Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a comprehensive plan “REPLACE” to eliminate industrially-produced artificial trans fats from the global food supply by 2023. The elimination of trans fats is key to protecting the health and saving lives. The global health body estimates that every year, trans fat intake leads to over 5,00,000 deaths worldwide from cardiovascular diseases. Industrially-produced trans fats are contained in hardened vegetable fats such as margarine and ghee, and are often present in snack, baked, and fried foods. Manufacturers often use them as they have a longer shelf life than other fats.

Notes:
IIM-Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) has launched a Bharat Inclusion Initiative, which aims to invest about 25 million in startups working in the areas of financial inclusion, livelihood, education and health over the next 3 to 4 years. The project has received an initial pledge of 12.5 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Omidyar Network and Tata Trusts. This amount includes a $5 million commitment for providing support to startups through acceleration programmes, research, workshops and partnerships. The remaining amount has been earmarked for the Bharat Inclusion Seed Fund, which will invest in seed and pre-Series A startups.

Notes:
India emerged as the 3rd largest solar market in the world in 2017 behind China and the US, as per latest report by Mercom Communications. As per the report “India Solar Market Leaderboard 2018”, India set a new record with 9.6 GW of solar installations in 2017, which was more than double the 4.3 GW installed in 2016. The robust growth boosted the country’s total solar installed capacity to 19.6 GW as of December 2017.

Notes:
The first-ever all-woman Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) has started operations in Phagwara, Punjab. The seva kendra was inaugurated by Union Minister Vijay Sampla in the local head Post Office. It was 192nd POPSK in the country, but the first one to be operated by an all-woman team. According to Jalandhar regional Passport Officer Harmanbir Singh Gill, the Phagwara Kendra will be headed by department’s Verification Officer Madhuri Bhavi. The Phagwara POPSK will cater needs of people from Kapurthala, Nawandhar and Jalandhar rural districts. It will benefit people immensely as the town was an NRI hub of Doaba region of the state.

Notes:
The Supa Dam is a concrete gravity dam built across Kali River in Joida taluk of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. The dam was built by Hindustan Steel Works Construction Limited (HSCL) and is now operated by Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL). It has a gross storage capacity of 4178 Mcum and a live storage of 4115.25 Mcum of water.

Notes:
Firoz Bakht Ahmed, the noted social activist, educationist and columnist, has been nominated as new Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) for a period of 3 years and he succeeded Zafar Sareshwala. Firoz Bakht is grand nephew of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who was the first education minister of India. He is a prolific writer and authored many books in Urdu and Hindi, especially on Children’s literature. He is also a freelance journalist and columnist. He was also associated with Madrassa modernisation and Urdu medium schools upliftment. He was appointed by the courts in various committees/enquiry committees assisting the judicial procedures for prompt justice. Firoz Bakht was also associated with MANUU before its inception in 1997 as foundation panel member.

Notes:
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been honoured by European Union for strengthening Europe-India cultural ties. Bachchan, whose last release “102 Not Out”, co-starring Rishi Kapoor, was well-received by critics as well as audiences, will next be seen in “Thugs of Hindostan”.

Notes:
The 26th BASIC Ministerial Meeting of Environment Ministers was held in Durban, South Africa. India was represented by Union Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan. In it, Dr Vardhan reiterated his appeal to make joint efforts to create a societal movement in combating climate change through “Green Good Deeds”. He told his counterparts from BASIC countries and Michal Kurtyka of Poland, who will take over as next president of Conference of Parties (COP-24), that India has shown the vision and the political will to act. The Basic countries is a bloc of four countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China, formed by an agreement on November 28, 2009. In a joint statement issued, the Basic countries had committed to work together with other parties to ensure the full, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), its Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement.

Notes:
The Indian women’s Hockey team failed to defend its crown at the 5th Women’s Asian Champions Trophy 2018, as it lost to hosts South Korea, 0-1 in the summit clash at the Sunrise Stadium in Donghae City on May 20. South Korea set a resolute defence and scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute when Youngsil Lee found the back of the net from a field effort. With this, South Korea has lifted the title for the 3rd time after having won it in 2010 and 2011. India, on the other hand, finished second best for the second time after having lost to Japan in the final of the 2013 edition. Indian striker Vandana Katariya was declared player of the tournament while youngster Lalremsiami was named as the upcoming player of the tournament. Besides, striker Navneet Kaur and Vandana Katariya finished as joint top-scorer in the tournament along with China’s Xiaoming Song.

Notes:
Russia has launched the world’s first floating nuclear power station ” Akademik Lomonosov ” at a ceremony in the port of the far northern city of Murmansk, where it will be loaded with nuclear fuel before heading to eastern Siberia. The 21,500-tonne ship was named after Academician Mikhail Lomonosov. Akademik Lomonosov, which is constructed by the state nuclear power firm Rosatom, has a length of 144 metres and width of 30 metres (98 ft). It has a displacement of 21,500 tonnes and a crew of 69 people. It will be primarily used to power oil rigs as Russia pushes further north into the Arctic to drill for oil and gas and needs electricity in far-flung locations.