January 18, 2018 - Current Affairs Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

Indian Government is planning to set up $ 350 million solar development fund for financing solar projects. This announcement was made by Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy on January 17, 2018 at International Solar Alliance Forum in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Indian Government has set an ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts (GW) in renewable energy by 2022. Besides, it expects renewable energy to make up 40 percent of installed power capacity by 2030 (compared to 18.2 percent at the end of 2017).In order to attain these goals, a whopping $125 billion fund will be required. $350 million fund is a small step in this direction. However, Indian Government wants foreign capital to account for a bulk of its investments to meet its renewable energy target.

Maharashtra State Cabinet approved one per cent reservation for orphans in government jobs under general category. Maharashtra State Women and Child Welfare Minister PankajaMunde stated that this decision will help to rehabilitate orphan children and secure their future.She said that as caste of orphans is not known, they cannot be included in a specific category and thus 1% reservation has been provided in General Category.As soon as the orphans step out of the orphanage, they have to face a number of difficulties. Through reservation, some of them will be able to get a government job and get other facilities related to the job.

The government has planned to form a Cyber Warrior Police Force (CWPF) to combat cyber-crimes like cyber threats, child pornography, online stalking etc.The CWPF would function under the National Information Security Policy and Guidelines wing of the Cyber and Information Security (CIS) division of the Union home ministry.The CWPF will be developed on the lines of Central Armed Police Force. The jurisdiction of CWPF has not yet been decided.The Union home ministry had already instructed all the states and Union territories to form state and district cyber-crime coordination cells. The state cyber security cells will act as foundation for the centralised CWPF.

14th meeting of the Special Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers was held on January 17, 2018 in New Delhi. The meeting was attended by Nitin Gadkari – Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Arjun Ram Meghwal – Union Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Dharam Pal Singh – Irrigation Minister of UP, T Harish Rao – Irrigation Minister of Telangana and senior officials from the centre and state governments.Main topics that were taken up during the meeting included the status of clearance of Ken-Betwa Link Project, Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Projects.Other topics on which discussions were held included Surplus Water in River Basin for Interlinking of Rivers, Restructuring of National Water Development Agency and Status of Intra-State link proposals.

Minister of State for Textiles, Ajay Tamta inaugurated 60th edition of India International Garment Fair (IIGF) at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The International Garment Fair, which started in 1988 is a B2B (business-to-business) fair for conducting quality business. Business worth US $200 million was conducted in the previous edition of this fair.It is being organized by Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), in association with International Garment Fair Association and four major Garment Exporters’ Associations, viz. Garment Exporters Association (GEA), Apparel Exporters & Manufacturers Association (AEMA),Garment Exporters of Rajasthan (GEAR) and The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI).294 garment exporters from 11 states including Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, are participating in this 3-day event.

Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly passed grants of horticulture department for 2018-19, for Rs 528.33 crore. The grants of horticulture was passed thorough voice vote. 21 members were involved in the discussion. Jammu and Kashmir Horticulture Minister Syed Basharat Ahmad Bukhari said the horticulture sector is a key source of employment opportunities in Jammu & Kashmir.He said that, horticulture sector contributes 8 % to the GDP of Jammu & Kashmir. Jammu & Kashmir contributes to 70 % of total apple production, 92 % of walnut production, 91 % of almond production in India.

Andhra Pradesh Government signed a MoU with NITI Aayog to create an online dashboard for the 115 most backward districts of India, in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. NITI Aayog Vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were present when the MoU was signed.The backward districts were selected based on education, health, nutrition, rural road connectivity, rural household electrification, access to potable water, individual toilets, etc.Jharkhand has the highest number of the listed backward districts. It is followed by Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in India to completely implement door-to-door garbage collection in all areas under urban bodies. Maya Singh, Urban Development and Housing Minister, said that measures like solid waste management at landfill sites and processing through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode are implemented in urban areas.She instructed the respective officials to submit weekly reports on the progress of work done in solid waste management centres. She said that, garbage collection should be carried out on holidays also.

International Solar Alliance (ISA) hosted a two-day event, ‘International Solar Alliance Forum’ during 17-18th January, 2018 at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2018 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. WFES is an annual event, dedicated to advancing future energy, clean technologies and energy efficiency. It is held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. At the end of the ISA Ministerial session, private sector lender YES Bank announced that it will mobilise USD 1 billion till 2023 and USD 5 billion till 2030 towards financing solar energy projects in India. Yes Bank has already signed five solar energy co-financing Letters of Intent with Hero Future Energy, Tata Power Delhi Distribution, Greenko Group, Jakson Group and Amplus Solar. All these projects are expected to be completed by 2023.

