Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
P.K. Shrivastava has taken over charge as the new Director General of Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and chairman of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) with effect from July 1, 2018. Previously, he was Additional DGOF and member at OFB, and was in charge of Armoured Vehicles, headquartered in Avadi, Chennai. The OFB is an industrial organisation, functioning under the Department of Defence Production of Ministry of Defence. The headquarters of OFB is located in Kolkata, West Bengal.

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:
India’s first ‘MOVE: Global Mobility Summit’ will be organised by NITI Aayog in New Delhi on September 7-8, 2018. The six themes for the summit are: Asset Utilization and Service, Comprehensive Electrification, Alternative Energy, Reinventing Public Transit, Logistics and Goods Transport, and Data Analytics and Mobility. The purpose of the MOVE Summit is to bring together and engage with key stakeholders within the rapidly transforming global mobility landscape and to evolve a public interest framework for a shared, connected, zero emission and inclusive mobility agenda for the future. This Summit will help drive Government’s goals for vehicle electrification, renewable energy integration and job growth and also speed up India’s transition to a clean energy economy. Approx 1,200 experts from across the world including Government leadership, Industry leaders, Research Organizations, Academia, Think Tanks and Civil Society Organisation will participate.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government and the delegates of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) have recently signed a pact for the establishment of a Gaming Digital Learning Hub in the state. As per agreement, UNESCO will soon set up the Design University for Gaming in Visakhapatnam. For the installation of the university, UNESCO has asked the state government to allocate 100 acres of land in Visakhapatnam for developing the city as International Gaming and Digital Learning Hub. The hub is being seen as potential medium for creating around 50,000 jobs in 10 years. The UNESCO delegates stated that Gaming Technology will be the best source of income in future and IT giants like UBSoft, Samsung, Microsoft etc are ready to establish their centres in Visakhapatnam.

Notes:
Bajrang Punia from India has clinched gold in the 65kg category at the 2018 Tbilisi Grand Prix tournament by defeating Iranian wrestler Mehran Nasiri in the final in Georgia on July 6, 2018The win shows that Bajrang will be a serious medal contender at the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia. He will represent India in the 65kg after Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) handed him exemption from trials. . Punia is the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

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:
Uday Kumar Varma, the former Information and Broadcasting secretary, has been appointed as new member of the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), a self-regulatory body for general entertainment channels. Varma, who is former IAS officer of 1976 batch from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, succeeded Wajahat Habibullah. The 13-member council, chaired by former Supreme Court judge Justice Vikramajit Sen, has actor Sharmila Tagore, theatre person Arundhati Nag and JNU professor Ira Bhaskar as some of its members, besides representatives of the National Commission for Women, National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights and the National Commission for Minorities, among others. The BCCC is an independent self-regulatory body set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) in June 2011 to look into complaints pertaining to all non-news general entertainment channels in India.

Notes:
Kabutari Devi (70), the famous Kumaoni folk singer, has passed away in Pithoragarh , Uttarakhand on July 7, 2018. Devi, whose songs depicted the struggles in the life of Pahari women, shot to fame after her maiden performance at All India Radio, Lucknow in the 1980s. The folk singer has received several honours, which includes the Ministry of Culture, Government of Uttarakhand for her outstanding contribution which echoed the sound of Kumaon hills. Devi is remembered by folk historians as an original voice that represented the culture of the hills.

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:
The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Prakash Javadekar inaugurated the 17th World Sanskrit Conference (WSC) in Vancouver, Canada on July 9, 2018. More than 500 scholars and delegates from over 40 countries are participating in the 5-day conference and will exchange their knowledge by presenting papers on various subjects. There will be a special panel discussion on over a dozen topics like – History and Education of Women in Vedic Literature, Sanskrit Buddhist Manus, introducing Bhagavata Purana Commentaries and research on the Gargiyajyotisa. Over 500 papers on various themes are likely to be presented during the conference. The purpose of this conference is to promote, preserve and practice the Sanskrit language all over the world by the people. The World Sanskrit Conference is being held in various countries across the globe once in every three years and so far it has been held thrice in India.