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:
S Ramesh, a 1981 batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), has taken over charge as the new chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), the apex policy-making body for indirect taxes. Prior to his elevation, he was Member (Administration) in the Board. He succeeded Vanaja N Sarna, who superannuates on June 30, 2018. The CBIC is the apex body for administering the levy and collection of indirect taxes of the Union of India viz. Central Excise duty, Customs duty and Service Tax, and for facilitating cross border movement of goods & services. It is a part of the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance. It deals with the tasks of formulation of policy concerning levy and collection of Customs & Central Excise duties and Service Tax, prevention of smuggling and administration of matters relating to Customs, Central Excise, Service Tax and Narcotics to the extent under CBEC’s purview.

Notes:
The Union government has constituted a committee a 13-member committee to upgrade the norms for computation of economic data at states and districts level in the backdrop of plans to revise the base year for National Accounts or GDP calculation. The Committee for Sub-National Accounts will be headed by Ravindra H Dholakia, a retired professor of IIM Ahmedabad. Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) will change the base year to 2017-18 for the calculation of GDP and IIP numbers from the existing 2011-12 with an aim to capture changes in the economy. The panel will review the concepts, definitions, classifications, data conventions, data sources and data requirements for preparation of State Domestic Product (SDP) and District Domestic Product (DDP) and to lay down revised guidelines. It will also suggest measures for improving SDP and DDP in the country taking into consideration availability of data and requirements of the Centre and states/union territories.

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:
As per US State Department’s 2018 Trafficking in Persons Report, North Korea has been tagged “worst human trafficking nation” for the 16th straight year, citing the use of forced labour. North Korea has been included in the Tier 3 category, which is the lowest ranking, along with China, Russia and Iran. The report stated that the North Korean government does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so. It is continued to use forced labour in prison camps and labour training centres. In a stark contrast, South Korea has been ranked at the highest category, that is, in the list of Tier 1 countries for the 16th consecutive year, along with US, UK, France and Canada.

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:
Australian hockey team has won the 2018 Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy by defeating India in the final via penalty shoot-off at Breda, the Netherlands on July 1, 2018. It was Australia’s record 15th Champions Trophy title. While India won their second consecutive silver medal, hosts the Netherlands bagged the bronze beating Olympic champions Argentina 2-0 in the third-fourth place match. The 2018 Hockey tournament was the 37th and the last edition of the prestigious Hockey Champions Trophy for men. It will be replaced by the Hockey Pro League (HPL) in 2019.

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:
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.