Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
Renowned hindi commentator Jasdev Singh (87), who was the voice of Indian sports on Doordarshan, has passed away in New Delhi on September 25, 2018. He was a rare commentator who excelled in commentating on every sport including hockey and cricket. Interestingly, he started his career in All India Radio (AIR) in 1955 at their Jaipur station. He was also the voice of sports in AIR for a long time. From 1963, he was also an official commentator on Independence Day and Republic Day parade broadcasts for 48 long years. He had covered 9 editions of Olympics from Helsinki (1968) to Melbourne (2000), 8 hockey World Cups and six Asian Games. Jasdev was also awarded the ‘Olympic Order’ by IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch at the Seoul edition in 1988 for his role in spreading the Olympic movement. He was conferred with the Padma Shri in 1985 and Padma Bhushan in 2008.

Notes:
India’s first AICTE Training and Learning (ATAL) Academy will be established by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in Jaipur. In a bid to introduce upgraded teaching methods and modules to make technical education more effective and accountable, AICTE is building the training academies where the faculties would be trained on the eight-module course. The training will be mandatory for new teachers from 2019 & it will be necessary for the existing teachers and assistant teachers while applying for promotions. Beside Jaipur, three other academies slated to come up in Baroda (Gujarat), Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) and Guwahati (Assam) by 2019. The academies were being built on land provided free of cost by the respective state governments with minimum built-up infrastructure facility around the area. These academies will equip candidates with the latest changes in technical education.

Notes:
The 17th century ‘Oonth Kadal’ is a Mughal period arch-shaped bridge, located at the middle of the picturesque Dal lake in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. Recently, it is in news because the Government of Germany has granted Rs 32 lakh for the conservation of the camel hump-shaped bridge. The restoration of the bridge will bring focus on significance of Dal Lake as part of global cultural and natural heritage. The Oonth Kadal project has come as a shot in the arm for the six Mughal gardens located near the Dal lake, which has made its entry into UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites. Built in 1670s, Oonth Kadal attracted foreign photographers and Bollywood directors, who shot many songs around it. Of late, it was crumbling due to the apathy shown towards conservation by the local authorities. Oonth Kadal is a stone masonry bridge and was essentially part of the erstwhile Chaudhri Soth (also called Soth-i-Chodri) that started at end of Naidyar Bridge in Kralyar, Rainawari and opened at Ishber Nishat.

Notes:
Pandit Tulsidas Borkar (83), the legendary harmonium exponent, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on September 29, 2018. Born in Borim (Goa), he was conferred with the Padma Shri award in 2016 for his contributions to Indian music. He was also a recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2005. Borkar was known for both solo performances as well as his unique style of accompanying Indian classical singers. Among others, he had accompanied legendary singers such as Ustad Amir Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Kishori Amonkar.

Notes:
The 6th edition of joint Multi – National Maritime Exercise “IBSAMAR 2018” between the Indian, Brazilian and South African Navies has started at Simons Town, South Africa from 1st Oct 2018. The aim of the 13-day exercise is to undertake collective training for participating navies, building inter-operability and mutual understanding as well as sharing of best practices. The Indian Navy is represented in IBSAMAR VI by Guided Missile Frigate Tarkash, Guided Missile Destroyer Kolkata, Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft P8I, Seaking and Chetak helicopters as well as a MARCOS contingent. The exercise includes both harbour and sea phases with various navigation and seamanship evolutions, surface weapons firing, force protection exercises, antipiracy exercise, anti-air and anti-submarine exercise as well as flying operations. Apart from professional activities, sports and social engagements are also planned.

Notes:
Rio Paralympic gold medallist Thangvellu Mariyappan has been named as flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the 3rd Paralympic Asian games to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from October 6-13. India will field its biggest ever contingent of 302 members including athletes, coaches, support staff, escorts and officials. The Indian contingent were initially denied entry on Oct 1 when they arrived at the Games Village as the Sports Ministry had not till then cleared funds to the tune of $2.5 lakh. However, the issue was later resolved.

Notes:
On October 3, the Government of India (GoI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed $240 million loan for providing safe and sustainable drinking water to about 1.65 million people in three districts of the state of West Bengal affected by arsenic, fluoride, and salinity. The purpose of the project is to mitigate these risks through provision of continuous potable water through metered connections to about 390,000 individual households in three districts – Bankura, North 24 Parganas, and Purba Medinipur. The project is supported by a grant of $3 million from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, financed by the Government of Japan, and a $2 million grant from ADB’s Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF). This will support the state government in strengthening its smart water management system, improve flood-related early warning and response, and provide training on operation and maintenance as well as climate change and disaster resilience.

Notes:
The World Habitat Day (WHD) is observed every year on first Monday in October across the world to raise awareness about need for affordable housing for all in urban areas, cities and towns. The purpose of day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. The day is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns. On 1st October 2018, the day is celebrated with ‘Municipal Solid Waste Management’ & slogan ‘Waste-wise cities’ to highlight the issue of municipal solid waste management challenge as global issue that affects everyone.

Notes:
The first-ever Regional Conference on ‘Women in Detention and Access to Justice’ has recently held in Shimla on October 4-5, 2018. The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) organized the conference in collaboration with the Prison Department, Himachal Pradesh. This conference is organised with a view to provide a platform for the prison personnel of all ranks at the national level to share their candid views on various operational as well as administrative issues not only with their counterparts, but also with other experts of national repute in this field and also to identify best practices and standards in the working of Correctional Administration to meet new challenges in the present day’s context to bring out prison reforms in objective terms.

Notes:
Pravin Srivastava, the 1983-batch Indian Statistical Service officer, has been appointed as new Chief Statistician of India (CSI). This appointment comes into effect from the date of his assuming charge of the post till the date of his superannuation (August 31, 2020) or until further orders, whichever is earlier. He has worked in the ministries of statistics and health in various positions, and briefly in the Union Public Service Commission, in his 35-year career. He was a secretary to the Indian Statistical Commission, popularly known as the Rangarajan Commission, which laid the foundation of the modern statistical system. The National Statistical Commission was set up in 2005 on its recommendations.