Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
India has contributed $50,000 to the UN’s youth mission which works to raise awareness and attention to youth issues globally. UN Youth Envoy Jayathma Wickramanayake received the cheque from Paulomi Tripathi, a First Secretary in India’s UN mission at the UN headquarters in New York on Jan 12, 2018. The contribution is voluntary with no strings attached and is in addition to the regular payments India makes to the UN’s general and peacekeeping budgets. The Youth Envoy’s mission is to promote the engagement of youth and advocate for them across all the four pillars of the UN’s work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action.

Notes:
The Punjab government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to set up bio-gas and bio-CNG plants in the state. The purpose of the MoU is to find sustainable solutions to paddy straw burning. The pact is part of the state’s concerted efforts to find sustainable solutions to paddy straw burning, which has emerged as a major environmental concern. The plants will be set up at a total investment of Rs 5,000 crore. By converting bio-mass to compressed bio-gas and bio-CNG, the plants will take help curb the menace of stubble burning and create additional income to farmers. The project will also create rural employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, besides providing a green organic source of compost for soil enrichment.

Notes:
Maharashtra has become the India’s first state to launch Public Cloud Policy, which will allow all government departments to access public cloud. . The step will create business opportunities worth $2 billion while helping the state government departments to shift all their data to clouds. This will accelerate e-governance and open up entire new area for investment by the private entrepreneurs to make available newest technologies for all the departments as government not only is the biggest data creator but also consumer.

Notes:
The Somasila Dam is a dam constructed across the Penna River near Somasila in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. The reservoir impounded by the dam has a surface area of 212.28 km2 with live storage capacity of 1.994 km3. It is the biggest storage reservoir in Penna River basin and can store all the inflows from its catchment area in a normal year.

Notes:
India has become the 43rd member of the Australia Group export control regime on January 19, 2018. The inclusion is expected to raise India’s stature in the field of non-proliferation and help in acquiring critical technologies. With this, India has managed entry into Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group despite not being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).The Australia Group is an informal forum which seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons.

Notes:
Thaawarchand Gehlot, the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, has launched 100 accessible websites for Divyangs on January 19, 2018. These 100 government websites are now divyang friendly. The Accessible Websites are those websites into which Persons with Disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. The divyang-friendly websites, especially for visually impaired, use features such as screen readers and screen magnifiers, which can relay website content to the user in audio format. Approx, 900 such websites will be launched in a phased manner.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) will set up a $350 million Solar Development Fund (SDF) for financing solar projects to achieve its ambitious target of adding 175 Giga Watts (GW) in renewable energy by 2022. This announcement was made by Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and Renewable Energy, Raj Kumar Singh during the Future World Energy Summit (WFES) 2018. The WFES was organized by the International Solar Alliance (ISA) in Abu Dhabi (UAE). The ISA is an alliance of sunshine-rich countries set up jointly by India and France on the sidelines of the historic Paris meeting on climate change in November 2015. So far, 19 countries have ratified and 48 signed the ISA Framework Agreement.

Notes:
S Selvakumar, the senior IAS officer, has been appointed as new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) with effect from January 16, 2018. Selvakumar succeeded Anurag Agarwal. The state-owned SPMCIL produces bank notes, coins, postage stamps, non-judicial stamps and other official documents.

Notes:
Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta (84), the renowned Sarod maestro, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on January 15, 2018. He will be remembered for his scholarly approach to music without getting dourly regimented. The doyen of the Senia Shahjahanpur gharana was born in Bhagalpur in Bihar on 1st February 1933. Dasgupta was one of the artists featured in Nimbus Records’ The Raga Guide.

Notes:
The Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) is located in Pune, Maharashtra. It was established in 1967 on the joint initiative of the Ministry of Shipping & Transport & the Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASTRU). It is a nodal agency, known to be only one of its kind, providing a platform for higher research and training on road transportation and assists in testing, guidance and consultancy in the field.