Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
The Japanese family drama ‘Shoplifters’ has received the coveted award for best film, the Palme d’Or, at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2018. Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski won the best director award for his love story ‘Cold War’. Little-known Italian actor Marcello Fonte won best actor for his role as a hapless cocaine-dealing dog groomer who faces down a thug in ‘Dogman’. The Best actress award went to Samal Yeslyamova for Kazakh writer-director Sergey Dvortsevoy’s “Ayka.” A special Palme d’Or was awarded to French-Swiss Jean-Luc Godard for the film ‘Image Book’.

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 Farakka Barrage is built across Ganga River and located in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. The barrage is about 2,240 metres long and serves water to the Farakka Super Thermal Power Station. The Feeder Canal (Farakka) from the barrage to the Bhagirathi-Hooghly River is about 40 km long.

Notes:
Uttam Pacharne, the noted artist and sculptor, has been appointed as the new Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi by the President of India. He will hold office for a term of three years from the date on which he assumes the charge of his office. Pacharne is a widely respected person in the field of art and has held various important positions. Currently, he is Member of Advisory Committee of Kala Academy (Goa) and Member of Advisory Committee of P.L. Deshpande State Lalit Kala Academy and Director of Janseva Sahakari Bank (Borivali). Previously in March 2018, M.L. Srivastava, Joint Secretary (Akademies) of Ministry of Culture, was appointed Protem Chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi.

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:
Anil Kumar Jha has been appointed as chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) of Coal India Limited (CIL) till his superannuation i.e. January 31, 2020. Prior to this post, He was CMD of subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields. Jha replaced acting chairman Suresh Kumar, who has been holding the post of additional secretary at the ministry of coal. The CIL is a state-owned coal mining company headquartered in Kolkata.

Notes:
Nicolas Maduro Moro, the leftist leader and Venezuela’s President, has been re-elected to a second six-year term. Maduro hailed his win as a victory against imperialism, but his rival candidates have rejected the electoral process and called for new elections. The vote was marked by low turnout. Meanwhile, the United States, European Union and several of Venezuela’s Latin American neighbours said they would not recognize the results of the election, saying the conditions did not exist for a free and fair poll. Reeling from a 5th year of recession, falling oil production and U.S. sanctions, Venezuela is seeing growing levels of malnutrition and hyperinflation, and mass emigration.

Notes:
The Indian charity ‘Jagriti Yatra’ has won the Charity Clarity award for Outstanding Impact at the 3rd annual Asian Voice Charity Awards 2018 in London, United Kingdom on May 18. The Jagriti Yatra organizes a 15-day long train journeys, covering 800 km for 400 young change-makers across India every year, to understand and build the India of smaller towns and villages through enterprise. The event was organized by Britain’s oldest Asian diaspora publication ‘Asian Voice’ and Europe’s first independent charity due diligence platform ‘Charity Clarity’. Meanwhile, the ‘Cleft Lip and Palate Association’ won the Charity of the Year award & ‘Road To Freedom’ won Startup Of The Year. The awards are about rewarding charities that think big and solve the most pressing social issues of our time, both in Britain and globally.

Notes:
The 71st World Health Assembly (WHA-2018) has started in Geneva, Switzerland on May 21. In it, Union Health Minister J P Nadda is leading the Indian Delegation. In the plenary meeting of WHA, Mr. Nadda spoke on the theme “Health for All: Commit To Universal Health Coverage”. He stated that the Indian government has recently launched the Ayushman Bharat programme, which rests on the twin pillars of health and well-ness centres, and the National Health Protection Mission for 100 million families covering 500 million individuals. The programme will approximately cover 40% of the India’s population, who will be provided an insurance cover of Rs 500,000 per year. He further said that in line with India’s ambitious plan to end TB by 2025, the Government of India (GoI) has started the implementation of a national strategic plan and allocated 550 million dollars. The 6-day event is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on a specific health agenda prepared by the Executive Board. The main functions of the WHA are to determine the policies of the Organization, appoint the Director-General, supervise financial policies, and review and approve the proposed programme budget.

Notes:
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has named Stacey Cunningham its first female President in the history of the 226-year-old exchange. She will succeed Thomas Farley on May 25, 2018. Currently, she is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of NYSE. With Cunningham’s promotion, America’s leading two stock exchanges will be led by women after Adena Friedman took over as CEO of Nasdaq in January 2017.