Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
Antonio Vitorino, a lawyer and politician from Portugal, has been elected Director General of International Organization for Migration (IOM). He will succeed William Lacy Swing on 1st October 2018. IOM is the UN Migration Agency and is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration with over 10,000 staff serving in over 400 offices across more than 150 countries. It provides services and advice to Governments and migrants, such as humanitarian assistance to migrants in need, including refugees and internally displaced people.

Notes:
On June 29, the Odisha government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) for enhancing early warning system for effective management of all kinds of disaster in the state, including flood, drought, heat wave, lightning, and road accidents. The MoU will help state government to integrate new generation digital algorithm-based technologies and best practices from 48 RIMES member countries with the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA). The RIMES is a UN Registered international and inter- governmental institution, owned and managed by its 48 Members and Collaborating States for building capacities in the generation and application of user-relevant early warning information.

Notes:
Former India captain Rahul Dravid and former Australian captain Ricky Ponting have been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame for their stupendous achievements in international cricket. Along with Dravid and Ponting, retired England woman wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor was also named in the ‘Hall of Fame’ during a ceremony in Dublin, Ireland on July 1, 2018. With this, Dravid became only the 5th player from India to be named in the elite list. The other four Indians are former skippers Bishan Singh Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble.

Notes:
Anjolie Ela Menon, the well known muralist, has recently been conferred with the prestigious National Kalidas Samman by the Madhya Pradesh government in Delhi for her contribution in visual arts. The award was conferred in recognition of her insightful and sensitive portrayal of the identity and spirit of women through her meaningful paintings in a variety of media. Beside her, Artist A. Ramachandran was also conferred with the Kalidas Award. Menon is counted among India’s most accomplished artists and is the recipient of numerous national and international awards including the Padma Shri. She recently received a doctorate from Rabindra Bharati University.

Notes:
For the first time, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the world’s first-ever cannabis-based medicine “Epidiolex” made from marijuana. It is a milestone approval that could spur more research into a drug that remains illegal under federal law. The drug, manufactured by UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals, will be used to cure children aged 2-years old, who suffer from Dravet Syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, rare childhood-onset forms of epilepsy. Epidiolex is a purified form of cannabidiol (CBD), one of the hundreds of molecules found in the marijuana plant. It contains less than 0.1% of Tetra-Hydro-Cannabinol (THC), which makes people high. In simple words, the new drug is an oral solution of cannabidiol (CBD) and does not cause intoxication or a high.

Notes:
The Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) in Assam has become the first oil public sector undertaking (PSU) to adopt an online legal compliance system by introducing ‘Legatrix’. The cloud-based compliance management system ‘Legatrix’ is a one-stop solution for effectively managing the organisation’s legal and regulatory compliances through monitoring control at different levels. It encompasses the requirements of laws like labour, taxation, IT, commercial, export-import, corporate laws and other industry-specific laws. This initiative augments the NRLs contribution towards the Digital India Mission and induces greater transparency in its operations.

Notes:
India’s first dedicated ‘Khadi Mall’ will soon be set up by the Jharkhand government to boost market for khadi and khadi made products. The land in the Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC) campus will be made available to the Khadi Board to develop the country’s first Khadi mall. The artisans would be provided technological aid for value addition in their products, while rural, urban and tourism ‘haats’ will provide them markets for their goods.

Notes:
The Union government has constituted a ministerial panel headed by the finance minister to decide about fund allocation for infrastructure projects from the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF) announced in the budget. The 4-member committee will approve recommendations made by the sub-committee headed by the Economic Affairs Secretary on list of infrastructure projects to be financed from the CIRF. Other members of the committee include Minister of Road Transport and Highways; Shipping; Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Railways Minister and Human Resource Development Minister. The 15-member sub-committee has secretaries from different ministries who will examine and evaluate proposals received from ministries on infrastructure projects. Besides, it will prioritize the list of infrastructure projects each year for being financed by the fund. The budget 2018 has amended the Central Road Fund Act, 2000, and has renamed the Central Road Fund as CRIF.

Notes:
Justice L Narasimha Reddy, the former Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, has been appointed as Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad for a period of three years. President Ram Nath Kovind in his capacity as Visitor of the University appointed Justice Reddy as Chancellor of of UoH. Justice Reddy, who is also the Chairman of the Central Administrative Tribunal, served as a Judge of the Andhra Pradesh High Court, between 2001 and 2015.

Notes:
The Kerala government has constituted an expert panel comprising eminent writers and language experts to choose an official song for the state. Rani George, the Cultural Department Secretary, would be the convenor of the panel. While eminent critic M Leelavathi, poet Ezhachery Ramachandran, M M Basheer, M R Raghava Warrier and K P Mohanan would be the members of it. The expert panel would select a suitable song from among the entries received and shortlisted by the Akademi.