Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

Notes:
India has recently signed Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) in nursing with Singapore which would allow nurses trained in seven nursing institutions across India to gain employment in the South-East Asian country. MRAs pave the way for recognition of the professional bodies of one country by the other. Regulatory bodies of various professional services like engineering, nursing, accountancy and architecture are encouraged to enter into these pacts. These pacts are part of free trade agreements (FTAs) that India has signed with several regions, including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Asean. India and Singapore entered into FTA in August 2005.

Notes:
Dr. Dinesh Gupta, an officer of the 1983 UPSC batch, has been appointed as the new Director General (DG) of the Geological Survey of India (GSI). He took over from N Kutumba Rao to become the 47th DG of the GSI. Gupta is an expert in mineral exploration and responsibility has been given to him to steer GSI in this field.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
On June 3, the Indian Navy evacuated 38 stranded Indians from Socotra Island in Yemen where they were stranded for nearly 10 days after a severe Cyclonic storm Mekunu hit the area. The Navy evacuated the Indians as part of operation code name ‘NISTAR’, carried out off the coast of Socotra and embarked them at Indian Naval ship INS Sunayna to bring them back to India. The evacuated Indians were immediately provided with medical care, food, water and telephone facilities to call and reassure their families at home. The Island of Socotra is considered the jewel of biodiversity in the Arabian Sea and is recognised as a world natural heritage site by UNESCO in 2008. It is one of the most isolated landforms on Earth that a third of its plant life is found nowhere else on the planet. Notable are the dragon’s blood trees that look like flying saucers perched on trunks.

Notes:
India is hosting the 3rd Asia Cup International Bridge Championship 2018 in Goa from June 4 and will see participation from countries including Australia, Bangladesh, China, Japan and Korea. The championship will be contested in five categories namely men, women, mixed, super-mixed and senior. Players from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Singapore and Thailand will be participating in the event. Round robin matches will be played from the June 5-8. Four top teams in each category will progress to the knock-out stage.  Semi-finals will be contested on June 9 and. The finals and play-offs for 3rd place will be played on June 10. The tournament will also have a Match Point pairs contest which is an open event.

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:
A. Dhiraj Ram Krishna, a young engineer from Coimbatore, has won the ‘National Gopal Ratna’ award from the Central Government on June 2 for cattle rearing and dairying. He received the award from the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Radha Mohan Singh in New Delhi for ‘upkeep of the best dairy animals of indigenous breeds’.

Notes:
Sanjana Ramesh has won the ‘Most Valuable Player’ (MVP) award at the Basketball Without Borders Asia 2018, which featured 66 campers from 16 countries from the Asia-Pacific region. Her compatriot Vaishnavi Yadav won the ‘Girls Grit Award’ in the camp. The camp got underway with the girls championship game between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx. Coached on the sidelines by Ruth Riley and Sakshi Sheoran, the Lynx defeated the Liberty 20-13.

Notes:
On June 6, the screening of the biopic ‘Making of the Mahatma’ in Pietermaritzburg marked the opening of a three-day series of events to commemorate the historic incident 125 years ago when Mahatma Gandhi was evicted from a train because the compartment he was in was reserved for whites only. On the night of June 7, 1893, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, a young lawyer then, was thrown off the train’s first class compartment at Pietermaritzburg station in South Africa for refusing to give up his seat. The incident led him to develop his Satyagraha principles of peaceful resistance and mobilise people in South Africa and in India against the discriminatory rules of the British. The film, a co-production between India and South Africa, was made in 1996, soon after Nelson Mandela ascended to the position of South Africa’s first democratically-elected President. The film was directed by Shyam Benegal based on the book ‘Apprenticeship of a Mahatma’ by late freedom activist Prof Fatima Meer.

Notes:
The Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Third Asia- Pacific Regional Policy Forum on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) have started in Kathmandu, Nepal on June 5, 2018. The 3 day event is hosted by the Government of Nepal (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology). Policy markers, government officials, development professional, researchers and representatives from various organisations working in early childhood development, care and education from 40 countries including India are participating in the conference.