Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
Tennis player Anikta Raina, who has displayed good form this season both in the Fed Cup and the professional circuit, has been included in the Government of India (GoI)’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Ankita recently broke into the top-200, reaching a career-best 197 in the WTA rankings released earlier this month. With this, she became only the 5th Indian woman singles tennis player after Sania Mirza, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Sunita Rao and Shikha Uberoi to break into the world’s top 200. Beside Raina, Mehuli Ghosh, Om Prakash Mitharwal, Gaurav Solanki, Shahzar Rizvi, Hussamuddin Mohammad, Manu Bhaker, Anish Bhanwala and Gaurav Solanki were also included in the TOPS list.

Notes:
P P Lakshmanan (83), the former President of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and ex-member of the Appeals committee of FIFA, has passed away at Kannur in Kerala on April 30. He was the first Indian to be chosen as the member of FIFA’s appeal committee. He was an eminent member of FIFA World Cup Appeal Committee for two consecutive editions, Germany 2006 and South Africa 2010. He had also served as Kerala Football Association president.

Notes:
Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to provide digitally-signed land record receipts (also known as 7/12 receipts). The 7/12 receipt is the most important document which establishes the ownership of the land, and is primarily used by farmers while applying for loans. It is also used by the government during crop surveys and to extend various facilities. With digital authentication, the farmers will no longer have to visit revenue offices or the Maha e-seva centres. Now, the farmers will have to inform only the gat (group) number or survey number to bank or a government department, and the respective agency can ensure the 7/12 receipt online. Presently, eight lakh 7/12 receipts come with digital sign, and the aim is to complete the digitisation of all 2.5 crore receipts by August 1. To get the 7/12 receipt with digital sign, one must go to https://mahabhulekh.maharashtra. Gov.in and fill the necessary details. A pdf file with digital sign can be printed, which can be used with any government office.

Notes:
Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan Latif (94), the former Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), has passed away 2018 in Hyderabad on May 1, 2018. He was the IAF chief from September 1978 to August 1981. After his retirement in 1981, Latif held the posts of Maharashtra Governor and Indian Ambassador to France. He had joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1941 at the age of 18 and was commissioned the next year. On completion of his training at Ambala, he was posted in Karachi, where he flew vintage biplanes like the Wapiti, Audaxes and Harts, on Anti-Submarine flights over the Arabian Sea. During 1943-44, he was one of the few Indian pilots to be seconded to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, where he underwent training on more contemporary aircraft like the Hurricane and Spitfire. He returned to India in 1944 and took part in the Burma campaign. At the time of partition, he chose IAF though he was reportedly urged by some to join the Pakistan Air Force.

Notes:
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has announced additional grants of $3 million to two Indian non-profit organisations – Central Square Foundation and The Teacher App. The grants are a part of Google.org’s mission to help provide quality education access and learning for all. With a $1 million grant to The Teacher App in India, Google.org aims to provide teachers with training and resources on the concepts of math, science, language, and pedagogy. The funds are expected to scale the platform to reach 500,000 teachers in two years. With online video emerging as a popular medium of learning, Google.org will provide a $2 million grant and technical assistance from the YouTube Learning team to Central Square Foundation, a policy think tank focused on improving the quality of school education. The grant will support a minimum of 20 content creators to produce at least 200 hours of quality science, technology, engineering and Math content in Hindi and vernacular languages.

Notes:
The 19th edition of TOONZ Animation Masters Summit 2018 was held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on May 4-5, 2018. It was inaugurated by Ashish Kulkarni, Chairman of FICCI for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics Forum, and was organized by the Technopark-based Toonz Media Group. The purpose of the summit is to present new trends which can give a fresh vigour to the industry segment with the help of modern technology and taking advantage of fresh opportunities. At least 400 members of the animation and media industry drawn from within India and overseas attended the summit. In the summit, V G Samant, a venerated pioneer of Indian animation and creator of ‘Hanuman’, was honoured with the ‘Legend of Animation’ award for his contributions to the animation industry. Legendary masters including Kiran Antony- Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy & Mather, Resul Pookutty- Oscar winning sound engineer and Paul Robinson- International Media Executive, also took part in the event.

Notes:
The first organised census of Indus Dolphins will be carried out by the Punjab government along with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) -India for the conservation of Indus dolphins, which are one of the world’s rarest mammals. This is India’s first organized Dolphin Census, which will be completed within a span of five years. The main purpose of this census is to find out the exact population of this species of dolphins. After this, their protection program will be run. The Indus dolphins are found only in India and Pakistan and are confined to only a 185 km stretch between Talwara and Harike Barrage in India’s Beas river in Punjab.

Notes:
The Tiroda Thermal Power Station is a coal-based thermal power plant located at Tirora in Gondia district, Maharashtra. The power plant is operated by the Adani Power. It has a planned capacity of 3300 MW.

Notes:
Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been given one year extension to the post of Cabinet Secretary. With this, he will continue as cabinet secretary till June 12, 2019 as against his current retirement date of 12th June 2018. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the extension. In May 2015, Mr Sinha was appointed as cabinet secretary for a fixed two-year term. This is his second extension. As per government rules, no government servant shall be granted extension in service beyond age of retirement of 60 years but as per rule FR 56, extension in public interest may be given “for a period not exceeding four years in the case of Cabinet Secretary”. The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. He is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and head of all civil services under the rules of business of the government.

Notes:
On May 8, the third edition of the United Nations Peacekeeping Course for African Partners (UNPCAP) was inaugurated in New Delhi to build and enhance the capacity of the African Troop Contributing Countries to the UN. The UNPCAP sessions will be held from May 7-25. The course is conducted by the Centre for United Nations Peacekeeping in India (CUNPK) in partnership with the US. It is aimed to build and enhance the capacity of the African Troop Contributing Countries to the UN and to further train the trainers from these countries. The first and second editions of the course were held in New Delhi in 2016 and 2017.