Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2018

Notes:
The World Poetry Day (WPD) is celebrated every year on March 21 across the world to honour poets, tradition of poetry recital and promotes reading poetry. Apart from celebrating the poetic expression and the linguistic diversity, one of the main objectives of the day is to offer endangered languages an opportunity to be heard and read within communities. The day was adopted in 1999 during UNESCO’s 30th session held in Paris. The day also seeks to reprise the age-old tradition of poetry recitals, mark a confluence between poetry and other creative fields like theatre, music and dance and also promote teaching poetry. The day is also designated to find newer ways to make poetry accessible and not make it seem outdated.

Notes:
The Estimates Committee headed by Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has recommended effective measures to modernise and upgrade the country’s security systems at par with the developed countries. It suggested states to develop their own systems and augment their own police forces by providing adequate training and equipping them with the latest weapons to effectively deal with the militancy and insurgency besides handling the law and order problems. Regarding to this issue, the committee chairman has presented the report on the Central Armed Police Forces and Internal Security Challenges- Evaluation and Response Mechanism to the Lok Sabha on March 19, 2018. The Committee also recommended that in order to meet the challenges of the cyber threat by external or internal forces, there is an imperative need to develop a system to counter the future threats of biological, chemical and mini-nuclear weapons capable of causing limited damage.

Notes:
The International Day of Happiness is observed every year on March 20 to recognise the importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world. The day is to inspire individuals to share happiness with others and create a happier world for all. The 2018 theme “Share Happiness” focuses on the importance of relationships, kindness and helping each other. The World Happiness Report 2018, which was published recently, ranked 156 countries by happiness levels, based on factors such as life expectancy, social support and corruption. Finland was ranked as the happiest country to live, while Burundi in East Africa is the unhappiest place in the world. India was ranked 133rd in the report.

Notes:
The National Cultural Audiovisual Archives (NCAA) project of the Ministry of Culture has become the world’s first Trusted Digital Repository as per ISO 16363:2012 standard, which is granted by Primary Trustworthy Digital Repository Authorisation Body Ltd. (PTAB), United Kingdom (UK). The NCAA is implemented by Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA). The primary objective of the NCAA is to identify and preserve the cultural heritage of India available in audiovisual form through a process of digitization and making it accessible to the people. By March 2018, a corpus of 30,000 hours of unpublished, non-commercial audio & video recordings will be made online at http://ncaa.gov.in/repository, out of which approximately 15,000 hours are already hosted online along with contextual metadata, representing the cultural diversity of India in the broadest sense.

Notes:
Atul M. Gotsurve, the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 2004 batch, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He is expected to take up his assignment shortly. Currently, he is director in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Notes:
According to Mercer’s 20th annual Quality of Living survey 2018, Vienna has topped the ranking among 231 cities for the 9th consecutive year. It is followed by Switzerland’s Zurich, while New Zealand’s Auckland and Germany’s Munich tied for third place. In the 2018 survey, Hyderabad and Pune have been jointly ranked at 142, making the best Indian cities to live in. They were closely followed by Bengaluru (149), Chennai (151), Mumbai, (154), Kolkata (160), with New Delhi (162) taking the last spot as it continues to battle rising traffic congestion and air pollution. The quality of living survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based upon internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries.

Notes:
The World Down syndrome Day (WDSD) is observed every year on March 21 to raise public awareness about the syndrome and well being of people with Down syndrome. The 2018 theme “What I Bring To My Community” demonstrates that how people with Down syndrome can and do make meaningful contributions throughout their lives, whether in schools, workplaces, living in the community, public and political life, culture, media, recreation, leisure and sport. The Down syndrome is a naturally occurring chromosomal arrangement that has always been a part of the human condition, exists in all regions across the globe and commonly results in variable effects on learning styles, physical characteristics or health.

Notes:
Canadian mathematician Robert P. Langlands has won the prestigious Abel Prize 2018 for his visionary programme connecting representation theory to number theory. The 81-year-old mathematician would receive the award from Norway’s King Harald V at an award ceremony in Oslo on May 22, 2018. The prize is awarded by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and is worth 6 million Norwegian krone (about £550,000). It is considered by many to be a maths equivalent of the Nobel Prize, which has no prize for mathematics. The prize is named after the 19th century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel and is awarded annually since 2003.

Notes:
The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has received the ‘Most Informative Pavilion’ Award in Pride of India Expo organized as part of the 105th Indian Science Congress (ISC) held from 16 to 20 March 2018 at Manipur University, Imphal. DRDO participated in the expo showcasing cutting-edge indigenous defence technologies with over 150 exhibits and models from 18 DRDO laboratories. The DRDO pavilion at the Expo was a big attraction among the visitors particularly students, who got opportunity to interact with DRDO scientists. The scientists engaged the visitors in the lively discussions on science and technologies.

Notes:
ISRO has signed a Technology Transfer Agreement (TTA) with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) to transfer the technology for the manufacture of space-grade Li-Ion cells. The TTA was signed at ISRO headquarters in Bengaluru on 23rd March 2018 in the presence of Dr K. Sivan, Chairman of ISRO, and Atul Sobti, Chairman & Managing Director of BHEL. ISRO uses Li-Ion batteries as the power source for satellite and launch vehicle applications due to their high energy density, reliability and long cycle life. This Li-ion cell Technology Transfer will enable BHEL to produce space grade Li-Ion cells which can meet the country’s space programme requirements. This technology can also be adopted to cater to the Li-Ion cell requirement for other national needs.