Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

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:
Four-time Olympic gold medallist athlete Sanya Richards-Ross will be the event ambassador for the Airtel Delhi half marathon to be held on October 21. She is the fastest American woman in the history of 400m with her time of 48.70s set at the 2006 IAAF World Cup. Ross was the best 400m runner in the world for a decade, ranking No. 1 in the world from 2005-2009 and again in 2012. In addition to her Olympic accolades, she is also a 7-time medalist at the World Championships in Athletics (five of which are gold).

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:
Teenage shooting star Manu Bhaker has been named as the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent for the 3rd Youth Olympic Games to be held at Buenos Aires in Argentina from October 6-18. Goa Olympic Association Secretary Gurudutta D Bhakta will be the Chef-de-Mission of the contingent. It is India’s largest ever contingent at the Youth Olympics. Hockey 5s has most number of Indian participants with 18 (nine each in men’s and women’s team) while track and field has seven athletes. Other Indian participants are: shooting (4), recurve archery (2), badminton (2), swimming (2), table tennis (2), weightlifting (2), wrestling (2), rowing (2), boxing (1), judo (1), sport climbing (1).

Notes:
On the occasion of 149th Gandhi Jayanti, the Odisha government has launched its own food security scheme to benefit 25 lakh poor people that were excluded from the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013. The scheme was launched by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar. The beneficiaries will get 5 kg of rice per person per month at the rate of Rs 1 per kg. The State government will spend Rs. 443.5 crore per annum to support the scheme and Rs. 221.75 crore in the current financial year.

Notes:
On the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the world’s largest dome at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT)’s World Peace University (MIT-WPU) campus at Loni Kalbhor, Pune. The dome is 160 ft in diameter and 263 ft tall. It is larger in area than the dome at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City (which is 136 ft. in diameter and 448 ft. in height). The prayer hall can accommodate about 3,500 people and is embellished with more than 50 statues of saints, philosophers, scientists and statesmen from India and the world. Each of the statues, created by the noted artist ‘Ram V. Sutar’, is 4m in tall and weighs up to two tonnes. The dome will be home to teachings of saints, spiritual leaders, philosophers and scientists from around the world as it will profess humanity and world peace. It will house India’s first library called Saint Dnyaneshwara World Peace Library which will have books sourced from over 100 countries across the globe.

Notes:
Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu has recently released the policy on the biometric-based digital processing of passengers at airports called “Digi Yatra” to make hassle-free air travel for passengers. Digi Yatra is about Facial Recognition based passenger processing which is a common standard being adopted the world over. It will facilitate paperless travel and avoid identity check at multiple points. In the first phase in February 2019, Hyderabad and Bengaluru international airports will have the system on a pilot basis. In the second phase, in April 2019, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will roll out the programme initially at Kolkata, Varanasi, Pune and Vijayawada airports later on, all airports will adopt the system. Under the Digi Yatra, passenger can get a Digi Yatra ID by sharing minimum details like Name, e-mail ID, Mobile number and details of one approved Identity proof where Aadhar ID is not mandatory. This DigiYatra ID will be shared by passengers while booking ticket. Airlines will share the passenger data and DigiYatraID with the departure airport

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:
India has signed $150 million loan pact with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to establish its first-ever Global Skills Park (GSP) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The aim of the GSP is to enhance the quality of Technical and Vocational Education And Training (TVET) System in the State and create a more skilled workforce. The new GSP campus will consist of core Advanced Training Institutes including the Center for Occupational Skills Acquisition and the Center for Advanced Agricultural Training as well as other support services focusing on entrepreneurship, training of trainers, and skill-related research. The campus will have training facilities focusing on skills for manufacturing, service, and advanced agricultural jobs, benefitting about 20,000 trainees and trainers. The Project will also help in modernizing 10 industrial training institutes across the state by renovating training infrastructure and upgrading skills courses to align with industry and market needs.