Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

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Indian star cricketer Yuvraj Singh has been honoured with the ‘Most inspiring icon of the year for Social Welfare’ award by the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival (DPIFF) for his exemplary contribution in the field of social welfare. Yuvraj, who was a member of India’s 2011 World Cup winning squad, was diagnosed with cancer (mediastinal seminoma) shortly after the World Cup. After successfully completing his chemotherapy cycle in the United States, Yuvraj returned to India in 2012 and made his international comeback in a Twenty20 match against New Zealand. Post his diagnosis, Yuvraj launched the YouWeCan foundation to fight Cancer by spreading awareness about the aggressive disease.

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Tata Motors Ltd.  has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Government of Maharashtra for deployment of 1000 Electric Vehicles (EV) across its range of passenger and commercial vehicles in the State. The company also partnered Tata group company, Tata Power Ltd to set up of EV Charging Stations in the State. The MoU will boost the Maharashtra Electric Vehicle Policy 2018 in accelerating the adoption of Evs in Maharashtra.

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On June 1, the Union Ministry of Culture has launched a new scheme called ‘Seva Bhoj Yojna’ with a total outlay of Rs. 325 Crores for Financial Years 2018-19 and 2019-20. The scheme seeks to reimburse the Central Government share of CGST and IGST so as to lessen the financial burden of such Charitable Religious Institutions who provide Food/Prasad/Langar (Community Kitchen)/Bhandara free of cost without any discrimination to Public/Devotees. The Charitable Religious Institutions such as Temples, Gurudwara, Mosque, Church, Dharmik Ashram, Matth, etc. which have been in existence for at least 5 years before applying for financial assistance/grant and who serve free food to at least 5000 people in a month and such institutions covered under Section 10 (23BBA) of the Income Tax Act or Institutions registered as Society under Societies Registration Act ( XXI of 1860) or as a Public Trust under any law for the time being in force of statuary religious bodies constituted under any Act or institutions registered under Section 12AA of Income Tax Act shall be eligible for grant under the scheme.

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Timothy Pereira (75), the former international footballer who represented Tata FC, has passed away in Mumbai on June 1, 2018. He played for the country in 1967-68. Pereira also played hockey and represented Catholic Gymkhana in the local league.

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Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mansukh L Mandaviya launched the ‘Jan Aushadhi Suvidha’- the Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary Napkin under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) in New Delhi on June 4, 2018. The affordable sanitary napkins will become available at over 3600 Janaushadhi Kendras functional in 33 States/ UTs across India. Jan Aushadhi Suvidha comes with a special additive, which makes it biodegradable when it comes in contact with oxygen after being discarded. The average price of sanitary napkins available in the market today is around Rs 8 per pad, whereas the cost of SUVIDHA napkins is Rs 2.50 per pad.

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Leela Menon (86), the senior journalist and chief editor of Malayalam daily Janmabhumi, has passed away in Kochi, Kerala on June 3, 2018. Menon, who began her journalistic career with The Indian Express in New Delhi in 1978, shot into the limelight for her wide-range of ‘exclusive’ stories and courageous reporting. She used to write for The Hindu, Outlook, and regional dailies. In an era with very few opportunities for woman in media, she broke the glass ceiling by breaking several stories of national relevance like the rampant poverty and prostitution at Aruvacode in Malappuram district, Vypeen hooch tragedy, Suryanelli case and Thopumpaddy prostitution racket. She exposed the first high-profile case of ‘Love Jihad. Ms. Menon penned an autobiography titled ‘Nilaykatha Symphony’.

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The Chandrabhaga beach on the Konark coast of Odisha has become the Asia’s first beach to get the Blue Flag certification — the tag given to environment-friendly and clean beaches, equipped with amenities of international standards for tourists. The beach awarded the honour on World Environment Day (WED) on June 5, 2018. Apart from this, 12 more Indian beaches are being developed by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an Environment Ministry’s body working for the management of coastal areas, in accordance with the Blue Flag certification standards. Among them are the Chiwla and Bhogave beaches in Maharashtra and one beach each from Puducherry, Goa, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Blue Flag beach standards were established by Copenhagen-based Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in 1985. In order to get the Blue Flag tag, a beach has to be plastic-free and be equipped with a waste management system.

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Andhra Pradesh will become the first Indian state to use auto-disable syringes for all clinical purposes to prevent infection. The move will be enforced from the World Hepatitis Day (WHD-2018) when the state government will declare itself as “Safety Injection Use State”. The initiative will ensure one injection will be given from one syringe by mandating universal usage of auto-disable syringes in all clinical/therapeutic cases as part of infection prevention. The move would strengthen the healthcare system by lowering the burden of infections and breaking the cycle of cross infection.

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President Ram Nath Kovind has recently declared the ‘Queen’ variety of pineapple as the state fruit of Tripura. The famous ‘Queen’ variety is spiny, golden yellow in color and emits pleasant aroma and flavor at the ripen stage. The fruits are harvested when eyes turns yellow during mid-May to mid-July when the fruit is available. The average weight of fruit varies from 600 Grams to 800 Grams. It got the Geographical Indication (GI) in 2015 and is the best quality of pineapple in the world. Tripura is one of the largest pineapple growing states in the country and there are more than 100 commercial scale pineapple plantations in the state. Earlier, President Kovind dedicated a 73.71km stretch of National Highway 8 from Mata Tripurasundari temple in Udaipur of Gomati district to Sabroom in South Tripura.

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One June 7, India began their campaign at the 2018 Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Gifu, Japan with a strong start by clinching four medals- – a gold, a silver and two bronze. Ashish Jakhar created a new National U-20 record to clinch the gold medal with a hammer throw of 76.86 in his second attempt while Damneet bagged the silver with a best throw of 74.08. This shattered the previous mark of 75.04 meters that he himself had set at the Junior Federation Cup in April 2018. Beside them, Triple jumper Priyadarshini Suresh and long distance runner Poonam Sonune bagged bronze medals in women’s events.