Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

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:
Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain has become the first woman shuttler to win the women’s singles World Badminton Championships thrice with an emphatic victory over P.V. Sindhu of India in Nanjing, China on August 5, 2018. Earlier, Marin won the title in 2014 and the 2015 Jakarta edition. Sindhu didn’t have answers to Marin’s blistering pace in the 45 minutes that the match lasted. The second silver meant Sindhu is the only Indian to have four world championships podium finishes. She had won two bronze medals at the 2013 Guangzhou and 2014 Copenhagen editions. In men’s singles, Kento Momota of Japan won the title with an easy 21-13, 21-11 victory over local boy Shi Yuqi. With this victory, Kento Momota became the first Japanese man to win the Championships.

Notes:
Dr. Ajay Data from Jaipur, the Founder and CEO of Data XGen Plus, has become the first Indian to be appointed a council member of ICANN panel Country Code Names Supporting Organization (ccNSO). He has got a 2-year term and will take up the position during ICANN ‘s 63rd Annual General Meeting in Spain in October 2018. He will represent India at a global level and will also be the custodian of Asia, Australia and Pacific Islands as a member of ccNSO. The ccNSO is ICANN’s policy-development body for global issues regarding country code top-level domains (ccTLD) within the ICANN structure. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet, ensuring the network’s stable and secure operation

Notes:
As per Section 8 (1) (c) of the RBI Act 1934, Chartered Accountant Swaminathan Gurumurthy has been appointment as non-official director on the central board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a period of 4 years. He is associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch and is also the editor of Tamil magazine Thuglak. Besides him, the government has also appointed businessman Satish Kashinath Marathe as another non-official director on the RBI board for 4 years.

Notes:
NDA candidate Harivansh Narayan Singh has been elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha after defeating opposition nominee B K Hariprasad on 9th August 2018. Mr Harivansh, a veteran journalist, represents the state of Bihar in the House as a JD(U) member. He polled 125 votes as against 105 by Hariprasad in a division of voting in the House.The post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman was lying vacant since the retirement of P J Kurien on July 1, 2018.

Notes:
The Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) has become the first defence Public Sector Units (PSU) to be activated on the TReDS (Trade Receivable Discounting System) platform. The platform enables discounting of invoices of MSME sellers against large buyers through an auction mechanism, helping prompt realisation of trade receivables at competitive market rates and helps avoid the constraints in obtaining financing. The platform hosts 15 financers including Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda (BoB), Union Bank of India (UBI) and Vijaya Bank.

Notes:
The World Elephant Day (WED) is observed every year on August 12 to bring the world together to help protect & honour these gentle giants and to spread awareness about the critical threats they are facing. The day is also observed to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants and to share knowledge & positive solutions for the better care and management of captive and wild elephants. It’s also India’s National Heritage Animal. On the occasion of 2018 WED, the festival Gaj Mahotsav has started in Delhi to showcase 101 elephant installations, photographs by artists and performances by Delhi-based rock bank Euphoria. The event is organised by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

Notes:
The Nepal-India Literature Festival 2018 was held in Birgunj, Nepal on August 12 to strengthen Indo-Nepal ties. On this occasion, the renowned writers from both the countries were also felicitated. Approx 250 participants from India and Nepal attended the two day festival. The event was organized by Nepal India Co-operation Forum.

Notes:
Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of the Madras High Court (MHC) by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit at a ceremony in Raj Bhavan in Chennai on August 12. Justice Tahilramani is the third woman chief justice of the MHC. She succeeded Justice Indira Banerjee, who has been elevated to the Supreme Court. Apart from this, Justice Mukesh R Shah and Justice Aniruddha Bose have been sworn in as the Chief Justice of Patna High Court and Jharkhand High Court, respectively.

Notes:
Ashish Kumar Bhutani, a 1992 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) till May 9, 2020. The PMFBY is the government sponsored crop insurance scheme that integrates multiple stakeholders on a single platform. It was launched by Prime Narendra Modi on 18th February 2016 in line with ‘One Nation – One Scheme’ theme. It envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5% for Rabi crops. The premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5%. The purpose of PMFBY is to provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases. It also aims to encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices and to stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.