Current Affairs Quiz -16th August, 2018 - Current Affairs MCQ

International Master Nihal Sarin became the 53rd Grandmaster of India despite losing his final round game to Richard Rapport of Hungary in the ninth and final round of Abu Dhabi Masters. The 14-year-old Nihal tallied 5.5 points out of a possible nine and the final GM norm came the Kerala boy's way with one round to spare.

Bharti Axa Life Insurance and Airtel Payments Bank entered into an alliance to offer the 'Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana' (PMJJBY), a government-backed life insurance scheme. The alliance will leverage Airtel Payments Bank's vast network to reach deep rural pockets and serve the under-insured. With this, Airtel Payments Bank also becomes the first payments bank in India to offer the Government of India-backed life insurance scheme. The product (PMJJBY) provided by Bharti Axa Life Insurance offers Rs 2 lakh life insurance cover for a nominal premium of Rs 330 per annum and can be purchased by all existing or new Airtel Payments Bank savings bank account holders between the ages of 18-50.

Madhya Pardesh Governor Anandiben Patel was sworn in as Governor of Chhattisgarh. President Ram Nath Kovind gave Anandiben Patel the additional charge as Governor of Chhattisgarh following the death of Chhattisgarh governor Balramji Dass Tandon. Chhattisgarh High Court Chief Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi administered the oath of office to Anandiben Patel. Anandiben Patel will perform additional duties as Chhattisgarh governor until regular arrangements for the office of the governor of Chhattisgarh are made.

Madurai Panthers won their first Tamil Nadu Premier League 2018 title, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Madurai Panthers beat Dindigul Dragons by seven wickets in the final and won the 2018 Tamil Nadu Premier League title. Madurai Panthers' Arun Karthik scored his sixth fifty of this season and remained the highest run scorer in the tournament.

The World Organ Donation Day (WODD) is observed every year on August 13 to encourage people to donate their precious organs. Every year, about 5 lakh people die awaiting organ transplants due to non-availability of organs. There is a wide gap between the number of transplants awaited and the organs available. Organ donation is a process where an organ is transferred from the body of the one who is giving the organ (donor) to the one who needs the organ (recipient). The donor can be living or deceased. Organs that can be donated are kidney, lungs, heart, eye, liver, pancreas, cornea, small intestine, skin tissues, bone tissues, heart valves and veins.

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sahyadri which was on a good will visit to the island nation entered the Port of Suva on 13th August 2018. The naval ship is visiting the Republic of Fiji en route to India after participating in the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC)-2018 organised at Hawaii. During the visit, the Indian naval ship personnel will have professional interaction with their Republic of Fiji counterparts and the ship will have an 'Open Day' for general public.

Former India spinner Ramesh Powar has been appointed as head coach of the women's national cricket team till the ICC World T20, scheduled to be held in November, by BCCI. He was appointed interim coach of the team in July after the resignation of Tushar Arothe. He is the third coach of women's team in past one and a half year after Purnima Rau and Tushar Arothe. Powar has played 31 ODIs and two Tests from 2004 to 2007, picking 34 wickets with a best of 54 in the 50-over format.

IDBI Bank increased the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by up to 0.10 per cent for various tenors. For overnight and one-month tenor loans, the MCLR are increased by 0.05 per cent each to 8 per cent and 8.25 per cent respectively. The one year loan will be priced at 8.85 per cent, two year and three year tenors will be priced at 8.90 per cent each.

R Vaishali became India's latest Woman Grandmaster (WGM). She is the elder sister of R. Praggnanandhaa, who became the second youngest Grand Master in the world in June 2018. She is 17 years old. She completed her third and final WGM norm in the Riga Technical University Open chess tournament in Riga, Latvia.

D Bala Venkatesh Varma has been appointed as the Ambassador to Russia. He is currently serving as Indian envoy in Spain. He will succeed Pankaj Saran who has been appointed as the deputy National Security Advisor.

Prasar Bharati has tied up with Google and its video sharing platform YouTube to telecast the 72nd Independence Day programme live online on 15th August 2018 to increase digital presence. Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has stated that the live stream window will be seen on the homepage of Google itself so that people do not have to look for a separate link to go to the Youtube channel. In a first-of-its-kind digital drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech from Red Fort will be live streamed on both Google and YouTube. This year, Doordarshan anchors will introduce the programme from Red Fort instead of the studios. Doordarshan will also translate the PM's speech in over 20 regional languages. The Independence Day coverage will open with a song composed by Shankar Mahadevan.

As per Ficci's survey 'Ficci's Economic Outlook Survey', the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal. It projects that GDP will grow at 7.4 per cent for 2018-19, with a minimum and maximum range of 7.1 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively. The economic activity on the first quarter of the current fiscal would be 7.1 per cent. The study further said the median growth forecast for agriculture and allied activities has been put at 3 per cent for 2018-19.

For better tackling of air pollution related issues in the Delhi, Supreme Court has approved the central government's proposal to use hologram-based colour-coded stickers for vehicles in Delhi based on the fuel used. The vehicles that run on petrol and CNG will have light blue stickers, while the diesel vehicles will have orange stickers. The scheme is based on a model used in Paris.

President Ram Nath Kovind approved Nao Sena (Gallantary) medal for the 6 women crew members of Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini, who circumnavigated the globe. Lt Cdr Vartika Joshi captained the 194-day mission. The mission started on 10th September 2017. Nao Sena Gallantary medals were also announced for marine Lt Cdr Anil Raina and Kunal Saini for anti-insurgency operations.

Cosmos bank announced that the server of Pune-based bank was under a malware attack for 2 days between August 11 and August 13 and an amount of Rs 94 crore has been transferred off. The fraudulent transactions were carried out via cloning of thousands of the bank's debit cards and 25 ATMs located in Canada, Hong Kong and a few in India. The cards of the cooperative bank customers that were cloned were of Visa and Rupay. The malware attack was on the switch, which is operative for payment gateways of Visa and Rupay debit cards.