Current Affairs Quiz - December, 2018

Notes:
On October 8, Rookie Madhya Pradesh opener Ajay Rohera has created world record for highest first-class score on debut. He scored 267 not out against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group-B Cricket in Indore. The record was earlier held by former Mumbai stalwart Amol Muzumdar, who had hit 260 versus Haryana at Faridabad in 1994. Beside this, Rohera also became the highest individual scorer for Madhya Pradesh surpassing JP Yadav’s 265.

Notes:
Prathamesh Maulingkar from India has created history by becoming the first Asian/Indian to win 2018 Mister Supranational title in a competition held in in Krynica-Zdroj, Poland. He defeated 37 contestants from all over the world in the final round to win the coveted title. At the same pageant, Mister Supranational Poland was adjudged first runner-up, Mister Supranational Brazil was adjudged second runner-up and Mister Supranational Thailand was announced as the third runner-up.

Notes:
IIT Kharagpur has won the DSCI Excellence Award 2018 for cyber security education by Data Security Council of India (DSCI), an industry body on data protection set up up by NASSCOM. The institute was awarded for its focused curricula and research work in cryptography, hardware security, cyber security, Internet of Things (IoT) security, and network security. A number of research ventures led by Professor Debdeep Mukhopadhyay at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kharagpur were primarily considered for this award. Some of the ventures include the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-funded projects on developing lightweight protocols for authenticating IoT nodes, IC reverse engineering and trojan detection and the DST-funded ‘Swarnajayanti’ project on secure authentication protocols for smart grids.

Notes:
Dr. Rajanish Giri, an assistant professor at IIT Mandi, has been awarded the DBT Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) 2018. Dr. Giri is selected for his proposed innovative idea on Zika virus Capsid Folding and inhibitor discovery. Additionally, he has proven expertise on understanding and solving the fundamental problems of protein folding in various structured and Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. He was selected by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of Ministry of Science and Technology. Additionally, under the supervision of Dr. Giri, a PhD Scholar ‘Nitin Sharma from IIT Mandi’ received ‘Newton Bhabha Doctoral Placement Grant.

Notes:
India is expected to retain its position as the world’s top recipient of remittances with $80 million in 2018, as per latest World Bank’s report ‘Migration and Development Brief’. India is followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico and the Philippines ($34 billion each) and Egypt ($26 billion). The bank estimates that officially recorded remittances to developing countries will increase by 10.8% to reach US$528 billion in 2018, , against a 7.8% growth in 2017. The Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, are projected to grow by 10.3% to $689 billion. For 2019, it is projected that remittances growth for the region will slow to 4.3% due to a moderation of growth in advanced economies, lower migration to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the benefits from the oil price spurt dissipating.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a Twitter account to spread awareness about cyber crimes and normal precautions to be taken. The Twitter handles – @CyberDost – is aimed at enhancing people’s basic knowledge about cyber crimes and precautions to be taken for prevention.

Notes:
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh launched an online portal ‘ENSURE’ – National Livestock Mission-EDEG developed by NABARD. The portal will be operated under the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries. Under the Mission’s component called Entrepreneurship Development and Employment Generation (EDEG), subsidy payment for activities related to poultry, small ruminants, pigs etc. through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) goes directly to the beneficiary’s account.The aim of the ENSURE is to connect with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and provide simple, useful and transparent system to the beneficiary. Under the new process, controlling officer/branch manager of the bank, after scrutinizing & sanctioning of proposal, uploads the subsidy claims in the portal. The subsidy will be approved within 30 days from the date of sanction of loan.

Notes:
The 4th Partners’ Forum 2018 has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on December 12 to discuss issues related to maternal and child health. The 2-day forum was organised by the Union Ministry of Health in association with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). About 1500 participants from across 85 countries participated in the international conference. The mission of PMNCH is to support the global health community to work successfully towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Partners’ Forum is a global health partnership launched in September 2005 to accelerate efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality, improve adolescent, child, newborn and maternal health. The previous chapters were held in Johannesburg, South Africa (2014), New Delhi, India (2010) and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2007). This is the second time India is hosting the Partners’ Forum.

Notes:
Sascha Bajin, coach of the World No.5 five Naomi Osaka, has become the first-ever recepient of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Coach of the Year award. Bajin was behind the Osaka’s victory in the US Open 2018. She lifted the women’s singles title of US Open 2018 by defeating Serena Williams of US in straight sets 6-2, 6-4. Now, Osaka became the first Japanese woman to contest a Grand Slam singles final and the first Japanese Grand Slam singles champion. The WTA Coach of the Year Award is given to the coach with not only success on-court, but also who serves as an ambassador of the sport and brings coaching to the forefront of the game.

Notes:
Manika Batra has become the first-ever Indian athlete to be decorated with the Breakthrough Table Tennis Star award at the prestigious 2018 ITTF Star Awards in Incheon, South Korea on December 12. Batra won four medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and a bronze at the 2018 Asian Games.