Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

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:
K. Anvar Sadath, the vice chairman and executive director of the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), has won the 2018 International Contributions Award given by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT), USA. He has been chosen for the award to recognize his outstanding contribution to the field of educational communication and technology in an international setting. With this, he has become the first Indian to be honoured with the International Contributions award. The award will be presented at 2018 AECT International Convention function to be held in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 26, 2018. The AECT is a premier professional association for instructional design and educational technology.

Notes:
The Telangana government will setup a state of the art “B-Hub” for biotech and biopharma sector in Genome Valley, Hyderabad. It’s a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, aimed at providing much-needed support to the biopharma research and development activities, featuring a scale-up manufacturing facility along with a turnkey incubator, lab space module at GLP grade spreading over a built-up area of 40,000 sq.ft. This end-to-end biopharma scale-up manufacturing facility will give domestic companies the required impetus here on par with Korea, China and France who have taken lead in biopharma innovation. The estimated project cost of B-Hub is Rs 60 crore and the facility is to be set up through Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Genome Valley, which is the India’s first organised cluster for life sciences R&D and clean manufacturing activities.

Notes:
On August 3, the 10th International conference on oral implantology was held in New Delhi to enhance the awareness and knowledge on the latest innovations and technologies in oral implantology world over. The 3-day conference hosted by Academy of Oral Implantology (AOI) has representations by doctors from the UK, the US, Israel, Austria, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Spain. Oral implantology is a highly dynamic specialty and has over the years, introduced innumerable modifications and improvements for dental treatment of patients. The vision is to promote latest technologies and encourage younger doctors, in the field of innovation. Experienced professionals will share their work, expertise with the younger crop and this translates into sharing of knowledge from different parts of the globe. Various companies from the medical field have also showcased their advanced products and technologies. Teeth decay, loss of teeth due to old age, diseases or accidents, bad and crooked teeth, teeth decay happen due to bad oral hygiene. The event also seeks to raise awareness about oral hygiene for better dental care.

Notes:
Molecular biologists at the Centre for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences in China have claimed to create the world’s first single-chromosome yeast while not affecting the majority of its functions. If their claim is true then this breakthrough could help in furthering research related to aging and diseases in humans. They used CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing to create a single-chromosome yeast strain. Using the CRISPR-Cas9, the research team removed the DNA at the telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that protect them from degrading. They also snipped out the centromeres, sequences in the middle that are important to DNA replication. The research may also pave the way for new man-made species in the future.

Notes:
In Uttar Pradesh, the iconic Mughalsarai junction has been formally renamed after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU), who was found dead in mysterious circumstances near the station in February 1968. The DDU station is more than 150 years old and one of the busiest railway stations in India. The station contains the largest railway marshaling yard in Asia. It was inaugurated by BJP national president Amit shah. Beside this, he also flagged off a passenger train with an all-women crew and a goods train at the DDU station. As per Railway officials, it will be the first time in India that an all-woman crew will run a train. Mughalsarai is also the birthplace of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. It is a part of the Chandauli Parliamentary seat which is presently held by UP BJP president Mahendra Nath Pandey.

Notes:
Ranjit Srivastava, the Ranchi-based software developer, has claimed to develop the world’s first Hindi speaking realistic humanoid robot and India’s first lip-synching robot. The robot “Rashmi” has developed in 2 years at a minimum cost of Rs 50,000. In simple words, Srivastava developed an Indian version of a social humanoid robot ‘Sophia’ that was developed by a Hong Kong based company. The robot can speak Hindi, Bhojpuri and Marathi along with English. It uses Linguistic Interpretation (LI), Artificial Intelligence (AI), visual data and facial recognition systems. It functions under a specially designed software and linguistic interpretation system. The LI programme analyses the feeling of the conversation while AI program analyses the conversation to extract the response from the device.

Notes:
The two week-long joint military exercise “Maitree 2018′ has started between Indian Army and Royal Thai Army in Thailand on August 6 with a focus on enhancing anti-terror cooperation between the two sides. The exercise will emphasize to hone the tactical and technical skills in joint counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations in rural and urban scenario under UN mandate. Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario. Experts from both sides will also hold detailed discussions to share their experience on varied topics for mutual benefit. Exercise Maitree will contribute immensely in developing mutual understanding and bonhomie between the two armies in order to counter terrorism.

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:
In the 14th edition of Women’s Hockey World Cup 2018, defending champions the Netherlands recorded a stunning 6-0 victory over Ireland in the summit clash at London on August 5 to extend their unbeaten run in all competitions to 32 matches. It must be noted that the Netherlands have been crowned the world champions for a record 8th time. Kitty van Male, who was among the 6 different goal scorers, finished the tournament as the top scorer with 8 goals. Spain won the third place match by beating Australia 3-1 to claim their first ever World Cup medal. India finished the tournament at the 8th spot.