Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has given his assent to the Karnataka Good Samaritan and Medical Professional (Protection and Regulation During Emergency Situations) Bill, 2016. The bill provides legal protection to the good samaritans in Karnataka, who help accident victims with emergency medical care within the golden hour. In medical terms, the ‘golden hour’ is the first hour after a traumatic injury when emergency treatment is very crucial. Now, the legislation will encourage people to offer first aid to victims without the fear of legal wrangles. With this, Karnataka has become the India’s first state to give legal protection to good samaritans. Under the new law, the Karnataka government will provide financial help to Good Samaritans who help victims. They will be exempted from repeated attendance in courts and police stations, and in case attendance is mandatory, expenses of such “running around to courts and police stations” will be taken care through the proposed Good Samaritan Fund.

Notes:
Indian midfielder Manpreet Singh will be captain of the 18-member Indian team at the 5th edition of Asian Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy 2018, which is scheduled to be held in Muscat, Oman from October 18 to 28. This is India’s first tournament after the retirement of Sardar Singh. The tournament will feature host nation Oman, reigning champions India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, and Japan.

Notes:
Arun Kumar, a 1985 batch officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed the new Director-General of Railway Protection Force (RPF). He will hold the charge as RPF’s DG till his superannuation on June 30, 2021. He succeeded Dharmendra Kumar. Prior to this post, Arun Kumar was the as Special Director General of Border Security Force (BSF). He has worked in several senior positions including that of Joint Director in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He was incharge of probe into high profile cases like the murder of 13-year-old Aarushi Talwar in Noida in 2008. The RPF is a security force of India entrusted with protecting railway passengers, passenger area and railway property of the Indian Railways .It has the power to arrest, investigate and prosecute criminals. The force is under the authority of Ministry of Railways. The motto of RPF is “Service and Loyalty”.

Notes:
The Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporaton (KMC) has recently launched India’s first Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (FFEWS) for Kolkata City to help city officials and citizens act decisively to minimize damage before and during disasters. India’s first comprehensive city-level ‘FFEWS’ will reduce economic loss and impacts on livelihood and improve flood awareness and safety at community level. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded the design and implementation of the FFEWS through a $1 million technical assistance to KMC from its Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund under the Urban Financing Partnership Facility.

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently launched a new alcohol control initiative ‘SAFER’ to prevent and reduce alcohol-related death and disability. It provides five high-impact strategies that can help governments reduce the harmful use of alcohol and related health, social and economic consequences. The WHO-led initiative and action package aim to support global target of reducing harmful use of alcohol by 10% by 2025. It is the newest WHO-led roadmap to support governments in taking practical steps to accelerate progress on health, beat Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) through addressing the harmful use of alcohol, and achieves development targets.

Notes:
The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Dr. James P. Allison of the United States and Dr. Tasuku Honjo of Japan for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. Both the doctors, working separately, showed in the 1990s how certain proteins act as “brakes” on the immune system’s T-cells, limiting their ability to attack cancer cells, and that suppressing those proteins could transform the body’s ability to fight cancer. They used immunotherapy to help the cells of the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. Until their breakthroughs cancer treatment consisted of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Their work led to a fourth class of treatment, harnessing the immune system, what the Nobel committee at the Karolinska Institute called “an entirely new principle for cancer therapy.”

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:
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, Dharmendra Pradhan has recently launched an innovative initiative called SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) in New Delhi on 1st October 2018 to promote Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) as an alternative fuel. In it, Public sector oil marketing companies – Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum – will seek expression of interest from potential entrepreneurs to set up CBG production plants and make it available in the market for use as auto fuel. The Bio-gas is produced naturally through a process of anaerobic decomposition from waste / bio-mass sources like agriculture residue, cattle dung, sugarcane press mud, municipal solid waste, sewage treatment plant waste, etc. After purification, it is compressed and called CBG, which has pure methane content of over 95%. Compressed Bio-Gas is exactly similar to the commercially available natural gas in its composition and energy potential. Thus, this move will benefit vehicle-users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.

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 Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 with one half to Frances H. Arnold “for the directed evolution of enzymes” and the other half jointly to George P. Smith and British scientist Sir Gregory P. Winter “for the phage display of peptides and antibodies”. Dr. Arnold and Dr. Smith are American scientists. Now, Dr. Arnold is only the fifth woman to be awarded the prize for chemistry. The methods developed by the laureates have been put to work to create new enzymes and antibodies used in promoting a greener chemicals industry, mitigating disease and saving lives. The prize highlights the narrowing of the gap between biology and some fields of chemistry as chemists turn to nature for inspiration.