Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
Rafael Nadal, a Spanish professional tennis player, has clinched the 2018 men’s singles Rogers Cup tennis tournament at the Aviva Centre in Toronto, Canada. In the final, he defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas by 6–2, 7–6 to win his 4th Rogers Cup title. With this win, the 17-time Grand Slam champion Nadal clinched his 80th ATP World Tour title and fifth victory of the year.

Notes:
On August 14, Film Actor Akshay Kumar has been appointed the brand ambassador for Government of India (GoI)’s special road safety awareness campaign. As part of the campaign “Sadak Suraksha – Jeevan Raksha”, three short films starring Akshay as traffic police inspector has been released to generate public awareness towards road safety. In it, he highlighted the importance of not breaking traffic rules. It is a matter of serious concern that India accounts for 5 lakh accidents annually, the highest in the world, in which 1.5 lakh people lose their lives every year.

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:
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:
The World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is held every year on August 19 to pay tribute to aid workers who risk their lives in humanitarian service, and to rally support for people affected by crises around the world. The day recognizes humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes. The campaign theme of 2018 WHD is #NotATarget. The day was designated by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to commemorate the 19th August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.

Notes:
On 16 August, the Amnesty International India (AII) has launched a new campaign “Our Safety, Our Rights” to create awareness among children to help them understand and identify sexual abuse. The campaign seeks to empower children to speak up and report sexual abuse without fear. The AII has collaborated with Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), People’s Action for Rural Awakening (PARA), Institute of Social Education (ISE) to engage with children in 400 schools, across four Indian states – Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Through this campaign, an estimated 50,000 students, parents, teachers and other key stakeholders will be sensitized on the issue of child sexual abuse.The campaign will culminate on 2018 International Day of the Girl Child.

Notes:
Former Indian Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag has been awarded the United States (US) ‘Legion of Merit (Degree of commander)’ on August 17, 2018, at Pentagon, Washington DC. The award was given to Singh for exceptionally meritorious service as Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) from August 2014 to December 2016. With this, he became the 2nd Indian military officer to get this award after General Rajendrasinghji Jadeja in 1946. The Legion of Merit is awarded in four degrees – Degree of Chief Commander, Degree of commander, Degree of the officer, Degree of Legionnarie.

Notes:
Uri Avnery (94), a trailblazing Israeli journalist & peace activist and one of the first to openly advocate for a Palestinian state, has passed away in Tel Aviv, Israel on August 20, 2018. He was famous for crossing the lines during the Siege of Beirut to meet Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat on 3 July 1982. It was first time that the Palestinian leader ever met with an Israeli. Avnery was the author of several books about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, including 1948: A Soldier’s Tale, the Bloody Road to Jerusalem (2008); Israel’s Vicious Circle (2008); and My Friend, the Enemy (1986).

Notes:
SK Arora, the Delhi government’s additional director of health, has been honoured with the prestigious World Health Organization (WHO) World No Tobacco Day 2017 Award for his extraordinary contribution towards tobacco control. He was presented the award by Henk Bekedam, WHO India country head in New Delhi, on August 16, 2018. It is awarded every year by WHO to individuals or organizations alike in each of six WHO regions for their accomplishments in the area of tobacco control. The National Health Policy 2017 of the Government of India (GoI) has set targets of relative reduction in tobacco prevalence by 15% by 2020 and 30% by 2025. Delhi has already achieved these targets before 2017. The Delhi government’s health department has been fighting against direct advertisement of brand promotion of tobacco and surrogate advertisement of tobaccos in the name of pan masala and other eatables such as tea, ilaichi (cardamom) for the past 4 years. According to Global Adult Tobacco Survey-2 (GATS 2, 2016-17), the prevalence of tobacco use has reduced by 27% in Delhi as compared to 17% for the rest of India average.

Notes:
Gurudas Kamat (63), the senior Congress leader and former Union minister, has passed away in New Delhi on August 22, 2018. He was 5-time Member of Parliament (MP) from Mumbai and was also the president of the NSUI from 1976 to 1980. He served as Union minister of state for home affairs with the additional charge of communications and information technology from 2009 to 2011. In July 2011, he resigned as the minister. He was also a former president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee.