Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
The birth anniversary of Asia’s first Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore has celebrated on May 7, 2018. Rabindra Jayanti is popularly called Poncheeshe Boishakh and being celebrated ceremoniously and jauntiness all across West Bengal and Bangladesh. A revered poet, mercurial writer, and a cursive painter Tagore was a prolific composer with 2,230 songs to his credit. His songs are known as Rabindra Sangeet. Tagore has composed the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh. Tagore was highly influential in introducing Indian culture to the West and is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of modern India. Tagore’s own English translations of his collection of Bengali poems Gitanjali fetched him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Tagore’s works were widely translated into English, Dutch, German, Spanish, and other European languages.

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The Telangana government has launched Rythu Bandhu (friend of farmers) scheme at Dharmarajupalle-Indiranagar village in Karimnagar district on May 10, 2018. The scheme is a first-of-its-kind initiative providing investment support to farmers, who own land. It is expected to provide the much needed breather to the marginal and small farmers who constitute a major chunk of land owners in the State. Under the scheme, each eligible farmer will get at least Rs 4,000 per acre for two crops in a year — kharif in May and rabi in October. The farmers can utilize the assistance either for purchase of seeds, fertilizers, pesticides or any other input requirement as per their requirement. The scheme will cover both agriculture and horticulture crops and benefits all farmers irrespective of the size of their land holdings.

Notes:
Pawan Kumar Agarwal, a 1985-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, has been given 3 months extension beyond May 15, 2018 as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). He was appointed as the CEO of the FSSAI in December 2015. The FSSAI is an autonomous body established under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. It is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety.

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The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Tourism Ministers’ conference was held in Wuhan, China on 9th May 2018. From India, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Tourism and Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, K. J. Alphons attended the conference. The meeting approved an action plan that will serve as a guideline for tourism cooperation between SCO member states from the year 2019 to 2020.The joint action plan specifies cooperation among the national tourism administrations, as well as measures the member states could take to improve tourist experience and safety, develop tourist products and promote smart tourism. It was the first meeting of SCO tourism ministers since the organization was established in 2001 in Shanghai.

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According to the report ‘RemitSCOPE – Remittance markets and opportunities – Asia and the Pacific’, India has become the largest remittance-receiving country in the world in 2017, with migrant workers from the country sending home 69 billion US dollars. The remittances to the Asia-Pacific region amounted to 256 billion dollars last year. In 2017, India with 69 billion, China with 64 billion and the Philippines with $33 billion are the three largest remittance-receiving countries in the world. Worldwide, an estimated 40% of the total values of remittances go to rural areas. However, in the Asia-Pacific region, remittances go dis-proportionally to countries with a majority of rural populations such as Nepal 81%, India 67%, Vietnam 66%, Bangladesh 65%, Pakistan 61% and the Philippines 56%. As per report, cash-to-cash transactions remain by far the most common form of transfer.

Notes:
Anne V Coates (92), a British film editor, has passed away in Los Angeles, California on May 8, 2018. She was best known as the editor of David Lean’s epic film Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, for which she won an Oscar. During her incredible career, Anne was BAFTA-nominated four times for work including ‘The Elephant Man’ and ‘Erin Brockovich,’ and received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2007. She also received an Academy Honorary Award, known as a Lifetime Achievement Oscar, in November 2016 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She continued working up to the time of her death. She was currently in pre-production as an editor on “A Dolphin In Our Lake” and as executive producer on “Off The Leash”.

Notes:
The Rehala Falls is a tourist attraction on the Leh–Manali Highway in the state of Himachal Pradesh. It is a Cascade and Punchbowl type of a waterfall located 16 km from Manali on the way to Rohtang Pass. The fall is surrounded by dense forest cover. The best time to visit the waterfall is between the months of March and November.

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Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of Sulabh International, has been honoured with the 2018 Nikkei Asia Prize in Japan for his contribution to Asia’s development. Pathak is among the three who have been conferred with the award. Others are Ma Jun (China) & Professor Nguyen Thanh Liem (Vietnam). Nikkei Inc., one of the largest media corporations in Japan, has been presenting the awards since 1996 to honour people in Asia who have made significant contributions in one of the three areas: Economic and Business Innovation, Science, Technology and Environment and Culture and Community. The prizes will be awarded on June 13 in Tokyo in Japan. Dr Pathak founded the Sulabh International in 1970. It is an NGO that works to promote human rights, environmental sanitation among other social services. The foundation has built Sulabh flush composting toilets throughout India, contributing to better sanitation, safety for rural women and freedom from the manual labour of removing human waste.

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The 4th executive committee meeting of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) was held in Kolkata, West Bengal on May 8-10, 2018 to curb wildlife crime in South Asian region. It was the first-ever meeting of SAWEN to be held in India since its inception in 2011. The 2-day conference was attended by representatives of 7 (excluding Pakistan) out of 8 member countries. Six proposals, including tracking of wildlife smuggling route, review of existing laws and structure for the organisation were tabled during the meeting. Participating countries also adopted many resolutions to curb wildlife crime in the region. They agreed on having operational framework for strengthening the regional body to combat wildlife crime. The SAWEN provides a platform for its member countries to cooperatively work together in the fight against the burgeoning wildlife crime.

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Mukul Rohatgi, the former Attorney General of India and Senior Counsel, has been appointed as ’eminent jurist’ in the high-profile Lokpal selection committee led by the Prime Minister. The post of eminent jurist was lying vacant since the death of senior advocate PP Rao in September 2017. Besides the Prime Minister, the selection committee is composed of the Chief Justice of India and the Lok Sabha Speaker. It will shortlist candidates for the post of the anti-corruption ombudsman and other posts.