Current Affairs Quiz - 20th July, 2018 - Current Affairs MCQ

Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic arm of IT major, Infosys, signed an MoU with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) for the construction of a station at Konappana Agrahara in Electronics City. The station is under the second phase of Bangalore Metro's expansion plans and the Foundation has committed to maintaining it for the next 30 years. Infosys Foundation would contribute Rs 200 crore to the Bengaluru Metro Rail for the construction of Konappana Agrahara Metro Station and railway track

The biennial multi-national large force employment warfare exercise "Pitch Black 2018 (PB-18)" will be hosted by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Australia, which is scheduled from 24th July to 18th August. For the first time, the Indian Air Force is participating in the mega exercise with fighter aircraft, which will involve over 100 aircraft from around the globe. The IAF contingent consists of 145 air-warriors including Garud team, 04 X Su-30 MKI, 01 X C-130 and 01 X C-17. The contingent is being led by Group Captain CUV Rao VM and would aim to undertake simulated air combat exercises in a controlled environment and mutual exchange of best practices towards enhancing IAF operational capability.

Karnataka Bank launched DigiLocker facility for its customers as part of its digital initiative. The facility is being given by integrating bank's MoneyClick internet banking channel.DigiLocker is a key initiative to store the digital documents, by National E-Governance Division under Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The customer can login to the bank's internet banking account and click on access. Customers can access their digital documents anytime, anywhere and share it online. Digital Locker makes it easier to validate the authenticity of documents as they are issued directly by the registered issuer.

7 new members took oath of office in the Rajya Sabha.

The heritage city of Udaipur has been ranked third among a list of 15 best cities in the world by Travel + Leisure. The first two cities on the list are San Miguel de Allende and Oaxaca, both in Mexico. Rajasthan's Udaipur city is also known as "City of Lakes" and the "Venice of the East".

Chief Minister N.Chandrababu Naidu launched e-Pragati core platform, a forward-looking digital initiative, at Undavalli, Amaravati. It is aimed at connecting the citizen to 34 departments, 336 autonomous organisations and 745-plus services. The Andhra Pradesh State government intends to realise the vision of 'Sunrise AP 2022'. The e-Pragati authority will achieve the goals of the project by supporting the seven development missions launched in the areas of e-Governance, Social Empowerment, Skill Development, Urban Development, Infrastructure, Industrial Development and the Services sector. This platform would create a coordination between citizens and the government to solve several issues.

Australian scientists said that, they have developed the world's first blood test capable of detecting melanoma in its early stages. Researchers at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia said that, the new blood test will help doctors detect melanoma before it spreads throughout the body. Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. A trial was conducted with 105 people having melanoma and 104 healthy controls. The blood test detected early stage melanoma in 79 % of the cases. At present, melanoma is detected by a visual scan and biopsy.

US State Department announced that the inaugural 'two-plus-two dialogue' between India and the United States will be held in New Delhi in September 2018. Recently, the US had postponed the dialogue due to 'unavoidable reasons'. The Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary James Mattis will travel to India for the dialogue with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) announced that, it has signed an agreement to source100 MW wind power that will help to meet its renewable power necessities. The power would be available to BYPL from the 3rd week of November 2019, for a period of 25 years. It will be available at a competitive tariff of Rs 2.52 per unit. With this agreement, the two BSES discoms in Delhi will bring in 400 MW of wind power. Previously, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) had signed an agreement for 250 MW wind power and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) for 50 MW.

India and Ghana signed two agreements in an effort to enhance the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar announced that two MOUs on Cultural Exchange Programme and on cooperation between Bureau of Indian Standards and Ghana Standards Authority were signed.

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is running "Ganga VriksharopanAbhiyan" in five main stem Ganga basin states namely Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The drive was launched on the 9th July and the week upto 15th July was observed as 'ShubharambhSaptah'. State Forest Departments of these states have been made the nodal agencies for the smooth and effective execution of the campaign. The participation from Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), Ganga VicharManch (GVM), NGOs and educational institutions are encouraging. The campaign has been initiated as part of the Forest Interventions in Ganga (FIG) component of Namami Gange Programme.

Tata Capital has appointed Anil Kaul as the Managing Director of Tata Capital Housing Finance, with effect from 18th July 2018. He succeeds R Vaithianathan. He has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services sector and retail lending business. He has held senior management positions at ICICI Bank, ICICI Lombard, Citibank, Standard Chartered Plc.

Scientists have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, making the total number of natural satellites circling around Jupiter to 79. The discovery includes 11 "normal" outer moons, and one "oddball." The researchers were led by Scott S Sheppard from Carnegie Institution for Science, US. They first spotted the moons in 2017. Out of the new moons 9 are part of a distant outer swarm of moons that orbit it in the retrograde, or opposite direction of Jupiter's spin rotation. These distant retrograde moons are categorised into at least 3 distinct orbital groupings. They are believed to be remnants of three once-larger parent bodies that broke during collisions with asteroids, comets, or other moons. The newly discovered retrograde moons take nearly 2 years to orbit Jupiter. 2 of the new discoveries are part of a closer, inner group of moons that orbit in the prograde, or same direction as Jupiter's rotation.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has named Indian Athlete Hima Das as the first sports ambassador of Assam. This announcement has been made after Hima Das became the first Indian woman to win gold medal in the women's 400 m final race at IAAF World U-20 Athletics Championships held in France, recently.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh announced a Chhattisgarh Online Pension Management System (OPMS). E-payment to e-procurement to provide internet to every village has been done. It is under e-governance, fulfilling the dream of Digital India plan of India and Digital Chhattisgarh. The Chhattisgarh OPMS has launched an app called "Abhar aapki sewa ka". Through this application, 80,000 pensioners of the state will now get all the information related to pension and payment online.