Current Affairs Quiz -9th October, 2018 - Current Affairs MCQ

World Post Day is celebrated each year on 9 October, the anniversary of the establishment of the Universal Postal Union in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern. The theme selected for the 2018 competition is: "Imagine you are a letter travelling through time. What message do you wish to convey to your readers?". It was declared World Post Day by the Universal Postal Union (UPU) Congress held in Tokyo, Japan in 1969. Since then, countries across the world participate annually in the celebrations.

The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has won the 'ISSA Good Practice Award' for Administrative Solution for Coverage Extension at the "Regional Social Security Forum for Asia and the Pacific" held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The award recognizes the measures taken by ESIC for extension of coverage-SPREE (Scheme for Promoting Registration of Employers and Employees), reduced rate of contribution rates for 24 months in newly implemented areas and raising the wage limit for coverage under the ESI Act, etc.

President Ram Nath Kovind had a meeting with his Tajikistan counterpart Mr. Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe. On this occasion, both countries signed MoUs in various fields including political relations, strategic research, agriculture, renewable energy, traditional medicine, space technology, youth affairs, Culture and Disaster Management. The President held bilateral level talks his Tajikistan counterpart Emomali Rahmon. Indian grant of 20 million US dollars was announced for Tajikistan to finance development projects. Several other key bilateral pacts were also signed.

Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution, C. R. Chaudhary led the Indian delegation to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)- EXIM Bank, Regional Conclave on India-West Africa Project Partnership being held in Abuja, Nigeria. President and Vice President of Nigeria along with Ministers and Delegation of West African countries are participating in the Conclave. The Conclave is a two-day event with the focus on business deliberations, Business to Government (B2G) and Business to Business (B2B) engagements.

The Odisha and Andhra Pradesh Police have recently decided to conduct joint operations and share information to effectively combat the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in the border areas of the two states. This was decided in a meeting in Bhubaneswar, which was attended by Odisha DGP R P Sharma, his Andhra Pradesh counterpart R P Thakur and other senior police officers of both the states engaged in anti-maoist operations. The aim of the initiative is to enhance the inter-state coordination and cooperation, particularly conducting joint operations in the core areas like the CutOff area in Malkangiri district to effectively combat and contain the LWE menace.

Javelin thrower Sandeep Chaudhary produced a stunning world record effort as India bagged 11 medals, including three gold, on a productive day at the Asian Para Games in Jakarta. Chaudhary clinched India's first gold of the Games in the men's category before middle distance runner Raju Rakshitha in women's 1500 meters and swimmer Jadhav Suyash Narayan in men's 50-meter butterfly added the yellow metals later on the second day of competitions.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2018 to William D. Nordhaus "for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis" and Paul M. Romer "for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis".

16 Year old Thangjam Tababi Devi became India's first judo medallist at the Olympic level, claiming a silver at the ongoing Youth Games. She was defeated by Venezuela's Maria Giminez in the finals of the women's 44kg category in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tababi Devi hails from Manipur. India have never won an Olympic medal in judo either at the senior or the youth level. Her silver was India's second medal at the ongoing Games after shooter Tushar Mane also clinched the second position in the men's 10m air rifle competition.

India cricket captain Virat Kohli became the fastest batsman after Donald Bradman to reach 24 Test centuries, on the second day of the first Test match against the West Indies, in Rajkot, Gujarat. Virat Kohli reached his 24th century in his 123rd innings. He has also surpassed Australia's Steve Smith and has become second person in the list of centurions among active players, behind South Africa's Hashim Amla.

India won their first-ever gold medal at a Youth Olympic Games with Jeremy Lalrinnunga clinching the yellow metal in Men's 62kg weightlifting. This is India's first-ever gold medal at the Youth Olympics. In the two editions prior to this, India's best performance was two medals in the 2014 Youth Olympics at Nanjing, China. In Men's 62kg Group A weightlifting, Jeremy posted successful attempts of 120kg and 124kg in snatch and 142kg and 150kg in clean & jerk. Jeremy had won silver at last year's Youth World Weightlifting Championships in Bangkok, Thailand.

Pakistan has successfully test-fired Ghauri ballistic missile capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear warheads up to a distance of 1,300 kilometres. The launch was conducted by Army Strategic Forces Command and was aimed at testing the operational and technical readiness. In April, Pakistan successfully test-fired an enhanced version of the indigenously-built Babur cruise missile that can deliver conventional and non-conventional weapons with a range of 700 kilometres.

Pravin Srivastava, the 1983-batch Indian Statistical Service officer, has been appointed as new Chief Statistician of India (CSI). This appointment comes into effect from the date of his assuming charge of the post till the date of his superannuation (August 31, 2020) or until further orders, whichever is earlier. He has worked in the ministries of statistics and health in various positions, and briefly in the Union Public Service Commission, in his 35-year career. He was a secretary to the Indian Statistical Commission, popularly known as the Rangarajan Commission, which laid the foundation of the modern statistical system. The National Statistical Commission was set up in 2005 on its recommendations.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept all key policy rates unchanged in its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review, which is recently announced on October 5, 2018. A six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by Governor Urjit Patel, decided to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5% and the reverse repo rate at 6.25%. Repo rate is the rate at which RBI lends to banks, while the reverse repo is the rate at which RBI borrows money from banks. Accordingly, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate too were kept at 6.75%. On the growth front, RBI retained GDP growth projection for 2018-19 at 7.4%.

RBI issued norms for operating Electronic Trading Platforms to enable transactions in eligible instruments.The directions are thus called: 'The Electronic Trading Platforms (Reserve Bank) Directions, 2018'. As per the norms, ETPs will strictly mean any electronic platform except the stock exchange, where transactions of eligible instruments would take place.

The Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) of India Region, Zone III has started in Guwahati, Assam. The four-day conference will discuss on several issues on North East region. During the conference, Women empowerment, Skill development, connectivity are some of the topics that would be discussed. Sumitra Mahajan, the Lok Sabha Speaker will also launch the North East chapter of Speaker's Research Initiative during the conference.

The Southern Railway became Unmanned Level Crossing (UMLC) Free Zone, eliminating over 1,000 such level crossings. This includes : Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai Divisions which became UMLC free in the 1st quarter of the present financial year. This was done by the elimination of all 1054 UMLCs by providing alternate routes like provision of subways, the road under bridges etc. In 2010, the Railway Board formulated policy to eliminate all such level crossings for road and rail users.

As per the IMF's latest report, India is projected to grow at 7.3% in 2018 and 7.4% in 2019. The report predicted India to regain the tag of the world's fastest-growing major economy this year, crossing China with more than 0.7 percentage points. In China, growth is projected to moderate from 6.9 per cent in 2017 to 6.6% in 2018 and 6.2 % in 2019. In India, important reforms have been implemented in recent years, including the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the inflation-targeting framework, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and steps to liberalise foreign investment and make it easier to do business.

Ruhan Rajput bags Midday Young Achiever Icons Award 2018. He was awarded in the film and television category for his work in the industry in a short period of time. He was presented the award by Ms. Amruta Fadnavis, wife of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He is the director of "Einfolge", a company that deals with patents, trademarks, etc. He is also the owner of "Gloss Skin and Hair Clinic".