Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
India’s first in-phone tourism guide and mobile application “Go whats That” has launched by Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, at Rock Garden in Chandigarh on July 28, 2018. This is first of its kind app where tourist can scan QR code at a heritage site to download the history & details of that place in multiple languages. Initially, 1,100 tags have been placed at different tourist spots, which will give accurate information on each artifact. The app will also help the UT Administration in data analytics by getting real-time updates on each place, including the number of tourists visiting the places, scan details, etc.

Notes:
The 2018 BRICS Film Festival took place in Durban, South Africa, along with the International Durban Film Festival (DIFF) from 22-27th July. The last day of the festival was celebrated as India Country Day, followed by Awards and Closing Ceremony. The basic aim of film festival is to celebrate world-class film productions from the BRICS nations with the objective of inspiring more collaboration from these nations. The festival screened four Indian Films, ‘Newton’ and ‘Village Rockstars’ in the competition section, and Sandeep Pampally’s ‘Sinjar’ and Jayara’s ‘Bhanayakam’ in the non-competition section. “Newton”, directed by Amit Masurkar, bagged the best film award, while “Village Rockstars” (directed by Rima Das) won the Best Actress (Bhanita Das) and Special Jury Award in the BRICS Film Festival 2018.

Notes:
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the former West Bengal governor, has been selected for 2018 Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana Award for his outstanding contribution towards the promotion of communal harmony, peace and goodwill. The award will be presented to him at a special ceremony on August 20 at Jawahar Bhawan. The award, which carries a citation and cash amount of Rs 10 lakh, is given on the occasion of the birthday of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. It was instituted to commemorate the lasting contribution made by him to promote peace, communal harmony and fight against violence.

Notes:
The World Rangers Day (WRD) is celebrated every year on July 31 to remember and appreciate the crucial services rendered by rangers who protect, conserve and preserve the biodiversity of our forests at the cost of their lives. The day also commemorates all the selfless men and women who lost their lives protecting defenseless animals against human greed in the line of duty.

Notes:
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) hiked policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.50% in its third bi-monthly monetary policy review of 2018-19. Repo rate is the rate at which the RBI lends money to commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of funds. Reverse repo rate, the rate at which the Reserve Bank borrows money from commercial banks within the country, was adjusted to 6.25%. Accordingly, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate too stand adjusted at 6.75%. This time too, RBI has maintained neutral stance with an objective of achieving the medium-term target for headline inflation of 4 per cent while supporting growth.

Notes:
Akshay Venkatesh, a renowned Indian-Australian mathematician, has won the 2018 Fields Medal for his profound contributions to an exceptionally broad range of subjects in mathematics. Venkatesh is one of four winners of mathematics’ top honour known as the Nobel prize for math. The Fields medals are awarded every four years to the most promising mathematicians under the age of 40. Each winner receives a 15,000 Canadian-dollar cash prize. The other three winners are: Caucher Birkar, a Cambridge University professor of Iranian Kurdish origin; Germany’s Peter Scholze, who teaches at the University of Bonn and Alessio Figalli, an Italian mathematician at ETH Zurich.

Notes:
Sashi Cheliah, an Indian origin prison guard from Adelaide, has clinched the title of MasterChef Australia 2018 after scoring 93 out of 100 points. He defeated fellow contestant Ben Borsht, who scored 77 out of 100. For the first round, Cheliah made a sambal prawns starter, which got him a perfect 30 while his second recipe for the grand finale was a fish curry and cumin rice dish that he made to honour his aunt. The winner took home the MasterChef Australia trophy and a winning amount of $2,50,000 (almost Rs 1.7 crore) while the first runner-up was awarded $40,000 (around Rs 27 lakh).

Notes:
Jalees Sherwani (70), the veteran screenplay writer, has passed away in Mumbai. Maharashtra on August 1, 2018. He had penned lyrics for several Salman Khan films like “Dabangg”, “Wanted” and “Tere Naam”. Apart from writing dialogues for “Sangam” and “Loafer”, Sherwani also penned lyrics for films like “Partner”, “Hello”, “Garv” and “Hello Brother”.

Notes:
M Bhakthavatsala (84), the well-known Kannada film producer, distributor and exhibitor, has passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka on August 6, 2018. He was an officer in Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) and later turned to films through distribution and managing theatres. He was known for producing critically acclaimed movies like ‘Sandhyaraga’ and ‘Kanneshwara Rama’. Bhakthavatsala served as president of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce for 7 years and was the only Kannadiga to chair the Indian Film Chamber of Commerce. He had diverse interests such as literature, mountaineering, etc.

Notes:
NITI Aayog’s International Conference on “Sustainable Growth through Material Recycling: Policy Prescriptions”was held at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra in New Delhi on August 6, 2018. It was inaugurated by the Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways & Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari. The day long conference brought together a host of experts for identifying policy prescriptions for the development and growth of material recycling in India towards creating more jobs, reduce dependence on exports, protect the environment and take steps towards adopting circular economy concepts.