Current Affairs Quiz -23th September, 2018 - Current Affairs MCQ

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana from Ranchi, Jharkhand. Under this scheme, over 10 crore families will be provided health assurance worth five lakh rupees each, every year.This is the world's largest government-funded healthcare program targeting more than 50 crore beneficiaries. The scheme will provide cashless and paperless access to services for the beneficiary at the point of service.

India's biggest cyclotron facility named Cyclone-30 that will produce radioisotopes vital for diagnosis and treatment of cancer became operational at the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) in Kolkata. Cyclone-30 will become the first and only facility in the country to produce Germanium 68 isotopes, which is used in the diagnosis of breast cancer. At present, many radioisotopes are imported while some are produced in nuclear research reactors such as the Apsara at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), and remaining in cyclotrons facilities run by large private hospitals.

India settled for the silver medal after losing to Pakistan 2-3 in the final of the Asian Team Snooker Championship. Pankaj Advani and Malkeet Singh represented India while Babar Masih and Mohammad Asif were from the Pakistani side.

The Employee's State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) approved a new scheme- Atal Bimit Vyakti Kalyan Yojna for Insured Persons covered under the Employees' State Insurance Act. The decision was taken at the ESIC board meeting chaired by the Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar in New Delhi. A relief will be payable in cash directly to Bank Account of insured person in case of unemployment. It would benefit insured persons covered under the Employee's State Insurance Act, 1948.

India's first indigenously developed 500-megawatt (mw) prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu is expected to achieve criticality in 2019. This was stated by Sekhar Basu, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, at the 62th General Conference of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, on 19th September 2018. The indigenously developed Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)is now undergoing sodium commissioning. The reactor was designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR).Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam (Bhavini), a public sector company under DAE, has been given the responsibility to build the fast breeder reactors in the country.

The Government appointed four members to the local boards of RBI (Reserve Bank of India). Rakesh Jain and Sachin Chaturvedi have been appointed as member in Southern local board and Eastern local board of RBI. Revathy Iyer and Raghvendra Narayan Dubey have been appointed as member in Northern local board of RBI. Revathy Iyer and Sachin Chaturvedi have also been nominated as Director on the central board of RBI.

Goa holds inaugural Naval Flight Test Seminar. There were also a series of papers which were presented on weapon integration on service aircraft and towards building and sustaining the training for Naval Experimental Test Pilots and Flight Test Engineers. The industry participation was from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Boeing Defence and Dassault Aviation, in addition to the retired and serving experimental test crew from Indian Navy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated a new airport at Jharsuguda, which will attract investors to the mineral-rich area. The Jharsuguda Airport has been developed by the Airports Authority of India in collaboration with Odisha government at an estimated cost of Rs 210 crore, with Rs 75 crore contribution from the state. The airport has been developed under the Centre's UDAN scheme.

To commemorate the 140th anniversary of The Hindu Group's, the Hindu Lounge has launched its online store, The Hindu Lounge Online. The Hindu Lounge online offers a wide range of collectibles. It has been operating a store at the Express Avenue mall in Chennai. The merchandise available for sale are broadly classified into four categories: the Madras Edition, personalised collection, restored collection and handmade collection. In an effort to engage with the readers more, an online shopping portal, https://lounge.thehindu.com has been launched.

Global research agency Fitch has raised India's growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.8 per cent from the earlier 7.4 per cent. However, forecast for the next two fiscal, 2019-20 and 2020-21, have been shaved by 20 basis points (100 basis points means 1 per cent) to 7.3 per cent. Fitch's latest projection for the current fiscal is higher than what is estimated by the Reserve Bank of India and even the Government. While the RBI's estimate is 7.4 per cent, the Government feels that it could be 7.5 per cent. However, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its projection to 7.3 per cent from 7.4 per cent. India Ratings too lowered its growth projection by 20 bps to 7.2 per cent.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Giriraj Singh, launched MSME Insider - a monthly e-newsletter of the Ministry. The e-newsletter would be distributed to about 50 lakh MSMEs registered on the Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum Portal. It will act as a bridge between the Ministry and MSME units and stakeholders. It will also help in creating the awareness about the schemes and propagate the agenda of the ministry.

Saudi Arabia is to join as the third strategic partner of the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This announcement was made soon after Prime Minister Imran Khan returned from his first foreign trip to Saudi. The CPEC is the flagship project of the multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It aimed at enhancing Beijing's influence around the world through China-funded infrastructure projects.

Sakshi Malik settled for a Silver medal at the Medved International Wrestling tournament at Minsk, Belarus last night. In the Final of the 62 kg category, Sakshi lost to Hungary's Marianna Sastin, 2-6 to finish second best. Other Indian grappler Pooja Dhanda bagged a Bronze medal in the 57 kg category after she produced a superb performance in the repechage round.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched a new web portal 'Budget Dashboard', incorporating features of Ministry of AYUSH and Department of Health Research. It will have information on budget, expenditure and Bill Payment position. It consists the Details of Budget and expenditure, Details of flagship schemes, Central sector expenditure, North East, SC/ST, Centrally Sponsored Schemes, etc. A Unique feature of Bill Position for All India Pay & Accounts Offices (PAOs), and SMS facility of information on demand and SMS alerts for shortfall in expenditure.

India's first-ever online and centralised National Database on Sexual Offenders (NDSO) has been launched by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on September 20, 2018. With this, India will become the 9th country in the world to maintain such a database. The database will have a record of the name, photographs, address, fingerprint and other details of convicted sexual offenders. It has information about 4.5 lakh sexual offenders. It is an initiative under the National Mission for Safety of Women. The database will be maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The database will be made available to law enforcement agencies for various purposes including investigation and employee verification.