Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
NITI Aayog has launched a mobility pitch competition “Pitch to MOVE” for budding startups in the mobility field. The competition aims to identify and reward the start-ups offering innovative solutions for shared, connected and environment friendly mobility. It will provide budding entrepreneurs of India a unique opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a distinguished jury. The winners of the event will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Global Mobility Summit 2018, which is scheduled to be held on September in New Delhi. ‘Pitch to MOVE’ is organised by NITI Aayog in collaboration with Invest India and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) as a part of a series of engaging featured events in the run up to the main event.

Notes:
Sunishka Kartik from Bengaluru won the Community Award in the 2018 Junior NBA World Basketball Championship, which concluded at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, USA, on August 12. She had top-scored with 17 points in the team’s impressive win over South America Combined in a pool game. The award recognizes players who are committed to give back to those in need. The tournament featured the best 13 and 14-year-old boys and girls from around the world in 32 teams.

Notes:
On the occasion of 72nd Independence Day 2018, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao launched three new schemes viz. free life insurance for farmers (Rythu Bima), ‘Kanti Velugu’ eye care scheme and an economic support programme for backward classes. In the ‘Kanti Velugu’ eye care scheme, every citizen of Telangana will be entitle to have free eye care viz. free eye screenings, medicines and spectacles and surgeries. It envisages covering 3.7 crore population. Under the economic support scheme for backward classes, the government would provide a grant of Rs 50,000 to the beneficiaries to start small businesses. Under the ‘Rythu Bima’ scheme, every farmer would get life insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh.

Notes:
On the occasion of 72nd Independence Day 2018, the special film festival on the theme “Freedom Struggle and Freedom Fighters” has started in Mumbai on August 14. The festival was organized by Films Division of India (FDI), a film production house belonging to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B). It was inaugurated by Rama Khandwala, nonagenarian freedom fighter and Indian National Army (INA) veteran. During the festival, noteworthy documentary films on freedom struggle and freedom fighters were screened. Some of them are as follows: Jawan Tujhe Salam, Gandhi – A Universal Man, Netaji, Sardar Patel – The Iron Man, etc.

Notes:
Austrian capital Vienna has been ranked as the world’s most liveable city in a list of 140 global cities at the 2018 Global Liveability Index, which was released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Melbourne has secured 2nd position followed by Osaka, Calgary and Sydney. Delhi (112) and Mumbai (117) are only two Indian cities that are included in the EIU’s annual index. The Syrian capital ‘Damascus’ was ranked the least liveable city in the list of 140 cities, followed by Dhaka, Lagos and Karachi. The index assigns cities scores on five broad parameters — stability, healthcare, culture/environment, education, and infrastructure using 30 indicators. The EIU is part of UK magazine The Economist and provides forecasting and advisory services through research and analysis.

Notes:
Teen cyclist Esow Alben (17) has scripted history by winning the India’s first junior cycling World Cup medal — a silver at the men’s keirin event in the UCI Junior Track Cycling World 2018. He put enormous pressure on Czech Republic’s Jakub Stastny in the final sprint before settling for the silver medal. Esow finished just 0.017 seconds behind gold medallist Stastny in the thrilling photo-finish of a race. Alben, who hails from Andaman & Nicobar Islands, trains in Delhi at the Sports Authority of India (SAI)’s National Cycling Academy (NCA). Esow is now the top-ranked junior cyclist for the sprint event and is No. 3 for keirin, where the cyclists sprint for victory on a track following a controlled start.

Notes:
KS Srinivas, a 1997 batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, has been appointed the new Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). Prior to this post, he served as Joint Secretary in Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers’ Welfare. The MPEDA was constituted in 1972 under the MPEDA Act 1972 and is headquartered at Kochi. It is given the mandate to promote the marine products industry with special reference to exports from the country. It is also empowered to carry out inspection of marine products, its raw material, fixing standards, specifications and training as well as take all necessary steps for marketing the seafood overseas.

Notes:
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been re-elected as the new President of Mali for a five-year term after winning a landslide in a runoff ballot. He picked up 67.17% of the vote against 32.83% for opposition challenger and former finance minister Soumaila Cisse. Keita will take office on September and his immediate challenges include strengthening a 2015 peace accord between the government, its allies, and former Tuareg rebels. Mali is a landlocked nation home to at least 20 ethnic groups where the majority of people live on less than $2 a day.

Notes:
Rajabhau Godse (57), the former Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) from Nashik , has passed away in Nasik, Maharashtra on August 17, 2018. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nashik constituency in 1996. He had also been the city and district unit chief of the Sena after starting his political career as Sarpanch of village Sansari in the district.

Notes:
The 11th World Hindi Conference 2018 (WHC) has started in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, with theme “Hindi World and Indian Culture” on August 18. It was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India (GoI) in association with the Government of Mauritius. More than 2000 delegates from India and various countries of the world will deliberate on 8 subtopics on 2018 theme during the 3-day conference. The aim of the Conference is to expand the reach of the Hindi language at a global level. The WHC was started in 1975 to make the Hindi language a medium of service and knowledge and enable it to move forward with the time. Since then, Hindi has made remarkable progress and it has become one of the prominent languages of the world.