Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2019

Notes:
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) declared six structures to the list of monuments of national importance in 2018. These are – the 125-year-old Old High Court Building in Nagpur (Maharashtra), two Mughal-era monuments in Agra — Haveli of Agha Khan and Hathi Khana, the ancient Neemrana Baori in Rajasthan’s Alwar district; the Group of Temples at Ranipur Jharail in Odisha’s Bolangir district; and the Vishnu Temple in Kotali, Pithoragarh district, Uttarkhand. According to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958, an “Ancient Monument means any structure, erection or monument, or any tumulus or place of interment, or any cave, rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith which is of historical, archaeological or artistic interest and which has been in existence for not less than 100 years”. There were 3,686 centrally protected monuments/sites under the ASI in the country; the number has now increased to 3,693. Uttar Pradesh (745 monuments/sites), Karnataka (506) and Tamil Nadu (413) have the highest number of ASI-maintained sites.

Notes:
In Thailand, Tropical storm Pabuk caused floods and blackouts leaving nearly 30,000 people in evacuation shelters across the southern part of the country on January 5, 2019. Pabuk packed winds of up to 75km an hour and brought heavy rains and storm surges as it lashed the entire south of the kingdom. It is expected to be the worst storm to hit the region in 30 years. The storm was downgraded to a depression early today as it moved into the Andaman Sea. Meanwhile, ‘yellow’ alert has been issued for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. As per the latest data, no warning has been issued for Odisha but due to cyclonic activities near the Andaman Islands, weather in the eastern Indian state will be cloudy and dry. IMD has predicted heavy rainfall over the Andaman Islands from the evening of January 5. People in the Andaman Islands have been advised to remain in safe places and IMD has advised fishermen to stay out of the sea.

Notes:
HDFC Mutual Fund has surpassed ICICI Prudential MF to become the India’s largest Asset Management Company (AMC). As per the latest data available with Association of Mutual funds in India (Amfi), HDFC MF manages assets worth Rs 3.35 lakh crore, while ICICI Prudential MF stood at Rs 3.08 lakh crore as of December 2018. MFs are investment vehicles made up of a pool of funds collected from a large number of investors and invest in stocks, bonds and money market instruments, among others.

Notes:
Dibyendu Palit (79), the renowned Bengali writer and Sahitya Akademi awardee, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on 3rd January 2019. Born in Bhagalpur in Bihar in 1939, Palit had studied comparative literature in Jadavpur University and his first short story ‘Chhandopatan’ was published in 1955 in the Sunday edition of Anandabazar Patrika. It was followed by his first novel ‘Sindhu Baroan’ published in 1959. He was awarded the ‘Bankim Purashkar’ for ‘Dheu’ in 1990 and ‘Ananda Purashkar’ in 1984 for ‘Sahojoddha’. He was conferred the Sahitya Akademi for his novel ‘Anubhab’ in 1998.

Notes:
Andhra Pradesh has topped the 2018 Ease of Doing Business (EDB) Index of Asia Competitiveness Institute (ACI). The ACI team, led by Tan Khee Giap, mentioned that despite Andhra Pradesh’s excellent performance in ACI’s EDB Index, the government needs to bridge numerous institutional and infrastructural gaps in order to sustain its position in the future. The index ranked economies of 21 states of India. In it, Maharashtra acquired 2nd position, while Delhi came in third place, respectively. The EDB index is based upon three parameters called ABC – Attractiveness to Investors, Business Friendliness and Competitiveness Policies.

Notes:
Veteran journalist Dinu Randive (93) has been conferred with the lifetime achievement award by the Mantralaya and Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh, an association of journalists covering Maharashtra legislature and secretariat. Mr Randive started his journalistic career in 1956. He also participated in the freedom struggle, the Sanyukta Maharashtra movement and the Goa liberation movement. Award winners in other categories included Vishwas Waghmode, Mahesh Tiwari and Prajakta Pol.

Notes:
On January 7, the Lok Sabha passed ‘The Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018’, which seeks removal of leprosy as a ground for divorce from various Acts governing marriage in India. The Bill seeks to amend five Acts: the Divorce Act of 1869, the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act of 1939, the Special Marriage Act of 1954, the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act of 1956. Presently, leprosy is completely curable and can be treated with multi-drug therapy. However, old legislative provisions discriminating the persons affected by leprosy continued in various laws. If passed by Rajya Sabha and eventually made an Act, the Bill will go a long way in detaching the social stigma associated with the disease.

Notes:
The World Bank has recently released 2019 Global Economic Prospects report titled “Darkening Skies”, which forecasted that India’s GDP is expected to grow at 7.3% in the fiscal year 2018-19, and 7.5% in the following two years. While, China’s economic growth is projected to slow down to 6.2% each in 2019 and 2020 and 6% in 2021. It said India will continue to be the fastest growing major economy in the world. The World Bank said in its latest report that in India, the growth has accelerated, driven by an upswing in consumption, and investment growth has firmed as the effects of temporary factors wane. Domestic demand has strengthened as the benefits of structural reforms such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) harmonisation and bank recapitalisation take effect.

Notes:
IIT Kharagpur will launch a six-month course on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning for working professionals and engineering students. The aim of the certified programme is to strengthen India’s talent pool in Machine Learning and AI. The course will begin from March 2019 & will be offered at institute units in Kharagpur, Bangalore and Kolkata and possibly in Hyderabad. The course will comprise 16 one-credit modules and one capstone project. The course modules have been carefully designed to cover mathematical and algorithmic foundations, artificial intelligence fundamentals and several modules on statistical and machine learning methods.

Notes:
Industrialist and Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej for ‘Translating Excellence in Corporate Governance into Reality’. The awards were instituted by The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), which is celebrating its golden jubilee. The 18th ICSI National Awards for Excellence in Corporate Governance were bagged jointly by Cipla Ltd and Dabur India Ltd and five others: ACC Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Indian Oil Corp, Tata Metaliks Ltd and Indian Hotels Co Ltd. The 3rd CSR Excellence Awards went to GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, Tata Power Co Ltd and Ambuja Cements Ltd in Emerging, Medium and Large categories respectively.