Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

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.

Notes:
The 13th edition of joint military drill exercise “Iron Fist 2018” has started between American and Japanese forces at Camp Pendleton in California on January 12 and will continue till February 12.. More than 500 U.S. Marines and sailors are partnering with about 350 members of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force to train in fire support operations and amphibious assaults. Iron Fist is an annual, bilateral training exercise where U.S. and Japanese service members train together and share techniques, tactics and procedures to improve their combined operational capabilities.

Notes:
The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) is an Indian research and teaching institute located in Mysuru, Karnataka. It is part of the Language Bureau of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. The aim of the institute is to protect and document minor, minority and tribal languages. It promotes Linguistic harmony by teaching 15 Indian languages to non-native learners. It was founded on 17 July 1969.

Notes:
Prof. Narayana Sadashiv Pharande (78), the senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC), has passed away in Pune, Maharashtra on January 16, 2018. He was popularly known as Na Sa Pharande & was elected thrice as the Member of the Legislative Council. Originally, he hailed from Satara district and was a gold medallist in Marathi and Sanskrit from Shivaji University in Kolhapur.

Notes:
India and the United Kingdom (UK) have recently signed two agreements on return of Indians, who are living in Britain as illegal migrants and sharing criminal records and intelligence. The development comes close on heels of India seeking UK’s help in early extradition of liquor tycoon Vijay Mallya from Britain to face the law at home in connection with cases of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs. 9,000 crores. The MOUs were signed by UK’s Minister of Immigration Caroline Nokes and India’s Minister of Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju on January 11, 2018. The MoU on criminal records exchange will lead to British and Indian law enforcement bodies sharing criminal records information, fingerprints and intelligence. This will assist the police in protecting the public from known criminals, including sex offenders and also allow the courts in both countries to access more information to support tougher sentencing decisions.

Notes:
Actress Kajol has become an advocacy ambassador for Hindustan Unilever’s Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat ‘haath muh bum’ initiative. She is an active supporter of eradicating preventable deaths from hygiene-related issues.

Notes:
The Logistics Division of the Union Commerce Ministry has signed an agreement with industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on January 16 to address challenges facing the country’s logistics sector and help take measures to bring down costs. As per the MoU, CII will identify logistics challenges facing industry and suggest action solutions to the Logistics Division. It will also interact with state governments and work on promoting the logistics sector, along with capacity building programs. The two sides will cooperate in organising a National Logistics convention each year to bring together stakeholders in the sector. The headquarters of CII is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
The NITI Aayog has launched the first Global Initiative on Academic Network (GIAN) course on Sustainable Urban planning using remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) has been launched at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur’s outreach center in Noida on January 15, 2018. The purpose of the course is to give participants state-of-the-art remote sensing and GIS skills which will allow them to rise to the challenge of managing the rapidly changing urban environment of Indian cities. The focus will be on issues such as water resource management, water pollution and strategic emplacements for water treatment facilities. The course is being coordinated by Professor Rajiv Sinha from the Department of Earth Sciences at IIT Kanpur and Dr. Patrice Carbonneau from the Department of Geography, University of Durham, UK.

Notes:
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has celebrated its 13th Raising Day on January 19, 2018 in New Delhi. The NDRF raised on January 19, 2006, is a specialised force capable of responding to any type of disaster in the country and abroad. It is strategically deployed across the nation as per the vulnerability profile of the country.

Notes:
The 48th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF-2018) will be held in Davos, Switzerland on January 22, 2018. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the largest-ever Indian delegation. The delegation will comprise of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu among others. The theme of the 2018 summit is “Creating a shared future in a Fractured World”, which ams to set an agenda to address political, economic and Social challenges of recent times. This year, over 3,000 global leaders from business, government, politics, academia and social sectors are participating at the Summit which will conclude on 26th of January. The purpose of the WEF is to improve the state of the world. WEF is an international organization for public-private cooperation which brings together global leaders from different sectors including business, politics, academia and journalism to discuss the most pressing issues facing the world.