Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2018

Notes:
The Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering (CIAE) is located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.. It is a higher seat of learning, research and development in the field of agriculture. The CIAE is an autonomous body, an Indian Council of Agricultural Research subsidiary, under the Union Ministry of Agriculture.

Notes:
India and Russia has celebrated 70 years of bilateral relations in the field of agriculture at Suratgarh in Rajasthan on February 14, 2018. Both Indian and Russian delegations visited the Central State Farm (CSF) to commemorate the 70 years of agriculture relationship between the two countries. The CSF was set up in Suratgarh in 1956 with the assistance from erstwhile USSR. Russian scientists helped in laying the foundation of agriculture in the deserts of Thar, which brought about a change in the agriculture farming in nearby areas including fringe area of Punjab. Minister of State for Agriculture Gajender Singh Shekhawat and his Russian counterpart Sergey Beletskiy has inaugurate Russian Machinery Museum and visit a Cattle Breeding Centre.

Notes:
India will host the 8th edition of Theatre Olympics in New Delhi from February 17 with theme “Flag of friendship”, which will continue till 8th of April. The event will inaugurated by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu at Red Fort. It is being organised by National School of Drama, under the aegis of Ministry of Culture. Over 25,000 artistes from 30 countries will participate in the Theatre Olympics. The 51 day long nationwide theatre extravaganza will be held in 17 cities including Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata, Mumbai, Guwahati and Jammu. It will see 450 shows including 65 shows by international artistes, 600 ambient performances and 250 youth forum shows. It’s first time that the Theatre Olympics will be held in India that will serve to create a dialogue between Indian and global artistes.

Notes:
Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, the chairperson of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) , has been sworn-in as the 41st Prime Minister of Nepal, after his Left alliance routed the ruling Nepali Congress in the country’s historic parliamentary and local polls. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to the newly-elected Prime Minister on 15 February 2018 under Article 76 of newly adopted Constitution of Nepal. Oli, who is known for his pro-China stance, has served his first stint as Prime Minister of Nepal from 11 October 2015 to 3 August 2016.

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India’s Umang App has won the Best M-Government Service award in the Accessible Government category while Aadhaar won the best emerging technology award at the recently concluded 6th edition of the World Government Summit 2018 in Dubai, where India had the status of ‘Guest of Honour’ country. The summit acknowledged technology pioneers for providing global solutions to global challenges. The mobile application “Umang App” provides users a unified platform that combines government departments and services, facilitating transactions for citizens. The award acknowledged Government of India’s efforts to provide convenient services to its citizens. The Aadhaar project was recognized as the world’s largest biometric enabled identification programme which provides access to service income tax, passport services, bank accounts, social services benefits aimed at providing 1.2 billion citizens unique identification card with fingerprint, eye-print and other vital data. The award recognized the efforts of the Government of India (GoI)’s invention and innovation in the field of technology and making the country completely digitalized.

Notes:
The third-edition of international conference and exhibition on pharmaceuticals industry and medical devices- India Pharma 2018 and India Medical Device 2018 – has started in Bengaluru, Karnataka on February 15, 2018. It was inaugurated by Ananth Kumar, Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, with the theme – ‘Affordable & Quality Healthcare’. The key highlight of the conference is a workshop by World Health Organization (WHO) on “Regulatory System Strengthening and Prequalification updated by WHO”. The 3-day event is being organized by Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). More than 20 international drug and device regulators will participate in a meet with Indian regulators.

Notes:
The world’s tallest hotel ‘Gevora’ has opened in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on February 11, 2018. The gleaming gold 75-storey Gevora Hotel stands 356 metres, or nearly a quarter of a mile, tall. The hotel has 528 guest rooms and suites and four restaurants. It has 232 Deluxe Rooms, 265 one-bed room deluxe and 31 two-bedroom suites. It also have a pool, jacuzzi and health club as well as a luxury spa. Dubai is also home to the world’s tallest building “Burj Khalifa”, which pierces the city skyline at 828 metres (half a mile) high.

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The 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO-2018) will be hosted by China in the city of Qingdao in June, 2018. China had taken over the rotating chair of SCO after the17th SCO summit 2017, which was held in Astana, Kazakhstan in June 2017. The SCO is consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. The SCO focuses on security- related issues of the region especially on counter terrorism cooperation.

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The 6th Conference of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) of India Region was inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in Patna, Bihar on February 16, 2018. The 2-day conference discussed subjects of ‘Parliament’s role in the development agenda’ and ‘Legislature and Judiciary’. Over 100 delegates from India and abroad, including Australia, Britain and Uganda, are participating in the conference. Speakers of State Assemblies, Chairpersons of Legislative Councils and delegates from across the country also took part. The theme of the conference is ‘Role of Parliament and Parliamentarians in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’. In the conference, Parliamentarians discuss a number of topics including Parliament’s role in the development agenda and the relationship between the legislature and the judiciary.

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The 54th Munich Security Conference (MSC-2018) was held in Munich, Germany from February 16-18 to discuss pressing security issues, including North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and the Syrian civil war. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono attended the meet. The issue of North Korea’s nuclear weapons development program was high on the agenda. The MSC is an annual conference on international security policy that has taken place since 1963.