Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
India has pledged 5 million in assistance to the UN agency working for the welfare of Palestinian refugees to help bolster its “severe funding crisis” following US’ cut in its annual aid to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). A total of 20 countries, including India, announced contributions to the 2018 budget of the UNRWA for Palestine Refugees in the Near East during a meeting. While India pledged 5 million, Sweden will contribute 250 million over four years, the UK 51 million and the UAE $50 million among other donors. UNRWA has been providing health, education, relief and social services, as well as emergency humanitarian assistance, to some 5.3 million Palestinian refugees across its five fields of operation — Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — for 65 years.

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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 conference of Ministers for Power, New & Renewable Energy of States & Union Territories will be held on 3rd July at Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. The purpose of the conference is to review the implementation of various ongoing Schemes/ Programmes & deliberate on a host of issues pertaining to Power and Renewable Energy sectors. The excerpts of the issues to be discussed on the conference are as follows: 100% Household Electrification (under Saubhagya) by December 2018, UDAY performance assessment, shifting to prepaid system in three years and 24X7 Power for All – From 1st April 2019. The delegates will also discuss the proposed draft amendments in the provision of Captive Generating Plant in Electricity Rules, 2005 and flexibility in utilization of Coal. The conference will be inaugurated by R K Singh, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy.

Notes:
NITI Aayog and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) have signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) to implement fertiliser subsidy disbursement through Blockchain Technology. Both will work on implementing a Proof-of-Concept (PoC) application for using the technology in subsidy disbursements. They will jointly develop the use case, under take research, interact with multiple stakeholders, develop Blockchain solutions, exchange learnings, organise forums, and disseminate learnings across their networks. It must be noted that approximately Rs 70,000 crore of subsidy is disbursed to manufacturing units every year for selling around 31 million MT of fertilisers below cost and the fertilizer subsidy disbursal takes two to three months’ time. With the implementation of Blockchain Technology, it is expected that the distribution will become effective and efficient, and subsidy transfer could be automated and made real time.

Notes:
Rajat Sharma, who is the Chairman and Chief Editor of Hindi news channel INDIA TV, has become the new president of Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) for a period of 3 years. He beat former cricketer Madan Lal by 517 votes in the DDCA election 2018. The results of the DDCA polls were announced on 2nd July 2018 and Sharma’s group swept the elections winning all 12 seats. Sharma’s team will consist of Rakesh Kumar Bansal, who has been elected as the vice-president with 48.87% votes in his favour. Meanwhile, Vinod Tihara has been elected as Secretary, Om Prakash Sharma is the new Treasurer and Rajan Manchanda is the Joint Secretary. Rajat Sharma was conferred with Padma Bhushan award in 2016.

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:
On July 2, the first meeting of the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) will be held at Central Water Commission (CWC) office in New Delhi to resolve disputes over sharing of river water among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Puducherry. The meeting of the 9-member Authority will be chaired by the CWC Chairman S Masood Hussain, who is also heading the Cauvery Authority. The meeting will discuss the issues including water storage in Cauvery basin reservoirs, the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka as per the schedule and duly complying with all aspects of the judgement of the Supreme Court in this regard. As per Supreme Court’s direction, the Central Government constituted CWMA on 1st June 2018. The CWMA is an umbrella body, which will monitor water management on a day-to-day basis, including the water level and inflow and outflow of reservoirs in all the basin states.

Notes:
Premier stock exchange Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has signed pact with the Bombay Metal Exchange (BME) for the growth and systematic development of commodity derivatives markets in the non-ferrous metals complex. Through this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the BSE and the BME will co-ordinate and work jointly on initiatives to deepen the understanding of commodity market among stakeholders. The BME will assist the BSE in designing new and innovative deliverable products in commodities like aluminium, copper, zinc, nickel and lead among, others.

Notes:
The National Doctors’ Day is celebrated on July 1 all across India to express gratitude and acknowledge the dedication and commitment of the doctors’ towards our society. It is an attempt to emphasize on the value of doctors in our lives and to offer them our respects by commemorating one of their greatest representatives. The day is also marked to honour the legendary physician and the second Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy. Dr Roy was a highly respected physician and a renowned freedom fighter. He is often considered the great architect of West Bengal, who founded five eminent cities, Durgapur, Kalyani, Bidhannagar, Ashokenagar, and Habra.

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The Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS) under the Government of NCT of Delhi has been ranked the “Best Dental College” in India for the 7th year in a row. The evaluation was done on the basis of reports of independent rating agencies of Hansa Research, Drshti Strategic Research Services and Nielsen India. MAIDS outshone 310 dental colleges to become No 1 in dental education in India. The MAIDS is the first and only dental hospital in India to be accredited by the National Accreditation of Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH). The institute offers a five-year undergraduate programme, Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), with an annual intake of 40 students and is the only government institute to offer a postgraduate program, Master of Dental Surgery (MDS), in all nine dental specialties.