Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
Rakesh Srivastava, Secretary of Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD), has launched the Phase -1 i.e. the beneficiary module of the Rapid Reporting System for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) in New Delhi on January 24, 2018. It is a web based on line monitoring for the SAG. The RRS will facilitate the monitoring of the scheme and taking corrective measures by ensuring faster flow of information, accurate targeting of the beneficiaries and reduction of leakages. This Portal has been developed in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC). The URL for the portal is http://sag-rrs.nic.in. Presently, MoWCD is implementing the Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) in selected 508 districts across the country.

Notes:
The book ‘Staniya Svasasan Mei Addhi Aabadhi’ has been authored by Dr. Sadhana Pandey, which is released by the Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu, in New Delhi on January 25, 2018. Naidu stated that the book is an empirical study that captures the voices of the rural women who are occupying positions of authority at the local level. It can help the policy makers to understand the perspectives of women representatives and address the key issues of education, health, nutrition, information sharing, economic independence and empowerment.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has launched the countrywide Pulse Polio programme for 2018 by administering polio drops to children below five years at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. The programme will cover around 17 crore children to maintain the country’s polio-free status. The president administered the drops on the eve of 2018 National Immunisation Day (NID), which is observed on January 28.

Notes:
The Economic Survey 2017-18 has tabled by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament on January 29, 2018. The survey has predicted 7 to 7.5% of India’s GDP growth in FY 2018-19. It says that a series of major reforms undertaken over the past year will allow real GDP growth to reach 6.75% this fiscal and will rise to 7.0 to 7.5% in 2018-19. It stated that the employment, education and agriculture will be the focus areas in the midterm. The survey underlines that due to the launch of transformational Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform, resolution of the long-festering Twin Balance Sheet problem, implementing a major recapitalization package to strengthen the public sector banks, further liberalization of FDI and the export uplift from the global recovery, the economy began to accelerate in the second half of the year and can clock 6.75% growth this year.

Notes:
Caroline Wozniack, a Danish professional tennis player, has won the 2018 women’s Singles title in the Australian Open 2018. With this, she became the first Danish player to win a Grand Slam singles title by defeating Simona Halep in the final by 7–6, 3–6, 6–4.

Notes:
The National Handloom Expo (NHE) has been inaugurated by Assam Handloom and Textile Minister Ranjit Dutta at Guwahati, Assam on January 29, 2018. The event is sponsored by Development Commissioner of Handloom, Govt of India and organized by ARTFED. Total 130 stalls have been set up. 12 states are participating in the event, which will continue till 11 February.

Notes:
Shantanu Narayen, the Indian-American CEO of Adobe, has been elected as the Vice Chairman of the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF). The USISPF is a new organisation that has been set up to enhance business relations between India and the US. The purpose of the organisation is to promote bilateral trade and work on creating meaningful opportunities that have the power to change the lives of citizens. The USISPF now has 31 board members.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a $250 million loan agreement for the construction of over 6,200 kilometres all-weather rural roads in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The program is aimed at improving rural connectivity, facilitating safer and more efficient access to livelihood and socio-economic opportunities for rural communities through improvements to about 12 thousand kilometres Rural Roads across the 5 States.

Notes:
Kalamandalam Geethanandan (58), the acclaimed Ottanthullal artist, has passed away while performing at Avittathur Mahavishnu Temple in Avittathur, Kerala on January 28, 2018. He, who performed on more than 5,000 stages across the country, was also a tutor of Ottanthullal at Kerala Kalamandalam for decades. He had acted in many films, including Mohanlal’s Kamaladalam.

Notes:
Achanta Sharath Kamal from Tamil Nadu has won the 79th edition of the 11Even Sports National Senior Table Tennis Championship 2018 by defeating top-seed Anthony Amalraj in the final by 4-1 in Ranchi, Jharkhand. With this, he lifted the National men’s singles title for the 8th time and equaled the record of Kamlesh Mehta. The winner received Rs 2 lakh as prize money. Suthirta Mukherjee from West Bengal emerged the new women champion, beating Hyderabad Nationals winner Manika Batra 4-3. Her maiden effort fetched Rs 1.5 lakh, while Manika received 50% less in prize money.