Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has launched a mobile help centre “‘Saathi'” to reach out to people undertaking the annual pilgrimage to the 3,880-metre high holy cave shrine of Amarnath. The initiative ‘Saathi’ was launched by Abhay Vir Chauhan , the Inspector General of CRPF (Jammu Sector). The purpose of this initiative is to provide help and information to yatris staying in camps outside the Bhagwati Nagar base camp in Jammu. The CRPF personnel of the mobile help centre will be visiting various camps in Jammu and apprising the pilgrims about the security measures to be kept in mind. In addition , the trained CRPF personnel of the centre would provide first aid treatment to people in need and would also be distributing medicines. Beside this, a help desk of the CRPF is already functional at the Bhagwati Nagar Base Camp and another named ‘Madadgaar’ (helper) at the Jammu Tawi Railway Station and other information centres.

Notes:
The Western Ghats (India) bagged the 4th best tourist spot in Lonely Planet’s top five “2018 Best in Asia” list, a collection of 10 of the best destinations to visit in the continent for the year. The Western Ghats is older than the Himalayas and well known for its rich and unique flora and fauna. It is one of the Hottest Biodiversity Hotspots and UNESCO World Heritage site. It supports the life of 7,402 species of flowering plants, 1814 species of non-flowering plants, 139 mammal species, 508 bird species, 179 amphibian species, 6000 insects species and 290 freshwater fish species. Lonely Planet is considered a Bible by travellers worldwide. The list is topped by Busan in South Korea, followed by Uzbekistan and Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).

Notes:
The Rajya Sabha has, for the first time in 76 years since it came into being, entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a foreign counterpart for promoting inter-parliamentary dialogue. With this, M. Venkaiah Naidu became the first Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to sign such an agreement. He signed an MOU with the visiting President of the Senate of the Republic of Rwanda, Bernard Makuza, on 10th July 2018. The MOU with 6 articles of cooperation seeks to promote Inter-Parliamentary dialogue, Capacity building of parliamentary staff, Organisation of conferences, forums, seminars, staff attachment programmes, workshops and exchanges, Collaboration in mutual interest in regional and international multilateral parliamentary bodies in furtherance of bilateral relations and friendship between the two nations.

Notes:
The Rajasthan government has signed a MoU with Microsoft to provide free digital training to 9,500 students of 50 government colleges in a year. It will also train 500 faculty members. The objective of this pact is to develop technical education at government colleges, capacity building, increasing digital literacy and improving digital education in Rajasthan. The initiative will enhance the employability of youth in the state in addition to empowering them with technical education. Microsoft will also train educators from government colleges through the Microsoft Innovative Educator Programme, building capacity for innovative use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the classroom

Notes:
For the first time, Indian Navy’s Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft Boeing P- 8I (Poseidon Eight India) from Indian Naval Ship (INS) Rajali has inducted for participating in the 26th edition of RIMPAC-18, the Rim of the Pacific Multinational Naval exercise. During the exercise, IN P8I will be operating from Joint Airbase Hickam, Honolulu in Hawaii. This is the first time ever that an Indian Naval aircraft has traversed so far east into the Pacific. In doing so, the aircraft has attained many additional firsts for an IN aircraft. It is the first IN aircraft to cross the International Date Line, undertaking the longest ferry of nearly 3300 nm from Guam to Hawaii and the first IN aircraft to participate in RIMPAC. RIMPAC is the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise. It is hosted and administered by the United States Navy’s Pacific Fleet, headquartered at Pearl Harbor.

Notes:
Dr. TCA Raghavan, a 1982 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), has been appointed as Director General of Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) with effect from 24th July 2018. The post is equivalent to the rank of Secretary to the Government of India (GoI). Earlier, Dr. Raghavan has served as India’s High Commissioner to Islamabad and Singapore and has served in our missions at London, Thimphu and Kuwait.

Notes:
Dada JP Vaswani (99),the Spiritual leader and head of Sadhu Vaswani mission, has passed away in Pune, Maharashtra on July 12, 2018. Born in Hyderabad, Sindh (Pakistan) on 2nd of August 1918, Vaswani was a world renowned spiritual leader known for promoting vegetarianism and animal rights. He is credited to have written over 150 self-help books. Sadhu Thanwardas Lilaram Vaswani, who founded Sadhu Vaswani Mission, was his Guru. He was the recipient of the 1998 U Thant Peace Award, given by the United Nations. Dada Vaswani’s birthday is celebrated as a Global Forgiveness Day.

Notes:
The play script “Hello Farmaish”, which is being shortlisted for The Hindu Playwright Award 2018, is written by Sneh Sapru. The play script is a satire that describes as a drama with bold streaks of magic realism. The winner of The Hindu Playwright Award will be announced on August 9, 2018 on the eve of the opening of the 14th edition of The Hindu Theatre Fest in Chennai on August 10. The award, instituted in 2008, carries a prize of Rs 2 lakh for the best original, unpublished and unperformed play script in English.

Notes:
Shrimat Pandey is the newly-appointed chairman of the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) and will have tenure of five years. Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, the Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court, administered oath of office to Pandey. The Commission was established on 2nd January 2000 under the ERC Act, 1998 o play a more effective role in the development of energy sector.

Notes:
Angelique Kerber has won the 2018 women singles’ Wimbledon tennis tournament by defeating 7-time winner Serena Williams by 6-3 6-3. With the win, Kerber has become the first German woman to win the title since Steffi Graf in 1996. Serena was bidding a record-equaling 24th major trophy.