Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2018

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:
The UN Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSME) Day is observed every year on June 27 to recognize the importance of MSME in achieving sustainable development goals and in promoting innovation, creativity and sustainable work for all. On this day, in 2018, the Government of India (GoI) will organize a National Conclave (Udyam Sangam) to encourage dialogue and partnership among various stakeholders of the MSME ecosystem and for promoting innovation and knowledge sharing on MSME related issues.

Notes:
The International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is observed every year on June 26 to raise awareness of the major problem that illicit drugs represent to society. The theme for 2018 is: “Listen First – Listening to children and youth is the first step to help them grow healthy and safe”. It is an initiative to increase support for prevention of drug use that is based on science and is thus an effective investment in the well-being of children and youth, their families and their communities. It is marked to raise awareness against drug abuse and illegal drug trade. According to the UNODC, nearly 200 million people are using illicit drugs such as cocaine, cannabis, hallucinogens, opiates and sedative hypnotics worldwide.

Notes:
The 2018 World Food Prize will be awarded to two men who have dedicated their careers to improving the availability of nutritious food for pregnant women and children in an effort to reduce the effects of malnutrition in developing countries. These are Dr. Lawrence Haddad and Dr. David Nabarro. Both will split the $250,000 award that goes with the prize. The laureates will be recognized at a ceremony in the Iowa State Capitol Building in Des Moines on Oct 18, 2018. Dr. Haddad is a British economist and food policy researcher, whereas Dr. Nabarro has worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) on health and hunger issues.

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 12th National Statistics Day (NSD-2018) is celebrated on June 29 at the National level in India with theme “Quality Assurance in Official Statistics” to create public awareness about the importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation, and to acknowledge the contribution of Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis. Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation and Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) jointly celebrated 12th Statistics Day and the closing ceremony of the 125th Birth Anniversary of Prof. P. C. Mahalanobis on 29th June 2018 at Kolkata. On the occasion, Vice President of India released a commemorative coin of Rs 125 and circulation coin of Rs 5 denomination as a mark of respect to Prof. Mahalanobis. The Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) at Kolkata, set up by Prof. Mahalanobis in 1931, and was declared an autonomous “Institute of National Importance” through an act of Parliament in 1959.

Notes:
On June 29, Suresh Prabhu, the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, launched a mobile application “ReUnite” in New Delhi to track and trace missing and abandoned children in India. The app is multiuser where parents and citizens can upload pictures of children, and provide detailed description like name, birth mark, address, report to the police station, search and identify missing kids. The photographs will not be saved in the mobile phone’s physical memory. Amazon Rekognition, web facial recognition service, is being used to identify missing kids. The app is available for both Android and iOS.

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.

Notes:
In June 2018, Odisha government entered into a collaboration with the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES), an intergovernmental body under United Nations. RIMES has 48 member nations among Asia Pacific and Africa Region and is aimed at automating risk management, advisory generation and dissemination. This body had evolved in the aftermath of 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami due to efforts of African and Asian Countries.

Notes:
India has moved up one place from 36 in 2016 to 35th spot in 2018 on JLL’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) aided by improvement in market fundamentals, policy reforms, and liberalization of FDI. The report covers 100 markets and is based on 186 indicators divided into six areas –performance measurement, market fundamentals, governance of listed vehicles, regulatory & legal frameworks, transaction process and environmental sustainability.