Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2018

Notes:
Indian Tennis player, Ankita Raina has won a bronze after losing a hard fought women’s singles semifinal 4-6, 6-7 in straight sets against Shuai Zhang of China at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games on August 23. With this, she became the 2nd Indian female tennis player after Sania Mirza to win a medal in singles’ competition at the Asian Games. For India, Mirza won silver in Doha in 2006 and a bronze in Guangzhou 2010. Ankita from Maharashtra is currently India’s number one women’s singles.

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:
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:
The committee, chaired by Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas, has recently submitted final report on review of penal provisions of Company Act 2013 to the Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley. The Committee recommended that the existing rigour of the law should continue for serious offences, covering six categories, whereas for lapses that are essentially technical or procedural in nature, mainly falling under two categories may be shifted to in-house adjudication process. The report makes recommendations for de-clogging the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) through significant reduction in compounding cases before the Tribunal. The Committee was constituted by the Union government in July 2018 to review the existing framework dealing with offences under the Companies Act, 2013 and related matters and make recommendations to promote better corporate compliance.

Notes:
The Odisha government has launched a programme “Mu Hero, Mu Odisha” (I am Hero-I am Odisha)” to identify and to give recognition to the young achievers of the state. The initiative is to be conducted by the Biju Yuva Vahini (BYV) members.

Notes:
On August 28, Manjit Singh clinched gold in the men’s 800 metres event at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games, which was India’s first gold in the event since Charles Borromeo won in 1982 Asiad. Beside this, Indian sprinter Jinson Johnson from Kerala also won the silver at the same event. With this, India achieved a rare one-two in men’s 800m at the Asian Games. Manjit clocked 1:46.15 while Johnson clocked 1:46.35 to make it a memorable double for India. It was India’s only second one-two finish in 800m at the Games since Ranjit Singh and Kulwant Singh achieved the feat at the inaugural edition held in New Delhi in 1951.

Notes:
North Korea will host the 2019 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in its capital Pyongyang from October 27.

Notes:
The National Sports Day (NSD) is celebrated every year in India on August 29 to mark the birth anniversary of legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand, who was known as ‘The Wizard’ or ‘The Magician’ of hockey for his superb ball control. He won gold medals in Olympics for India in the years 1928, 1934 and 1936. He scored over 400 goals in his career, from 1926 to 1948. His autobiography “Goal!” was published by Sport & Pastime, Madras in 1952. The Government of India (GoI) awarded him the 3rd highest civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 1956. Beside this, the most noted memorial for him is the Major Dhyan Chand Award, which is the highest award for lifetime achievement in sports and games in India. It has been awarded annually from 2002 to sporting figures that not only contribute through their performance but also contribute to the sport after their retirement.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has organized an interactive programme “Mil -Banche” in government schools of state on August 31, 2018. It is a first of its kind initiative i.e. being organized for multi-dimensional development of children through language skill up-gradation, reading other books in addition to textbooks, developing interest in understanding and other co-curricular activities. Over 2 lakh volunteers who have registered for the programme include 820 engineers, 843 doctors, 36 thousand employees of private sector, 19 thousand public representatives and around 45 thousand government employees and officers. Volunteers will read out one chapter of any book from either the school library or the Hindi textbook during the programme. After the reading session, the students present in the class will be asked interesting questions and will be introduced to the art of conversation and reading after group discussion.

Notes:
In New Delhi, Indian Railways has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GAIL India Ltd for use of environment-friendly fuel ‘Natural Gas’ in Railway workshops and production units. The purpose of the pact is to replace Industrial gases like Dissolved Acetylene, LPG, Bharat Metal Cutting Gas (BMCG) and Furnace Oil / High Speed Diesel (HSD) oil with Natural Gas. The use of natural gas has a potential to replace fuel worth Rs 70 crore per annum. This historic partnership will pave the way for supply of Natural Gas to Railway workshops, integral coach factories, loco workshops, DEMU sheds, etc. located along the existing and upcoming pipeline networks of GAIL. This endeavour shall reduce carbon foot-prints of IR and contribute positively towards achieving COP21 commitments.