Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
The World Day against Trafficking in Persons is observed every year on July 30 to raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights. The 2018 theme “Responding to the trafficking of children and young people” highlights the fact that almost a 3rd of trafficking victims are children. The theme draws attention to the issues faced by trafficked children and to possible action initiatives linked to safeguarding and ensuring justice for child victims.

Notes:
John Sankaramangalam (84), the Veteran filmmaker and former director of Film and Television Institute of India (FTTI), has passed away in Thiruvalla, Kerala on July 30, 2018. A multi-time recipient of national and state awards, Sankaramangalam was known for his experimental movies. Some of his directorial ventures are “Aval Alpam Vaikippoyi”, “Janmabhoomi” and “Samantharam”.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government will set up ‘iHub’ (the intelligent hub), a first-of-its kind global research centre for scientific learning with an initial investment of Rs 245 crore spread over five years. For this purpose, the state government has already collaborated with UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP). Some of the social and economic objectives of iHub will be to create 50,000 future-ready skilled manpower, reduced school dropouts and capture the EdTech market. The initial staff will be about 40 International researchers in disciplines such as neuro-science, education, psychology, digital instructional design, educational technology, Artificial Intelligence, data sciences, and gamingamong others. The centre will also issue “Global Certification” for digital educational content.

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:
Umbayee (68), the noted ghazal singer and composer from Kerala, has passed away at Aluva on August 1, 2018. Born in Mattancherry, he was a disciple of Ustad Munawar Ali Khan and was known his reinvention of several old Malayalam film songs in his own natural style. His birth name was PA Ibrahim.

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 Karnataka government has launched a rural cleanliness and sanitation campaign “Swachhameva Jayate” to make every citizen in rural Karnataka take a pledge of cleanliness. The aim of the campaign is to boost the Swachh Survkekshan Grameen 2018 (SSG 2018) survey in all the districts with the help of school children. Since the inception of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the government of Karnataka has constructed a total of 22 lakh toilets in 29,736 villages. The state needs another 5 lakh toilets in its rural areas before October 2 to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. The 2018 SSG survey will rank all Indian districts and states on the basis of qualitative and quantitative evaluation of sanitation status of the villages and will run from August 1 to 31. While the survey will target 698 districts, 6,980 villages, 34,900 public places randomly across the country, Swachha Meva Jayate will aim to take messages about the parameters of the survey to every rural household in Karnataka. The survey will measure and rank villages across India on the basis of availability and access to toilets, cleanliness of public spaces, and feedback and opinions of citizens.

Notes:
The Telangana government has signed pact with Tech Mahindra to establish the Blockchain district in Hyderabad, a first-of-its-kind Centre of Excellence for Blockchain. The MoU was signed during the 3-day International congress at HICC in Hyderabad. Initially it would be a virtual cluster, connecting with the stakeholders working in the emerging technology. It would have a physical building at a later phase. Tech Mahindra, as a founding member of the Blockchain district, will provide platform and technology assistance to all the incubators in the district. Eleven01 Foundation will develop an India-specific protocol that will define the standards for usage of Blockchain. Besides, the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) will make part of its protocol development research to the virtual cluster of Blockchain district.

Notes:
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has signed pact with the State Bank of India (SBI) for a long-term unsecured loan to the tune of Rs 25,000 crore. This is SBI’s highest long-term unsecured loan to any entity and also the largest ever loan sanctioned to NHAI. There is no principal repayment liability for initial 3 years. After 3 years, the repayment would be done in 14 equal half yearly instalments. The total loan tenure is 10 years. NHAI can repay/ prepay it at any time without any prepayment penalty. The total sanctioned amount of Rs 25000 Crore is to be disbursed within 31st March 2019. Rate of interest would be based on one month MCLR. Interest accrued on the amount actually outstanding will be paid on monthly basis. NHAI can draw the amount in any number of tranches, latest by 31st March 2019.

Notes:
Argentina defeated Russia in the final match. India had won one of the matches in tournament.