Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2018

Notes:
Goura Chandra Mohapatra (104), the veteran freedom fighter, educationist and social reformer, has passed away in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on September 11, 2018. He actively participated in the freedom movement and jailed during Quit India Movement in 1942. He dedicated his entire life for promotion of Gandhian values and for social upliftment. Mohapatra was the son of nationalist poet ‘Kantakabi’ Laxmikanta Mohapatra, who penned the famous song “Bande Utkal Janani” .

Notes:
The book “Bastar Dispatches: A Passage Through the Wilds” has been authored by Narendra, which explores lives of Bastar’s Abujhmad tribals. It provides a narrative of these people at peace with themselves and nature, their dialect, their festivities & their delightful interactions. The Bastar Dispatches brings out how forests and the wilds, humans and animals, distances, spaces and the skies, the known and unknown together make up societies and intimacies. Abujhmad stands today as one of the few mirrors left the world over wherein modernity can view itself – its calamities and collapses. The book is based on the author’s over 30 years of association with Abujhmad under a field research programme and its contiguous areas in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh.

Notes:
India’s first underwater robotic drone “EyeROV TUNA” was launched and handed over to Kochi-based DRDO lab “Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL)”. The drone can send real-time videos of ships and other underwater structures to help with their repair and maintenance. It will be used by NPOL for research and development activities which in turn would result in a commercial product for defence purposes. The robotic drone can be navigated up to a depth of 50 meters to take real-time HD video images to examine ship hulls or undersea cables or bridge moorings and can eliminate the need for costlier and riskier manual inspection by divers. The first commercial Remotedly Operated Vehicle (ROV)/underwater drone “EYEROVTUNA” was developed by EyeROV Technologies, a company incubating at the Kalamassery-based Maker Village which is said to be the largest hardware incubator in the country.

Notes:
India’s first exclusive and certified ‘Dog Park’ has come up in Hyderabad, which is spread over 1.3 acres. The park has been developed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) at a cost of Rs. 1.1 crore on a site which was earlier a dump yard. The park has dog training and exercise equipment, splash pool, two lawns, an amphitheatre, loo café, separate enclosures for big and small dogs among other facilities. According to a survey, there are about 2.5 lakh pet owners in the West Zone and the Central Zone limits of the city which are nearer to the park. Public can bring in their pet dogs and use the facilities in the park. The park is certified by Kennel Club of India and would be inaugurated within 10 days.

Notes:
Recently, Indian Mountaineers Satyarup Siddhanta and Mousumi Khatua created history by climbing Asia’s highest volcanic peak Mount Damavand in Iran. The expedition team comprised of 3 members – Siddhanta, Mousumi and Bhaswati Chatterjee. According to a release, the trio left for Iran on 6th September 2018, the team had to scale the summit within a very short span of time to avoid the Sulphur exposure related hazards. Mountain Damavand is known for its Sulphur discharge near its peak which can cause irreparable damage if exposed for a longer duration. This is the 4th volcanic summit for Siddhanta. Now, he is targeting scaling three more volcanic peaks by January 2019. He is now in the last lap of climbing the highest volcanoes of each of the continents known as climbing the 7 volcanic summits. If successful, Siddhanta will be the youngest person to complete all the 7 volcanic summits – Mount Sidley, Mount Giluwe, Mount Damavand, Pico de Orizaba, Mount Elbrus, Mount Kilimanjaro and Ojos del Salado.

Notes:
On September 16, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched the NovaSAR and S1-4 earth observation satellites of U.K from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C42 (PSLV) injected the satellites into orbit 17 minutes and 45 seconds after lift off and placed them in a sun synchronous orbit at a height of 583 km from the earth. The satellites, both weighing 889 kg, have been developed by UK-based Surrey Satellite Technologies Ltd (SSTL). NovaSAR is intended to be used for forest mapping, land use and ice cover monitoring, flood & disaster monitoring. On the other hand, S1-4 will be used for surveying resources, environment monitoring, urban management and disaster monitoring. The mission is a commercial arrangement between the company and Antrix Corporation Limited, which is the commercial wing of ISRO. This was the 44th flight of the PSLV and the 12th launch of a core-alone version of the PSLV.

Notes:
The Kerala Tourism has bagged two prestigious gold awards of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for its innovative marketing campaigns at Langkawi, Malaysia during PATA Travel Mart 2018. The Kerala Tourism got the first gold for its ‘Yalla Kerala’ travel advertisement print media campaign in the Gulf countries. It showcased the state’s greenery and backwaters. The 2nd gold award came for an innovative poster that Kerala Tourism had developed for the 3rd edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB), the biggest contemporary art show in South Asia. The poster featured a colourful boat & fishermen and could be put up straight as well as upside down. The Campaign and Posters were developed and designed by Stark Communications, the Advertising Agency of Kerala Tourism. The PATA Awards are presented to outstanding entries in four principal categories: Marketing; Education and Training; Environment, and Heritage and Culture.

Notes:
ISRO chairman Dr. K Sivan has launched an S–band Polarimetry Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota spaceport, Andhra Pradesh on September 16, 2018. This Radar was indigenously developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore under Technology Transfer from ISRO. This is the 7th Radar manufactured in the country under “Make in India” Concept. The Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) is used for the observation of the weather system up to a range of 500 km and helps in early warning of severe weather events. The DWR provides detailed information on a storm’s internal wind flow and structure, while conventional radars are able to track and predict cyclones. The polarimetric capability of the DWR will significantly improve the accuracy of rainfall estimation leading to accurate and timely flash flood warnings.

Notes:
India’s first ‘smart fence’ pilot project was launched by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh along the Indo-Pak border at the BSF Headquarters in Ploura, Jammu on September 18, 2018. The purpose of the project is to make security system more strong and effective.The smart fencing uses a number of devices for surveillance, communication and data storage. The pilot project entails deploying laser-activated fences and technology-enabled barriers to plug vulnerable gaps along frontiers. The system provides for round-the-clock surveillance on the border and in different weather conditions be it dust storm, fog or rain. The initiative is part of the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) proposed to be deployed at these two borders by the Government of India (GoI) as part of its decision to completely seal the two borders to stop infiltration and illegal migration.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has proposed to merge state-owned Vijaya Bank, Dena Bank and Bank of Baroda (BoB) to create India’s third largest lender as parts of reforms in the public sector banking segment. The decision was taken at the meeting of a ministerial panel headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley which oversees merger proposals of state-owned banks. One of the reasons behind the choice of these banks was perhaps the fact that all three use the same core banking system—Finacle from Infosys—making the task of merging the technology platforms and back-ends relatively easier. Now, the boards of the three banks will consider the proposal. The combined lending entity will have a strong presence across the nation with more than 34% of low-cost deposits, a capital buffer of nearly 12% and a business book of Rs 14.82 lakh crore. Bank of Baroda is the biggest of the three with Rs 10.29 lakh crore of total business, followed by Vijaya Bank at Rs 2.79 lakh crore and Dena Bank at Rs 1.72 lakh crore.