Current Affairs Quiz -1st September, 2018 - Current Affairs MCQ

The state government of Assam sought extension under Section 3 Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) for another 6 months declaring entire state as 'Disturbed Area'. This Act will be in continuation till the National Register of Citizen (NRC) is updated. The final draft NRC is likely to be published by end of 2018. In September 2017, Union Home Ministry had delegated to Assam and Manipur Governors power to impose or withdraw AFSPA.

NITI Aayog will organise MOVE: India's First Global Mobility Summit 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on September 7. The aim of the summit is to showcase innovation and build a platform to shape the future of mobility, The summit will constitute three designated components - the Conclave, Digital Exhibition, and Featured Events. The six themes of the 2-day summit are asset utilisation and service, comprehensive electrification, alternative energy, reinventing public transit, logistics and goods transport and data analytics and mobility.

Seema Punia wins bronze in women's discus throw at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia. The 35-year-old Seema cleared a best distance of 62.26m which is her best in six years. China's Yang Chen (65.12m) won the gold and Bin Feng (64.25m) from China bagged the silver.

Nashik Police Commissioner Ravinderkumar Singhal has successfully completed the immensely difficult 'Ironman Triathlon', which involves a set of physically grueling activities. The event, which includes cycling non-stop for a staggering 180 km, followed by swimming for around 4 km and finally by a 42-km full marathon, was held in France on 26th August 2018. Mr Singhal, 53, completed the triathlon in 15 hours and 13 minutes as against the stipulated time of 17 hours.

INS Teg, a warship of the Western Naval Command, provided assistance to MV Vela, a Norwegian owned ship in Gulf of Aden. INS Teg dispatched a specialist team for recovery damaged anchor and cable and assisted the crew of MV Vela. MV Vela and the Combined Task Force expressed their gratitude to the ship and the Indian Navy.

Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan introduced the 'National REDD+ Strategy India' for the implementation of the REDD+ strategy. This has been constituted in line with India's National Action Plan on Climate Change, Green India Mission and India's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to UNFCCC. To help build sustainable livelihood of local communities and conserve biodiversity. REDD+ means "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation". REDD+ actions at the State level will be coordinated by the committee headed by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) & Head of Forest Force (HOFF) of the States.

Balesh Sharma takes over as Vodafone Idea's first CEO. He was the Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India and a member of its executive committee. Sharma holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering and MBA (Marketing and Finance) from the University of Rajasthan. He has previously served as the CEO of Vodafone Czech Republic and the CEO of Vodafone Malta.

India's 22-year-old boxer Amit Panghal defeated 2016 Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov in the men's 49kg final to bag gold at the Asian Games 2018. Amit was the only Indian boxer who made it to a final at the quadrennial event. He had won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games earlier this year and a bronze at Asian Championships last year.

Budget airline GoAir will start international operations from October 11, 2018. The inaugural flights will operate to Phuket from New Delhi and Mumbai. The airline will also launch flights to Male in Maldives from Mumbai and Delhi on October 14. GoAir will be the sixth domestic carrier to have international operations.

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) made public 13 standardised advanced ship designs suitable for large barge haulage on river Ganga (National Waterway-1). The Government is implementing Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) for capacity enhancement of navigation on NW-1 (Varanasi-Haldia stretch) at a cost of Rs 5369.18 crore. Technical assistance and investment support is provided by the World Bank. It will bring in savings of Rs 30-50 lakhs in building of a vessel. It will also eliminate the dependence on foreign ship designs for Inland Water Transport (IWT) and contribute to 'Make in India'. The new designs will help shipyards build vessels of standardised dimensions and capacity, and will lead to reduced fuel costs and lesser logistics costs.

Indian economy grew by 8.2% in the first quarter (April-June) of the current fiscal, the highest in over two years. This announcement was made by Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley. The manufacturing sector grew by 13.5% which signals very good turnaround in the sector. In a related development Reserve Bank of India stated Non-food credit growth in the system accelerated to 10.6% for July as compared to previous year, driven by loans to the services sector growing at the faster clip. Credit to the services sector grew 23% for the reporting period, up from the year-ago period's 4.9%.

Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated the Fourth International Ayurveda Congress (IAvC) at the Netherlands. The Minister is in Netherlands to participate in the Congress jointly organized by International Maharishi Ayurveda Foundation, Netherlands; All India Ayurvedic Congress, New Delhi and the International Academy of Ayurveda, Pune in association with the Indian Embassy in the Netherlands. The congress would focus on promotion and propagation of Ayurveda in the Netherlands and its neighbouring countries of Europe. A special Seminar is also organized by the Indian Embassy titled "India-Netherlands collaboration in Healthcare, including Ayurveda".

The Madhya Pradesh government has organized an interactive programme "Mil -Banche" in government schools of state on August 31, 2018. It is a first of its kind initiative i.e. being organized for multi-dimensional development of children through language skill up-gradation, reading other books in addition to textbooks, developing interest in understanding and other co-curricular activities. Over 2 lakh volunteers who have registered for the programme include 820 engineers, 843 doctors, 36 thousand employees of private sector, 19 thousand public representatives and around 45 thousand government employees and officers. Volunteers will read out one chapter of any book from either the school library or the Hindi textbook during the programme.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has announced new ranking system - named Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) - for higher educational institutions to promote culture of innovation and research in higher education at AICTE in New Delhi. The new ranking system will be formally launched on October 15, the birth anniversary of former President APJ Abdul Kalam. The first results will be declared on February 28, 2019, which is also Science Day. ARIIA - named after Atal Bihari Vajpayee- will focus on: budget expenses and revenues generated; facilitating access to advance centres; ideas of entrepreneurship; innovation ecosystems supported through teaching and learning; and innovative solutions to improve governance of the institution.

Shri R K Singh released a book on "Weather Information Portal for Indian Power System". This reference document has been developed by Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO) in collaboration with IMD to facilitate enhanced utilization of Weather Portal in all spheres of Power Sector. Shri R K Singh is the Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy.