January 28, 2018, Current Affairs, Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

Union Home Ministry is planning to set up Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), an apex centre to deal with cyber crimes such as financial frauds, circulation of pornographic and communal contents. I4C will be located in Delhi. It would actively coordinate with state governments in matters of cyber crimes and would closely monitor the cyber space and social media.The centre will also be authorised to block those websites which break India’s laws and circulate child porn and communally and racially sensitive content. It is to be noted that Government has already released Rs 83 crore under the Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children Scheme, for setting up of a cyber forensic training laboratory-cum-training centre for police officials in each state.

India and Seychelles signed a revised agreement that will allow India to build military infrastructure on Seychelles’ Assumption Island. The agreement was signed by India’s Foreign Secretary, S Jaishankar in Victoria, the capital of Seychelles. This agreement was signed in 2015 during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, at that time it had not been ratified by the Seychelles Government headed by previous president, James Michel. The agreement that was signed on January 27, 2018 is the re-negotiated version of the 2015 agreement. Joint efforts in anti-piracy operations and enhanced Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) surveillance has been covered in the re-negotiated agreement. Overall, themilitary infrastructure on Seychelles’s Assumption Island will expand India’s strategic reach in Indian Ocean region.

In a bid to solve various complications faced by the power distribution sector, Haryana State Government has announced to install 10 lakh smart meters across the state. This announcement was made by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar while inaugurating the India-Japan Smart Grid Pilot Project in Panipat in the presence of Japanese Minister Keniko Sen. The smart meters will eliminate the need to visit houses for meter reading and if a meter or power supply is shut, the complaint would be resolved by the smart grid. Out of 10 lakh smart meters, five lakh meters would be installed this year and five lakh next year.

On 25th January 2018, the first Khadi Haat of India was launched by Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) and New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), in Connaught Place, New Delhi. The Khadi Haat was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh.The Khadi Haat will act as a platform for artisans and help then earn better. Entrepreneurs under Prime Minister Employment Generation Program (PMEGP)can display and sell their products in the Khadi Haat. New Delhi Lok Sabha MP Meenakshi Lekhi, KVIC Chairman V K Saxena, NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar, Secretary in Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) A K Panda etc. were present at the event.

Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry has decided to set up a social media communication (SMC) hub for keeping a tab on trending news in districts and gather feedback on the Central Government’s flagship schemes. Each SMC hub, comprising around 20 social media analytics executives will provide real-time reports on details relating to trending news/topics in the respective district and will serve as “eyes and ears” of the government. Rs 17 crore (in this fiscal year) has been sanctioned for setting up 707 SMC hubs. This fund will be used for hiring personnel, development of software and other infrastructure related expenses of the SMCs. The SMC hub will not only help Government to understand the impact of various social media campaigns conducted on centre-run schemes but will also be used for disseminating content.

International bird festival is to be held for 3 days starting from 9th February 2018, at Dudhwa National Park, in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. The International bird festival is aimed to promote eco-tourism in Dudhwa and to gain a distinct international identity. During the festival a Florican village consisting of 100 cottages will be formed. It will accommodate around 200 bird experts taking part in the festival. Brand ambassador of the International Bird Festival is documentary maker Mike Pandey. During the festival, bird experts will explore Dudhwa and collect details about 450 bird species living there. Technical sessions, photo exhibitions, bird paintings, competitions and cultural shows will beconducted as part of the festival.

Oxford Dictionaries has declared ‘Aadhaar’ as the Hindi Word of the Year for 2017. This announcement was made by Oxford Dictionaries’ at the Jaipur Literature Festival on January 27, 2018. Oxford University Press has stated that ‘Hindi Word of the Year’ is the one which attracted a great deal of attention and reflects the ethos, mood, or preoccupations during 2017. Notebandi, Swachh, Vikaas, Yoga and Bahubali were the other words that competed with ‘Aadhaar’ for the title of ‘Hindi Word of the Year’. Aadhaar is the short name for the Aadhaar Card i.e. Unique Identification Numbers (UIN) introduced by the then Government of India. During 2017, Government insisted on linking Aadhaar with various services viz. Mobile phones, banking etc. This move increased Aadhaar’s significance and thereby warranted lot of attention.

