January 13, 2018 - Current Affairs Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

As per data collected through National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4) conducted among more than 6 lakh households in 2015-16, Delhi is the richest state while Bihar is the poorest. Information collected through NFHS-4 has been used to classify all households into wealth quintiles (five equal parts, each representing 20%). Wealth in this context is represented by ownership of consumer goods such as television and bicycles, and household characteristics such as availability of clean drinking water. Households that rank in the lowest quintile would be the poorest 20%, while those featuring in the top would be the richest 20% of the lot. Quintile scores have further been used to classify population for states, religious and caste groups and rural-urban areas.

First-of-its-kind India-UK Createch Summit will be held in Mumbai on February 6, 2018. This summit will be held by United Kingdom’s (UK’s) Department for International Trade (DIT). Objective of this summit is to celebrate and explore the convergence of creativity and technology, ‘Createch’ and its application across a range of areas. Finale of the TECH Rocketship Awards 2017-2018 will also be held during this summit. TECH Rocketship Awards 2017-2018 will honour India’s best and brightest talent in technology scale-up companies. India-UK Createch Summit is the key event of a month-long series of events for promoting India-UK trade partnership. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex will attend this Summit as a special guest.

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with State Governments of Bihar and Jharkhand for completion of balance works of North Koel reservoir project at an estimated cost of Rs. 1622.27 crore. This project is situated on North Koel river, a tributary of Sone river. On completion, it will provide irrigation to 111521 hectares of land in the most backward and drought prone areas of Aurangabad and Gaya districts in Bihar and Palamu and Garhwa districts in Jharkhand. Construction of this project started in 1972 but was later halted in 1993. As per the MoU, out of the estimated cost of balance works of Rs. 1622.27 crores, Rs 1378.61 crore will be provided by Central Government as a grant from Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF) under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated 12th International Film Festival on Art and Artist in Bhubaneswar. This three-day festival has been organised by Bhubaneswar-based Jatin Das Centre of Art (JDCA). Several short, long, narrative, documentary, animation, and film essays will be showcased during the course of this festival. Besides, panel discussions, lectures and workshops will also be conducted. 12 Odia films,12 films in other Indian languages and nearly 39 films of 11 countries in 15 foreign languages will be screened during the festival. Short film stories written by eminent writers Manoj Das and Gourahari Das will also be presented by Jatin Das Centre of Art (JDCA).

Saudi Arabia’s first motorshow for women customers was held in Jeddah on January 11, 2018. In context of this news, it is important to note that in September 2017, Saudi King Salman had ordered an end to the ban on women drivers by June 2018. Fuel-efficient cars were the key highlight of this motorshow in Jeddah. A team of saleswomen was present to help their new prospective customer base. However, in wake of recent hike in domestic gas prices and introduction of value-added tax (VAT), it would be interesting to see car sales growth numbers in Saudi Arabia post June 2018

American and Japanese military forces launched 13th annual Iron Fist joint exercises in California, US. Around 500 U.S. Marines and sailors and about 350 members of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force are participating in this exercise wherein they will be trained in fire support operations and amphibious assaults. The main training event will be a mock amphibious assault launched from the USS Rushmore amphibious landing ship, in coordination with an inland helicopter assault. It is to be noted that recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests conducted by North Korea have put South Korea, US and Japan on high alert.

China will provide financial support to construct a counter-terrorism base in Badakshan province of northern Afghanistan that would prevent cross-border infiltration of the Chinese Uyghur militants. Location of the counter-terrorism base has not yet been decided. The Chinese funding will include all material (weaponry, uniforms for soldiers, military equipment) expenses and technical costs. A special commission has been formed to finalise the location of the base, determine construction costs and to manage technical issues. The decision regarding this counter-terrorism base was taken during the recent meeting of Afghanistan Defence Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami, Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan and Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, General Xu Qiliang. The Chinese Uyghur militants were trained in Al Qaeda camps. They were active during Taliban rule in Afghanistan.

According to a study by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), housing loans in up to Rs. 2 lakh slab had the highest level of non-performing assets (NPAs). In last two financial years, public sector banks (PSBs) reported higher NPAs in Housing Loan segment as compared to housing finance companies (HFCs). For housing loan slab up to Rs. 2 lakh, combined NPAs of PSBs and HFCs were 10.4 per cent in FY17 as compared to 9.8 per cent in FY16. For housing loan slab up to Rs. 2 lakh, NPAs at PSBs in FY17 stood at 11.9 per cent while that of HFCs stood at 9.8 per cent. Lowest NPAs were reported for housing loans in Rs. 25 lakh and above slab. The study outlined that as the loan size increased the NPAs fell.

Kerala StartUp Mission (KSUM) has introduced ‘Kerala Accelerator Program’, a virtual accelerator program for 3 months, to promote startups in the early revenue stage. The Kerala Accelerator Program has been launched by Kerala StartUp Mission (KSUM) in collaboration with Zone Startups India. This program will introduce the startups to investors, relevant customers and industry connects. This program starts on 5th February 2018. It will provide both live and virtual mentoring sessions. Mentors will visit Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi to interact with selected startups. It also provides a one week residential program in Bangalore and Mumbai from 12 to 16 January 2018. It also provides weekly reviews, customer interactions and an end-of-programme ‘demo day’ with investors.