HDFC Bank’s market capitalisation crossed Rs 5 lakh crore mark. Market value of a company’s outstanding shares is referred to as market capitalisation (m-cap). It is calculated by multiplying the current market value of company’s share with total outstanding shares. HDFC Bank has become the third company to cross Rs. 5 lakh crore m-cap after Reliance Industries Ltd. and Tata Consultancy Services.During January 18, 2018 afternoon trade, HDFC Bank’s m-cap stood at Rs 502859.55 crore. It is also the first bank to achieve this milestone.

President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, presented the Sangeet Natak Akademi’s Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2016 at a function held in New Delhi.

Gulshan Books, a Kashmiri publishing house, has secured a place in the Limca Book of Records 2018 for a huge collection of 80,000 books.Gulshan Books is present at the Nehru Park in Jammu and Kashmir. It is the only bookshop-library on a lake.It has a huge variety of books. Owner of the publishing house, Sheikh Ajaz, said that they have a large collection of books by local authors and books based on Kashmir that came out in the past 80-90 years.

Chkfake Brand Protection Solutions launched ‘Chkfake’ – a global app to check authenticity of currency notes of all major currencies worldwide. Chkfake is an online platform that can be used to check authenticity of currency notes. The Chkfake app is now available for iOS and Android systems. It can be downloaded free of cost. It can be accessed at any time from any location. Using this app, both new notes and old designs of Indian Rupees can be verified for authenticity.It can also be used to train stakeholders, customers, enforcement authorities, employees and people dealing with cash to check authenticity of currency notes.

India successfully test-fired Agni-V, a surface to surface nuclear-capable ballistic missile from Abdul Kalam Island off the disha coast.Agni-V is an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) having a strike range of 5000-km. It incorporates latest technologies in terms of navigation , warhead and engine.Agni-V is 17-metre tall and two-metre wide. It is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead of about 1.5 tonnes.This was the first user associate test of Agni-V. Its last developmental trial test was conducted on December 26, 2016.

Virat Kohli has won the Sir Garfield Sobers Cricketer of the year, ICC Cricketer of the Year 2017 and ICC ODI cricketer of the year 2017 awards for his accomplishments in 2017.This is the second time Virat Kohli has won the best cricketer of the year award. He had won the best ODI cricketer by ICC (International Cricket Council) five years back.The qualification period was from 21 September 2016 to the end of 2017. During this period, Virat Kohli scored 2,203 Test runs and 1,818 ODI runs and 299 T20I runs.Also, Indian leg spinner YuzvendraChahal won the ICC T20I performance of the year award.

Actress Ava Mukherjee passed away in Mumbai.Ava Mukherjee was 88 years old. Cause of her death is not known.She began her career with the Bengali film ‘Ram Dhakka’ in 1966. She also worked as a copywriter, translator and writer.Her important films are Devdas, Detective Naani, DarnaZaroori Hain, and The Firm Land. She had also worked in TV commercials.

Leslie Harding Pde, renowned Khasi author, died following a short period of illness, at a hospital in Shillong, Meghalaya.Leslie Harding Pde was 79 years old. He was a playwright, writer, translator and humourist.He had written over 20 books. He also translated the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, Mahabharat and the Upanishads into Khasi language. He was the founder member of Seng Biria U Khasi Humourists’ Society.

Manjit Singh Calcutta, Akali leader and former chief secretary of the SGPC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) passed away in Amritsar, Punjab.Manjit Singh Calcutta was 79 years old. He had been ill for a short while. He is survived by his wife, son and two daughters.He entered politics in 1955. He graduated in law from the University College of Law of Calcutta in 1966.In 1997, he became an MLA from Amritsar (South) assembly constituency and became the minister of higher education

Kannada film actor Kashinath died at Shankara Cancer Hospital in Bengaluru, Karnataka.Kashinath was a director and actor in the Kannada film industry. He had been suffering from cancer.He is survived by his wife and two children. He had worked in more than 40 films. He was also a music director and producer. He hailed from Kundapur in Udupi district, Karnataka.