Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
Vidarbha cricket team has created history by winning the 2017 Ranji Trophy tournament with a thumping 9-wicket win over Delhi at the Holkar stadium in Indore on the 4th and penultimate day of their final on January 1, 2018. It is Vidarbha’s first Ranji Trophy title. After conceding a 252-run first innings lead, Delhi were bowled out for 280 in their second innings, setting a target of merely 29 runs for Vidarbha. Vidarbha lost only one wicket and took only five overs to chase down the target which gave them their first Ranji Trophy title. Rajneesh Gurbani’s 6 for 59, including a hat-trick and a century from Akshay Wadkar were the key moments in Vidarbha scripting a fairytale run.

Notes:
Maneka Gandhi, the union minister of Women and Child Development (WCD), has inaugurated an online portal NARI in New Delhi for the empowerment of women. The portal – nari.nic.in – will provide easy access to information on government schemes and initiatives for women. The portal, which is developed by the Ministry, summarise over 350 government schemes and other important information. It elaborates how the Government is focussed to economically empower women through schemes under Direct Benefit Transfer. The portal provides links to the Ministries, Departments and autonomous bodies offering these schemes as well as easy access to online applications and grievance redressal. Also, there are tips on nutrition, suggestions for health check-ups, tips for job search, investment and savings advice, information on crimes against women and reporting procedures, contacts of legal aid cells, adoption procedures and much more.

Notes:
Tufan Ghosh has taken charge as the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) of National Cricket Academy (NCA). Beside him, former India stumper Saba Karim has assumed the office as BCCI’s General Manager (GM). Both Karim and Ghosh will report to BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and will be based out of Mumbai and Bengaluru respectively. While Karim will assist Johri in meeting the Board’s vision and strategy, Ghosh will play a key role in setting up the facility and creating a Centre of Excellence at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

Notes:
The Telangana government has constituted the SC/ST Commission in the state on January 2, 2018. Errolla Srinivas, a leader of the ruling TRS hailing from Siddipet district, has been named the chairman of the five-member panel. Boyilla Vidyasagar, M Rambal Naik, Sunkapaka Devaiah, Kursam Neeladevi and Chilakamarri Narasimha were appointed members of the commission. The commission is mandated to monitor matters related to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) and also inquire into complaints pertaining to members of these communities.

Notes:
The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) to offer relevant training to the employees on issues pertaining payment banking. Under the agreement, IICA has been entrusted with the key responsibility of capacity building of IPPB through training of its officials/employees besides providing research support by instituting Research Chairs in the emerging area of payment banking. This joint venture is expected to enable the massive network of post offices with the ability to effectively deal with Financial Inclusion.

Notes:
Preeti Sudan, the secretary of Union Health and Family Welfare ministry, has launched India’s first digital online oncology tutorial series in collaboration with the Tata Memorial Centre on January 4, 2018. The purpose of the tutorial series is to educate doctors in early detection, prevention, palliation, rehabilitation and treatment of various forms of cancers. This is part of a national programme that will be rolled out across the country by Tata Memorial Centre in collaboration with state governments. The overall course, designed for 7 weeks, will equip doctors with the skills and knowledge on the basics of oncology to detect, diagnose and refer cancer cases early. It comprises 14 hours of comprehensive e-learning through more than 40 video lectures, case studies, assessment questionnaires and periodic interactive webinar sessions with the respective consultants of Tata Memorial Hospital.

Notes:
Vasant Shankar Davkhare (67), the senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Deputy Chairman of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC), has passed away in Mumbai on January 4, 2018. He was known for his loyalty to NCP chief Sharad Pawar and was also known for having cordial relations across party lines; especially with Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray. His closeness to Thackerays always ensured his easy win in Council polls. However, he tasted defeat last year as the Sena decided to contest against him. His son Niranjan is also an MLC from the NCP.

Notes:
Gilles Simon of France has won the Tata Open Maharashtra Tennis trophy at Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune on January 6, 2018. In the summit clash, the unseeded French player humbled big-serving second seeded Kevin Anderson in straight sets 7-6, 6-2. Simon is ranked 89 in the world, while Anderson is ranked 14th. The tournament is India’s only ATP event. For the past 22 years, the tournament had been associated with the big metro cities, New Delhi hosting the inaugural edition in 1996, and Chennai becoming home to it for the next 21 years. This time, the event moved to the tier two city Pune and was rechristened Tata Open Maharashtra.

Notes:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been bestowed with the 1st Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Probity in Politics and Public Life Award for his works and contributions in bringing probity in public life as well as his crusade against corruption in Bihar. The award was presented to the Bihar Chief Minister by the Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra at Mufti Mohammed Sayeed Commemoration day function held in Jammu on January 8, 2018. 

Notes:
The World Bank (WB) in its latest report “Global Economic Prospects (GEP-2018)” has projected India’s GDP growth rate at 7.3% in 2018 and 7.5% for the next two years. As per report, despite initial setbacks from demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), India’s economy is estimated to have grown at 6.7% in 2017. Ayhan Kose, the Director of World Bank(WB)’s Development Prospects Group (DPG), stated that India’s growth potential will be around 7% for the next 10 years. For global economy, World Bank’s outlook, for the first time in many years, is better than expected with all regions seeing improved growth. However, it has warned that countries must make investments to improve their growth prospects, and the time to do that is before the next crisis hits, as it inevitably will.