Current Affairs [Monthly]

Notes:
The book “Hema Malini: Beyond the Dream Girl” has been penned by author-columnist Ram Kamal Mukherjee. It’s about actress achievement as a politician apart from her sojourn as an actor, danseuse and filmmaker. It will offer a new perspective on Bollywood’s first female superstar.

Notes:
The Chief minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik has recently launched a 24X7 toll free helpline number 181 for distressed women in all the 30 districts of the state on the occasion on International Women’s Day. The helpline will facilitate quick response of various services including lodging police complaint to provide medical, legal and counselling to women victims.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed committee on Household Finance has recently recommended that banks should link their home loan rates to the RBI’s repo rate, the rate at which it lends to banks. The committee, whose recommendations are not binding, suggests that this will allow for better and more transparent transmission of interest rates in the economy to individuals. As per recommendations, banks should quote loans to customers using the RBI repo rate rather than based on their own MCLR rates. This would make it easier for customers to compare rates at the time of purchase. The committee was chaired by Dr Tarun Ramadorai, who is Professor of Financial Economics, Imperial College Business School in London. The committee has also recommended that all banks use the same reset period of one month for loans. Under the current system, floating rate loans have a fixation period of roughly one year. The report argues that the current system impedes monetary transmission mechanism and does not allow borrowers to immediately benefit from interest rate drops.

Notes:
India will host the 2018 Junior Asian Wrestling Championship (JAWC), which is scheduled to be held from July 19 to 22 in New Delhi. Recently, the United World Wrestling (UWW) has announced the hosting rights to Indian city for the tournament. The UWW is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling and is headquartered in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.

Notes:
The 2-day conference of Ministers for Power and New and Renewable Energy of States and Union Territories will be held at Rajgir in Bihar from November 10, 2017. The conference will be inaugurated by Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh. The objective of the conference is to review the implementation of various ongoing schemes and deliberate upon a host of issues pertaining to Power and Renewable Energy sectors. Ministers and Secretaries of States and senior officials will participate in the conference.

Notes:
Catriona Elisa Gray from Philippines has been crowned at the 67th Miss Universe 2018 at a gala ceremony in Bangkok, Thailand on December 17. She was crowned by Miss Universe 2017 Demi Leigh Nel-Peters, who comes from South Africa. She is the fourth Filipina Miss Universe, after Gloria Diaz in 1969, Margie Moran in 1973 and Pia Wurtzbach in 2015. She beated contestants from 93 other countries to claim the prize. In it, Tamaryn Green from South Africa was named the first runner-up while Miss Venezuela Sthefany Gutierrez stood third.

Notes:
On December 23, Bala Rafique Shaikh clinched the 62nd Maharashtra Kesari 2018 title by defeating Abhijeet Katke of Pune in the wrestling duel held at Azad ground, Jalna, Maharashtra. He defeated his opponent 11-3 in the one-sided match. Shaikh was honoured with a silver mace and cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. Maharashtra Kesari is an Indian-style prestigious wrestling championship, established in 1961. ‘Kesari’ is a Sanskrit word for ‘Lion’.

Notes:
Shefali Juneja, a 1992 batch officer of Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), has been appointed to the post of Representative of India in the council of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada for a period of 3 years. She will replace senior IAS officer Alok Shekhar.

Notes:
On 13th October 2019, the noted director and producer Priyadarshan has been conferred the National Kishore Kumar Samman for 2018-19 in Khandwa, the birthplace of the legendary singer- actor. According to the official, the Kishore Kumar Samman jury selected noted actor Waheeda Rehman for the award for 2017-18. The award was  instituted by the Madhya Pradesh  Department of Culture. It carries a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh and a citation. Kishore Kumar, who passed away on 13th October 1987, is considered as one of the most popular and successful singers of Hindi film industry and from soft numbers to peppy tracks to romantic moods.

Notes:
The correct capital city of Nicaragua is Managua, not Belmopan. Belmopan is the capital of Belize, which was constructed after Hurricane Hattie caused significant damage to the previous capital, Belize City, in 1961. Managua, Nicaragua’s largest city in terms of population and geographical size, was declared the national capital in 1852 and is situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán, also known as Lake Managua.