Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2018

Notes:
At the 2018 Asian Para Games, Indian javelin thrower Sundar Singh Gurjar won a silver in the men’s F46 category with an effort of 61.33m in which two-time Paralympic gold medalist Devendra Jhajharia finished fourth. In the same event, Rinku picked up a bronze to make it an India-dominated podium. The F46 category of disability covers upper limb deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement.

Notes:
IIT-Madras has collaborated with Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) to enhance data-driven governance. Through this engagement, the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC DSAI ) at IIT-Madras has agreed to support the State government on various data science and ICT-related challenges. The collaboration is expected to contribute towards various aspects of governance, including education, healthcare, and agriculture. TNeGA is the State nodal agency under the IT department to support and drive all e-governance initiatives of the State government while RBC DSAI is an inter-disciplinary centre for research in AI.

Notes:
On October 11, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) launched a Roll on-Roll off (Ro-Ro) service in Assam from Neamati to Majuli island. This service will reduce the road route distance of 423 km that trucks take from Neamati to Majuli Island via Tezpur Road Bridge to only 12.7 km with the use of river route. The IWAI has procured a new vessel MV Bhupen Hazarika at a cost of Rs 9.46 crore for the new service. The vessel which is 46.50 meter long and 13.30 meter wide has a carrying capacity of 8 trucks and 100 passengers. The vessel can sail at the speed of 22 km per house. Majuli is one of the biggest riverine islands in the world located on river Brahmaputra and faces serious challenges of connectivity. It has 144 villages with a population of over 1,50,000. The RoRo service was launched in collaboration between IWAI and Assam government.

Notes:
India has been elected to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) with the highest number of votes among all 18 countries in the five regional categories. It secured 188 votes in the Asia-Pacific category for a period of three years beginning January 1, 2019. It is followed by Fiji with 187 votes, Bangladesh 178, Bahrain and Philippines 165 each. This will be the fifth time that India will serve on the Geneva-based Council, the main body of the UN charged with promoting and monitoring human rights.

Notes:
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has recently signed pact with the Uttarakhand government to provide access to capital to MSMEs, which will fuel growth of such entities in the state. The bourse will play an active role in nurturing the SMEs and start-ups by increasing awareness along with the government on the opportunities to raise capital, SME exchange guidelines, listing processes, compliances with listing agreement among others. As part of the pact, the exchange will support the efforts of the government in enhancing the financing opportunities for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state, through listing on NSE’s SME platform– Emerge. On its part, the government will facilitate MSMEs to get listed on the NSE Emerge, by supporting such entities financially or otherwise, in bearing the expenses related to listing.

Notes:
India has been ranked 103rd among 119 countries in the 2018 Global Hunger Index (GHI). The 2018 GHI report was prepared jointly by global NGOs namely – Concern Worldwide (Ireland) and Welthungerhilfe (Germany). The index indicates that the level of hunger and undernutrition worldwide falls into the serious category, at a value of 20.9, down from 29.2 in 2000.

Notes:
Novak Djokovic, a Serbian professional tennis player. has recently won the 2018 Shanghai Masters Tennis tournament in Shanghai, China. In the final, he beat Croatia’s Borna Coric by 6-3, 6-4 to claim his fourth Shanghai title and second Masters title of the year. Djokovic now has 18 consecutive wins. With this win, he overtook Roger Federer and returned to the #2 ranking for the first time since the 2017 French Open.

Notes:
The book “Maharana Pratap: The Invincible Warrior” is authored by noted historian Rima Hooja, who describes in detail how Maharana Pratap managed to elude capture by the mighty Mughal army for so long and never bowed down to Akbar. This new book on Maharana Pratap examines the life of the great Rajput warrior and also revisits the famous battle of Haldighati with the Mughals saying it remained inconclusive and there was no clear winner. According to author, the story of Haldighati is a story of great courage and sacrifice; of the clash of indomitable wills; of Mughal ambition and expansion versus Rajput pride and honour.

Notes:
The 14th edition of the Men’s Hockey World Cup will be held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar from 28 November to 16 December, 2018. Turtle Olly has been declared as the official mascot of 2018 tournament at the Puri sea beach in Odisha. Alongside the promotion of the event, the mascot aims to raise awareness about the conservation of the Olive Ridley turtle, which is said to be on the verge of extinction in the state of Odisiha. From the games perspective, Olly personifies the spirit of sportsmanship and encourages the participants to play the sport with complete fairness and in the right spirit. In the 18-day mega event, 16 countries are participating including India.

Notes:
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed every year on October 17 to recognize the struggles of the impoverished and to make their voices heard by governments and ordinary citizens. The 2018 theme is “Coming together with those furthest behind to build an inclusive world of universal respect for human rights and dignity”. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is important to recall the fundamental connection between extreme poverty and human rights, and that people living in poverty are disproportionately affected by many human rights violations.