GK & Current Affairs Quiz: February 26, 2018

Notes:
The Indian Navy will host the multi-national MILAN series of exercises under the theme of ‘Friendship Across the Seas’ at Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar islands from March 6 to March 13, 2018. Besides fostering co-operation through naval exercises and professional interactions, MILAN also provides an excellent opportunity to the participating navies to come together in a spirit of collaboration and mutual understanding to nurture stronger ties. It is a congregation of littoral navies conducted biennially by the Indian Navy under the aegis of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The purpose of Milan 2018 is to showcase the rich heritage and pristine natural beauty of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the foreign visitors.

Notes:
Michael McCormack has been elected as the new Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, after being selected as the leader of the country’s National Party. McCormack succeeded former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce who was forced to resign last week amid public anger over an extramarital affair with his former press secretary. The leader of the National Party automatically becomes deputy prime minister under the terms of the coalition agreement with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s Liberal party.

Notes:
TSR Subramanian (79), the former Cabinet secretary of India, has passed away in New Delhi on February 26, 2018. He served as the cabinet secretary from 1996 to 1998. Subramanian worked hard to protect the bureaucracy from political interference. He was part of a group of bureaucrats that filed a PIL seeking directions from the Supreme Court for insulating bureaucracy from political interference following which the Supreme Court rolled out key civil services reforms in 2013. He was a 1961 batch IAS officer from Uttar Pradesh Cadre. He also wrote several books on India and governance such as “India at Turning Point: The Road to Good Governance”, “GovernMint In India: An Inside View” and “Journeys Through Babudom and Netaland: Governance in India”.

Notes:
The 21st edition of National conference on e-Governance has started in Hyderabad, Telangana with theme “Technology for Accelerating Development” on February 26, 2018. The conference, which is jointly organised by the Government of India (GoI) and Telangana Administrative Reforms department, will provide a forum for Secretaries of Administrative Reforms and Information Technology of the Centre and the State Governments, IT Managers and software solution providers to exchange views, discuss issues and analyse various solution frameworks. The two-day conference will deliberate on several aspects of the e-governance including its universalization and replication, governing e-governance, best practices, emerging technologies and synergising role of national and state governments.

Notes:
Reigning Asian Champion Gopi Thonakal retained his title at the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New Delhi Marathon in New Delhi on February 26. Gopi, who is also in the Indian Army, had clocked 2 hour, 15 minute and 16 seconds to clinch the gold under ideal running conditions. However, he missed the tough Commonwealth Games qualification mark set by the Athletics Federation of India by three minutes. Nitendra Singh Rawat was second, while Bahadur Singh Dhoni took the bronze. Around 65 elite Indian athletes took part in the full marathon of 42.195km. In the women’s event also, Monika Athare retained her title. Monika Athare clocked 2 hours, 43 minutes and 46 seconds, ahead of last edition silver medallist Jyoti Gawte and Monica Raut who finished third.

Notes:
Bhanu Kumar Shastri (93), the founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh and former MP, has passed away in Udaipur, Rajasthan on February 24, 2018. He was the member of Lok Sabha from Udaipur in Rajasthan and was also chairman of Khadi Board.

Notes:
The Aditya Birla Idea Payments Bank Ltd (ABIPBL) has become the 5th entity to begin operations as a payments bank with effect from February 22, 2018. The ABIPBL is a joint venture between Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (51%) and Ideal Cellular (49%). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a licence to the bank under Section 22 (1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 to carry on the business of payments bank in India. The other payments banks that have started operations include Airtel Payments Bank Ltd, India Post Payments Bank Ltd, Paytm Payments Bank Ltd and Fino Payments Bank Ltd. The other applicants that are yet to set up payments bank include Vodafone m-Pesa Ltd, Reliance Industries Ltd and National Securities Depository Ltd.

Notes:
China has been elected as the vice-president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at the plenary meeting in Paris on February 23, 2018. In its plenary meeting, the FATF placed Pakistan under “grey list” to monitoring in its International Cooperation Review Group until June 2018 for compliance of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Finance of Terrorism regulations. It gave Islamabad time till June 2018 to prepare an action plan against terror groups operating from Pakistan. The FATF was set up in 1989 with the primary goal of setting standards to combat money laundering, but in 2001 its mandate was expanded to include countering terror financing. It can take action such as financial restrictions against any country.

Notes:
The Assam government will observe September 22 as ‘Rhino Day’ to generate public awareness on protection of the one-horned pachyderm. It was officially declared at the 10th meeting of the State Board for Wildlife, which was chaired by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. The day will be exclusively dedicated to the approximately 2,500 rhino population in the state would be a tribute to the rhinoceros, which are the “pride of Assam”. The state government will soon launch the State Rhino Project in line with National Rhino Project in Assam for protecting the pachyderms from threats of poaching.

Notes:
The Jawahar Sagar Dam is a dam across the Chambal River. It is situated about 24 km (15 mi) south-west of Kota, Rajasthan. The dam has a catchment area of 27, 195 km ² and provides relief to the people of the area during times of severe water shortage. It is one of the dams which have been built under the Chambal Valley project of State of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The dam also produces 99 MW (3×33 MW) of hydropower.