Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
Pradip Choudhury, who formed the central defensive pair with Subroto Bhattacharya when Mohun Bagan took on Pele’s Cosmos team in 1977, has been conferred the Mohun Bagan Ratna 2018 at the annual day of the 129-year-old club on July 29. On the occasion of Mohun Bagan Day 2018, Shilton Paul was given the Best Footballer for the Year award and Sudip Chatterjee was handed the Best Cricketer of the Year honour. Sourav Das was the Best Youth Footballer . Rahim Ali received a special award for his performance for Indian team in the FIFA under-17 World Cup 2017. The day is celebrated to commemorate the Mariners’ victory over East Yorkshire Regiment 2-1 in the IFA Shield final on July 29, 1911.

Notes:
The Union Government has constituted a high level empowered committee to address the issues of stressed thermal power projects. The committee will be headed by Cabinet Secretary, Pradeep Kumar Sinha with representatives from the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and the lenders having major exposure to the power sector. The Committee would look into the various issues with a view to resolve them and maximize the efficiency of investment including changes required to be made in the fuel allocation policy, regulatory framework, mechanisms to facilitate sale of power, ensure timely payments, payment security mechanism, changes required in the provisioning norms/Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Asset Restructuring Company (ARC) Regulations and any other measures proposed for revival of stressed assets so as to avoid such investments becoming NPA.

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The Myanmar Government has appointed an independent 4- member commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses against the ethnic Rohingya minority. The Independent Commission will investigate the allegations of human rights violations and related issues, following the terrorist attacks by Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The commission will be comprised of two local members & two international members. It will be headed by Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo. The other members includes Japan’s former ambassador to the UN Kenzo Oshima, lawyer Mya Thein and economist and former UN official Aung Tun Thet. In August 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar’s western Rakhine state to Bangladesh after a military crackdown started in response to attacks by ARSA on security posts.

Notes:
The first cow sanctuary in Rajasthan will be situated in Napasar, Bikaner to dedicate the entire area for cows, much on the lines of a wildlife sanctuary. It will provide shelter for 10,000 bovines spread over an area of more than 220 hectares in Bikaner district. The facilities in the sanctuary will include hospitals and Sewan grass as fodder for the animals. The state government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private trust in this regard. The cow sanctuary will be the latest in a string of initiatives announced by the BJP government in the state for the protection of bovines since it came to power in 2013. The state already has a ministry dedicated to the welfare of cows and last year it had announced a 10% surcharge on stamp duty towards cow protection.

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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.

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has recently launched a landmark 3-month visa amnesty programme which will benefit hundreds of illegal foreign workers, including Indians, overstaying their permits by allowing them to leave the country without penalties and giving them six months to find a job. The UAE is home to 2.8 million Indian expatriates, the largest expatriate community in the country. Professionally qualified personnel constitute about 15 to 20% of the community, followed by 20% white-collar non-professionals and the remainder 65% comprises blue-collar workers. The government did not release specific numbers, but says thousands of people, primarily labourers from countries like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and the Philippines, will benefit from the amnesty scheme which will facilitate their smooth return to their home countries. As per Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA), the entity responsible for entry and residence of foreigners in the UAE, visa violators before August 1, 2018 will be able to rectify their status legally during the amnesty period, which will end on October 31.

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Following the publication of the final draft of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, the Manipur government has constituted two committees – state and district level – to deal with a possible influx of illegal immigrants. The State Level Monitoring Committee will monitor the entry or presence of illegal immigrants in the state and take steps for creating adequate public awareness to counter the situation. It will be headed by Special Secretary (Home) while the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police as its members. The district level committee will be headed by the concerned deputy commissioners while Superintendent of Police, SDOs, SDPO, SDCs, OCs will be the members. The committee with local bodies would likely to conduct headcounts if needed.

Notes:
Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar has won the 2018 Fiji International title. It is his first win on the European Tour, ninth Asian Tour and 10th international title overall. Thus, he became the most successful Indian player on Asian Tour and the first Indian to win on Australasia Tour. Bhullar joined Arjun Atwal, Jeev Milkha Singh, SSP Chawrasia and Anirban Lahiri as the only Indians to win on the European Tour as this was sanctioned by Asian, Australasia and European Tours. The victory also granted him an exemption on all three Tours till end of 2019. Other Indian in fray, Ajeetesh Sandhu scored 71 in the final round to end his campaign at the tied 43rd spot.

Notes:
Raveendran Kasthuri, a Kannur native, has assumed charge as new CEO of the Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Ltd (ULCCS) on August 6. ULCCS is one of the largest Co-operative Societies in India. Earlier, he was with IBM as its vice president and head of integrated operation. The ULCCS was formed in 1925 by the eminent social reformer Guru Vagbhatananda in a remote hamlet called Uralungal in Kozhikode district, as a novel mass movement against the anarchies of the caste system prevalent in those days. The society has now grown to be one of the biggest Labour Contract Societies in the country, providing direct employment to more than 6000 workers from rural areas. It is now having an asset worth Rs 99402 lakhs.

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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.