Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

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:
Vikram Limaye, the MD and CEO of National Stock Exchange’s (NSE), has been appointed the Chairman of the Working Committee (WoCo) and Director on the Board of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE). The decision was taken at the global body’s 58th general assembly and annual meeting that is currently underway in Athens, Greece. The WFE is the global industry association for exchanges and clearing houses. It represents nearly 45,000 listed companies & has its headquarters in London. It works with policy makers and regulators around the world to support the development of effective rules and standards for exchanges and market participants.

Notes:
Keerthana Pandian from India has won the girls’ title in the IBSF World Under-16 Snooker Championships by defeating Belarussian rival Albina Leschuk 3-1 in the final. It’s her first international crown. In the corresponding boys category, Ben Martens of Belgium clinched the title in St Petersburg, Russia, according to information received from the media cell of International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF).

Notes:
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently launched the Nirman Kusuma scheme for providing financial assistance to the children of construction workers for their technical education in the State. In it, an ITI student will be entitled to get financial assistance of Rs. 23,600 & a diploma student to get Rs. 26,300 per annum. A total of 1,878 students will get benefit from the programme. The total cost of the project is around Rs. 1.09 crore that has been deposited to the accounts of the beneficiaries.

Notes:
R N Ravi, the former Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), has been redesignated as the deputy National Security Advisor (NSA). He is also the Central government interlocutor for talks with Naga insurgent group National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) and will continue to be the centre’s interlocutor for Nagaland. He has been shaping a peace accord with the NSCN (IM). Now, Mr. Ravi will be the third deputy reporting to national security adviser Ajit Doval after former RAW chief Rajinder Khanna and former diplomat Pankaj Saran. A 1976-batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre, Ravi retired as Special Director in the Intelligence Bureau in 2012.

Notes:
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:
On October 9, Weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga from Mizoram has scripted history by clinching India’s first-ever gold at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Men’s 62kg Group A weightlifting, Jeremy posted successful attempts of 120kg and 124kg in snatch and 142kg and 150kg in clean & jerk. With his best successful attempts of 124kg in snatch and 150kg in clean & jerk for a combined 274kg, he won the gold medal.

Notes:
Researchers at the Washington University in the US have developed the world’s first bio-electronic medicine — an implantable, biodegradable wireless device that speeds nerve regeneration and improves the healing of a damaged nerve. According to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine, the device is the size of a dime and the thickness of a sheet of paper.The technology, called “bioelectronicmedicine,” provides therapy and treatment over a clinically relevant period of time and directly at the site where it’s needed, thereby reducing side-effects or risks associated with conventional, permanent implants. Though, the device has not been tested in humans, the findings offer promise as a future therapeutic option for nerve injury patients.

Notes:
India has been ranked 147th among 157 countries at the UK-based charity Oxfam International’s ‘Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index’ 2018. The 2nd edition of the annual index finds that countries such as South Korea, Namibia and Uruguay are taking strong steps to reduce inequality. However, countries such as India and Nigeria “do very badly” overall. In reference to India, the index finds that the tax structure looked reasonably progressive on paper but in practice much of the progressive taxation, like on incomes of the richest, was not collected. India also fared poorly on labour rights and respect for women in the workplace.The index was topped by Denmark, followed by Germany, Finland, Austria and Norway.

Notes:
On 10th October 2018, Ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram has recently won the special lifetime achievement award from the Music Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Vinayakram is one of the best-known faces of percussion from South India. He plays Carnatic music with the ghatam (an earthen pot), and is credited with popularising the ghatam. This award does not fall under the institution’s annual recognitions and honours. It is conferred once in a while to artistes of outstanding calibre who the Music Academy feels deserve an independent recognition. Mr. Vinayakram is the third musician to receive special lifetime achievement award from the Music Academy. The earlier recipients of the award were dancer Kamala Lakshminarayanan and violinist Lalgudi G Jayaraman.