Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

Notes:
The naval forces of India and Bangladesh will conduct the joint patrol exercise “Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT)” in the Bay of Bengal from June 27. The first edition of 3-day naval exercise will be inaugurated by Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the naval staff (CNS) of India, who is visiting Bangladesh from June 24. The purpose of the Lanba’s visit is to consolidate bilateral defence relations between India and Bangladesh and to explore new avenues for naval cooperation. In the CORPAT exercise, four maritime patrol aircraft, two from the Bangladesh Navy and two from the Indian navy, and four frigates, two from the Bangladesh Navy (BNS Abu Bakar and BNS Dhaleswari) and two from the Indian navy (INS Satpura and INS Kadmatt) will participate.

Notes:
The 58th National Interstate Senior Athletics Championships 2018 has started in Guwahati, Assam on June 26. The event was inaugurated by Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal. Over 800 players are taking part in the 4-day event. The Indian athletics team for the upcoming Asian Games 2018 to be held at Jakarta will be selected from this meet. Competitions will be held in a total of 42 categories, 21 in men and 21 in women.

Notes:
Lewis Hamilton, a British racing driver who races in Formula One for Mercedes AMG Petronas, has won the 2018 Formula One French Grand Prix tournament at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France on June 24.

Notes:
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has launched report titled ‘Women in Prisons’ which aims to build an understanding of the various entitlements of women in prisons, the various issues faced by them and possible methods for resolution of the same. The report contains a comprehensive list of 134 recommendations for improving the lives of women under incarceration, addressing a wide range of issues pertaining to pregnancy and childbirth in prison, mental health, legal aid, reintegration in society and their care giving responsibilities among others. The report proposes that bail should be granted to those under-trial women who have spent one-third of their maximum possible sentence in detention, by making necessary changes in Section 436A of the CrPC which provides for release after half of the maximum sentence has been served.

Notes:
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) is organizing a two-day National Seminar on “Conservation of Particularly Vulnerable Tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands” in New Delhi from June 27, 2018. The purpose of the seminar is to decide how to preserve the habitat and culture of these tribal groups. This Seminar is being organized in collaboration with Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) and its theme is ‘The Way Forward’. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are home to the most primitive tribal groups: Great Andamanese, Onge, Jarawa, Sentinelese, Nicobarese and Shompens. Some of these tribal groups are on the verge of extinction. It is important to understand the challenges they face and to preserve them. With these objectives in view, the NCST, a Constitutional body set up under Article 338(A) of the Constitution to protect the interests of Scheduled Tribes, is organizing for the first time a two-day Seminar.

Notes:
The Gangrel Dam is built across the Mahanadi River in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh. It is also known as the R.S. Sagar Dam and is the longest dam in Chhattisgarh. This dam supplies year round irrigation, allowing farmers to harvest two crops per year. The dam also supplies 10 MW of hydro-electric power capacity.

Notes:
The Ministry of Shipping’s flagship programme for port-led-prosperity ‘Sagarmala’ received the ‘Gold Award’ in infrastructure sector in the recently concluded 52nd Skoch Summit 2018 in New Delhi. The award recognizes the programmes’s contribution to India’s socio-economic transformation and it’s role in propelling fast-track growth and infrastructure development. The Sagarmala Programme also received the ‘Order of Merit’ at the Summit. The Skoch Awards recognize leadership and excellence in accelerating socio-economic changes. These awards have become a benchmark of best practices in India in the fields of governance, infrastructure, finance, banking, technology, corporate citizenship, economics and inclusive growth.

Notes:
The NITI Aayog released the First Delta Ranking (incremental progress) of the Aspirational Districts Programme in New Delhi on June 29, 2018. The ranking measured the incremental progress made by districts between 31st of March and 31st of May, 2018. The Dahod district of Gujarat with 19.8 points ranked first in the Delta ranking, while West Sikkim district in Sikkim stood second with 18.9 points. The districts have been ranked in a transparent basis on parameters across Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development and Basic Infrastructure through 49 key performance indicators. The purpose of this ranking is to spur a sense of competition among the dynamic teams in the districts. The knowledge partners of NITI Aayog – Tata Trusts, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (ID Insights) – are expected to provide data on 13 survey indicators and have validated values for 29 data-points. The next ranking will take into account these inputs and will be released soon thereafter.

Notes:
The book “Vedvigyan Alok” (Maharishi Aitareya Mahidas Praneet – Aitareya Brahmina ki Vaigyanik Vyakhya) has been authored by Acharya Agnivarat Naishthik. It is recently received by M. Venkaiah Naidu, the Vice President of India. The book is the scriptural verse in Vedas’ prose. The Brahman textbooks are placed second in order of preference of Vedic literature. These texts were composed only by the Brahmin community; hence their names are called “Brahmins”. Their language is Vedic Sanskrit which has been considered extremely complicated. All these are written according to the Vedas that means all the four Vedas get different Brahmins.

Notes:
On occasion of 2nd UN Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, 2018, President of India Ram Nath Kovind launched the Solar Charkha Mission covering artisans in 50 identified clusters. The mission will provide a subsidy of Rs 550 crore in the initial two years for 50 clusters and every cluster will employ 400 to 2000 artisans. Objective is to link 5 crore women to this initiative. The mission will generate employment in rural areas and contribute to the green economy.