Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

Notes:
The International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is observed every year on June 19 to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world and to pay tribute to all those who have courageously devoted their lives to and lost their lives in standing up for the eradication of these crimes. The date was chosen to commemorate the adoption on June 19, 2008 of UN Security Council resolution 1820 (2008), in which the 15-nation council condemned sexual violence as a tactic of war and an impediment to peace-building. The 2018 Theme is “The Plight and Rights of Children Born of War”.

Notes:
India will host the 3rd annual meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in Mumbai on June 25-26, 2018. It will be jointly hosted by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) and AIIB. The theme for 2018 meeting is “Mobilizing Finance for Infrastructure: Innovation and Collaboration” that will see leaders from varied organizations and levels of government to share ideas and experiences for creating a sustainable future through sound infrastructure investment. The meeting will witness the presence of top policy makers, Ministers from AIIB members, participants from partner institutions, the private sector and civil society organizations.

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.

Notes:
Gautam Kanjilal (68), who was one of the pioneers in rock climbing in India and veteran mountaineer, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on June 22, 2018. An engineer by profession and a member of city-based mountaineering club Himalayan Association, Kanjilal began his outward bound activities way back in 1970 when he attended a rock climbing course at Susunia Hills. Subsequently he underwent training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling and took part in the expedition to hitherto unclimbed Sudarshan in 1978. He also acted as an instructor and course commandant in various rock climbing and adventure courses till a few years back. A keen rock climber, Kanjilal explored quite a few rock routes in the hills of Bankura and Purulia districts and one of them is named after him ( Kanjimal ) which he pioneered along with three other rock climbers during late 1970s.

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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.

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India has extended a $100 million line of credit to Seychelles to allow it to build its defense capabilities and purchase weapons from India. The two nations also signed six Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), including in the area of infrastructure development in Seychelles, cyber security and white-shipping arrangement that would enable the two countries to exchange data regarding identity and movement of non-military commercial vessels. As promised by PM Modi during his visit there in 2015, India also gifted the 2nd Dornier aircraft to Seychelles ahead of its National Day on June 29, 2018. Both the nations agreed to work together on the Assumption Island project based on each other’s interests. It comes with a good note for India because the deal for an Indian military base in the Island was recently declared as ‘dead’ by Seychelles President Danny Faure.

Notes:
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has restricted the manufacture of Oxytocin formulations for domestic use to public sector only from 1st July 2018. It has also banned the import of Oxytocin and its formulations. Only Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd (KAPL), a public sector company, would be manufacturing this drug for domestic use from 1st July 2018. The Oxytocin formulations meant for domestic consumption will be supplied by the manufacturer, i.e. KAPL, to the registered hospitals and clinics in public and private sector directly. Oxytocin in any form or name will not be allowed to be sold through retail Chemist. Oxytocin is a naturally-occurring hormone that causes uterine contractions during labour and helps new mothers lactate. But, its misuse is widespread in the dairy industry, where livestock are injected with oxytocin to make them release milk at a time convenient to farmers. The hormone is also used to increase the size of vegetables and fruits such as pumpkins, watermelons, brinjals, gourds and cucumbers.

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:
Yousaf Saleem, who belongs to Lahore, has been sworn-in as the first-ever visually impaired judge of Pakistan. He was among 21 judges who took the oath to be sworn in as a civil judges on June 26, 2018. Yousaf is the son of a charted accountant and is visually impaired by birth. He has four sisters and two of them are also visually impaired. His sister Saima Saleem became first visually impaired civil servant in 2007 and is currently serving with Prime Minister Secretariat while the other sister is a university lecturer.

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.