Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
Prema Gopalan, founder of Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), has been honored as the India Social Entrepreneur of the Year (SEOY) 2018 for her work in promoting women’s entrepreneurship at the grassroots and ensuring rural livelihood. The SSP model comprises four ventures: a federated network of 5,000 self-help groups; a resilience fund for women-led businesses; a rural school of entrepreneurship and leadership for women; and a market aggregator that provides warehousing, branding, marketing and distribution services to last-mile business women. The SEOY award was jointly founded by Jubilant Bhartia Foundation and Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in 2010. It recognizes promising and high-impact social entrepreneurs who implement practical and sustainable solutions. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a sister organization of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Notes:
The book titled “Half the Night is Gone”, which is shortlisted for The Hindu Prize 2018 in the fiction segment, is authored by Amitabha Bagchi. It tells the story of a celebrated Hindi novelist Vishwanath, heartbroken by the recent loss of his son. The book raises questions of religion, literature and society that speak to our fractured times.

Notes:
Suraj Panwar has won the India’s first medal in athletics at the Youth Olympic Games 2018 after claiming the silver in the men’s 5000m race walk event at the Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was India’s third overall medal in athletics in the history of the Youth Olympic Games.

Notes:
Recently, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has officially adopted a proposal to rename the historic city of Allahabad as Prayagraj. The city was known as Prayag before 16th-century Mughal emperor Akbar built a fort near the confluence of the Ganga and the Yamuna and named it “Ilahabad”. His grandson Shah Jahan renamed the entire city “Allahabad”. An area near the confluence of the river continues to be known as Prayag. The confluence of two rivers is a ‘prayag’, and in Allahabad three rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati meet. Hence, it is the king of ‘prayags’. That is why it is ‘Prayagraj’. Now, the proposal will now go to the Centre before the city is officially renamed even though an Uttar Pradesh minister seemed to suggest the change has already come into effect.

Notes:
On October 18, the 12th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit has started in Brussels, Belgium with theme “Global Partners for Global Challenges”. The summit will prioritise issues related to connectivity, trade and investment, sustainable development, climate change, terrorism, migration, maritime security and cyberspace. The meeting will bring together Heads of state of 30 European and 21 Asian countries, besides top representatives of the European Union and Secretary General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu will lead the Indian delegation at the two-day summit. This will also be the first multilateral summit that Vice President will be attending after taking office in August 2017.

Notes:
Akash Malik from Haryana has become the India’s first silver-medallist in archery at the 2018 Youth Olympic Games. He lost a one-sided final to Trenton Cowles of the USA by 0-6 in the men’s recurve final. With this, India concluded the youth Olympics with 13 medals, namely, 3 gold, 9 silver, and one bronze. In it, Jeremy Lalrinnunga won India’s first ever Youth Olympics Gold medal.While Tababi Devi won the first ever youth Olympics medal for India in Judo and later also won a silver in the mixed team event under mixed-NOC. Further, Manu Bhaker became the first Indian girl to win a Youth Olympics Gold medal. Both Boys’ and Girls’ Hockey 5s teams won silver medals in their debut.

Notes:
The 5th edition of the Women of India Organic Festival will be held from October 26 to November 4 at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi. It is being organised by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Ministry to promote women organic farmers and entrepreneurs. The move aims to empower women to boost organic culture and promote women organic farmers and entrepreneurs. Over 500 women entrepreneurs from across the country would take part in the fest with their organic products such as cereals, rice, pulses, skin-care products, fabric and jewellery.

Notes:
The book titled “Indian Sports: Conversations and Reflections” has been authored by Vijayan Bala, the veteran commentator and cricket statistican. The book is a compilation of interviews of eminent sports-persons he has conducted since 1971. Bala, who has also been a member of BCCI’s Statistical Committee apart from being an English teacher, has interviewed Olympians like Balbir Singh Senior, Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar, Sakshi Malik, Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore to name a few. Among the cricketers of yesteryears, he has interviewed MAK Pataudi, GR Viswanath, Eknath Solkar while Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand are some of the current day players interviewed by him.

Notes:
Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Railways & Coal, will be honoured with the 2018 Carnot Prize of Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Design. The 2018 Carnot Prize is a recognition of India’s efforts towards eliminating energy poverty with sustainable energy solutions. It is the most prestigious award in the energy sector. The Prize is named after French physicist Nicolas Sadi Carnot who recognised that the power of the steam engine would “produce a great revolution” in human development. The Carnot Prize is intended to honour those leading revolutions in energy policy to further progress and prosperity. The Carnot Prize is the Kleinman Center’s annual recognition of distinguished contributions to energy policy through scholarship or practice.

Notes:
The first-ever joint maritime exercise will be conducted between ASEAN and China in the South China Sea near the city of Zhanjiang in an effort to reduce tensions in the disputed region. This exercise will provide very good opportunities from the navies of ASEAN and China to work together using the CUES (Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea). Four ASEAN members — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — have conflicting claims in the South China Sea with Beijing. China claims sovereignty over almost the entire area, including waters near the shores of smaller countries. Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand are Asean’s other members. The concerns have escalated dramatically in recent years as China started building artificial islands on reefs in disputed waters, and it has also constructed military facilities and airstrips.