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:
The nationwide Action Research Project of Gram Panchayat development scheme has been inaugurated by the Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar at a function organized at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh on October 1. The project is designed for the sustainable and holistic development of rural areas of the country. According to official information, the Project is currently being implemented in 467 Gram Panchayats covered in 98 clusters of 19 States of the country. Through this project, special efforts will be made to raise the standard of living of the poorest people of the society and to enhance human development. The main purpose of this project is to ensure the overall development by capacity building, administrative reform and public participation.

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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:
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:
American scientist Arthur Ashkin, French engineer Gerard Mourou and Canadian professor Donna Strickland have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in the field of laser physics. Dr. Ashkin has been awarded the Prize “for the optical tweezers and their application to biological systems. Dr. Mourou and Dr. Strickland have been awarded “for their method of generating high-intensity, ultra-short optical pulses”. With this, Dr. Strickland has become the third female laureate to win the Nobel Prize in Physics, after Maria Goeppert-Mayer and Marie Curie.

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:
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.

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On October 4, the first ever Indo-Vietnam Coast Guard joint exercise – Sahyog HOP TAC -2018’ held in the Bay of Bengal off Chennai between Indian and Vietnam Coast Guards (VGC). According to an official press release, Coast Guard ships Shaurya, Arnvesh and inreceptor boat C-431 along with a Dornier aircraft and Chetak helicopter participated in the joint exercise. The purpose of the exercise was to acquaint the coast guards of the two countries with each others’ capabilities and strengthening the working level relationship to rescue lives at sea. The highlight of the exercise was a scenario of hijacking an oil ship and subsequent rescue of its crew in the coordinated joint operation of both the countries. The exercise was conducted under the supervision of Inspector General Paramesh Sivamani Commander Coast Guard Eastern region, and was witnessed by Vietnam Coast Guard Commandant Major General Nguyen Van Son.

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The Government of India (GoI) has reconstituted Supreme Court-empowered Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority (EPCA), which is tasked with taking various measures to tackle air pollution in the National Capital Region (NCR). The tenure of the last EPCA expired on 3rd October 2018. Former secretary Bhure Lal will continue to be the chairman of reconstituted Pollution watchdog EPCA. The purpose of the EPCA is to protect & improve the quality of the environment, and prevent & control the environmental pollution in the NCR. The EPCA is also mandated to enforce Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) in the city as per the pollution levels.

Notes:
US duo William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer have won the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for research “about innovation, climate and economic growth”. Laureate Romer was honoured for his work on the endogenous growth theory, which has generated vast amounts of new research into the regulations and policies that encourage new ideas and long-term prosperity. While Laureate Nordhaus was specifically honoured for “integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis”. His research shows that the most efficient remedy for problems caused by greenhouse gas emissions is a global scheme of carbon taxes uniformly imposed on all countries. Nordhaus was the first person to create a quantitative model that describes the global interplay between the economy and the climate. His model is now widespread and is used to examine the consequences of climate policy interventions, for example carbon taxes. & The pair will share the 9 million Swedish kronor (S$1.3 million) prize.