Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - January, 2018

Notes:
The documentary titled ‘Kailash’ has won the US Documentary Grand Jury Award at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival at Park City in Utah on January 28. The documentary, which is directed by Derek Doneen, traces the journey of Indian Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and his efforts to eliminate child trafficking and child labour. The film has been produced by Davis Guggenheim and Sarah Anthony, and co-produced by Purnima Raghunath.

Notes:
Roger Federer, a Swiss professional tennis player, has won the 2018 men’s Singles title in the Australian Open 2018. He successfully defended his title by defeating 6th seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia by 6-2,6-7, 6-3 3-6, 6-1. With this, Federer won his sixth title at the Australian Open equalling the record held by Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic. The win has brought the Swiss to the elite group of Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf, the only players to have won 20 or more Grand Slam singles titles.

Notes:
The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has planned to set up a ‘Social Media Communication Hub’ that would help it keep a tab on trending news in districts and gather feedback on the Centre’s flagship schemes. Under the project, media persons would be employed on contractual basis in each district to be the eyes and ears of the government and provide real-time updates from the ground. They would also take the people’s feedback on the government’s policies and follow the news trending in their areas. Experts would also be employed at the central level to analyse the feedback. Recently, the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL), a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the ministry, had floated a tender to supply a software for the project. The tender document stated the platform is expected to provide automated reports, tactical insights and comprehensive work-flows to initiate engagement across digital channels.

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:
To mark the 69th Republic Day 2018, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) have launched the India’s first-ever ‘Khadi Haat’ in Connaught Place, New Delhi. It was inaugurated by Union Minister of State Giriraj Singh. In this Khadi Haat, entrepreneurs under Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) will get an opportunity to display and sell their exquisite products. It will also provide a better platform as well as source of earning for the artisans.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) has launched “Stree Swabhiman” initiative. The aim of the initiative is to create a sustainable model for providing adolescent girls and women an access to affordable sanitary products by leveraging Common Services Centres (CSCs). Under the ‘Stree Swabhiman’ project, sanitary napkin micro manufacturing units are being set up at CSCs across India, particularly those operated by women entrepreneurs. The initiative is driven by awareness and personalised outreach by women entrepreneurs who produce and market sanitary napkins themselves.

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:
Sauli Niinisto, the current President of Finland, has won the 2018 Finnish presidential election on January 28, 2018. He won his second 6-year term with an overwhelming 62.7% of the vote. His closest rival, Pekka Haavisto of the Greens of Finland, secured just 12.4% votes. The term will from 1st March 2018 to 1 March 2024. Mr. Niinisto, who is in office since 2012, is known for cultivating good relations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. During his first term, Mr. Niinisto was instrumental in maintaining relations with Moscow, despite the country backing western economic sanctions against Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Finland, which shares 1,340 km border and a difficult history with Russia, has also developed closer ties with NATO but stopped short of full membership in line with a tradition of avoiding confrontation with Russia.

Notes:
According to a report by New World Wealth, India has been ranked 6th in the list of wealthiest countries with total wealth of 8,230 billion US dollars. As per report, India was the best performing wealth market globally in 2017 as its total wealth swelled from 6,584 billion dollars in 2016 to 8,230 billion dollars in 2017, registering a 25% growth. The report noted that the United States is the wealthiest country in the world as the total wealth held in 2017 amounted to 64,584 billion, followed by China (24,803 billion) and Japan (19,522 billion). Total wealth refers to the private wealth held by all the individuals living in each country. It includes all their assets. However, the report excludes government funds from its figures. Others in the list include United Kingdom (4th, 9,919 billion), Germany (5th, 9,660 billion), France (7th, 6,649 billion), Canada (8th, 6,393 billion), Australia (9th, 6,142 billion) and Italy (10th, 4,276 billion).

Notes:
Chintaman Wanaga, the Member of Parliament (MP) of 16th Lok Sabha from Palghar in Maharashtra, has passed away in New Delhi on January 30, 2018. An advocate by profession, he served as the President of BJP’s Thane district office from 1990 to 1996. He was elected to the Lok Sabha thrice and once as the member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.