Rating agency CRISIL has upgraded its outlook on 18 Indian public sector banks (PSBs) from “negative” to “stable”. This upgrade by CRISIL was on account of PSB recapitalisation plan unveiled by Government on January 24, 2018. As per the recapitalisation plan, Government will infuse Rs. 88139 crore capital in 20 public sector banks (PSBs) before March 31, 2018. Accroding to CRISIL, capital infusion will improve the financial risk profile of these banks and will help them meet Basel-III regulatory capital norms. Along with capital infusion announcement, Government also unveiled ‘Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE)’, a six-fold roadmap for reforms in PSBs which will improve the overall functioning of these banks.

Maharashtra State’s tableau has been adjudged as the ‘Best Tableau’ at the 69th Republic Day parade held at Rajghat, Delhi on January 25, 2018. The award for best tableau was presented by Union Defence Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman on January 28, 2018. On the Maharashtra tableau, 10 artists enacted the coronation ceremony of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. This tableau was created by well-known art director Nitin Desai. Assam and Chhattisgarh won the second and third prize respectively. At the 69th Republic Day parade, tableaux of fourteen states and nine Central Ministries displayed India’s cultural diversity and various schemes of the government.

Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle was announced as recipient for the ‘Yash Chopra Memorial Award’. Yash Chopra Memorial Award will be awarded to Asha Bhosle on 16thFebruary 2018.This award is instituted by T. Subbarami Reddy’s TSR Foundation in remembrance of producer and director Yash Chopra. Asha Bhosle will be the fifth recipient of this award. She has made a Guinness World Record for recording more than 11,000 songs in 20 languages. The jury consisted of Pamela Chopra, Boney Kapoor, Alka Yagnik, Padmini Kohlapure, Madhur Bhandarkar, Honey Irani, etc.

106th edition of the Australian Open tennis tournament took place at Melbourne, Australia from 15th – 28th January 2018.

• Roger Federer (of Switzerland) defeated Marin Cilic (of Croatio) to win the Men’s Singles title at Australian Open 2018.

• Caroline Wozniacki (of Denmark) defeated Simona Halep (of Romania) to win the Women’s singles title at Australian Open 2018.

• Austrian Oliver Marach and Croatia’s Mate Pavic have won the Australian Open 2018 men’s doubles title.

Leander Paes and James Cerretani have won the men’s doubles title of the Newport Beach Challenger event, held at California, United States. India’s Leander Paes and America’s James Cerretani defeated Treat Huey and Denis Kundla pair 6-4 7-5 in the finals and won the men’s doubles title of the Newport Beach Challenger trophy. With this victory Lenader Paes has won 25 Challenger level doubles titles plus 54 ATP doubles titles in his career.

Sandeep Lamichhane became the first Nepal cricketer to get IPL contract after he was bought by Delhi Daredevils at the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction. Sandeep Lamichhane is 17 years old. He has been bought by Delhi Daredevils for his base price of Rs 20 lakhat the 2018 Indian Premier League Auction. His performance at the 2016 ICC U-19 World Cup had gained him a good reputation, where he took a hat-trick against Ireland and finished as the second highest wicket taker with 14 wickets.

Saina Nehwal was defeated by Tai Tzu Ying in the finals of the Indonesia Masters. Tai Tzu Ying defeated Saina Nehwal 21-9, 21-13 in the finals and won the Indonesia Masters title. Tai Tzu Ying has become the first player from Taiwan to win the Indonesia Masters title. She is currently the World No.1 in the Women’s Singles badminton ranking.

Agricultural scientist Gurcharan Singh Kalkat died following a short term illness at Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, Punjab. Gurcharan Singh Kalkat was 92 years old. He had contributed a lot to Green Revolution in Punjab. He was the founder-chairman of the Punjab State Farmers Commission and former vice-chancellor of PAU (Punjab Agricultural University), Ludhiana. He has received Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards. He completed his BSc in Agriculture at the Punjab Agriculture College. He joined the Ohio State University and finished his PhD in agricultural zoology-entomology. He served as a senior agriculturist in the World Bank. He monitored the World Bank assisted programmes in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Indonesia.