Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
Dr. Evan Atar Adaha, surgeon and medical director at a hospital in Bunj of north-eastern South Sudan, has won the prestigious the 2018 UNHCR Nansen Refugee for his outstanding 20-year commitment in providing medical services to people forced to flee conflict. He also provides health services to locals as well as refugees from Sudan’s neighbouring Blue Nile State, in the small town of Bunj. South Sudan hosts nearly 300,000 refugees, of whom 92% are Sudanese from the South Kordofan and the Blue Nile regions close to the South Sudanese border. The prestigious award is presented every year to an individual or organization who has dedicated their time going above and beyond the call of duty to help people forcibly displaced from their homes. The Award is named after Norwegian polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, who served as the first high commissioner for refugees during the failed League of Nations. The 2018 award ceremony will be held on October 1st in Geneva, Switzerland.

Notes:
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has expected India’s economy to grow 7.0% in calendar year 2018 compared with 6.2% in 2017. As per the report “Trade and Development”, the effects of demonetization are still evident in private consumption trends within the economy. It also emphasised that countries like India and Thailand, which have been most favoured by foreign investors and experienced the largest spike in asset prices, would be most vulnerable to capital outflows. Further, countries like India which are dealing with Current Account Deficits (CAD) have a tendency of reducing imports. This assumes significance in the wake of India putting in place measures to control the rising CAD and capital outflows.

Notes:
On September 30, the Madhya Pradesh government has announced to set up a Ministry for Cows at a function in Khajuraho in Chhattarpur district to take care of cattle in a better way. It was attended by Digambar Jain monk Vidhyasagarji Maharaj. The cow ministry will replace the existing Madhya Pradesh Gaupalan Evam Pashudhan Samvardhan Board (MPGEPSB) because it (board) has limitations. If Madhya Pradesh implements the decision, it will become the 2nd Indian state after Rajasthan to get a cow ministry. Earlier, the MP government opened the India’s first cow sanctuary under the board in September 2017 at Agar Malwa district. The sanctuary is spread over 472 hectares, with a capacity for housing 6,000 cows. The Board also runs 600 cow shelters across the state where there are roughly 1.4 lakh bovines. The state is slated for assembly polls later this year along with Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and possibly Telangana.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first-ever General Assembly of International Solar Alliance (ISA) at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi from 2nd October 2018. He pitched for “one-world, one-sun, one-grid”, to harness the energy potential offered by the sun. Beside this, PM Modi also announced the “universalization” of membership for the first treaty-based international government organization headquartered in India that will help provide a platform for climate justice. The same event also marked the inauguration of the 2nd IORA Renewable Energy Ministerial Meeting, and the 2nd Global RE-Invest (Renewable Energy Investors’ Meet and Expo). Over 150 speakers including 55 international speakers from 15 countries will take part in it. The India and France-led ISA is an inter-governmental treaty-based organisation of countries between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn to promote solar energy in the member nations.

Notes:
The 31st All India Railways Chess tournament 2018 has started at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu on October 3. The 4-day tournament has formally inaugurated by General Manager of Southern Railway, SM Kulshreshta. The event is being conducted in Swiss League Format at both team and individual levels. Around 87 players including five grandmasters and 18 international masters from 14 Zonal Railways and seven Production Units from across Indian Railways are participating in the event. The successful players from this tournament will represent Indian Railways in the National Chess Championship to be held in November 2018.

Notes:
The ‘Operation Samudra Maitri’has been launched by the Government of India (GoI) to provide massive humanitarian assistance to the earthquake and tsunami victims in Indonesia. Two Indian Air Force aircrafts – C-130J and C-17 – departed recently with medical personnel and relief material. The C-130J aircraft is carrying a medical team along with tents and equipment to set up a field hospital. The C-17 aircraft is carrying medicines, generators, tents and water to provide immediate assistance. Three Indian Naval Ships – INS Tir, INS Sujatha and INS Shardul – have also been mobilised to carry out Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR). These ships are likely to reach the Central Sulawesi province of Indonesia on October 6. The death toll in Indonesia’s twin quake-tsunami disaster, which decimated parts of the central Indonesian island of Sulawesi, has already climbed to nearly 1,400. An estimated 2.4 million people were affected, 61,867 displaced and 66,000 homes destroyed.

Notes:
The scientists have recently identified regions in the wheat genome responsible for concentration of zinc in wheat grain. They have also identified candidate genes involved in zinc concentration in wheat. The findings can potentially help in developing wheat varieties with enhanced levels of the micro-nutrient. The researchers have found 39 new molecular markers and two genome segments that carry important genes for zinc uptake, translocation, and storage by analyzing zinc concentrations. A total of 330 wheat lines were analysed from different environments in India and Mexico. The genome-wide association approach, used in human disease research, was applied in this study to locate genome segments linked to zinc uptake. This study was jointly conducted by researchers from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), Flinders University, Australia; Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana; Indian Institute of Wheat and Barley Research, Karnal; and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. It must be noted that about 30% of Indian population is estimated to have zinc deficiency. Children below 5 year of age and pregnant women are more vulnerable for nutrient deficiency.

Notes:
On October 5, the 4th edition of the India International Science Festival (IISF – 2018) has started at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The mega science expo will be formally inauguratedby the President Shri Ram NathKovind. It is being organized by Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences in association with Vijnana Bharati. The theme of this edition of Science Festival is “Science for Transformation”. IISF-2018 is expected to be represented by approximately 10000 delegates including 5000 students, 550 teachers, 200 students from North-East Region, 20 international delegates and approximately 200 startups.

Notes:
In Assam, the Namrup-based Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL) rolled out Asia’s first cannisters based and India’s first “Methanol Cooking Fuel Program” on 5th October 2018. The project has been promoted by NITI Aayog. The safe handling cannister based cooking stoves are from Swedish Technology and through a Technology transfer a large-scale cooking stove manufacturing plant will come up in India in the next 18 months producing 10 lakh Cookstoves and 1 Crore Cannisters per year. This technology is very unique, it handles methanol extremely safely, does not need regulator or any piping system. In it, Ritu Bordoloi of Namrup has become the India’s first owner and user of a cooking stove fuelled by methanol. She was one of 500 people who were handed over a stove with two 1.2-litre canisters of methanol, as part of a pilot project by APL. The APL is the India’s first public sector producer of methanol and formalin from natural gas as feed stock.

Notes:
On October 7, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) of India Region, Zone III has started in Guwahati, Assam. The four-day conference will discuss on several issues on North East region. During the conference, Women empowerment, Skill development, connectivity are some of the topics that would be discussed. Sumitra Mahajan, the Lok Sabha Speaker will also launch the North East chapter of Speaker’s Research Initiative during the conference. The MPs and MLAs from the North-East are likely to attend the conference.