Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
Indian golfer Shiv Kapur has won the Royal Cup at Pattaya on December 31, 2017, which is his third Asian Tour title of 2017. Kapur, who had just one win in almost 11 years till April this year, has now won three times in last 8 months. This latest win marks Kapur’s fourth Asian Tour win and sixth international title as he won twice on European Challenge Tour also.

Notes:
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Defence Minister, has launched a new state-of-the-art incubation centre “Centre for Entrepreneurship Opportunities and Learning (CEOL)” at Mallikatta in Mangaluru, Karnataka on December 29, 2017. The aim of CEOL is to nurture talent, foster the spirit of innovation and to support young engineers to realize their ideas. This is part of the project ‘Startup Coast’ under which it is proposed to establish innovation centres, incubation set-up, tinkering labs and co-working space for startups on the west coast in Karnataka. The CEOL, which will be managed by the Society headed by Deputy Commissioner, will provide perfect ecosystem for youngsters to work on their ideas. Sitharaman has allocated Rs. 1.5 crore from her MPLAD (Member of Parliament’s Local Area Development) scheme for the development of CEOL. She represents Karnataka as an MP in the Rajya Sabha.

Notes:
Star Sports, India’s leading sports broadcaster, has bagged the broadcast and production rights of Union Sports Ministry’s flagship ‘Khelo India School Games (KISG)’ for a period of five years from 2018 to 2022. The first-ever Khelo India School Games 2018 will be held from January 31 for under-17 age group (boys and girls) across 16 sports disciplines. The purpose of KISG is to inculcate a nationwide culture of sports through a grassroots sports revolution. The KISG 2018 is the marquee event under revamped Khelo India porgramme. The event is expected to host around 6000 athletes and officials in its first edition. The best talent selected through the competition will be amongst the 1000 (one thousand) budding athletes eligible for a scholarship worth 5 lakhs each per year for a period of eight years. Every year, new athletes will be added under the Khelo India scheme. Thus, over the period of the scheme, the country will have a solid bench-strength for all sports.

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:
The 171st Araadhanai Music Festival (AMF) has started in Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu on January 2, 2018. The fest is one of the Trinities of Carnatic music Saint Thyagaraja, which was inaugurated by Governor Banwarilal Purohit. The main function of the festival – the choral singing of Thyagaraja’s five kritis in Ghana ragas – will be held on his Samadhi day which falls on next Saturday. Over 1,000 musicians from all over the world are expected to pay homage to Saint Thygaraja during the course of the five-day festival.

Notes:
Radha Vishwanathan (83), Carnatic vocalist and former classical dancer, has passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka on January 2, 2018. She was the daughter of legendary classical singer M S Subbulakshmi. She performed extensively with her mother for nearly five decades on stage.

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 Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for establishment of new AIIMS in Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh) under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). The cost of the project is Rs.1351 crore and will be completed in a period of 48 months. The Institution will consist of a hospital with a capacity of 750 beds and trauma center facilities. It will also have a Medical college with an intake of 100 MBBS students per year and Nursing College with an intake of 60 B.Sc. (Nursing) students per year. Under this scheme, AIIMS have been established in Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Raipur, Jodhpur, Rishikesh and Patna while work of AIIMS Rae Bareli is in progress. Also, three AIIMS in Nagpur (Maharashtra), Kalyani (West Bengal) and Mangalagiri in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) have been sanctioned in 2015, two AIIMS have been sanctioned at Bathinda and Gorakhpur in 2016 and an AIIMS in Kamrup (Assam).

Notes:
The first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam has listed 19 million people out of the 32.9 million applicants as legal Indian citizens in a massive exercise aimed at identifying illegal immigrants in the state that borders Bangladesh. The Office of the State Coordinator of NRC Assam has provided five alternatives to check for the names included in the draft. One of them alternative is to check the printed version of the list at the NRC Seva Kendras between 10 AM to 4 PM till January 31 on all working days. One can also call at the 24X7 tollfree helpline number 15107 from Assam and 18003453762 from outside Assam. The NRC was last updated in Assam way back in 1951. Then, it had recorded 80 lakh citizens in the State. India and Bangladesh share 4,096-km-long border, of which 262 km falls in Assam.

Notes:
The Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany (BSIP) is an autonomous institute constituted under the Department of Science and Technology, GoI. The institute is located at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh and is a seat of higher learning in the field of plant fossil research. The BSIP, established in 1946, was an outcome of vision of the renowned Indian botanist Prof. Birbal Sahni.