Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2018

Notes:
The 42nd Civil Accounts Day (CAD-2018) was celebrated by Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) on March 1 in New Delhi to mark the 42nd anniversary of the beginning of the ICAS on this day in 1976. The ICAA is one of the Civil Services of India (“Group A”), which functions under the Department of Expenditure in the Union Ministry of Finance. It performs a key role in delivery of financial management services for the Government of India. The organisation provides payment services, supports the tax collection system, performs government wide accounting, financial reporting functions, preparation of budget estimates and carries out Internal Audit in civil ministries of the Union Government.

Notes:
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the fields of arts and politics at a ceremony in the UK’s Parliament complex on March 2, 2018. The annual ‘Political and Public Life Awards’ presented by Britain’s Asian Voice weekly newspaper, recognises individuals who have made a significant impact on public life or made a difference in their local communities. Sinha, who started his career as an actor in late 1960s, has to his credit over 225 Hindi feature films besides several in other Indian languages. A member of the ruling BJP, he represents Bihar state’s Patna Sahib constituency in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament.

Notes:
The mega annual cultural festival ‘India by the Nile’ will be held in Cairo, Egypt from March 6, 2018 with main focus on classical culture. The 12-day event will host a wide range of events to celebrate Indian culture and its diversity. It is the biggest foreign festival in Egypt which provides audiences an Indian cultural experience and encourages artistic collaborations between India and Egypt will be held in several cities such as Cairo. The festival, which is organised by the Embassy of India in Egypt and the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in collaboration with entertainment company Teamwork Arts, is a celebration of contemporary and classical music, dance, theatre, visual arts, film, food and literature.

Notes:
Vinod Kumar Omprakash has clinched bronze in men’s 70kg freestyle at the 2018 Asian Wrestling Championships at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Also, defending champion Bajrang Punia won bronze in men’s 65kg freestyle on March 3. Earlier, in the tournament, Navjot Kaur scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold in the senior continental championship as she clinched the yellow metal in the 65kg freestyle category. Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik won a bronze in the 62kg freestyle category. With this, the medal haul includes one Gold, one Silver and six Bronze medals.

Notes:
The Andaman Nicobar naval command is organizing multinational mega event “Milan 2018” with theme ‘Friendship Across the Seas’ at Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar islands from March 6 to March 13, 2018. The purpose of Milan 2018 is to enhance regional cooperation for combating Unlawful Activities at sea will be organised. The highlights of Milan 2018 are an international maritime seminar cultural and social exchanges, band concert, ship visit, sports and city parade. For the first time, Oman is also participating in this biennial exercise. This prestigious international event will also see participation of 38 delegates from the 16 participating countries, making it the largest gathering since its inception in 1995.

Notes:
Sarat Mohanty (88), the Veteran Odia film actor, has passed away in Balasore, Odisha on March 3, 2018. The comedian, a native of Khirkona, had acted in a number of Odia films. He acted in the film Laxmi released in 1962. Other hit films in which he acted are: Amadabata,, Kaa, Stree, Puja Phula, Bhulihuena, Malhajanha, Sakal Tirtha to Charane and from many others. Mohanty had also acted in many TV serials in Odisha.

Notes:
The week-long 29th edition of the world-famous International Yoga Festival (IYF-2018) was held at Parmarth Niketan in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand from March 1-7, 2018. The IYF offers daily classes from 4 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. with more than 80 revered saints, yogacharyas, presenters and experts from nearly 20 countries around the world. There are also classes in meditation, mudras, Sanskrit chanting, reiki, Indian philosophy and spiritual discourses to be held by revered spiritual leaders from India and abroad. The festival was officially inaugurated by Vice President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu. Approx 1500 participants from 92 nations participated in the fest.

Notes:
Minerva Punjab FC has won the I-League tournament (2017-18) after defeating Churchill Brothers in the final by 1-0 at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon, Haryana on March 8, 2018. Thus, Minerva has clinched their first I-League title.

Notes:
Prakriti has been inducted as the first direct-entry combat officer in the border guarding force, ITBP. She has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and is right now based in an ITBP unit in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh. She will soon join the Officers’ Training Academy of the force in Dehradun. The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force is the last of the CAPFs to induct women officers in combat roles after the government first allowed it to enroll them in 2016. The force already has women in combat roles but only in the constable ranks. The ITBP, that guards the 3,488 km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China, was raised in 1962 in the aftermath of the Chinese aggression. Two other forces — the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) — were allowed to directly induct women officers in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Notes:
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) launched a Udyam Sakhi portal for women entrepreneurs of India on the occasion of 2018 International Women’s Day: The “www.udyamsakhi.org” portal is a network for nurturing social entrepreneurship and creating business models for low cost products and services in order to empower women and make them self-reliant and self-sufficient. The portal provides assistance through its platform for entrepreneurship learning tools, incubation facility, training programs for fund raising, providing mentors, one-on-one investor meet, provide market survey facility and technical assistance.