Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2018

Notes:
Ranjan Roy (57), the chief of the Times News Network (TNN) and a member of The Times of India’s national editorial board, has passed away in New Delhi on March 10, 2018. He was known for his professional acumen and personal charm. An alumnus of Delhi’s St. Stephen’s College and Princeton University, US, Roy started his journalistic career in the Press Trust of India (PTI) in New Delhi as a trainee in 1982.

Notes:
P K Sinha, the Union Cabinet Secretary , has launched “I-METROS” an association of all Indian Metro Rail companies at the Conference on “Indian Metros: Collaborating for Excellence” in Metro Bhawanhere on March 8. The platform will be a forum for exchange of ideas, pooling of knowledge and sharing of experience, best practices, innovations etc. among the Indian Metro Rail companies to nurture excellence in performance. It will also safeguard the interest and rights of metro rail companies and will be resource tank of information for decision making.

Notes:
The ICICI Bank has launched instant overdraft ‘InstaOD’ facility for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in a completely online and paperless manner. Customers can get overdraft facility up to Rs 15 lakh for a year anytime, anywhere using the bank’s Internet and mobile banking app. The new facility will enable a few lakh of pre-qualified current account customers of the bank to instantly avail of the facility without visiting a branch and submitting physical documents. ICICI Bank will also offer the facility for instant online sanction of overdraft facility to MSME customers of other banks shortly.

Notes:
The Gangrel Dam, also known as the R.S. Sagar Dam, is built across the Mahanadi River in Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh. It 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:
India’s tallest national flag has been unfurled in Belagavi (also known as Belgaum) in Karnataka. The 9,600 sq.ft flag on a 110 m flag pole was unfurled by Ramesh Jarkiholi, District in-charge Minister. The event was attended by leaders, school children, and religious leaders of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh institutions at the Kote Kere front. The 110 m tall flag post at Kote Kere is near the historic Belagavi fort in the city. It is taller than the post in Pune (107 m) and the one at the India-Pakistan border at Attari (105 m) in Punjab.

Notes:
The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) has developed a coded drug AYUSH QOL-2C for improving the quality of life in cancer patients. The clinical studies were conducted at St. John’s Medical College, Bengaluru and AIIMS, New Delhi in breast cancer patients and at Bhagwan Mahaveer Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Jaipur in lung cancer patients. This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on March 13, 2018.The CCRAS is an autonomous body under the Ministry of AYUSH and is headquartered at New Delhi.

Notes:
The 105th session of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) will be hosted by Manipur Central University in Imphal from 16 to 20 March 2018. The focal theme of the ISC is “Reaching the Unreached Through Science & Technology”. The Indian Science Congress is an annual event, usually held in the first week of January. Top scientists from across the country and the world attend the event. The 104th ISC was held at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

Notes:
The Malampuzha Dam is the largest reservoir in Kerala, located near Palakkad in south India with the scenic hills of the Western Ghats in the background. It is a combination of a masonry dam with a length of 1,849 m and an earthen dam with a length of 220 m. The dam is 355 feet high and crosses the Malampuzha River, a tributary of Bharathappuzha, Kerala’s second longest river. The total catchments area is 145 square kilometres, while the reservoir has a capacity of 8000 square meters of water. The canal systems serve to irrigate farm land while the reservoir provides drinking water to Palakkad and surrounding villages.

Notes:
National Award-winning Odia filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda’s upcoming movie “Halkaa” has bagged the Grand Prix de Montreal award at the 21st Festival International du Film Pour Enfants de Montréal Film (FIFEM). “Halkaa” was selected among 7 international children’s films from different countries in the official competition of the festival. The film is a take on a slum child’s heroism, aspirations, and dreams. The child protagonist, Pichku (Tathastu) fights to overcome the basic problems that he faces every day like defecating in the open, among others. It is his dream to make a toilet of his own where he can enjoy his privacy and do the deed in peace. The movie features Ranvir Shorey and Paoli Dam in key roles.

Notes:
The two-day Informal World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting has started in New Delhi on March 19, 2018. Representatives from 50 countries are participating in the meet. The informal meeting is expected to provide an opportunity to engage in free and frank discussions leading to political guidance on some of the major issues, both at the negotiating table and also in other areas. In the absence of Ministerial guidance at the 11th Ministerial Conference that took place in December 2017 in Buenos Aires, it is hoped that the meeting in New Delhi will provide an opportunity for ministers to explore in greater detail options on different issues for re-invigorating the WTO.