Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

Notes:
Ivan Duque Marquez , the Conservative political newcomer, has been elected as the new President of Colombia and will assume office on August 7, 2018. He won the 2018 presidential election by 54% of the vote on June 17, 2018. His running mate, Marta Lucía Ramirez, will become first female Vice-President of the country.

Notes:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has set up a 10-member committee to review norms related to Insurance Marketing Firms (IMF) with an aim to increase insurance penetration in the country. The committee, headed by Suresh Mathur (ED-IMF, IRDAI), has been asked to revisit the IRDAI (Registration of Insurance Marketing Firms) Regulations, 2015.The new distribution channel of IMF was introduced in 2015 by IRDAI, with the objective of increasing insurance penetration through an area-wise registration approach. Among other things, the panel has also been asked to provide recommendations for issuing guidelines on the areas on which the regulations are silent. The committee will submit its recommendations by end-July.

Notes:
The Telangana police have launched a mobile-based messenger application “COP CONNECT’ to provide real time information to over 60,000 police officers across the State. The app will also support the police department in improving quality of service delivered to public. The app has been developed based on police’s internal communication strategy, which will enable the entire workforce to pro-actively engage and pass real time information in seconds.Unlike WhatsApp groups which are restricted to only 256 participants, in Cop Connect, one can add any number of groups in a single group. Apart from the text, the internal messaging app will enable to share images, audio, video files and documents. One can also share their current location in the app. It also has an iMeeting option, which will help in creating and scheduling department meeting and setting reminders. The app can be used both offline and online and one can transfer unlimited data.

Notes:
The Parliament of Canada has passed a landmark law that legalizes the recreational use of marijuana nationwide. The Cannabis Act (or Bill C-45) passed its final hurdle on June 20 in a 52-29 vote in the Senate. The bill controls and regulates how the drug can be grown, distributed and sold. Canadians will be able to buy and consume the drug legally as early as September 2018. The new law allows adults to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis in public, but the minimum legal age to buy and consume the drug has been set federally at 18. It makes Canada the first G7 country to legalise the drug’s recreational use and the second to have a nationwide, legal marijuana market, after Uruguay. The Group of Seven (G7) is a group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Marijuana is a psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant intended for medical or recreational use.

Notes:
The Central Government has constituted a Chief Ministers Subgroup to coordinate policy approaches for Agriculture and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). In it, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh is the convener and Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Sikkim along with Member, NITI Aayog, Ramesh Chand are the members. The terms of reference of the sub-group include suggesting a wider choice of state specific interventions both for pre-sowing and post-harvest to further improve the thrust on incomes, water conservation and waste to wealth. The move comes in the backdrop of the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi towards doubling farmers’ income by 2022. It comes close on the heels of unanimous decision taken at the 4th meeting of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog on June 17, 2018. The Sub-Group will submit its report within 3 months from its date of constitution.

Notes:
The Union Human Resource Development Minister, Prakash Javadekar launched the new digital initiative of HRD Ministry ‘National Digital Library of India (NDLI)’on the occasion of National Reading Day (NRD) in New Delhi on June 19, 2018. It is a project of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) under the aegis of National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT). The purpose of NDL is to make digital educational resources available to all citizens of the country to empower, inspire and encourage learning. The NDLI, which is developed by IIT Kharagpur, is the single window platform that collects and collates metadata from premier learning institutions in India and abroad, as well as other relevant sources. It is a digital repository containing textbooks, articles, videos, audio books, lectures, simulations, fiction and all other kinds of learning media.

Notes:
On June 19, the United States has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and condemned alleged hypocrisy of its members and bias against Israel. The announcement came after the top UN human rights official criticised Washington for separating migrant children from their parents who are seeking asylum after crossing into the country from Mexico. It must be noted that Washington’s withdrawal is the latest US rejection of multilateral engagement after it pulled out of the Paris climate agreement and the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. It’s not first time that the US has opted to stay out of the UNHRC. When the Council was established in 2006, the administration of George W. Bush withheld its membership over similar concerns. The U.S. joined the body only in 2009 under President Barack Obama. The UNHRC is composed of 47 members — and this is the first time a sitting member country has voluntarily decided to leave. Though, Libya was suspended in 2011 after a government crackdown on unarmed protesters.

Notes:
The Punjab Government has launched a smartphone application ‘i-Hariyali’, which aims to inspire people to plant more saplings to save the environment from pollution. It will ensure clean, green, healthy and robust Punjab with the active participation of people. The app would enable the users to order free plant saplings. The users can book a sapling of their choice, a maximum of 25 per person, from a nearby government nursery. Once the booking is done, the contact number of the concerned employee of the nursery or the forest guard will be displayed on the mobile phone of the person. The ‘i-Hariyali’ app, under ‘Mission Tandarust Punjab’ can be downloaded from the app store for free.

Notes:
Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi (94), the renowned Urdu satirist and humourist of the Indian subcontinent, has passed away in Karachi, Pakistan on June 20, 2018. He was widely admired in the literary circles for his unique way of writing and subtle satire. Born in Jaipur (Rajasthan ) in 1923 and educated at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Yousafi migrated to Pakistan in 1956 and became a career banker. Some of his most popular works include Chiragh Talay, Khakam-ba-dahan, Zarguzasht, Aab-E-gum and Sham-e-Shair-e-Yaaraan. In recognition of his contributions to Urdu literature, the Government of Pakistan conferred upon him two highest literary awards Sitara-i-Imtiaz and Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 1999 and 2002, respectively. The Hilal-i-Imtiaz is the highest literary honour given by the Pakistan government to civilians.

Notes:
Kidambi Srikanth , who is the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games gold-medal winning shuttler, has been adjudged as the Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson Of The Year award for 2017 in New Delhi. Beside this, renowned hockey player Dhanraj Pillay was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Other winners included the women’s cricket team, which bagged the ‘Team of the Year’ award while the national football team coach Stephen Constantine clinched the ‘Coach of the Year’ title. Tennis veteran Leander Paes was awarded ‘Outstanding contribution to Sport’ while I-League side Aizawl FC were named Editor’s Choice for Excellence (Team) and Commonwealth gold medallist Jitu Rai―Editor’s Choice for Excellence (Male). Young paddler Manav Thakkar and golfer Shubhankar Sharma were named ‘Young Sportsperson of the Year’ and ‘Gamechanger of the Year’ respectively.