clinched the 2018 FIFA World Cup by defeating Croatia 4-2 in a thrilling final match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on July 15. Croatia were playing in their first World Cup final. They were the smallest country to reach the Final in the modern era. For France, it was a first World Cup crown since winning on home soil in 1998. England’s Harry Kane won the World Cup Golden Boot Award as top scorer with 6 goals. Croatia captain Luka Modric won the Golden Ball award for the World Cup’s best player despite being on the losing side. Kylian Mbappe of France won the Young Player of the Tournament Award after scoring his 4th goal of the competition in the final. Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois won the Golden Glove award for the best goalkeeper. Now, France joined Uruguay and Argentina in winning the World Cup for a second time, after their 1998 triumph over Brazil when Didier Deschamps — now the coach — was the captain.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has inaugurated the state-run power giant National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC)’s 250 MW Solar Power Plant at Suwasra in district Mandsaur. This project has been set up mainly on non-agricultural land and generation of electricity has been achieved without affecting the natural eco-system with zero carbon emission at an investment of about Rs 1,500 crore. This is one of the biggest solar plant developed using domestically manufactured Solar cells and modules under the Make in India initiative. The Project has been commissioned in June 2017 and generated electricity is being supplied for consumption in Madhya Pradesh, the sole beneficiary.

Notes:
Rajmata Satvashila Devi Bhosle (83), the noted activist from Konkan region in Maharashtra, has passed away at Sawantwadi on July 18, 2018. She was associated with Sawantwadi Sansthan. She was the wife of the last King of the Sawantwadi Kingdom late Shivramraje Bhosle who was coronated before the merger of the princely state into Union of India.

Notes:
The 8th BRICS Health Ministers’ Meeting was held at Durban, South Africa on July 20, 2018. In it, J P Nadda (the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare) highlighted the achievements of India in the health sector. He said that to reduce Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), India has already initiated universal screening for prevention and management of five common NCDs including hypertension, diabetes and three common cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix at pan India level. Beside this, India has started a unique initiative called AMRIT Deendayal pharmacy Centres that provide medicines for cancer & cardiovascular diseases and cardiac implants at significantly reduced prices. Apart from this, the unique programme ‘Ayushman Bharat’ has also launched that rests on the twin pillars of Health and Wellness Centres for provision of comprehensive primary healthcare services and National Health Protection Mission for secondary and tertiary care that aims to cover around 100 million families.

Notes:
Viresh Kundu has won bronze in the 97kg Greco-Roman wrestling category at the 2018 Asian Junior Championships in New Delhi on July 18, 2018. Viresh, who hails from Uttar Pradesh and trains in Zirakpur, defeated South Korea’s Jeongyul Kwon by 14-5 in the 97 kg Bronze medal play-off to win his first international medal.

Notes:
Professor Raj Kumar of the Banaras Hindu University has been appointed the new vice-chancellor (V-C) of the Panjab University (PU) in Chandigarh. The term of the appointment will be 3 years with effect from July 23, 2018, or from the date he assumes charge as V-C. He will succeed Arun Kumar Grover. The appointment was made by the Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is chancellor of the university, by exercising powers conferred by Section 10 of the Panjab University Act, 1947.

Notes:
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched the South East Asia’s first-ever Centre for Climate Change (CCC) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The purpose of the centre is to accelerate concerted climate action by various stakeholders in government, private, financial and non -government actors. The Lucknow Centre would help NABARD in increasing its capacity building efforts manifold. Besides, the new institution would also extend professional support to stakeholders for designing climate related projects and take up collaborative studies and action research projects in area of climate change. It would also support capacity building and project preparation effort in developing countries in the region as also in Africa.

Notes:
On July 22, the official mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games have been unveiled during a ceremony in the Japanese capital Tokyo. The Olympic mascot “Miraitowa” is a blue-checked pointy-eared figure, which fuses the Japanese words ‘mirai’, which means future, and ‘towa’, which means eternity. Its Paralympic counterpart “Someity” is derived from a type of cherry blossom ‘Somei-yoshino’. It is represented as a pink-checked and wears a cape and is sounds similar to English phrase “So mighty”. The Tokyo Olympics are schedule to run from July 24 to August 9, 2020. The Paralympics will take place between August 25 and September 6.

Notes:
On July 22, Typhoon Ampil hit Chinese financial hub Shanghai that brought heavy rainfall and disrupted transport and shipping. More than 600 flights from the city’s two airports were cancelled and high-speed rail services also impacted. The National Meteorological Centre stated that the typhoon first hit the island of Chongming, 45 km east of the city, with winds of up to 100kmh near its eye. As per reports, the city had already relocated 190,000 people from coastal areas. It said that Shanghai Tower, the tallest building in China, has suspended rooftop sightseeing. In neighbouring Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, more than 42,500 people were relocated. More than 28,000 ships, including 22,900 fishing boats, have returned to port in Zhejiang.

Notes:
On July 23, the Lok Sabha passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 that allows a court hearing a cheque bounce case to direct the drawer — the person who wrote the cheque — to pay interim compensation to the person who filed the complaint. The interim compensation, to be paid within 60 days of the court’s order, can be up to 20% of the value of the cheque. The court may direct the payee to repay the interim compensation, with interest, if the drawer is acquitted. Now , the bill will go to the Rajya Sabha for its nod. If bill gets Parliament’s nod, it will preserve the sanctity of cheque transactions by stopping the practice of people trying to deliberately delay cases through filing of appeals and obtaining stay a on proceedings. The bill, which amends the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, is aimed to reduce the number of cheque dishonour cases pending in courts.