Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - February, 2018

Notes:
The Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station (CSTPS) is located in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. With the total capacity of 3340MW, the plant is largest power plant in the Maharashtra. It accounts for more than 25% of total Maharashtra needs. The plant gets water supply from Erai Dam when in normal conditions.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a 84 million loan for improvement and expansion of water supply in Bhagalpur and Gaya towns in Bihar. This is the second tranche of ADB’s 200 million Multi-tranche Financing Facility (MFF) for Bihar Urban Development Investment Programme, which was approved in 2012. The Project 2 will improve access to better quality and sustainable water supply, for the people of Bhagalpur and Gaya towns. It will also promote better water management practices that will result in a citywide coverage with 24-hour uninterrupted supply of treated water of 135 litres per capita per day in both cities. The loan will have a 25-year term, including a grace period of 5 years, an annual interest rate determined in accordance with ADB’s lending facility based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), and a commitment charge of 0.15% per year.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched Ombudsman Scheme for redressal of complaints against the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). The scheme will provide a cost-free and expeditious complaint redressal mechanism relating to deficiency in the services by NBFCs covered under the scheme. The scheme will cover all deposit-taking NBFCs, and based on the experience gained. The scheme will initially cover all deposit-taking NBFCs, and will subsequently include companies with asset size of Rs 100 crore and above with customer interface. Additionally, the mechanism will provide an option to the NBFC in question to appeal against the decision of the Ombudsman before the appellate authority. The NBFC Ombudsman will have offices in four cities – New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata – and will handle complaints of customers in the respective zones.

Notes:
Bhanu Kumar Shastri (93), the founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh and former MP, has passed away in Udaipur, Rajasthan on February 24, 2018. He was the member of Lok Sabha from Udaipur in Rajasthan and was also chairman of Khadi Board.

Notes:
The Jawahar Sagar Dam is a dam across the Chambal River. It is situated about 24 km (15 mi) south-west of Kota, Rajasthan. The dam has a catchment area of 27, 195 km ² and provides relief to the people of the area during times of severe water shortage. It is one of the dams which have been built under the Chambal Valley project of State of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The dam also produces 99 MW (3×33 MW) of hydropower.

Notes:
The high-level committee for Central Assistance Chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has approved financial assistance of Rs 1711 crore for Bihar which was affected by floods in 2017. The committee also approved assistance of Rs 1055 crore for Gujarat which was also affected by floods. Apart from this, Rs 838 crore have been sanctioned for West Bengal and Rs 420 crore each have been sanctioned for Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh which were also affected by floods. Tamil Nadu will receive Rs 133 crore and Kerala will receive Rs 169 crore which were affected by cyclone Ockhi. Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh will get Rs 836 crore and Rs 396 crore. The two states were affected by Kharif drought in 2017.

Notes:
Kanakalata Mohanty (82), the noted Odia author, has passed away in Bhubaneswar, Odisha  on February 26, 2018. She has written several novels, including ‘Ete Andhara’, ‘Kete Jwala’ and ‘Anuradha’, and more than 100 short stories. She was also recognized by All India Radio (AIR) as a noted lyricist, particularly for her devotional songs on Lord Jagannath.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu government has tied up with Microsoft to accelerate cloud technology adoption. The partnership aims to reform education sector, build tech capacity and enhance digital literacy across all levels. As a part of the agreement, Microsoft will adopt 7 schools identified by the government and train their teachers and students around building 21st century skills which includes critical thinking, creative coding and gaming, app development, robotics, and entrepreneurship. It will also offer its Microsoft Innovative Educator Program to all educators in primary, secondary, vocational and tertiary education across the state. Additionally, the company will train and provide a digital literacy certification District Education Officers (DEOs) in Tamil Nadu. 

Notes:
The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has signed a MoU with the Regional Center for Science and Technology Transfer (RCSTT) of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for designating Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow (CSIR-CIMAP) as Coordinating Center on Medicinal Plants. The IORA Center at CSIR-CIMAP will establish a database on the important medicinal plants, their value added products, related experts and industries of the IORA member states and organize meetings and training programmes to promote trade, commerce and scientific exchanges to complement the strength and limitation of the member states. The IORA is an association of 21 countries and 7 dialogue partners which have identified 6 areas of cooperation including medicinal plants.

Notes:
The National Science Day (NSD) is observed every year on February 28 to mark the discovery of Raman effect by Physicist CV Raman on 28th February, 1928. The purpose of the day is to spread the message of importance of science and its application among the people. The theme of NSD-2018 is “Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future”, which has been chosen for the purpose of raising public appreciation of the scientific issues involved.