Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
John Watts Young (87), the legendary astronaut who walked on the Moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has passed away at Houston, United States on January 5, 2018. He became the 9th person to walk on the Moon as Commander of the Apollo 16 mission in 1972. Young enjoyed the longest career of any astronaut, becoming the first person to fly six space missions (with seven launches, counting his lunar liftoff) over the course of 42 years of active NASA service. He was the only spaceman to span NASA’s Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs and became the first person to rocket away from Earth six times.

Notes:
According to recently released report by Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Gujarat has topped the Logistics Ease Across Different States (LEADS) index. Among 22 states, Punjab has acquired 2nd position followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Among the Union Territories, Daman & Diu occupied the top slot followed by Delhi and Chandigarh. As regards the hilly states, Tripura was on top followed by Mizoram and Meghalaya. The LEADS index is an indicator of the efficiency of logistical services necessary for promoting exports in particular and economic growth in general. It is based on the analysis of perception with regard to eight parameters, including infrastructure, services, regulatory process and safety of cargo. The Report LEADS would help in identifying the right problem areas in the sector and prepare policy responses to deal with them.

Notes:
Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman has become the official brand ambassador of Sikkim. The declaration was made by Sikkim chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling who felicitated the legendary music composer during an inauguration of the 2018 Sikkim Red Panda Winter Carnival at Palzor Stadium in Gangtok on January 8. The winter carnival is aimed at boosting tourism in the state and has music, dance, adventure sports and exhibition of organic food products of the state events lined up for the 11 days of the festival.

Notes:
The 34th Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival 2018 and the 3rd China International Ice and Snow Tourism Summit has officially started on January 5 in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province. The festival mainly features ice and snow-themed scenic spots such as the world’s largest ice and snow park and a snow sculpture art expo as well as diverse ice and snow sports and entertainments. Statistics show that during the 33rd ice and snow festival the number of tourists received by Harbin stood at 18.49 million, up 12.2% year on year.

Notes:
Iran has recently banned teaching of English language in primary schools to fight against western cultural invasion. Usually, the teaching of English starts in middle school in Iran, at the ages of 12 to 14, but some primary schools below that age also have English classes. The head of the state-run High Education Council, Mehdi Navid-Adham stated that teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum are against laws and regulations.

Notes:
Aditya Mehta, an Indian professional snooker player & Asian Games medallist, has won the 2018 Kolkata Open International Invitation Snooker Championship at the Hindustan Club in Kolkata, West Bengal on January 8, 2018. In the thrilling final, he defeated Englishman Professional Player Alfie Burden by 5-4. This is his third Kolkata Open title since it’s inception.

Notes:
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has appointed Harjinder Singh as the Chef De Mission for the 23rd Winter Olympic Games (WOG-2018) to be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea on February 2018. Currently, Singh holds the post of General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India.

Notes:
ISRO has successfully launched weather observation satellite Cartosat 2 Series and 29 other spacecraft into the space from its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-40 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The Cartosat-2 series satellite will provide high-resolution scene specific spot imageries. The images will be used for cartographic applications, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, road network monitoring, water distribution, creation of land use maps among other things. The co-passengers on the PSLV-C40 comprised one micro and nano satellite each from India and three micro and 25 nanosatellites from six countries — Canada, Finland, France, Korea, UK and US.

Notes:
The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS) is an anthropology museum to present an integrated story of the evolution of man and culture with special reference to India. It is located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and is also known as the National Museum of Humankind. This museum depicts the story of mankind in time and space. Prof. Sarit Kumar Chaudhuri is the current director-in-charge of IGRMS. The museum also has a regional centre for the South India region at Mysore in Karnataka.

Notes:
The Bhopal railway station has become the India’s first railway station to have a sanitary napkin vending machine named as ‘Happy Nari’. The machine dispenses two sanitary napkins at the cost of Rs 5 only and accepts Rs 5 coins. The sanitary pads vending machine has been installed at platform No.1 by the Railway Women Welfare Association of Bhopal. The machine has the capacity of holding 75 sanitary pads. A specially trained female staff will refill the machine.