Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
Four-time Olympic gold medallist athlete Sanya Richards-Ross will be the event ambassador for the Airtel Delhi half marathon to be held on October 21. She is the fastest American woman in the history of 400m with her time of 48.70s set at the 2006 IAAF World Cup. Ross was the best 400m runner in the world for a decade, ranking No. 1 in the world from 2005-2009 and again in 2012. In addition to her Olympic accolades, she is also a 7-time medalist at the World Championships in Athletics (five of which are gold).

Notes:
Arun Kumar, a 1985 batch officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed the new Director-General of Railway Protection Force (RPF). He will hold the charge as RPF’s DG till his superannuation on June 30, 2021. He succeeded Dharmendra Kumar. Prior to this post, Arun Kumar was the as Special Director General of Border Security Force (BSF). He has worked in several senior positions including that of Joint Director in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He was incharge of probe into high profile cases like the murder of 13-year-old Aarushi Talwar in Noida in 2008. The RPF is a security force of India entrusted with protecting railway passengers, passenger area and railway property of the Indian Railways .It has the power to arrest, investigate and prosecute criminals. The force is under the authority of Ministry of Railways. The motto of RPF is “Service and Loyalty”.

Notes:
The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Dr. James P. Allison of the United States and Dr. Tasuku Honjo of Japan for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. Both the doctors, working separately, showed in the 1990s how certain proteins act as “brakes” on the immune system’s T-cells, limiting their ability to attack cancer cells, and that suppressing those proteins could transform the body’s ability to fight cancer. They used immunotherapy to help the cells of the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. Until their breakthroughs cancer treatment consisted of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Their work led to a fourth class of treatment, harnessing the immune system, what the Nobel committee at the Karolinska Institute called “an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.”

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has recently constituted an 11-member high-level committee on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to review the existing framework and guide and formulate the roadmap for a coherent policy on CSR under the companies law. The Committee, which will be headed by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas, will analyze outcomes of CSR activities, programmes, projects and suggest measures for effective monitoring and evaluation of CSR by companies. Suggestions are also expected on innovative solutions, use of technology platform to connect stakeholders and social audit. The Companies Act 2013 mandates that firms with a net worth of at least Rs 500 crore or revenue of Rs 1,000 crore or net profit of Rs 5 crore should spend at least 2% of their net profit on CSR. The provision came into force from April 1, 2014. In India, around 14,000 companies are required to spend on various social projects under Section 135 of the Companies Act. The committee will review the Schedule 7 of the Act that defines the activities on which companies have to spend their CSR funds.

Notes:
The 17th century ‘Oonth Kadal’ is a Mughal period arch-shaped bridge, located at the middle of the picturesque Dal lake in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. Recently, it is in news because the Government of Germany has granted Rs 32 lakh for the conservation of the camel hump-shaped bridge. The restoration of the bridge will bring focus on significance of Dal Lake as part of global cultural and natural heritage. The Oonth Kadal project has come as a shot in the arm for the six Mughal gardens located near the Dal lake, which has made its entry into UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. Built in 1670s, Oonth Kadal attracted foreign photographers and Bollywood directors, who shot many songs around it. Of late, it was crumbling due to the apathy shown towards conservation by the local authorities. Oonth Kadal is a stone masonry bridge and was essentially part of the erstwhile Chaudhri Soth (also called Soth-i-Chodri) that started at end of Naidyar Bridge in Kralyar, Rainawari and opened at Ishber Nishat.

Notes:
Pandit Tulsidas Borkar (83), the legendary harmonium exponent, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on September 29, 2018. Born in Borim (Goa), he was conferred with the Padma Shri award in 2016 for his contributions to Indian music. He was also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2005. Borkar was known for both solo performances as well as his unique style of accompanying Indian classical singers. Among others, he had accompanied legendary singers such as Ustad Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar.

Notes:
On September 30, the Madhya Pradesh government has announced to set up a Ministry for Cows at a function in Khajuraho in Chhattarpur district to take care of cattle in a better way. It was attended by Digambar Jain monk Vidhyasagarji Maharaj. The cow ministry will replace the existing Madhya Pradesh Gaupalan Evam Pashudhan Samvardhan Board (MPGEPSB) because it (board) has limitations. If Madhya Pradesh implements the decision, it will become the 2nd Indian state after Rajasthan to get a cow ministry. Earlier, the MP government opened the India’s first cow sanctuary under the board in September 2017 at Agar Malwa district. The sanctuary is spread over 472 hectares, with a capacity for housing 6,000 cows. The Board also runs 600 cow shelters across the state where there are roughly 1.4 lakh bovines. The state is slated for assembly polls later this year along with Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and possibly Telangana.

Notes:
India has been ranked 5th, jointly with Hong Kong and Thailand, in terms of the largest pictorial warning on cigarette packs with 85% of both sides of the packets covered, according to latest Canadian Cancer Society report. As per 2018 report, Out of 206 nations, Timor Leste has the largest warning on cigarette packages in the world with 92.5% on front and back, followed by Nepal and Vanuatu with 90% and New Zealand at fourth with 87.5%.The Cigarette Package Health Warnings: International Status Report 2018 highlighted that 118 countries worldwide have made pictorial warnings mandatory, representing a global public health achievement, and 58% of the world’s population is covered by this regulation. The current report is the 6th Canadian Cancer Society international report on cigarette package health warnings. The report released in Geneva at the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) revealed that there was tremendous international momentum for plain packaging of tobacco.

Notes:
The first-ever Regional Conference on ‘Women in Detention and Access to Justice’ has recently held in Shimla on October 4-5, 2018. The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) organized the conference in collaboration with the Prison Department, Himachal Pradesh. This conference is organised with a view to provide a platform for the prison personnel of all ranks at the national level to share their candid views on various operational as well as administrative issues not only with their counterparts, but also with other experts of national repute in this field and also to identify best practices and standards in the working of Correctional Administration to meet new challenges in the present day’s context to bring out prison reforms in objective terms.

Notes:
The scientists have recently identified regions in the wheat genome responsible for concentration of zinc in wheat grain. They have also identified candidate genes involved in zinc concentration in wheat. The findings can potentially help in developing wheat varieties with enhanced levels of the micro-nutrient. The researchers have found 39 new molecular markers and two genome segments that carry important genes for zinc uptake, translocation, and storage by analyzing zinc concentrations. A total of 330 wheat lines were analysed from different environments in India and Mexico. The genome-wide association approach, used in human disease research, was applied in this study to locate genome segments linked to zinc uptake. This study was jointly conducted by researchers from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Flinders University, Australia; Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana; Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal; and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. It must be noted that about 30% of Indian population is estimated to have zinc deficiency. Children below 5 year of age and pregnant women are more vulnerable for nutrient deficiency.