Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2018

Notes:
The world’s longest sandstone cave named Krem Puri has discovered near the village of Laitsohum in Mawsynram area of East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya. With a length of 24,583 metres, Krem Puri was discovered back in 2016 but the actual length of the cave was obtained by the Meghalaya Adventurers’ Association (MAA) during one of its recent expeditions. Krem Puri is over 6,000m longer than the current listed sandstone cave in the world, Cueva El Samán, (18,200m) in Venezuela. The cave system has fossils of dinosaurs, especially the Mosasaurus, a giant reptile that lived 66-76 million years ago.

Notes:
Chandigarh has become the North India’s first city to install digital automatic speed gun cameras for traffic management. The high-tech speed cameras are equipped with night vision technology and will record the speed of oncoming traffic, helping Chandigarh Police to issue challans to anyone driving above the city speed limits. Not only this, the advanced cameras are installed with digital display to beware motorists of overspeeding. If the speed is above the permissible limit, the digital display will warn the driver with a white light. If, and when, a motorist breaks the law, a Challan will be sent to the driver along with the image of overspeeding.

Notes:
The South Asian Cinema Foundation (SACF), a London-based organisation, has received the Frederick Pincott Award for 2017 from the Indian High Commissioner, Y K Sinha for promoting Hindi cinema in Britain for the last 18 years. The institution has been active in boosting original research and books on Indian films, also inviting and honouring filmmakers from India, along with documentary film making and producing classic silent films with live music at the British Film Institute (BFI). The SACF has been doing commendable work for nearly two decades to promote Hindi and regional Indian cinema in the UK and as a result has served the cause of dissemination of the Hindi language. SACF Director Lalit Mohan Joshi stated that the institution will continue exploring Hindi cinema as it would launch a new six-week course at the BFI that will look into the history of Indian cinema through literature. The SACF was set up in London in January 2000 by Joshi, along with film archivist P K Nair, film critic Derek Malcolm and social historian-researcher Kusum Pant Joshi.

Notes:
As per the data released by Union ministry of Social Justice, a total number of 4,13,670 beggars are residing in India, including 2,21,673 males and 1,91,997 females beggars in the country. The data, based on 2011 census, revealed that West Bengal has topped the chart with 81,224 beggars, followed by Uttar Pradesh (65,835), Andhra Pradesh (30,218), Bihar (29,723), Madhya Pradesh ( 28,695) and Rajasthan (25,853). The figures were given by Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot in a written reply to Lok Sabha. The government data show that Lakshadweep, a union territory, has only two people begging for their livelihood. Among the northeastern states, Assam topped the chart with 22,116 beggars, while Mizoram ranked low with 53 beggars.

Notes:
The World Theatre Day (WTD) was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI). The first World Theatre Day Message was written by Jean Cocteau in 1962. Ever since, it is celebrated all over the world on 27th March to draw attention to the power of the stage. The day is a celebration for those who can see the value and importance of the art form “theatre”, and acts as a wake-up-call for governments, politicians and institutions which have not yet recognised its value to the people and to the individual and have not yet realised its potential for economic growth. This year, in 2018, Playwright Nina Lee Aquino will deliver the WTD message.

Notes:
Aleksandra Liashkova from Belarus was crowned Miss Supermodel Worldwide 2018 at a grand finale in Gurugram on March 26, 2018. Ekaterina Evdokimova of Russia was declared 1st runner-up, Uzbekistan’s Zarina Andirjanova was crowned second runner-up and Chantarachota Paphattanun from Thailand took the third runner-up spot at the event here on Monday night. Shweta Parmar from India was awarded Miss Congeniality.

Notes:
The first-ever National conclave on Psychological Trauma, Child Protection and Mental Illnesses was held at J L N Auditorium in AIIMS, New Delhi on March 27-28, 2018. The purpose of the conclave was to provide a comprehensive synthesis of research, service provision, and clinical practice in addressing psychological trauma and subsequent mental illnesses in Indian children and adolescents. The National conclave was organised by the Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) in collaboration with the Dept. of Psychiatry of AIIMS. The conclave provided a common platform for all stakeholders (Academicians, Clinicians, Government and NGOs) working in this area in the direction of robust evidence based research, better service provision, and capacity building of professionals.

Notes:
The 17th Sub-junior National Wushu Championship has started in Jammu on March 29, 2018.The national level sports event is being organised in the winter capital city of Jammu by the the Wushu Association of India in collaboration with J&K State Sports Council at MA Stadium. About 37 teams comprising of over one thousand boys and girls from across the country and 12 boys from Army are participating in the national championship.

Notes:
Indu Bhushan has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Centre’s ambitious Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) for a period of two years, Currently, he is Director General (DG) of East Asia Department of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines. The Union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently approved the centrally-sponsored Ayushman Bharat mission, which will provide a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year. The intended beneficiaries of the proposed scheme will be more than 10 crore poor and vulnerable families, based on the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) database.

Notes:
Vineet Joshi, a 1992-batch IAS officer of the Manipur cadre, has been appointed as the new Director-General of the National Testing Agency (NTA) for a period of 5 years. The NTA under the Department of Higher Education is an autonomous and self-sustained premier testing organisation, which will conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions organised by the CBSE, AICTE and other bodies. The NTA will take over majority of the examinations conducted by the CBSE from 2019 in phased manner. NTA will start its operations with the Joint Engineering Entrance (JEE) and National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET UG) for admissions to medical/ dental programmes from 2019. The Union Cabinet had approved the setting up of the NTA in November 2017.