Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2018

Notes:
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (I/C) Col Rajyavardhan Rathore has approved the participation of Kho Kho team from India at the First International Kho Kho Championship in England from 1st to 4th September, 2018, with financial support from the Government of India (GoI). Financial support for participation of the Kho Kho team in an International event has been approved for the first time in relaxation of extant guidelines of the Ministry which, inter-alia, lay down that sports disciplines like Kho Kho, which are categorised as “Others”, will not be eligible for financial support for participation in International sporting events. The decision to provide financial support to the Kho Kho Federation of India has been taken with a view not only to give fillip to this traditional Indian sports and sportspersons but also to pave the way for its future mainstreaming at the International level and its possible inclusion in multi-disciplinary sporting events like the Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, Olympics, etc.

Notes:
The major Indian ocean-wide tsunami mock exercise (drill) “IOWave18” has started from September 4, which is being organized by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. The purpose of the 2-day exercise is to increase tsunami preparedness, evaluate response capabilities in each state and improve coordination throughout the region. It will also enhance tsunami preparedness at the community level. The IOWave18 exercise will simulate Indian Ocean countries being put in a tsunami warning situation and require the National Tsunami Warning Centre (NTWC), i.e., INCOIS in case of India, and the National and Local Disaster Management Offices (NDMO/LDMO) to implement their Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). India along with 23 other nations is participating in the tsunami mock exercise that would involve evacuation of thousands of people from coastal areas in over half a dozen states.

Notes:
Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela became the first set of Indian shooters to secure quota places for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Moudgil finished 2nd on the podium and won a silver in the women’s 10m air rifle event of the ISSF’s World Championship 2018 in Changwon, South Korea on September 3. Chandela finished 4th in the same event. This is the premier tournament of the ISSF and assumes added significance as it is the first Olympic quota event for the Tokyo Games, offering as many as 60 berths across 15 events. Though the two shooters have secured quotas, as per the stated policy, the National Rifle Association of India(NRAI) will take the final call on selection. This will be based on the aggregate scores of shooters leading up to the Olympic Games.

Notes:
The US researchers have developed a wearable device that could generate energy from the swing of an arm while walking or jogging. The device, about the size of a wristwatch, produces enough power to run a personal health monitoring system. The prototype watch is apparently made from a crystal material, which can produce an electric current when compressed or can change shape when an electric charge is applied. This is called the “piezoelectric effect” and is used in ultrasound and sonar devices, as well as energy harvesting. The researchers used a well-known piezoelectric material ‘PZT’ and coated it on both sides of a flexible metal foil to a thickness four or five times greater than in previous devices. The compressive stresses that are created in the film as it is grown on the flexible metal foils also mean that the PZT films can sustain high strains without cracking, making for more robust devices. The researchers behind the device come from Pennsylvania State University’s Materials Research Institute and the University of Utah. The research was published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.

Notes:
India will host its first-ever official FIBA 3×3 World Tour Masters 2018 in Hyderabad, which is scheduled to be held from September 22. It is one of the most prestigious basketball tournaments in the world. The Hyderabad Masters will see participation from the leading international 3×3 teams and top two Indian 3BL teams – Delhi 3BL & Bangalore 3BL. The qualification for the Indian teams was decided on the basis of the results of the inaugural season of 3×3 Pro Basketball League (3BL) which was held from June 9 to August 26 across six cities in India. Hyderabad Masters is the 7th stage of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour and is the first time an international 3×3 basketball tournament is being played in India. The participating teams will compete for a chance to qualify for the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Bloomage Beijing Final on October 27-28.

Notes:
The joint military exercise “Rapid Trident 2018″ has started in the western Ukrainian village of Starychi, which will continue from September 2 to 15. It was launched by Ukraine with the United States and a string of other NATO countries as tensions with Russia remain high over the Kremlin-backed insurgency in the country’s east. The aim of the exercise is to practice countering armed aggression in conditions of the hybrid war. The exercise is composed of a multinational, brigade-level, computer-assisted command post exercise i.e. integrated with a battalion-level field training exercise, and a platoon-level situational training exercise. The Rapid Trident 2018 started a week before Russia holds its biggest military exercise ” Vostok-2018″ since the Cold War, in the east of the country and with the participation of China and Mongolia. Approx 2,200 soldiers from 14 nations are participating in the exercise.

Notes:
Justice Ranjan Gogoi, the son of former Assam chief minister Keshab Chandra Gogoi, will become the 46th Chief Justice of India (CJI), after the current CJI Dipak Misra retires on October 2. He will have tenure of 13 months – till November 17, 2019. As per convention, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court has to be appointed as the next CJI. Therefore, once the recommendation by CJI Misra is approved, Justice Gogoi will become the first CJI from North-Eastern states. His appointment is crucial as it comes at a time when Assam is preparing to release a final National Register of Citizens (NRC), possibly by the end of the year 2018. Justice Gogoi was one of the four senior-most judges of the court who had called an unprecedented press conference this January, when they had publicly raised concerns about the administration of the court and the formation of benches for the allocation of important cases. He is also one of 11 judges in the Supreme Court who have disclosed their assets.

Notes:
Burt Reynolds (82), the veteran Hollywood actor, has passed away in Florida, United States on September 6, 2018. Reynolds received an Oscar nomination when he portrayed porn director Jack Horner in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997) and was the No. 1 box-office attraction for a five-year stretch starting in the late 1970s. He was known for his work in 1970-80s films, ‘Deliverance’, ‘The Longest Yard’ and ‘Smokey and the Bandit’.

Notes:
India is hosting the 4th edition of World Summit on Accreditation (WOSA 2018) in New Delhi from September 7 with theme “Challenges and Opportunities in Outcome-Based Accreditation”. The focus of the 3-day summit is on challenges and opportunities in outcome-based accreditation. The WOSA 2018 will bring about new ideas and help in establishing new trends of identifying opportunities and challenges in professional education world-wide. The Summit is a biennial event organized by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) which provides platform to its stakeholders to share their knowledge and information on accreditation.

Notes:
Indian sprinter Hima Das has been officially named as the Sports Ambassador of Assam for her recent achievements in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and IAAF World U-20 Championship 2018 at a function held at Srimanta Sankardev International Auditorium, Guwahati. Beside this, Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal handed over a cheque worth Rs 1.6 crore to Hima and also offered her a job in the senior category of Sports and Youth Welfare Department. He also announced to develop 500 village stadiums in the state. In recently concluded Asian Games, she set a national record by clocking 51.00 to qualify for the 400m final and bettered it with 50.79 to clinch silver. She went on to win silver in the mixed 4x400m relay and bagged gold in the women’s 4x400m relay. Apart from this, she has already scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman athlete to clinch a gold in a track event at the IAAF World U-20 Athletics Championships 2018 in Finland.