Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
Avi Goel (14), the Indian-American high school student, has won the International Geography Bee World Championship 2018 in junior varsity division in Berlin, Germany. Avi is a tenth grader at Silver Creek High School in Evergreen, San Jose, California. He won a gold medal in 7 out of the 10 medal events, and a silver medal in two of the events, topping the overall medals table. He also bagged the top spot in all the three events counting towards the world championship title: the International Geography Exam, the International Geography Showdown, and the International Geography Bee. The competition took place from 11th to 18th of last month, bringing together over 100 of the world’s top geography students to vie for the world championship title in the subject. The competition was held by International Academic Competitions, a worldwide organization that runs academic competitions across the world, including the newly formed International Geography Bee.

Notes:
R Madhavan has been appointed chairman and managing director of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for a period of 5 years. He will succeed T Suvarna Raju, who will retire on August 31, 2018. Currently, he is an executive director of the HAL. The HAL is governed under the management of the Ministry of Defence and is headquartered at Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Notes:
The Punjab Government will start ‘Tatkal Sewa’ for property registration across the state from 13th August 2018. The state government has fixed the sum of Rs 5,000 as facilitation charges to seek appointment for ‘tatkal’ (instant) registration for properties. Beside this, an hour-long slot from 9 am to 10 am has been reserved for availing the service under instant mode. People could seek an appointment by visiting the website “www.revenue.punjab.gov.in”. So far, over 1.62 lakh online documents have been registered under the new system. This service comes on the heels of the State starting on line property registration in June 2018.

Notes:
Annie Zaidi, an Indian author, has won the 2018 Hindu Playwright Award 2018 for her play ‘Untitled’ at the 14th edition of The Hindu Theatre Fest at the Taj Coromandel. The award was presented by Ratna Pathak Shah, actor and director. The award, instituted in 2008, carries a prize of Rs 2 lakh for the best original, unpublished and unperformed play script in English.

Notes:
The document ‘Digital North East Vision 2022’ has been released by Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad in Guwahati, Assam. Under this vision, the Union government will invest nearly Rs. 10,000 crore in the region over the next 4 years to implement more than 400 projects. The vision document has identified a total of 8 thrust areas to enhance connectivity, including telecom infrastructure, electronics manufacturing units, BPOs and cyber security, besides promotion of digital innovations. The state-wise roadmaps for implementing digital initiatives in the North East States have also been developed. Through these, the Vision Document aims to empower the people of the North Eastern region. As part of the initiative, Mr. Prasad also inaugurated the first electronics manufacturing cluster in the northeastern region in Guwahati on 10th August 2018.

Notes:
Axis Bank has become the India’s first bank to introduce Iris Scan Authentication feature for Aadhaar-based transactions through its micro ATM tablets. As per study conducted by the International Centre for Biometric Research (ICBR), Iris scan technology is completely contactless and provides up to 98.2% authentication success rate and offers an edge over other prevalent biometric modes. The highly secure iris powered micro ATM tablets are Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) certified and UIDAI compliant registered devices with completely integrated iris sensors. The process of transaction through iris scan is very simple. Customer need to select the desired service (funds transfer, cash withdrawal) and feed-in their Aadhaar numbers in the micro ATM. Next, they will have to choose ‘IRIS’ as the desired mode of authentication. Verification will be done by scanning the eyes of the customers through the tablet’s iris sensor camera in 3-5 seconds. The transaction will be completed after the biometric details are verified from the UIDAI database.

Notes:
D Bala Venkatesh Varma, a 1988 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has been appointed India’s new ambassador to Russia, which is considered a high-profile posting due to expanse of strategic cooperation between the two countries. Currently, he is serving as Indian envoy in Spain. He will succeed Pankaj Saran, who has been appointed deputy National Security Advisor (NSA). The Union Government also appointed Partha Satpathy as next Ambassador of India to Ukraine.

Notes:
Ramesh Powar, the former Indian off-spinner, has been appointed the head coach of the Indian Women’s National Cricket team on an interim basis till 30th November 2018. His term will include the tours to Sri Lanka in September, a bilateral series in West Indies in October followed by the 2018 ICC Women’s World T20 in West Indies in November. This was informed by BCCI secretary Amitabh Choudhary. As per the Supreme Court directive, only a Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) – now functional – can appoint a fulltime coach on a long-term basis. Powar has played 31 ODIs and two Tests from 2004 to 2007, picking 34 wickets with a best of 54 in the 50-over format.

Notes:
The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has launched a VOIP based service “WINGS”. In WINGS, there is no SIM or cable wiring as is a VOIP service through an app. The WINGS service offers unlimited free audio/video calling for one year. The service can be activated with a one-time fee of Rs. 1,099 (Rs 1,297 with GST). Calls can be made using any data connection such as wired broadband, Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G network of any any operator. WINGS can also be used over Internet Leased Lines. The facility can be used anywhere within the country and the app automatically uses the existing address book in the phone. Unlike other app-based VOIP services such as WhatsApp and Telegram calls, the WINGS app can make calls to any phone number – free of cost. As there is no physical SIM, the number can be used as the second number in phones without provision for second SIM. It can even be a third number in dual-SIM phones.

Notes:
The IIT Kharagpur has decided to set up a Re-Water Research Center to replenish and rejuvenate water resources. It will be seed-funded by two alumni members – Aneesh Reddy & Aditya Choubey. The purpose of the ‘Aditya Choubey Center for Re-Water Research’ is to tackle the challenge of resolving two burning issues faced by urban India – sewage disposal and access to clean potable water. The institute will set up an on-campus plant which will convert 1.35 million litre of sewage water from the hostels to 1.2 million litre of potable water, on a daily basis. The project is being developed to attract potential entrepreneurs and government agencies to take up sewage treatment at a large scale and with a business model for banks to gain confidence in funding such businesses. The pilot plant is expected to be ready by March 2019.