Yara International, a Norwegian chemical company announced the completion of its acquisition of Tata Chemicals Ltd’s 1.2 million tonnes per annum production capacity urea plant, located at Babrala in Uttar Pradesh. This acquisition deal is valued at Rs 2682-crore deal and marks the first foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s highly regulated urea sector. The deal includes the transfer of all assets and liabilities of Babrala unit from Tata Chemicals to Yara. Yara’s annual sales in India stands at $35-40 million, mainly comprising premium micronutrients and complex and water-soluble fertilisers used in high-value crops such as apples, grapes and chilli.

Boards of directors of IDFC Bank (a private sector bank) and Capital First (a non-banking financial firm) approved a merger of Capital First with IDFC Bank. The merged entity will have assets under management of Rs 88000 crore,customer base of over 5 million and branch network of 194. As per the deal, IDFC Bank will issue 139 shares for every 10 shares of Capital First. V. Vaidyanathan, the founder and current chairman of Capital First will become the chief executive of the merged entity. IDFC Bank has so far been heavily reliant on wholesale lending. Acquisition of Capital first will give a boost to its retail lending activities and will help in its transformation from being a dedicated infrastructure financier to a well-diversified universal bank.

“Rizhao”, a new missile frigate, was commissioned by the People’s Liberation Army Navy in a naval port in Dalian, China. The missile frigate Rizhao is 140 metres long and 16 metres wide. Rizhao was designed and made by China. Rizhao has a displacement of nearly 4,000 tonnes. It is China’s indigenous missile frigate. It consists of advanced weapons systems and has the ability to attack enemy ships and submarines on its own or in coordination with other naval forces. It got its name from the Rizhao city in Shandong Province of China.

Indian Navy decommissioned warships INS Nirbhik and INS Nirghat at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. INS Nirbhik has served Indian Navy for 30 years while INS Nirghat has served for 28 years. Original avatars of these ships were flag bearers of Indian Navy’s offensive action on Karachi Harbour during Indo-Pak war in 1971. New avatars of INS Nirbhik and INS Nirghat were commissioned at Poti in the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on December 21, 1987 and December 15 1989 respectively. These ships had four gas turbine engines and were able to achieve top speeds close to 40 knots. Weaponry loaded on these ships included four surface-to-surface missiles, close-range AK 630 gun, medium-range AK 176 gun and small calibre guns. During active service, these ships participated in several operations including Operation Parakram and Vijay.

China successfully launched two BeiDou-3 satellites aimed to provide navigation and positioning services to countries along the Belt and Road initiative. The Long March-3B carrier rocket took off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan, China. In 2018, this is the first launch of the BeiDou satellites. These BeiDou satellites are named the 26th and 27th satellites in the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). The BDS is developed as a competitor to US Global Positioning System (GPS). China has plans to send 18 BeiDou-3 satellites into space in 2018. Yang Changfeng is the chief designer of the BeiDou system. The BeiDou project got its name from the Chinese term for the Big Dipper.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests has refused to permit captive breeding of Chiru (Tibetan Antelope) whose underfur is used to make shahtoosh shawls. The Ministry of Environment and Forests refused the suggestion to carry out captive breeding of Chiru stating that, it will not help in conservation and will not provide raw material for weavers as they have to be killed in order to collect the wool. Chiru has been declared as ‘Near Threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature 2017. Chiru has been hunted down for its underfur for a long time. The fur is transported to Srinagar to make shawls. The shahtoosh shawls’ sale and ownership is already banned in India and in several other countries.

Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and Football Delhi, governing body for football in Delhi signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of the sport in the Capital. Under this MoU, ASSOCHAM will help Football Delhi to connect with corporate and industry. Grass root level participation will be encouraged by organizing sports events, seminars and forums for development of football industry in Delhi. Greater engagement with industry members and stakeholders will be sought in the field of infrastructure development and sports science. Both the entities will jointly initiate skill development programmes to create employment opportunities for the football industry, including sports goods manufacturing sectors. Efforts will also be made for tapping Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds for football.

Sarjubala Devi has won gold medal and the best boxer trophy in the National Women’s Boxing Championship, in Rohtak, Haryana. Manipur’s Sarjubala Devi defeated Haryana’s Ritu 3-2 and won gold medal in the 48-51 kg Flyweight category. She also won the best boxer trophy. This is her second consecutive national title. She is a former world silver-medallist. The Railways Sports Promotion Board were declared as overall champions.

Hindi writer Doodhnath Singh, passed away following a cardiac arrest in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. Doodnath Singh was suffering from prostate cancer since 2017. Recently his health deteriorated and he died after suffering from a cardiac arrest. He is survived by two sons and a daughter. He had won Bharat Bharti award. He hailed from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. He did post-graduation in Hindi from Allahabad University. Later he became a professor in the Allahabad University.