Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

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:
Elina Svitolina, a Ukrainian professional tennis player, has won the 2018 women’s singles Brisbane International tournament in Brisbane, Australia on January 6, 2018. She beat Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-2, 6-1 in the final to win her 10th title on the women’s elite tour.

Notes:
Soumitra Chattopadhyay (82), the legendary film and theatre actor, will be conferred with the France’s highest order of merit ‘Legion of Honour at the 42nd International Kolkata Book Fair 2018. The honour will be bestowed on the actor who starred in many of Satyajit Ray’s iconic films by French culture and communication minister Francoise Nyssen in Kolkata. The book fair will open on January 30 and conclude on February 11. Chattopadhyay acted in several of Ray’s films,including Apur Sansar, Abhijan, Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri and Sonar Kella.

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:
The Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) is celebrated every year on January 9 to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community in the development of India. The day was chosen to commemorate the return of Mahatma Gandhi from South Africa to India in 1915, which led India’s freedom struggle and changed the lives of Indians forever.

Notes:
Aanchal Thakur, a 21-year-old from Himachal Pradesh, has created history by becoming the first Indian to register an international medal in skiing. She clinched bronze in the slalom race category at Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup organised by Skiing’s international governing body, Federation International de Ski (FIS) at the Palandoken Ski Centre, in Erzurum in Turkey on January 9, 2018.

Notes:
The Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), the research arm of Union Ministry of Railways, has launched “New Online Vender Registration System” on January 9, 2018. This new system provides major improvements and paradigm changes in the registration system over the earlier system. Public access to the information, expeditious process completion with defined timelines, simplification of procedures, round-the-year services, availability of all related information on RDSO Website, constant monitoring at all levels, reduction in cycle timelines, regular updation of online data, user friendly interface etc. are the hallmarks of the new system. And also, there is no need for vendors to visit RDSO office for any activity related to his case for registration.

Notes:
The Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA) is located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It is an advanced research institute for freshwater aquaculture. It was founded in 1987 by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. Its genesis lies in the Pond Culture Division of Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI), Cuttack which started the training center at Kausalyaganga, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar for Developing and Training on Inland Fishery.

Notes:
The 4th edition of International Dharma Dhamma conference (IDDC-2018) has inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind in Rajgir, Bihar on January 11, 2018. This 3-day conference has been jointly organised by India Foundation, Nalanda University, Ministry of External Affairs, ASEAN-India and Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha. The conference is an endeavour of Nalanda University as a bridge between India and other nations. Over one hundred dignatories and experts from 11 countries will hold deliberations and present research papers on various topics related to Buddhism and other religions and global peace. The conference brings together a wide array of dignatories who are responsible for governance, policy making and giving directions to countries. Sages, monks and Swamis will also share their spiritual views in different sessions.

Notes:
Dilip Asbe has been appointed as the new Managing Director and CEO of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). Prior to this, Asbe was CEO-in-charge of NPCI. He succeeded A.P.Hota, who retired in August 2017. Asbe has been in the NPCI since its inception and has played a pivotal role in designing, building, operationalising and managing large-scale payment processing platforms like the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM), Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), India’s home-grown card network RuPay, and several other initiatives.