Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2018

Notes:
Binoy Kumar, the 1983 batch IAS officer of the Telengana cadre, has assumed charged as the new Secretary of the Ministry of Steel on September 1, 2018. He had been posted as Officer on Special Duty in the Steel Ministry since May 21, 2018. He succeeded Aruna Sharma, who recently superannuated. Prior to this, Binoy Kumar held the post of Special Secretary, Logistics, in the Department of Commerce, where he continued to hold additional charge till 31st July 2018. He also held the post of Director General (Supplies & Disposals), where he developed the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) as a one-stop online public procurement platform, in line with the digital initiatives of the Government of India (GoI).

Notes:
The Rajasthan government has decided to organise special employment camps in all district headquarters of the state to give government jobs to at least one person from the family of those who were martyred after 1947 but none of their kin was given a job. As per officials, there are more than 1,100 such martyrs in the state whose kin had not been given government jobs. Through the special camps, one dependent of those martyrs will now get a job, which will be organised from 15th September 2018. The first camp will be held in Jhunjhunu. It was recently announced by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje at a public meeting in Barmer district, during her pre-poll tour ‘Rajasthan Gaurav Yatra’.

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 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:
The International Aviation Summit 2018 was held in New Delhi from September 3-4, which was jointly organized by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), the Airports Authority India (AAI) and International Air Transport Association (IATA). The summit commemorates the approaching milestone of 50-straight months of double digit domestic growth for Indian aviation. More than 700 delegates and leaders attended the summit. In it, Civil Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu revealed that the Civil Aviation Ministry is coming up with Vision 2035 under which it plans to build 100 new airports across India in the next 10-15 years with an investment of $60 billion and address the major issues concerning aviation industry such as airport infrastructure, taxation and use of technology.

Notes:
The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) has approved a proposal by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) to increase the wages of artisans by over 36%, from Rs 5.50 per hank previously to Rs 7.50 per hank. The proposal for an increase in wages to khadi spinners along with payment of government subsidy — Modified Market Development Assistance (MMDA) — has been approved with effect from August 15, 2018. Under the MMDA programme, 30% of the prime cost is paid to the khadi institutions as production subsidy. Of this 30%, 40% goes to artisans as wage incentives and the remaining 60% goes to the khadi institutions. The wage incentives are paid by KVIC directly to the accounts of the artisans through direct benefit transfer. As a result, if an artisan makes 20 hanks in a day — he will get Rs 150 per day as wage at the rate of Rs 7.50 per hank, plus incentives including MMDA, which would be approximately 35% on Rs 150, that is Rs 52.

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:
The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu will address the 2nd World Hindu Congress (WHC) 2018, which is scheduled to be held in Chicago, United States on September 7 to 9. Apart from addressing the congress, Mr. Naidu will also participate in a programme organized by 14 Telugu Associations of the US at Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago. He will also participate in bilateral discussions with several world leaders, who are attending this event, on the sidelines of this Congress. The WHC is a global platform for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another, and impact the common good. It offers Hindus an opportunity to introspect towards improvement and tap into their collective resources to seek tangible solutions to the most pressing issues of this age. The global event also marks the commemoration of 125th Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Historic Speech at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in 1893.

Notes:
In the first round of the ‘two-plus-two dialogue’ in New Delhi, India and the United States signed military communications pact “COMCASA” , which will give India access to advanced new defence systems like armed drones and will enable the Indian armed forces to exploit existing US-origin platforms much more efficiently. COMCASA is an India-specific version of the Communication and Information on Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA). It comes into force immediately & is valid for a period 10 years. The term “COMCASA” stands for Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and is one of the four foundational agreements that the U.S. signs with allies and close partners to facilitate interoperability between militaries and sale of high end technology. COMCASA allows India to procure transfer specialised equipment for encrypted communications for US origin military platforms like the C-17, C-130 and P-8Is.

Notes:
Nehal Chudasama from Mumbai has been crowned the Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva – Miss Universe India 2018 at a star-studded grand finale event in Mumbai. Now, she will represent at the 67th Miss Universe 2018 pageant, which is scheduled to be held in Bangkok, Thailand on 16th December 2018. At the same event, Aditi Hundia from Jaipur was crowned as Miss Diva – Supranational 2018 and Roshni Sheoran was crowned as Runner-up.