Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2018

Notes:
The World Radio Day (WRD) is observed every year on February 13 to remember the unique power of radio which touches lives and brings people together from every corner of the globe. It is the day, in 1946, United Nations Radio was established. The 2018 theme ‘Radio and Sports’ will promote the inseparable relationship between sports and gender, as well as how improved gender equality in sports broadcasting can lead to greater freedom of expression for all..

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K P Ramanunni from Kerala has been conferred with the 2017 Sahitya Akademi Award for Malayalam literature for his novel “Daivathinte Pusthakam”, which deals with India’s communal situation, at a function in New Delhi on February 12, 2018. He received a casket containing an engraved copper-plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh. However, the highlight of the event was that Ramanunni donated his prize money of Rs 1 lakh to the mother of Junaid Khan, the teen stabbed to death on a Mathura-bound train from New Delhi in June 2017. Junaid Khan from Haryana was lynched to death while he was returning home after Eid shopping.

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Parbati Ghose (85), the first female filmmaker of Odisha, has passed away in Bhubaneswar on February 11, 2018. She was a symbol of women’s empowerment when an idea like empowerment was unheard of. Her other important works include short film ‘Pitei Nani’ on women emancipation, biopic on the noted philanthropist and freedom fighter Malati Choudhury, serial ‘Pura Puri Parabarika’ for Doordarshan, telefilm ‘Paribartan’ on tribal health in their local dialect and telefilm ‘Pratibha’ based on the famous novel by Utkal Kesri Dr. Hare Krushna Mahtab to mark the celebrations of 50 years of Independence.

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India’s first online radio station “Radio Umang” has launched on 2018 World Radio Day themed around peace, humanity and hope. It comes packed with inspirational stories, engaging talk shows and lots of soothing music. Listeners can tune in to this online radio station through web streaming or download the app. With 24 hours programming, it has found listeners in Hindi speaking regions of India and in over 60 countries worldwide.

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India’s first-ever radio festival has started at the UNESCO House in New Delhi on February 15, 2018 to mark World Radio Day (WRD-2018). The festival has been organised by International Association of Women in Radio and Television in partnership with UNESCO. The festival includes live performances, an exhibition, and slotted panel discussions. Apart from touching on the theme for World Radio Day 2018 – Radio and Sports – the festival is also examining the potential of the medium as a platform for social change, ways to make it more creative and will trace the journey of music on the radio.

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The World Sustainable Development Summit – 2018 will be held in New Delhi on February 16. The summit will address a wide variety of issues, including combating land degradation and air pollution, effective waste management and create financial mechanisms to enable effective climate change mitigation. The theme of the 2018 Summit is – Partnerships for a Resilient Planet, which seeks to create action frameworks to resolve some of the most urgent challenges facing developing economies in the backdrop of climate change. The summit is the flagship forum of the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). It seeks to bring together on a common platform, global leaders and thinkers in the fields of sustainable development, energy and environment sectors. Over 2,000 delegates are expected to participate in the summit, including policy makers, researchers, diplomats and corporates from around the world.

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The India-Russia Agriculture Business Summit 2018 was held in New Delhi on February 13. The two countries discussed trade relations in the agricultural sector. The summit was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. Additionally, the Russian and Indian delegations visited the Central State Farm (CSF) to commemorate the 70 years of bilateral relations in the field of agriculture in Suratgarh, Rajasthan on February 14, 2018. 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.

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Haruhiko Kuroda has been reappointed as the governor of Bank of Japan (BOJ) for second five-year term by the Government of Japan. His second term will come into force when the current one ends in April 2018. Kuroda will be first governor to serve two terms since 1954. The Bank of Japan is the central bank of Japan and it is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

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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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Cyril Ramaphosa, head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), has been sworn-in as the new President of South Africa on 15 February 2018. He was elected as the fifth president of South Africa by the ruling party politicians after the resignation of Jacob Zuma. Ramaphosa, who is an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader and businessman, served as the Deputy President of South Africa from 2014 to 2018.