Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
Guruji Ravinder Sharma, the renowned sculpture and mentor of artists, has passed away at Kala Ashram in Adilabad, Telangana on April 30, 2018. He was the founder of Adilabad’s Kala Ashram and is credited to playing a vital role in protecting ancient rural and tribal art forms and knowledge system of the country for nearly four decades. He was honoured with Kala Ratna award by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2014 for rendering matchless services to the field. After bifurcation of the State, the Telangana government awarded him the Ugadi Puraskaram in 2015. Guruji was also conferred the D. Litt (Honoris Causa) by the SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana the same year

Notes:
The first-ever joint Army exercise “Harimau Shakti 2018” has started between the troops of the Indian and Malaysian armies at Wardieburn Camp in Kuala Lumpur on April 30. The focus will remain on tactical operations in jungle warfare.The aim of the two-week long exercise is to bolster cooperation and coordination between armed forces of both the nations and to share the expertise of both the contingents in conduct of counter insurgency operations in jungle terrain. Both armies stand to hone their tactical and technical skills in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations under the UN mandate. Overall, the exercise will not only provide an excellent opportunity to both the armies to hone their operational skills but will also contribute to enhance the strategic partnership between India and Malaysia.

Notes:
Chennai-based transgender Mubina has won the 2018 Miss Koovagam beauty pageant title in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. This year, nearly 40 transgenders in the age group of 18 and 35 contested for the ‘Miss Koovagam’ title. In it, apart from their beauty and attire, the contestants were tested for their knowledge in Indian mythologies.

Notes:
Subhash Chandra Khuntia, a 1981-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer, has been appointed as Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved Khuntia’s appointment for a period of 3 years. The post was vacant for more than two months after TS Vijayan’s tenure came to an end on February 21.

Notes:
The 12th edition of the bilateral border trade between India and China from Nathu La border in Sikkim has resumed for the scheduled period from May 1 to November 30. The trading days are from Monday to Thursday and the trade will continue till November 30. The announcement in this regard was made by the General Secretary of the Indo-China Border Traders’ Welfare Association, Tenzing Tsepel. In 2017, the trade was disrupted following the Doklam standoff. It must be noted that the Nathu La pass was sealed by India after the 1962 Sino-Indian War and was re-opened in 2006 following numerous bilateral trade agreements.

Notes:
The World Press Freedom Day is observed every year on May 3 to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while following their profession. The 2018 theme “Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law” highlights the importance of an enabling legal environment for press freedom and gives special attention to the role of an independent judiciary in ensuring legal guarantees for press freedom and the prosecution of crimes against journalists. The day serves as an occasion to encourage and develop initiatives in favour of press freedom and to assess the state of press freedom worldwide.

Notes:
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, has announced additional grants of 3 million to two Indian non-profit organisations – Central Square Foundation and The Teacher App. The grants are a part of Google.org’s mission to help provide quality education access and learning for all. With a 1 million grant to The Teacher App in India, Google.org aims to provide teachers with training and resources on the concepts of math, science, language, and pedagogy. The funds are expected to scale the platform to reach 500,000 teachers in two years. With online video emerging as a popular medium of learning, Google.org will provide a $2 million grant and technical assistance from the YouTube Learning team to Central Square Foundation, a policy think tank focused on improving the quality of school education. The grant will support a minimum of 20 content creators to produce at least 200 hours of quality science, technology, engineering and Math content in Hindi and vernacular languages.

Notes:
The Keoti Falls is located on the Mahana River, a tributary of Tamsa or Tons River, in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh. It has a total height of 98 metres and has a segmented type waterfall with a single drop. Keoti Falls is an example of a nick point caused by rejuvenation. Knick point represents breaks in slopes in the longitudinal profile of a river caused by rejuvenation. The break in channel gradient allows water to fall vertically giving rise to a waterfall.

Notes:
The first apex conference for the CEOs of Smart Cities will be held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh on 8th May 2018. It will be inaugurated by Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Puri. The 2-day apex Conference is being organized with an objective to provide momentum to the cities and a platform for cross-learning, sharing and disseminating the experience gained over the past two and a half years. The conference will enable the CEOs to learn from the experiences of all city leaders to understand in greater details both successes and failures. The convergence of all the best practices in Smart city missions across the country on a single platform will help the city leaders to not waste time in ‘reinventing the wheel’ but use the collective learning to accelerate the progress of work.

Notes:
Dr Tahir Hussain, an Indian-American professor of Pharmacology at the University of Houston, has received a grant of 1.6 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health to examine a kidney cell that could prevent damage from inflammation caused by obesity. The targeted cells express a protein called the angiotensin type 2 receptor, which recently has been indicated to have anti-inflammatory and renoprotective actions. If activated, the AT2R will protect against chronic and acute kidney injury. Dr Hussain, an alumnus of the Aligarh Muslim University, will study the impact of inflammation in kidneys with active AT2R as well as those with no AT2R. This is the first time the receptor’s role to protect kidney structure and function against injury in obese subjects will be investigated.