Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

Notes:
Indian woman boxer Saweety Boora claimed a gold medal in the middleweight category at the Umakhanov Memorial Tournament in Kaspiysk, Russia on June 12, 2018. She beat home favourite Anna Anfinogenova in the final to finish on top in the 75 kilogram category. Saweety was the only Indian among women to make it to the Final. She is also a former world championship silver-medallist. However, in the men’s draw, Brijesh Yadav (81kg) and Virender Kumar (91kg) lost their respective summit clashes to end with silver medals. Earlier, World youth champion Shashi Chopra in 57 kg division, former Commonwealth Games bronze-medallist Pinki Jangra in 51 kgs and Pavitra in 60 kgs had, lost their semifinal bouts to settle for Bronze medals.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the nomination of the Union Home Minister as the ex-officio chairman of the North Eastern Council (NEC). The NEC is a statutory body with Governors and Chief Ministers of all the eight North Eastern States as its Member. The Cabinet also approved that Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of DoNER would serve as Vice Chairman of the Council. As per new arrangement, NEC will provide a forum for discussing inter-state matters more comprehensively and also consider common approaches to be taken in future. NEC can now also perform the tasks undertaken by the various Zonal Councils to discuss such inter-State issues as drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition, boundary disputes etc. This re-positioning of NEC will help it to become a more effective body for the North Eastern Region.

Notes:
Dr Inder Jit Singh, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Kerala Cadre, has been appointed the coal secretary in New Delhi. He succeeded Susheel Kumar. Prior to his appointment as Coal Secretary, he, was posted as Secretary (Coordination) in Cabinet Secretariat. Dr Singh is a Ph.D in Economics from Punjab University.

Notes:
India has been ranked 177th among 180 nations at the 2018 Global Environment Performance Index (EPI) rankings. As per State of India’s Environment (SoE) 2018 in Figures, India scored 5.75 out of 100 in air quality. The SoE in Figures is an annual compendium of environmental statistics put together by Down To Earth magazine, which Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) helps publish. The SoE in Figures 2018 covers diverse subjects ranging from air pollution to environmental crimes & sanitation to energy security. The 2018 EPI provides a quantitative basis for comparing, analyzing, and understanding environmental performance for 180 countries. Low scores on the EPI are indicative of the need for national sustainability efforts on a number of fronts, especially cleaning up air quality, protecting biodiversity, and reducing GHG emissions. The top five countries in terms of green rankings are Switzerland, France, Denmark, Malta and Sweden.

Notes:
The 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC-2019) will be held at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, Punjab from 3rd to 7th January 2019. The theme of the 5-day science congress is ‘Future India: Science & Technology’. Approx 15,000 delegates, including 300 top scientists and Nobel Laureates from across world are expected to attend the congress. The science congress will have 18 plenary sessions, including those of medical, chemical, environmental and other science domains. There will also be four parallel mega events, including the children’s science conference; women’s science conference; science communicators’ meet; and, science exhibition. The exhibition will see participation from the national and international science companies, especially from the US, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

Notes:
Dhivya Suryadevara, an Indian-American woman, has been named the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) of the US’ largest automaker, General Motors (GM). With this, she will become the first woman CFO in the auto industry. Currently, she is the vice president of corporate finance and will succeed Chuck Stevens on 1st September 2018. She will report to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Barra who has been head of the automaker since 2014.

Notes:
The Kodiveri Dam is located on the Bhavani river near Gobichettipalayam in Tamil Nadu. The dam irrigates an area of 24,504 acres. The Bhavani river is the second longest river in Tamil Nadu and a major tributary of the Kaveri River.

Notes:
Flying Officer Meghana Shanbough MR, an engineering graduate, has become the sixth female fighter pilot to join the ranks of Indian Air Force (IAF). She is the first from Karnataka and South India. She graduates from the Air Force Academy (AFA) in Dundigal. The other fighter pilots: Avani Chaturvedi from Madhya Pradesh, Bhawana Kanth from Bihar and Mohana Singh from Rajasthan have already scripted history by becoming the first-ever women to undergo fighter pilot training in IAF at Hakimpet Air Force station in Hyderabad.

Notes:
The International Domestic Workers Day (IDWD) is celebrated every year across the world on June 16 to assert the rights of this vast but hidden workforce. On this day in 2011, IDWD was declared to commemorate the adoption of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention C189. C189 set labour standards for domestic workers such as rest hours, wages, min age, and living arrangements. So far, 25 countries ratified the convention, recognizing millions of domestic workers and giving them a voice to advocate for their rights. According to the ILO, there are around 53 million domestic workers worldwide, 83% of whom are women. In India, 3 out of 5 domestic workers are women.

Notes:
The Jawai dam is built across the Jawai river, a tributary of Luni river, and is situated near Sumerpur town in Pali District of Rajasthan. The dam was built by Maharaja Umaid Singh of Jodhpur. This is the biggest dam in the western Rajasthan. The dam has capacity of 7887.5 million cubic feet and covers an area of 102,315 acres of cultivable command area. Its height is about 61.25 feet. Sei dam and Kalibor dam are the feeder dams of the Jawai dam.