Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2018

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 Ministry of Railways has signed MoU with Ministry of AYUSH in New Delhi on February 6, 2018 to augment Ayush services in Railway hospitals i.e. New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Guwahati. As per MoU, Ministry of Railways will provide logistics and infrastructure in the form of Land & building, Equipments, Furniture, AYUSH medicines and consumables as well as Manpower. It will organize and provide orientation training to newly recruited AYUSH Doctors and AYUSH Paramedicals. Ministry of AYUSH in turn will provide all other technical inputs required for introduction of AYUSH Systems in the five identified Railways Hospitals. The Ministry will also provide technical knowhow regarding the pharmacopoeia, medicine inventory, hospital planning. Presently, Indian Railways is running 126 Homeopathic Clinics and 40 Ayurvedic Clinics through Staff Benefit Fund under Welfare Section of Establishment Directorate.

Notes:
John Mahoney (77), an English-American actor of stage, film and television, has passed away in Chicago, United States on February 4, 2018. He was best known for playing the blue-collar patriarch Martin Crane in the American sitcom Frasier, which aired on NBC from 1993 to 2004. In addition to his film and television work, Mahoney also worked as a voice actor and was particularly passionate about his stage work on Broadway and in Chicago theatre. He was born in UK but he got US citizenship in 1959.

Notes:
Justice Antony Dominic has been sworn-in as the new Chief Justice of Kerala on February 9, 2018. Kerala Governor P. Sadasivam administered the Oath of Office in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at Raj Bhavan in Thiruvanthapuram. Chief Secretary Paul Antony read out the Presidential order appointing Justice Dominic as the Chief Justice of the state. Senior High Court judges, judicial officers, cabinet ministers, political leaders and other officials filled the audience.

Notes:
B.G. Banakar (91), the former speaker of Karnataka legislative assembly, has passed away in Haveri district, Karnataka on February 7, 2018. He was elected thrice to the Legislative Assembly and was Minister for Animal Husbandry in the Devaraj Urs Cabinet. He served as Speaker of the Assembly for four years from 1985 to 1989.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been conferred with the ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’ by President Mahmoud Abbas for his key contribution to promote relations between India and Palestine. President Abbas conferred the Grand Collar of the State of Palestine on Modi after the conclusion of the bilateral meeting between the two leaders. Mr. Modi is the first Indian Prime Minister to make an official visit to Palestine. The Grand Collar is highest order given to foreign dignitaries – Kings, Heads of State/Government and persons of similar rank. It has in the past been awarded to King Salman of Saudi Arabia, King Hamad of Bahrain, President Xi Jinping of China, amongst others.

Notes:
R.K Singh, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, has launched a web-based monitoring System and a Fly Ash mobile application “ASH TRACK” in New Delhi on February 8, 2018. These platforms will enable better management of the ash produced by thermal power plants by providing an interface between fly ash producers (Thermal Power Plants) and potential ash users such as – road contractors, cement plants etc. The app will show coal based power plants situated within the radius of 100 km and 300 km from the user’s location. Therefore, any app user can select power station from where he wants to take fly ash. Ash availability, distance from user’s location, details of contact person will be displayed in the app.

Notes:
Biswamohan Mahapatra has been appointed as non-executive chairman of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for a period of two years, with effect from February 8, 2018. He succeeded B Sambamurthy, who was the interim chairman of the NPCI board. Apart from him, Dilip Asbe is the Managing Director & CEO of the organisation.

Notes:
The National Unani Day (NUD) is celebrated every year on 11th February to mark the birth anniversary of great Unani researcher Haqim Ajmal Khan. He was an eminent Indian Unani physician who was versatile genius, freedom fighter, educationist and founder of scientific research in Unani Medicine. This year (2018) is special for Unani fraternity as it is the 150th Birth Anniversary of Hakim Ajmal Khan. To mark this day, the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), under the Ministry of AYUSH is organizing the 2018 International Conference on Unani Medicine in New Delhi on February 10 as part of Unani Day Celebration. The theme of the 2-day conference is “Integration of Unani System of Medicine in main stream healthcare”.

Notes:
Hardayal Prasad has been appointed as the new Managing Director & CEO of the SBI Card with effect from February 1, 2018. He succeeded Vijay Jasuja, who retired on January 31, 2018. SBI Card has a customer base of over 5.7 million and a market share of 16%.