Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
Satya Pal Malik has been appointed the new Governor of Jammu & Kashmir. He will replace N N Vohra. Prior to this post, Malik was the Governor of Bihar. On 21 August, other governors of states appointed were Lal Ji Tandon for Bihar, Ganga Prasad for Sikkim, Tathagata Roy for Meghalaya and Kaptan Singh Solanki for Tripura. Satyadev Narayan Arya was appointed as the Governor of Haryana while Baby Rani Maurya was appointed as the Governor of Uttarakhand.

Notes:
Iran has launched its first state-of-the-art domestic fighter jet “Kowsar” at a defense show in Tehran on August 23, 2018. The jet is a fourth-generation fighter, with advanced avionics and multi-purpose radar. It is designed and manufactured by domestic military experts. It is dual-cockpit, single engine jet with single tail fin. It resembles US-made F-5F Tiger (first flew in 1974), which is variant of 1950s-era US Northrop F-5 fighter that is a long-time mainstay of Iranian Air Force. It can be used for short aerial support missions and is equipped with systems that promote precision targeting. The acronym “Kowsar” refers river in paradise in Islam and also the title of a chapter in the Koran.

Notes:
The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched a wind- sensing satellite “Aeolus” into orbit from French Guyana to track global winds. The satellite will be placed at an altitude of 320 Km above the Earth. The launch is part of the Copernicus project, a joint effort by the European Union and the European Space Agency (ESA) to track environmental damage and assist disaster relief operations. The “Aeolus” satellite – named after the keeper of the winds in Greek mythology – is designed to enable improved weather forecasting and aid disaster relief operations. It is equipped with a Doppler wind LIDAR – an advanced laser system designed to measure global wind patterns from space. Aeolus, which is built by Airbus, will be the first satellite equipped to perform global wind-component-profile observation on a daily basis in near real-time.

Notes:
Vijay Chavan (63), the veteran Marathi actor who was known for his comic roles, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on August 24, 2018. The actor, who featured in more than 350 films, is best remembered for his comic roles in Marathi films such as ‘Jatra’, ‘Zapatlela’, ‘Pachadlele’, ‘Mumbaicha Dabewala’ and ‘Shrimanta Damodar Panta’, among others. Beside films, he also featured in numerous plays. He is best known for the his role of Mavshi in the famous Marathi Stage drama “Moruchi Mavshi”. This comedy play was penned by Pralhad Keshav Atre.

Notes:
The Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to organize a youths’ conclave “ATAL – Arunachal Transformation & Aspirational Leadership” in Itanagar on 22nd September 2018. The aim of the 3-day ATAL conclave is to engage youths in the age group of 18 to 30 years of the state pro-actively in the areas of public policy and governance. For this, they have to register themselves at www.atalconclave.in. Participants shall brainstorm and present their ideas, proposals and solutions for government policies and existing challenges faced by the state before expert panels. Further, interactive sessions with key policy makers, bureaucrats, sectoral experts, thought leaders, grass-root change-makers are also planned to be hosted in the Conclave. The conclave will see participation of 1000 youths of the state.

Notes:
The world’s first blockchain bond “bond-i” has recently launched by World Bank (WB), which is to be created, allocated, transferred and managed through its life cycle using distributed ledger technology. The “bond-I” stands for Blockchain Operated New Debt Instrument and is also has reference to Sydney’s most famous beach ‘Bondi Beach’. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the sole arranger of the issuance for the bond. It was the first time that the World Bank bond raised capital from public investors through a legally valid bond issuance that uses blockchain from start to finish. This 2-year maturity bond has successfully raised 110 million Australian dollars (USD 80.48 million). The World Bank, whose bonds hold an AAA rating, regularly uses its borrowing power to help develop new bond markets as well as pioneering new means for selling and trading the securities. The bond-i blockchain platform was built and developed by the CBA Blockchain Centre of Excellence, housed in the Sydney Innovation Lab.

Notes:
Moody’s Investors Service has recently released its Global Macro Outlook for 2018-19. In it, the Indian economy is expected to grow by about 7.5% in 2018 and 2019 as it is largely resilient to external pressures like those from higher oil prices. However, the rating agency expects the India’s economy to grow at a higher rate of 7.7% in the first quarter of 2018. Apart from this, Moody’s put G-20 growth at 3.3% in 2018 and 3.1% in 2019. The advanced economies will grow 2.3% in 2018 and 2% in 2019.

Notes:
The Integrated Defence Staff of the Defence Ministry and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up satellite-enabled telemedicine nodes to improve emergency medical support to Indian soldiers posted in high-altitude areas, especially Siachen. ISRO will establish 53 more nodes in the first phase over and above the existing 20, in various establishments of the Army, Navy and Air Force across the country. These nodes will enable medical consultation between soldiers deployed at the Siachen glacier and medical echelons in the rear. This joint initiative by ISRO and the Armed Forces Medical Services will transform the reach of telemedicine to soldiers, airmen and sailors in remote and isolated posts. One can say that the communication through these nodes will be a paradigm shift in the delivery of lifesaving health care in adverse terrain and extreme weather conditions till the weather clears up and movement is possible.

Notes:
Gopal Bose (71), the former Bengal cricket captain, has passed away in Birmingham, England on August 26, 2018. He was the first cricketer from Bengal to play an ODI against England in 1974, which was incidentally only the 2nd ODI that India played. He had scored 3,757 runs in 78 first-class games with 8 hundreds and 17 fifties. He also took 72 wickets, including one five-for, with his handy off-breaks. Bose was the head coach of Kolkata’s Cricket Club of Dhakuria(CCD). Interestingly, Bose was the manager of the Virat Kohli-led India U-19 team that won the World Cup in Kuala Lumpur in 2008.

Notes:
For the first time, India’s only aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya will be fitted with marine hydraulic systems “GS-1MF and GS-3” to boost the air operations of the ship. The systems would be fitted by Russia’s Rostec State Corporation through its subsidiary “Technodinamika” by May 2019. The upgradation and sea trials of the ship will be done in India only. The hydraulics technology uses fluid pressure to power machines. These hydraulic systems are used for refuelling, cleaning and pressurization of hydraulic systems of aircraft and helicopters which form part of the air-capable wing of INS Vikramaditya. GS-1MF hydraulic system is used for helicopters while GS-3 is used for aircraft. INS Vikramaditya is a modified Kiev-class aircraft carrier, which entered into service with the Indian Navy in 2013. It weighs 44,500 tonnes and is the biggest & heaviest ship in the Indian Navy. It is 284m long and 60m high — that’s about as high as a 20-storeyed building. The ship weighs 40,000 tonnes and is the biggest & heaviest ship in the Indian Navy.