Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2018

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:
Ch Kamalamma (90), the Telangana armed struggle fighter and veteran Communist leader, has passed away in Hyderabad on March 11, 2018. She was native of Warangal district of Telangana. She joined the post Independence armed struggle to fight the rule of erstwhile Nizams of Hyderabad and their army of Razakars as part of Telangana Liberation Struggle by Communist Party of India (CPI) at the age of 15. Later Kamalamma served as secretary of the CPI Mahila Samakhya for a long period.

Notes:
The Delhi End TB Summit has started in New Delhi on 13th March 2018, which is co-hosted by the Union Health Ministry, WHO South East Asia Regional Office and Stop TB Partnership. In it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a TB-free India Campaign to eradicate Tuberculosis (TB) from India by 2025, five years ahead of a globally-set deadline. The campaign will take the activities of National Strategic Plan (NSP) for TB elimination forward in a mission mode. The NSP is backed by a funding of over Rs 12,000 crore over the next three years to ensure that every TB patient has access to quality diagnosis, treatment and support. The new NSP adopts a multi-pronged approach which aims to detect all TB patients, with an emphasis on reaching TB patients seeking care from private providers and undiagnosed TB in high-risk populations. The Delhi End TB Summit 2018 will set the stage for United Nations High-Level Meeting on TB in September 2018, where for the first time, TB will be discussed in the UN General Assembly at the Heads of State level.

Notes:
Bidya Devi Bhandari has been re-elected as President of Nepal for second term in office with an overwhelming majority. She defeated her Nepali Congress rival Kumari Laxmi Rai in the election held on March 13, 2018. Ms Bhandari secured 39,275 votes while the NC’s Rai garnered 11,730 votes. She became Nepal’s first woman President in 2015.

Notes:
The Executive Committee, which is the apex body for all nutrition related activities under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, held its first meeting to decide on the road map for the mission on March 14, 2018. The Committee is headed by Rakesh Srivastava, Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development. An official release stated that on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti on 14th of April, Gram Panchayats across the country will hold meetings to discuss on the nutritional aspects and their implementation along with health and sanitation issues. Besides, a National Seminar is also being organised on 20th March for taking the Mission forward. Apart from executive committee, the National Council on India (NCI)’s nutritional challenges under chairmanship of Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog has also been set up under the POSHAN Abhiyaan. The Council will submit report to the Prime Minister every 6 months. It must be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the POSHAN Abhiyaan at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan on 8th March 2018.

Notes:
The World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is observed every year on March 15 to promote basic rights of all consumers, demanding that those rights are respected and protected. It also gives people a chance to protest against the market abuses and social injustices. On this day in 1962, President John F Kennedy formally addressed the issue of consumer rights in US Congress. He was the first world leader to do so, and the consumer movement now marks that date every year as a means of raising global awareness about consumer rights. The first World Consumer Rights Day was observed in 1983 and has since become an important occasion for mobilizing citizen action. The 2018 theme is ‘Making Digital Marketplaces Fairer’. In India, besides the World Consumer Rights Day, we observe the National Consumer Day on 24th of December every year.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron have jointly inaugurated the 75MW solar power plant at Chhanvey block in Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh. The largest solar power plant in Uttar Pradesh has been built in collaboration with French solar power giant Engie Solar at Dadar Kalan village, some 25 kms from Mirzapur under the International Solar Alliance (ISA) programme. The power plant has been built at a cost of Rs 650 crore in Dadar kala over a stretch of 380 acres in the Vindhya mountain range. The plant has 1.18 lakh solar panels and the power produced from here will be transmitted to the Jigna Power sub-station of the power corporation. The plant has 3,18,650 solar plates with each plate having a generation capacity of 315 watts and will generate 15.6 crore units of electricity annually, about 1.30 crore units per month.

Notes:
The Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) has claimed that India’s first cloned Assamese buffalo male calf ‘Sach-Gaurav’ has born in Hisar, Haryana on December 22, 2017. The calf was born to a Murrah buffalo through a normal delivery. It was also the first to be born in the field, 100 kms from the cloning laboratory at Hi Tech Sach Dairy Farm. The birth weight of the calf was 54.2 kgs and it was in good health. It had normal physiological parameters and blood profile. The genotype of the calf was confirmed by microsatellite analysis (parentage verification) and chromosome analysis. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research-CIRB is a central institute and it has a mandate to conserve superior animals of all buffalo breeds.

Notes:
India will host the 17th Annual Conference of International Competition Network 2018 (ICN2018) for the first time from 21st to 23rd March 2018 in New Delhi. The ICN advocates adoption of superior standards and procedures in competition enforcement around the world, formulates proposals for procedural and substantive convergence, and facilitates effective international cooperation to the benefit of member agencies, consumers and economies worldwide.

Notes:
The Odisha government will collaborate with the Thailand-based Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) for strengthening its early warning services and enhancing preparedness for management of hazards in the State. The Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) and RIMES would forge a partnership in the field of drought monitoring and early warning for different natural disasters. RIEMS is owned and managed by 45 collaborating countries in the Asia Pacific and Africa Region. At present, India is chairing RIMES. In collaboration with this intergovernmental body, OSDMA can strengthen its database for more effective management of natural disasters. Odisha is particularly concerned about tsunami originating from the Andamans. Beside this, RIMES is already working with the Tamil Nadu State Disaster Management Authority.