Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2018

Notes:
Jai Ram Thakur, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, has launched Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) project to promote organic farming. The purpose of the project is to increase agriculture produce and the income of farmers by the year 2022. The ZBNF is a farming practice that believes in natural growth of crops without adding any fertilizers and pesticides or any other foreign elements. The word “Zero Budget” refers to the zero net cost of production of all crops (inter crops, border crops, multi crops). The inputs used for seed treatments and other inoculations are locally available in the form of cowdung and cow urine. A ZBNF practicisng farmer has lower cost of inputs and thus has better capacity to increase the incomes. At the same time, ZBNF crops helps in retaining soil fertiliting and is climate change resilient.

Notes:
Shyam Benegal, the veteran film producer and director, has been bestowed with the prestigious V. Shantaram lifetime achievement Award 2018 for his contribution to the promotion of the documentary movement. The award, carrying a trophy, a citation, shawl and cash prize of Rs 10 lakh, has been conferred on Benegal by Maharashtra Governor C.V. Rao at the Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) 2018 valedictory function on February 3, 2018. Benegal has made 28 great films like Ankur, Mandi, Bhumika and Manthan. Besides that, he has made 41 documentary films on various social topics. His work on television consists of several popular series including the 53 part series ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ first broadcast on Doordarshan in 1988. He also made the much acclaimed ‘Samvidhaan – The Making of the Constitution of India”. He is the recipient of the national award in 1982 for the film ‘Satyajit Ray’. The Government of India has honored him with Padmashree, Padma-Bhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke award earlier.

Notes:
The World Cancer Day (WCD) is observed every year on 4th February to raise awareness about cancer, its treatment and to encourage methods of its prevention. The primary goal of the day is to reduce the illness and related deaths by 2020. The 2018 tagline “We can. I can” will explore how everyone – as a collective or as individuals – can do their part to reduce the global burden of cancer.

Notes:
The Central Government has announced a Rs 1.4 lakh-crore KUSUM Scheme to promote decentralised solar power production of up to 28,250 MW to help farmers. The acronym KUSUM stands for “Kisan Urja Suraksha Utthaan Maha Abhiyaan”. In the Union Budget 2018-19, the Centre has allocated Rs 48,000 crore on the 10-year KUSUM scheme. The scheme would provide an extra income to farmers by giving them an option to sell additional power to the grid through solar power projects set up on their barren lands. It would help in de-dieselising the sector as also the DISCOMS. Under the scheme, the Central Government will provide subsidy to farmers on setting up of solar power plants on their barren land. The 60% subsidy on the solar pumps provided to farmers will be shared between the Centre and the States while 30% would be provided through bank loans. The balance cost has to be borne by the farmers. As a result, Kusum Scheme will solarize agricultural pump sets to double the income of farmers by 2022.

Notes:
Shabnam Asthana, an Indian public relations expert, speaker, and entrepreneur, has been honoured with the ‘Times Power Women of the Year 2017’- Pune for Global PR. The Times Group recently celebrated the invaluable contribution of women by introducing The Times Power Woman 2017 (Pune) awards. These awards were initiated to celebrate the victories of women who have been a great source of inspiration. These awards focused on the women of Pune and the prestigious list included 34 select women with power, supremacy, command and control. These awardees have been instrumental in working towards the improvement of the socio-economic, art, health, education, and fashion, scientific and intellectual potential of the society.

Notes:
The Government of Assam has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with cab-hailing company Ola for a pilot project of app-based river taxi services in Guwahati. This MoU was signed during the ongoing Global Investors Summit: Advantage Assam. According to the MOU, bringing water taxis on the online platform will strengthen the transportation ecosystem. The river taxi will be a machine-operated boat, a faster and safer mode of travel than its conventional alternatives. Ola will pilot high-speed taxis on the Lachit Ghat, Machkhowa to North Guwahati route, bringing the commute time down to 2-5 minutes from 45 minutes by road.

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The first-ever Pelican Bird Festival-2018 was held at the Atapaka Bird Sanctuary on Kolleru lake in Andhra Pradesh on February 4, 2018. Over 5,000 pelican birds from various countries reach Kolleru Lake every year during winter by travelling over 3500 km. The Kolleru lake is located between Krishna and Godavari delta and is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the country. The fest was jointly organised by the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority (APTA) and Krishna district administration.

Notes:
Suresh Prabhu, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, has launched the Start-up-India ranking framework in New Delhi to help the Startup India initiative to drive economic growth of the country. The tools are: the State and Union Territory Startup Ranking Framework, the Compendium of Good Practices for Promoting Startups in India and the Startup India Kit. These will act as catalysts to help the Startup India initiative to drive India’s economic growth. The key objective of the Startup States and Union Territories ranking framework is to encourage States and Union Territories to take pro-active steps towards strengthening the Startup ecosystems at the local level. The Ranking Framework will measure the impact of each step initiated at the local level for building a strong Startup ecosystem. The Ranking Framework will also enable continuous learning through the dissemination of good practices.

Notes:
In the 6th Bi-monthly Monetary policy statement for 2017-18, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the key interest rate “repo rate” unchanged at 6% and reverse repo at 5.75%. Also, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate kept at 6.25%. The decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is consistent with the neutral stance of monetary policy in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4% within a band of +/- 2%, while supporting growth.

Notes:
The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is organizing a three-day National Meet on Grassroot Informatics- VIVID 2018 in New Delhi from February 8, 2018. The event has be inaugurated by Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad at India Habitat Centre. The theme for VIVID 2018 is – Cyber Security and Innovation. The aim of the meet is to showcase the various initiatives of NIC in creating and enhancing the security of Digital Infrastructure in the country. VIVID would be an extensive platform for knowledge sharing which would empower 240 NIC district officials from across the country to interact and leverage on each other’s experience and best practices.