Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2018

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.

Notes:
Biplab Kumar Deb has been sworn-in as 10th chief minister in Agartala on March 9, 2018. He is the state president of BJP in Tripura. Jishnu Debbarma took oath as the deputy chief minister. With this, BJP ended the 25-year Left Front rule in the State by winning 35 out of the 59 seats. Its ally, the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura, won eight seats, taking the tally to 43. As per the Constitution of India, the Governor of Tripura is the state’s de jure head, but de facto executive authority rests with the chief minister.

Notes:
The 2018 National Legislators Conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Central Hall of Parliament House, New Delhi on March 10, 2018. The purpose of the Conference is to provide a platform to Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assemblies and Members of Legislative Councils across the country to share their experiences. The theme of the conference is — “We For Development”. About 170 public representatives are expected to participate in the Conference. The Conference will offer a special opportunity to the delegates whose constituencies have greater possibilities and aspirations of development. Union Cabinet Ministers, Chief Ministers, Presiding Officers of State Legislatures, Members of Parliament and Members of State Legislatures will attend the function.

Notes:
As part of the 10th edition of MILAN 2018, the first-ever multi-nation naval exercise at sea called MILES-18 has started on March 11, 2018. The exercise will be conducted for three days in the Andaman Sea. Those participating in the event include 11 foreign naval ships and six Indian ships. Apart from enhancing inter-operability, the exercise will enable honing of search and rescue operations procedures, maritime interdiction operations, core operational skills and exercise a variety of maritime security scenarios. The Andaman Nicobar naval command is organizing multi-national 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.

Notes:
Dr. Patangrao Kadam (74), the senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra minister, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on March 9, 2018. He founded the Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, an educational empire which is spread across the state, and also set up cooperative ginning mills and sugar mills in western Maharashtra. He held key portfolios such as cooperation, forest, relief & rehabilitation, education and industry under Congress -led governments during his decades-long political career.

Notes:
India B has won the 45th edition of the Deodhar Trophy 2018 by defeating Karnataka in the final by 6 wickets at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala. The Deodhar Trophy is a List A cricket competition in Indian domestic cricket and is named after Prof. D. B. Deodhar, who is known as the Grand Old Man of Indian cricket.

Notes:
Amol Palekar, the well known actor and director, has been honoured with the ‘Godavari Gaurav’ award at an event in Nasik on March 10, 2018. He is known for his performance in films like “Gol Maal” , “Choti Si Baat”, “Chitchor” among others. The award, which carries a prize of Rs 21,000 and a memento, has been instituted by city-based ‘Kusumagraj Prathishthan’. The award was given by noted Marathi writer Madhu Mangesh Karnik, who is the chairperson the Prathishthan. Classical singer Pandit Satyasheel Deshpande also received the ‘Godavari Gaurav’ award.

Notes:
India has won the 2018 Best Exhibitor Award (BEA) at ITB – Berlin on March 10, 2018. ITB-Berlin World Tourist Meet was convened at German capital Berlin from March 7 to 10, 2018. India was represented by Tourism Minister K. J. Alphons along with Ministry officials. More than 100 countries participated in the ITB- Berlin meet with their respective Tourism Ministers. India’s Incredible India (Ministry of Tourism) presented a short film named “Yogi of the Racetrack ” in the meet. The said short film has got 3.2 million hits in 60 hours.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced one of the world’s largest investment plans in solar energy at the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA-2018) on March 11. In it, India will provide $1.4 billion line of credit to support 27 solar power projects in 15 countries. Beside this, France will provide €700 million in loans and support by 2022 to emerging economies for solar energy projects. The 2018 ISA conference co-chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Rashtrapati Bhawan Cultural Center in New Delhi .The purpose of the summit is to focus on various aspects of promoting solar energy in 121 countries that are part of the International Solar Alliance. The ISA is a treaty based inter-governmental alliance of 121 countries lying between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

Notes:
The first Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise ‘Samvedna’ of the Indian Air Force in association with South Asian Region nations has started off the coast of Kerala from March 12, 2018. The 6-day multilateral exercise would involve representatives from air forces of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and the UAE. The purpose of the exercise is to galvanise all stakeholders in synergising a unified HADR efforts. The entire settings of the exercise is based on a scenario of a tsunami in the western coast of India originating from an earthquake in Makran subduction zone and resulting in post-tsunami disaster management along the western coast and western islands of India. The exercise, hosted by the Southern Air Command, will provide a clear understanding of the scope, role and task, including challenges in air operations and ensure better understanding, and sharing of response procedures among the nations.