Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
Tennis player Anikta Raina, who has displayed good form this season both in the Fed Cup and the professional circuit, has been included in the Government of India (GoI)’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Ankita recently broke into the top-200, reaching a career-best 197 in the WTA rankings released earlier this month. With this, she became only the 5th Indian woman singles tennis player after Sania Mirza, Nirupama Vaidyanathan, Sunita Rao and Shikha Uberoi to break into the world’s top 200. Beside Raina, Mehuli Ghosh, Om Prakash Mitharwal, Gaurav Solanki, Shahzar Rizvi, Hussamuddin Mohammad, Manu Bhaker, Anish Bhanwala and Gaurav Solanki were also included in the TOPS list.

Notes:
The International Labour Day, also known as International Worker’s Day or May Day, observed every year on May 1 to promote and encourage the international labour associations. The day marks the victory of workers’ movement for 8 hours of work. It also aims to pay tribute to workers sacrifices in achieving economic and social rights all over the world. In India, Labour Day is referred to as Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas or Kamgar Din. The first Labour day or May Day was celebrated in the year 1923 in Chennai. The 2018 theme “Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement” motivate workers all over the world to unite for their rights and demand social and economic advancement from the governments and capitalists. The theme also calls upon the labour leaders to collectively fight for the improvement in working conditions and press for decent work.

Notes:
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has organised Kisan Kalyan Karyashala at the block level across the country on May 2, 2018 in which farmers from that block will participate. The workshops are part of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, a rural-centric campaign that started on the 14th of last month, the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar. It will end on May 7. During workshops, farmers from each block will be interacting with agriculture officers and scientists to discuss ways to increase their income through adoption of new technology. Awareness campaigns and training programmes will disseminate information about steps for doubling the farmers’ income by 2022 and other measures taken by the NDA government for their welfare.

Notes:
The “2018 Vijay Prahar” exercise of Indian Army’s South Western Command has started near Suratgarh in Rajasthan. Over 20,000 troops of the strike formations of the Army are engaged in the exercise to fine-tune the joint-manship with the Indian Air Force (IAF). During the exercise, the formations are practicing and operationalising certain concepts of operating in the network-centric environment, integrated employment of modern-day sensors with the weapon platforms, employment of attack helicopters in the air cavalry role and a bold offensive of application of the Special Forces. The exercise that began a couple of weeks ago will conclude on May 9 and Army chief General Bipin Rawat and other senior officers are likely to witness the final phase.

Notes:
Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton has won the 2018 Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix tournament at the Baku City Circuit in Baku on April 29, 2018. In it, both Red Bulls sensationally collided with each other. Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari finished second and Sergio Perez of Force India ended third in the Race.

Notes:
Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan Latif (94), the former Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), has passed away 2018 in Hyderabad on May 1, 2018. He was the IAF chief from September 1978 to August 1981. After his retirement in 1981, Latif held the posts of Maharashtra Governor and Indian Ambassador to France. He had joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1941 at the age of 18 and was commissioned the next year. On completion of his training at Ambala, he was posted in Karachi, where he flew vintage biplanes like the Wapiti, Audaxes and Harts, on Anti-Submarine flights over the Arabian Sea. During 1943-44, he was one of the few Indian pilots to be seconded to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, where he underwent training on more contemporary aircraft like the Hurricane and Spitfire. He returned to India in 1944 and took part in the Burma campaign. At the time of partition, he chose IAF though he was reportedly urged by some to join the Pakistan Air Force.

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 4th Regional Conference on ‘Futuristic, Resilient and Digital Infrastructure’ was held in Bengaluru on May 4, 2018. The 2-day Conference was organized by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), andResearch and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). The conference is a lead-up event to the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) which is going to be hosted by the Government of India on 25th and 26th June 2018 in Mumbai. The Conference saw eminent delegates representing partner institutions, academia, civil society organizations and experts from various fields expressing their views on how to bring about institutional approaches for futuristic and digital infrastructure in India.

Notes:
The Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station, which is one of the coal-fired power stations of NTPC, is located in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh. It is the largest power station in India with an installed capacity of 4760 MW. The coal for the power plant is sourced from Nigahi mines, and the water is sourced from the discharge canal of Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station.

Notes:
On May 4, the sports initiative ‘Star Khel Mahakumbh’ was launched by BJP MP Anurag Thakur and cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh in the presence of 1,500 athletes. The athletes will compete in volleyball, basketball, cricket, football, kabaddi and athletics. The initiative has been designed in a manner as to attract participation of at least one lakh youth from across 5000 villages and 800 panchayats. The registration will be done on grounds across panchayats from May 4-20.