Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

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:
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:
Vijay Keshav Gokhale, the 1981-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, has been appointed the new Foreign Secretary of India. He will succeed S Jaishankar, whose term ends on January 28, 2018. Currently, he is Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He has also held the post of India’s ambassador to China during the term of the Narendra Modi government. Before that, he served as India’s envoy to Germany and Hong Kong. Above all, he is known for his fluency in the Chinese language, as well as his long experience in dealing with East Asia, and China in particular. He has served as Director (China and East Asia) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and went on to be Joint Secretary (East Asia). Gokhale is the only IFS to have served as India’s Representative both in Taiwan and China.

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:
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:
Former RAW Chief Rajinder Khanna, a 1978-batch Research and Analysis Wing Service (RAS) officer, has been appointed as the new Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA) on January 2, 2018 without a fixed tenure and would remain at the post until further orders. He will assist NSA Ajit Doval, who too is a former RAW chief. It is for the first time when both NSA and Deputy NSA are from intelligence agency background. Khanna has led many counter-terrorism operations in the spy agency and is reportedly an expert on Pakistan and Islamic terrorism. The position has been vacant since Arvind Gupta had stepped down after completion of his contractual term in August 2017.

Notes:
Recently, the Rajasthan Government and HDFC Bank have signed MoU to promote and nurture startups in the state. As per pact, HDFC Bank will team up with the state government to provide end-to-end solutions including current accounts, credit cards and more under its SmartUp programme. HDFC Bank will also assist startups in showcasing their offerings to the general public.

Notes:
The State Bank of India (SBI) and NABARD have signed an agreement with 5 NGOs in Bengal for the promotion of 2,500 Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) in select districts of the State on January 2, 2018. JLGs are informal groups of 4-10 members engaged in similar economic activities and willing to jointly undertake the responsibility to repay loans taken by the group from a bank. They are typically credit groups of small or marginal tenant farmers who do not have a proper title of their farmland. Through these JLGs, SBI plans to extend assistance to the financially excluded sections of the society, especially landless farmers in the districts of Purulia, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur, Burdwan and North 24 Parganas. Plans are also afoot to scale up the project in a phased manner to cover the remaining districts. NABARD has fixed a target of credit linking 80,000 JLGs in West Bengal in 2017-18. Till date, NABARD has sanctioned assistance for the promotion of 60,000 JLGs by various NGOs in the State through 339 projects in different districts.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has initiated Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) against public sector lender Allahabad Bank, owing to its high net Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and negative Return on Assets (RoA) for two consecutive years. The action would contribute to the overall improvement in risk management, asset quality, profitability, efficiency of the bank. The RBI has initiated similar action against other public sector banks, including IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and UCO Bank. The RBI in April 2017 had issued a new set of enabling provisions under the revised PCA framework with a clause that if the bank does not show improvement then it could be either be merged or taken over by other bank.