Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2018

Notes:
Deshna Jain (20), who is from Tikamgarh in Madhya Pradesh, has been crowned the 2018 Miss Asia (Deaf) title and was the 3rd runner-up in the 2018 Miss International (Deaf) contest held in Taipei, Taiwan, from July 8-July 16. At 20, she is also the youngest contestant to take part in the event. It’s the first time since 2009 that an Indian has won any title in the much coveted Miss and Mister Deaf International pageants. Earlier, Deshna became the Miss India (Deaf) 2018 in Jaipur, Rajasthan and represented the country at international platform.

Notes:
The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched the South East Asia’s first-ever Centre for Climate Change (CCC) in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. The purpose of the centre is to accelerate concerted climate action by various stakeholders in government, private, financial and non -government actors. The Lucknow Centre would help NABARD in increasing its capacity building efforts manifold. Besides, the new institution would also extend professional support to stakeholders for designing climate related projects and take up collaborative studies and action research projects in area of climate change. It would also support capacity building and project preparation effort in developing countries in the region as also in Africa.

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The Odisha police has launched a drive to bust an international syndicate that peddles “endangered” pangolin, one of the world’s most illegally traded mammals. Through Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), the Odisha police will crack the international pangolin smuggling racket. MLAT is an agreement between nations to exchange information or provide legal assistance for enforcing laws. Pangolins are the only known mammals with large keratin scales and they use those scales to protect themselves from predators in the wild. They are toothless, nocturnal, live in burrows and feed mainly on ants and termites. Of the 8 species found worldwide, two are found in India: Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) and Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla). Both the species are listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. Hence, hunting, trade or any other form of utilisation of the species or their body parts and derivatives is banned. Beside this, In the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List, Chinese pangolin are listed as “critically endangered” and Indian Pangolin as “endangered”.

Notes:
Dr Harsh Vardhan, the Union Environment Minister, has launched a state-of-the-art Air Quality and Weather Forecast System– SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting) at Chandni Chowk in Delhi on July 21, 2018. The system, first of its kind in India, was developed indigenously in record time by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) Pune and operationalized by India Meteorological Department (IMD). The new system will be able to track UV-Index, PM1, Mercury and Black carbon in real time. SAFAR will monitor all weather parameters like temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed and wind direction. In addition to regular air quality parameters like PM2.5, PM10, Sulfur Dioxide, Ozone, Nitrogen Oxides, Carbon Monoxide, the new system will also monitor the existence of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene. It will be an integral part of India’s first Air Quality Early Warning System operational in Delhi and will strengthen the existing air quality network of SAFAR, Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

Notes:
On July 23, the Lok Sabha passed the Negotiable Instruments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 that allows a court hearing a cheque bounce case to direct the drawer — the person who wrote the cheque — to pay interim compensation to the person who filed the complaint. The interim compensation, to be paid within 60 days of the court’s order, can be up to 20% of the value of the cheque. The court may direct the payee to repay the interim compensation, with interest, if the drawer is acquitted. Now , the bill will go to the Rajya Sabha for its nod. If bill gets Parliament’s nod, it will preserve the sanctity of cheque transactions by stopping the practice of people trying to deliberately delay cases through filing of appeals and obtaining stay a on proceedings. The bill, which amends the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, is aimed to reduce the number of cheque dishonour cases pending in courts.

Notes:
In Cricket, Pawan Shah has created history by registering the 2nd highest individual score in Under-19 internationals against hosts Sri Lanka in the first innings on the 2nd day of the final ‘Youth Test’ in Hambantota on July 25, 2018. The Indian innings was declared when the 18-year-old Pawan Shah from Pune was dismissed at 282. His score came off 332 balls with 33 boundaries and a six in just under 7 hours. With this score, Shah became the 2nd Indian to score a double-century after Tanmay Srivastava, who had scored 220 against Pakistan in Peshawar in September 2006. Though, he failed to beat Australian Clinton Peake’s 304 not out against India in Melbourne in 1995, which is still the highest score at this Under-19 level.

Notes:
India’s first public sector hotel “Hostess” run entirely by women for women will come up in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The flagship project of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) has been launched by the state Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran. ‘Hostess’ will offer state-of-the-art facilities, including automated security features, technology-oriented check-ins and check-outs, laundry service, complimentary breakfast, microwave oven and fitness centre. The facility will have 22 AC rooms and two AC dormitories to host 28 people at a time. Rooms will be charged Rs 1,500 and the dormitory facility Rs 500 for four hours.

Notes:
The National Traders Conclave 2018 has been organized by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) in New Delhi from July 23 to 25 to address various grievances of the trading community and focus on effective solutions. A speaker of CAIT informed that among the rising problems in trades in recent times, FDI in both multi and single-brand retail and merger of Walmart and Flipkart are posing huge challenges on Indian Market. Regarding to this issue, CAIT demanded that the Centre stop the Walmart-Flipkart deal saying it would encourage predatory pricing and benefit only investors and promoters. The conclave, which is being attended by 1,500 trade leaders, had decided to launch a nationwide movement against the deal. The traders’ union also demanded that the government form a policy for e-commerce and constitute a regulatory authority for such businesses. The headquarters of CAIT is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
Swapan Sarkar (67), the Veteran sports journalist, has passed away in New Delhi on July 26, 2018. He was a versatile sports writer and covered football, tennis, cricket, badminton, table tennis and athletics for his publications. He worked for a number of dailies and was also the Delhi sports correspondent of Ananda Bazaar Patrika (ABP) from mid 1990’s. Earlier, he had worked for Kolkata’s english daily Amrita Bazar Patrika (ABP) and Northern India Patrika. He has briefly worked for Gujarat Samachar. Sarkar was a regular in the Delhi sports circuit having covered events like 1982 Asian Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games along with tournaments like Nehru Cup, Federation Cup, Durand Cup and DCM. He has also covered events like Davis Cup, National Athletics meet.

Notes:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has constituted a 16-member committee to examine motor third party insurance pricing aspects and make recommendations on the premium rates for 2019-20. Apart from examining the third party cover pricing aspects, including data related ones; the committee has been tasked to revisit the classification of vehicles, in view of the development in the industry. Its term will be till December 31. This is for the first time IRDAI has formed such a committee, which will be headed by IRDAI Member P.J. Joseph.