Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

Notes:
Kendrick Lamar, an American rapper and songwriter, has won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his acclaimed album ‘Damn’ at Columbia University in New York. With this, Damn has created history by becoming the first non-classical and non-jazz work to earn the accolade.

Notes:
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has launched a new Ensemble Prediction Systems (EPS) to provide probabilistic weather forecasts up to the next 10 days. According to IMD, these new systems shall improve upon deterministic forecasts that are prone to high margins of error. These systems also use a higher resolution 12 km grid scale, instead of the 23 km resolution that has been in use till now. The forecast related to the intensity of the weather will also be more accurate and colour coded. The new model has been developed jointly by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting. With this new model, India joins the US with a model that predicts with a 12 km resolution. Only the ‘European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast’ has a better 9-kilometer resolution. Better forecasts lead to better management agriculture and water resources. It also helps promote tourism, solar and wind energy.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has recently presented the ‘Santokbaa Humanitarian Award’ to two noted personalities viz. Child rights activist and Noble Laureate Kailash Satyarthi and space scientist A S Kiran Kumar, former chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Surat, Gujarat. The award, instituted by Shree Ramkrishna Knowledge Foundaton (SRKKF) and led by diamond baron Govind Dholakia, includes a trophy and a prize money of Rs 1 crore each to the awardees. SRKKF confers the award every year for humanitarian contributions by individuals whose life and work are characterised by their selfless and inspiring service.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
India is the global host nation for the 43rd edition of World Environment Day (WED -2018) event, which has started on June 5, 2018. Environment Ministers, representatives from United Nations and members from various industry bodies will be among the various dignitaries who will attend the event. The day is a platform for encouraging awareness and propagating the need for protecting the environment. The 2018 theme is “Beat Plastic Pollution”. Plastic, which is rampantly polluting our water bodies, harming marine life and posing a threat to human health, has been one of the major concerns of environmental bodies this year. This day is a call for awakening of individuals to take charge of protecting their environment and to realize the severity of plastic usage in daily life.

Notes:
Veteran producer Pippa Harris has been appointed as the new chairperson of British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) for a period of 2 years. She will succeed Jane Lush. Prior to this post, she was the deputy chair of BAFTA. Harris is best known as having established Neal Street Productions, which she set up with Sam Mendes and Caro Newling in 2003 and continues to run its film and TV division with Nicolas Brown. In the past, Harris has served as the head of drama commissioning for the BBC where her commissions included “The Lost Prince”, “State of Play” and “Daniel Deronda”.

Notes:
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’.

Notes:
NTPC Ltd has adopted the iconic Charminar in Hyderabad under the Swachh Iconic Places Projects of India. This is part of a special drive under the Centre’s Swachh Bharat Mission. NTPC Ltd and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) have signed an MoU for implementation of development and beautification works under the Charminar Pedestrianization Project in Hyderabad. The works includes providing battery-operated vehicles for visitors, bollards to prevent traffic, Swachh Auto Tippers (SAT) for carting garbage, mechanical sweeping vehicles and litter picking machines, decorative and halogen lighting of four arches, construction of public utilities, toilets and drinking water ATM kiosks. Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, who was the fifth sultan of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golkonda, founded the city of Hyderabad and built Charminar in 1591.

Notes:
The IBSA Foreign Ministers’ Meeting was held in Pretoria, South Africa on June 4, 2018. The External Affairs Minister of the Republic of India, Sushma Swaraj chaired the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) ministerial meet and hold talks on how to deepen coordination among the three countries on major global issues. On this occasion, Ministers adopted and jointly released the IBSA Declaration on South-South Cooperation, to contribute to greater understanding of development cooperation as a common endeavor of the Global South. The Ministers also considered proposed IBSA events planned for 2018-19 to mark the fifteenth-anniversary of IBSA. The Ministers agreed to host these events in all three countries as well as on the margins of multilateral events.

Notes:
The Union Government has constituted a group of eminent persons to study the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Policy of India. The group will be headed by Industrialist Baba Kalyani. The group will evaluate the SEZ policy, suggest measures to cater to the needs of exporters in the present economic scenario and make the SEZ policy WTO compatible. The Group has to submit its recommendation in 3 months. The SEZ Policy was implemented from 1st April, 2000. Subsequently, the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 was passed by Parliament in May, 2005 which received Presidential assent on the 23rd June, 2005 and the Special Economic Zone Act was enacted. The SEZ Act, 2005, supported by SEZ Rules, came into effect on 10th February, 2006.