Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
Deshna Jain (20), who is from Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, has been crowned the 2018 Miss Asia (Deaf) title and was the 3rd runner-up in the 2018 Miss International (Deaf) contest held in Taipei, Taiwan, from July 8-July 16. At 20, she is also the youngest contestant to take part in the event. It’s the first time since 2009 that an Indian has won any title in the much coveted Miss and Mister Deaf International pageants. Earlier, Deshna became the Miss India (Deaf) 2018 in Jaipur, Rajasthan and represented the country at international platform.

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:
India won 8 medals in the 2018 Junior Asian Wrestling Championship (JAWC) which concluded in New Delhi on July 22. The medals comprised 2 gold, 3 silver and as many bronze. Here, Indian wrestler Sachin Rathi won gold in 74 kg freestyle category by defeating Bat-Erdene of Mangolia in the final on July 22. Beside him, Deepak Punia also clinched gold in 86 kg weight category in the event. Suraj Rajkumar Kokate and Mohit have won bronze in the 61Kg and 125kg category, respectively. Iran with 189 points topped the team championship. India with 173 points finished second while Uzbekistan with 128 points came third.

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.

Notes:
The book “The Dhoni Touch: Unravelling the Enigma That Is Mahendra Singh Dhoni” has been authored by Bharat Sundaresan. The author tracks down the cricketer’s closest friends in Ranchi and artfully presents the different shades of Dhoni-the Ranchi boy, the fauji, the diplomat, Chennai’s beloved ‘Thala’, the wicketkeeping Pythagoras-and lays bare the man underneath. The 203-page tome is an exercise in finding out what makes Jharkhand’s universal hero remain an iceberg while the fires rage around him.

Notes:
The National Traders Conclave 2018 has been organized by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in New Delhi from July 23 to 25 to address various grievances of the trading community and focus on effective solutions. A speaker of CAIT informed that among the rising problems in trades in recent times, FDI in both multi and single-brand retail and merger of Walmart and Flipkart are posing huge challenges on Indian Market. Regarding to this issue, CAIT demanded that the Centre stop the Walmart-Flipkart deal saying it would encourage predatory pricing and benefit only investors and promoters. The conclave, which is being attended by 1,500 trade leaders, had decided to launch a nationwide movement against the deal. The traders’ union also demanded that the government form a policy for e-commerce and constitute a regulatory authority for such businesses. The headquarters of CAIT is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
The World Hepatitis Day (WHD) is observed every year on July 28 raise global awareness of hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E — and encourage prevention, diagnosis and treatment. The 2018 theme is “Test. Treat. Hepatitis”. Hepatitis is a viral infection that causes inflammation in the liver. According to WHO’s official report ‘Eliminate Hepatitis’, “Viral hepatitis affected 325 million people worldwide in 2015, with 257 million people living with hepatitis B and 71 million people living with hepatitis C – the two main killers of the five types of hepatitis.

Notes:
Shivangi Pathak (17) from Haryana, who became the India’s youngest women to scale Mt Everest from Nepal side, has recently scaled the highest peak of Africa “Mt Kilimanjaro”, which is located in Tanzania. The mountain is about 4,900 metres from its base to 5,895 metres above sea level. Her next target is to scale Europe’s highest peak.

Notes:
Cherkallam Abdullah (76), the senior Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and former Kerala Minister, has passed away on July 27, 2018. He was a prominent leader of the Opposition Congress-led UDF in north Kerala. A 4-time MLA from Manjeswaram in Kasaragod district since 1987, Abdullah was the local self development minister in the A K Antony cabinet from 2001-2004.