Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
In a remarkable achievement, the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensemble of Mumbai has been declared as a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 30th June 2018. The decision was taken at the 42nd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at Manama in Bahrain. This makes Mumbai city the second city in India after Ahmedabad to be included on the World Heritage List. Now, India has overall 37 World Heritage Inscriptions with 29 Cultural, 07 Natural and 01 Mixed sites. While India stands second largest in number after China in terms of number of World Heritage properties in ASPAC (Asia and Pacific) region, it is overall sixth in the world.

Notes:
The International Day of Tropics is observed every year on June 29 to raise awareness to the specific challenges faced by tropical areas, the far-reaching implications of the issues affecting the world’s tropical zone and the need, at all levels, to raise awareness and to underline the important role that countries in the tropics will play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The day celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the tropics while highlighting unique challenges and opportunities nations of the Tropics face. It provides an opportunity to take stock of progress across the tropics, to share tropical stories and expertise and to acknowledge the diversity and potential of the region.

Notes:
The 8th International Convention of Saurashtra Patel Cultural Samaj 2018 has started in California, United States on July 5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed International Convention through video conferencing on July 6. He appealed to NRI community to motivate at least five foreign families to visit India every year for Bharat Darshan. This can pave a new way to serve the purpose of Ek Bharat Shresht Bharat Abhiyan, ultimately providing a great boost to India’s tourism development. He also talked about how NRIs can contribute to the success of Mahatma Gandhi’s dream, Swachh Bharat. He also appealed to the NRI community to work towards the dream of creating a New India.

Notes:
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has launched a mobile app ‘GST Verify’ to protect interest of consumers. It is an android app to verify if the person collecting GST from the consumer is eligible to collect it or not. It also provides the details of the person/company collecting GST. This app, developed by B Raghu Kiran joint commissioner GST Hyderabad, can be used all across the country. Here, after downloading the app, customers can check the bill if there is any GST amount mentioned, if yes verify through this app if she/he is genuinely registered person or not. This will help customers save the amount shown as tax from the fraudster if he is cheating them.

Notes:
The Ministry of Coal has launched the Coal Mine Surveillance & Management System (CMSMS) and ‘Khan Prahari’ mobile application in New Delhi. The basic purpose of CMSMS is reporting, monitoring and taking suitable action on unauthorised coal mining activities. The CMSMS is a Web-based GIS application through which location of sites for unauthorised mining can be detected. The basic platform used in the system is of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology’s (MeiTY) map which provides village level information. The leasehold boundary of all the coal mines will be displayed on this map. The system will use satellite data to detect changes by which unauthorised mining activity extending beyond the allotted lease area can be detected and suitable action can be taken on it. The ‘Khan Prahari’ app uses space technology to curb illegal coal mining activity in the coalfield areas of the country, and provides people with a platform where they can report such incidents. One can upload geo-tagged photographs of the incident along with textual information directly to the system.

Notes:
India will operate the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport as a Sri Lanka-India joint venture in Hambantota. The $210 million facility, 241km south-east of Colombo, is dubbed the “world’s emptiest airport” due to a lack of flights. Mattala airport, named after former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, was funded through high interest Chinese commercial loans. The airport was officially opened in March 2013. It has the capacity to handle one million passengers a year and is expected to handle five million passengers, 50,000 tonnes of cargo and 6,250 air traffic operations per annum by 2028.

Notes:
Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, who retired from the Supreme Court on 7th July 2018, has been appointed the new chairperson of the National Green Tribunal (NGT). His tenure as NGT Chairperson has been specified as being for a period of 5 years from the date he assumes office, or till he reaches the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier. He will succeed Justice Jawad Rahim, who is the acting chairperson of NGT. The NGT was established on October 18, 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources. The tribunal’s principal bench is located in New Delhi while its zonal benches are in Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai and its circuit benches are in Shimla, Shillong, Jodhpur and Kochi.

Notes:
India’s premier gymnast Dipa Karmakar from Tripura clinched gold with a score of 14.150 in the vault event of FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Challenge Cup at Mersin in Turkey on July 8, 2018. This is Dipa’s first medal in a World Challenge Cup. She had topped the qualification also with a score of 13.400. Dipa has also qualified in balance beam finals by finishing third in the qualification with a score of 11.850. She returned to action after nearly two years of lay-off due to Anetrior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury.

Notes:
Mundakkal Mathew Jacob (90), popularly known as M. M. Jacob, has passed away in Pala near Kottayam on July 9, 2018. He was the senior Congress leader and former Meghalaya Governor MM Jacob. Jacob, a former Union Minister, had also served as deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha in the 80s. Hailing from Ramapuram in the Kottayam district, Jacob had served as a general secretary and treasurer of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee and the Chairman of the Kerala State Seva Dal Board. He was also a member of the AICC for many years.

Notes:
The book “Winning Like Sourav: Think & Succeed Like Ganguly” has been authored by Abhirup Bhattacharya. As per the book, Ganguly’s mantra was simple: If he believed that a youngster was talented, he would have enough opportunities to prove his worth. This provided a much-needed calmer atmosphere for the young player as it was certain that he will not be dropped after one failure. Ganguly is credited with nurturing players such as Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and building concept of ‘Team India’ and ‘Men in Blue’. It was Sourav Ganguly’s gamble on talented youngsters waiting for the opportunity that helped India from losing one of its greatest cricketers of all times – Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ganguly had taken over the reins of the Indian cricket team from Sachin Tendulkar after the match-fixing exposes in 2000. Bhattacharya says the book, replete with statistics and anecdotes, is not a biography but attempts at drawing management lessons and inspiration from the life of an exemplary skipper like Ganguly.