Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
Pradeep Kumar Sinha, a 1977-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been given one year extension to the post of Cabinet Secretary. With this, he will continue as cabinet secretary till June 12, 2019 as against his current retirement date of 12th June 2018. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the extension. In May 2015, Mr Sinha was appointed as cabinet secretary for a fixed two-year term. This is his second extension. As per government rules, no government servant shall be granted extension in service beyond age of retirement of 60 years but as per rule FR 56, extension in public interest may be given “for a period not exceeding four years in the case of Cabinet Secretary”. The Cabinet Secretary is the top-most executive official and senior-most civil servant of the Government of India. He is the ex-officio head of the Civil Services Board, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and head of all civil services under the rules of business of the government.

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.

Notes:
On May 8, Nikol Pashinian has become the new Prime Minister of Armenia ,when a Parliament dominated by his political foes elected him by a 59-to-42 vote. He has been the leader of the ongoing 2018 Armenian non-violent protests which forced Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan and his government to resign.The Prime Minister is appointed by the President of Armenia, but can be removed by a vote of no confidence in Parliament.

Notes:
Journalist Carlos Alvarado has been sworn-in as the new President of Costa Rica on May 8, 2018. In April 2018, he won the presidential election (second round) with 61% votes. Alvarado swept to victory against conservative Protestant singer Fabricio Alvarado Munoz. At 39, Alvarado is the country’s youngest president in modern history. He has spoken out in support of marriage equality, building a green transport network for the nation and for spurring economic growth to fight against insecurity.

Notes:
Google has appointed Nitin Bawankule as the country head for its cloud business in India. He will take over from Mohit Pande who has quit the company. Bawankule will report to Rick Harshman, Managing Director of Asia Pacific, Google Cloud. Nitin has been with Google India for over six years as sales head for multiple verticals including e-commerce, retail, classifieds, and education. He has over 20 years of experience in the digital, technology and consumer industry with stints at Dell, Motorola Mobility, Whirlpool and Godrej GE Appliances.

Notes:
On May 10, India is hosting the 15th edition of the Asia Media Summit (AMS-2018) in New Delhi with theme “Telling our Stories- Asia and More”. New Delhi is hosting the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) Kuala Lumpur for the first time. The 3-day summit will encourage regional and bilateral dialogue and cooperation to respond to challenges to the broadcasting sector in the region. It will also provide a unique opportunity for broadcasters in the Asian region to share their thoughts on software and hardware aspects of broadcasting. Over 200 foreign delegates representing 39 countries and over a hundred Indian delegates would participate in the event. Dignitaries attending the Summit include Minister of Information from Bangladesh and Cambodia and Standing Commissioner Korea Communications Commission. The summit is hosted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, jointly with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and public sector firm Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL).

Notes:
The 6th US-India Aviation Summit was formally inaugurated by Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu in Mumbai on May 10, 2018. The biennial Summit is jointly organised by Ministry of Civil Aviation and US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). The summit is a technical, policy and commercial forum by the Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation and the US Trade and Development Agency. Besides a US and India bilateral meeting, the summit will also include sessions on India’s projected aviation growth in next five years, aviation security and technologies for worldwide airspace management among others.

Notes:
Former Delhi cricketer Rajinder Pal (80), who had represented the country in one Test match, has passed away in Dehradun, Uttarakhand on May 9, 2018. A right-arm medium pacer, Rajinder Pal played his only Test match against England (then known as MCC) during the 1963-64 series at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. He bowled 13 economical overs (0/19 in 11 overs & 0/3 in 2 overs) in that Test but returned wicket-less, which forced the selectors to replace him with a much quicker Ramakant Desai for the next Test match. Incidentally, along with Rajinder Pal, the other debutant was leg spin wizard Bhagwat Chandrasekhar, who went onto have a distinguished international career. However, it was domestic cricket where Rajinder Pal was a force to reckon with, scalping 337 wickets from 98 first class games with 23 five wicket hauls.

Notes:
Prof. Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel laureate and noted economist, has been conferred with the 11th KISS Humanitarian Award 2018 on May 11 for his unwavering commitment to eradicate global poverty and foster economic and social development. He is the founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and is widely known as the Father of Microfinance. The KISS Humanitarian Award is a prestigious international award given to someone who has made exceptional contribution to the society in various fields relating to social issues and who has distinguished himself or herself as a true humanitarian. It was instituted in 2008 by Dr Achyuta Samanta, the founder of Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) Bhubaneswar.

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”.