Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2018

Notes:
Mia Amor Mottley has become the first female Prime Minister (PM) of the Caribbean island of Barbados. The win makes Mottley just the 8th PM to lead Barbados since the island gained independence from Great Britain in 1966. The Mottley-led Barbados Labour Party (BLP) recorded an historic landslide victory in the 2018 general election, secured all 30 seats in the House of Assembly and over 70% of the popular vote that makes them the first party to accomplish this feat.

Notes:
Veteran actor Geeta Kapoor (57) has passed away at a Mumbai hospital in Maharashtra on May 26, 2018. Her son left her at a hospital last year and never returned to check on her. The film personalities Ashoke Pandit and Ramesh Taurani were paying for her care. She acted in over 100 films, including Meena Kumari’s classic Pakeezah.

Notes:
The Telangana government has announced a unique life insurance scheme for farmers. Under the scheme, the government will provide life insurance facility of Rs 5 lakh to the nominee, after the death of the insured farmer. The entire premium will be paid by the government to the insurance agency and the nominee will get the amount within 10 days of the claim after the death of the farmer. With this, the dependent family will get the benefit irrespective of the reason for the death of the farmer. The state government has tied up with the state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) for the implementation of the scheme. The farmers in the age group of 18 to 60 are eligible to enroll their names to get benefit from it. The insurance scheme will commence on August 15 and farmers will be given insurance bonds. Every year on August 1, the total premium amount will be credited to LIC.

Notes:
The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) and IIT Bombay have been awarded the Clarivate Analytics India Innovation Award 2018 in the Academic Institutions category at the 2018 India Innovation Conference in Bengaluru on May 16. The award places IIT Bombay in the top 12 innovators in India. Under the Government Research Organizations category, the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) have been awarded the Clarivate Analytics India Innovation Award 2018. Every year, Clarivate Analytics recognizes the most innovative companies in India according to patent-related metrics that get to the essence of what it means to be truly innovative. This analysis is done using proprietary Clarivate Analytics data and tools. The evaluation is strictly driven by metrics for both patent volume (patents published) as well as patent quality (grant success rate, extent of globalisation, and citations).

Notes:
The Himachal Pradesh government has launched the ‘Prakritik Kheti Khushhaal Kisaan Yojana’ to enhance agricultural income by adopting low-cost climate-resilient Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) system. Under the scheme farmers would be provided training, necessary equipments, bio-pesticides, bio-insecticides, etc. The purpose of the scheme is to promote organic farming in a big way and plans to adopt an integrated approach for promoting organic and zero budget natural farming system. At present, 39,790 farmers have already switched over to organic farming ensuring production of healthy food grains, free from harmful chemical ingredients. A state-level committee headed by the chief minister would monitor the implementation and progress of the ZBNF system.

Notes:
The Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) has signed a Rs 15 crore-Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the VTOL Aviation Pvt Ltd to develop prototypes for self-piloted Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft. These prototypes will be used as air taxis for civilians. The VTOL technology equips the aircraft to perform manoeuvres that are impossible with traditional aircraft, and also comes across as a big advantage for air combat and rescue. Other features like an ability to carry enough payload and minimal readiness time make it handy in emergency situations like rapid deployment of ground troops, precise location hovering for delivery of supplies. These aircraft will also be very useful for rapid medical evacuation of troops from difficult terrains. VTOL aircraft can be used for surveillance, rescue mission, combat situations, paramedics, and civil aviation. These aircrafts could be operated in both steered and pilotless modes from any trivial base like helipads or any ground surface.

Notes:
The BCCI and UN Environment has signed a letter of intent to promote ‘green’ Cricket in India at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on May 27, 2018. The aim of the partnership is to spread greater awareness about key environmental challenges facing the country, and highlight alternate and more sustainable solutions. The BCCI will endeavor to reduce its environmental impact by greening operations and engaging cricketers and fans in green initiatives. The partnership will also focus on phasing out single-use plastic across stadiums in the country. Even during the course of 2018 IPL, a film with messages from captains of various franchises was created and aired in stadiums highlighting hazards of plastic pollution. The headquarters of UN Environment is located in Nairobi, Kenya.

Notes:
The Jammu and Kashmir (J & K) government has submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Rs 189 crore Devika river rejuvenation project to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for approval. The aim of the project is to develop bathing ghats in the premises of the Devika River, removal of encroachments, sewerage treatment, restoration of natural water bodies and development of catchment area. The river holds religious significance as it is revered by Hindus as the sister of river Ganga. Devika river, which is also known as Devika Nagari, originates from the hilly Suddha Mahadev temple in Udhampur district and flows down towards western Punjab (now in Pakistan) where it merges with the Ravi river.

Notes:
The World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed every year on May 31 to highlight health and other risks associated with tobacco use and advocate for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. The 2018 focus is “Tobacco and Heart Disease” to emphasize impact tobacco has on the cardiovascular health of people across the globe. The WNTD 2018 aims to highlight the links between the use of tobacco products and heart and other cardiovascular diseases, increase awareness within the broader public of the impact tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke have on cardiovascular health. The global tobacco epidemic kills more than 7 million people each year, of which close to 9 lakh are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke. Tobacco causes over two million deaths from cardiovascular diseases every year.

Notes:
Alicia Pucheta, who is the Vice President of Paraguay, will become the first-ever interim woman President of Paraguay after President Horacio Cartes offered his resignation from the presidency in order to assume a position as Senator. The parliament is due to confirm Cartes’s resignation and proclaim Pucheta as interim president. If his resignation is accepted, he would be succeeded by Pucheta for the remainder of his 5-year term, which is due to end on 15 August 2018.