February 12, 2018 - Current Affairs Quiz - Current Affairs MCQ

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced that “Dada-Dadi Park” for senior citizens will soon be set up in all cities of Jharkhand. Raghubar Das said that, the Dada-Dadi park will be set up to relieve people from the summer heat. He made this announcement, while laying the foundation for three projects worth Rs 300 crore at Jaiprakash Udyan, Adityapur. The three projects are: Adityapur Sewerage Yojna for Rs 255.15 crore, Urban Water Project for Rs 49.30 crore in Chakradharpur, West Singhbhum district and Multi-purpose Convention Hall for Rs 9.81 crore in Jamshedpur.

12th International Conference on corporate social responsibility (CSR) was held on 9th and 10th February, 2018 in Bengaluru, Karnataka. This conference was organised by Institute Of Directors (IOD), an association of company directors, committed to improving the competitiveness of businesses through development of its leadership. The event was inaugurated by T. M. Vijay Bhaskar, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, and Government of Karnataka. Several dignitaries comprising senior government officials and corporate heads addressed the conference. During the course of the event, prestigious Golden Peacock Award 2017 was presented to several Indian and International companies for their work towards the society and Human Resource (HR) Excellence.

India is to host the first International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit on 11th March 2018, in Delhi. French President Emanuel Macron will participate in the First International Solar Alliance Summit. Leaders of African countries, Presidents of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, leaders of South American countries and Pacific Islands are expected to attend the summit. Heads of World Bank, ADB (Asian Development Bank), BRICS Bank and European Investment Bank are also expected to participate in the summit. The International Solar Alliance is a treaty based inter-governmental alliance. It comprises of 121 solar energy abundant nations located between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. The aim of ISA is to make solar energy affordable, develop solar grids and solar credit mechanism.

On February 10, 2018, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the ‘Grand Collar of the State of Palestine’ by Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas. Grand Collar is Palestine’s Highest order given to foreign dignitaries — Kings, Heads of State/Government and persons of similar rank. PM Modi was conferred Grand Collar in recognition for his key contribution to promote relations between India and Palestine. Heads of Government, who have been conferred Grand Collar in the past include King Salman of Saudi Arabia, King Hamad of Bahrain and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

As per a report published in Water Resources Research, Phosphorus levels in freshwater bodies across the world are escalating and this could pose a serious threat to the ecosystem. The report outlined that globally, on account of human activities, about 1.5 teragrams of phosphorus (one teragram is equal to one billion kilograms) was dumped into the freshwater systems every year. Breaking it down by country, China contributed the most with 30%, followed by India (8%), the USA (7%) and Spain and Brazil (6% each). The researchers also assessed the phosphorus-related water pollution levels in 20 river basins across the world. In the assessment, Huang He river basin of China was found to be having highest phosphorus-related water pollution. Ganges basin (in India) ranked fourth in this list.

4th Nepal Buildcon and Wood International Expo 2018 was held in Kathmandu from 8th – 11th February, 2018. The expo was inaugurated by Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal Kamal Thapa, while Indian Ambassador to Nepal Manjeev Sibgh Puri was the guest of honour for the event. This event served as a single platform for various stakeholders of construction industry viz. builders, architects, engineers, construction material suppliers, interior decorators, furniture suppliers and equipment manufacturers. More than 80 Indian companies participated in the expo through an Indian Pavilion. The Indian pavilion was jointly set up by Ministry of Commerce, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Commerce Wing of Indian Embassy.

Vikas Sathaye, an Indian-born engineer, along with three other people won the scientific and engineering award, at the Oscars 2018 Scientific and Technical Awards in Beverly Hills, United States. The four-member team that included Vikas Sathaye was awarded for the concept, design, engineering and implementation of the Shotover K1 Camera system. Other members of the team are Brad Hurndell, John Coyle and Shane Buckham. It is a 6 axis stabilised aerial camera mount. The camera mount can be attached to the base of a helicopter. It eliminates vibration to provide a steady footage. The mount can move the camera head in required direction by the operator who is inside the helicopter. A joystick is used to control the camera movement.

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched the first tests of the world’s first autonomous pods. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has launched these autonomous pods in collaboration with Next Future Transportation. Autonomous pods commute in dedicated lanes and are designed to travel short and medium distances. Depending on riders’ destination, the pods can be coupled together. Coupling takes about 15 seconds time while detaching the same takes five seconds. The pods can commute at an average speed of 20 kilometres per hour. It operates on a rechargeable battery that supports three hours of operation. Each pod measures 2.87 metres in length, 2.24 metres in width and 2.82 metres in height. It weighs about 1,500 kilograms. Each pod can carry 10 riders at a time.

As per India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2017 released by Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan on February 12, 2018, tree and forest cover in India increased by 8021 sq km (by 1%) in two years since 2015. Forest and tree cover combined is 802088 sq km (24.39 per cent of the total geographical area). Increase in the forest cover has been observed as 6,778 sq km and that of tree cover as 1,243 sq km, compared to the previous assessment in 2015. Much of the increase in forest cover has been observed in very dense forest (VDF) category. From an environmental standpoint, this is a positive sign as VDF category absorbs maximum carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

As per ISFR 2017, total forest cover in India is 708273 sq km, which is 21.54 per cent of the total geographical area. In terms of area, Madhya Pradesh (77414 sq km) has the largest forest cover among all Indian states and Union Territories. In terms of forest cover as percentage of total geographical area, Lakshadweep has topped with 90.33 per cent geographical areas under forest cover. Mizoram (531 sq km), Nagaland (450 sq km), Arunachal Pradesh (190 sq km), Tripura (164 sq km) and Meghalaya (116 sq km) are the five states where forest cover has decreased most. Shifting cultivation, diversion of forest lands for developmental activities and agriculture expansion have been identified as main reasons for decrease in forest cover in these states. It is to be noted that ISFR is released every two years. ISFR 2017 has been prepared by physically surveying 18000 points with the help of scientific tools.

Scientists have discovered three new species of eel namely: Gymnothorax pseudotile, Gymnothorax visakhaensis and Enchelycore propinqua, in the northern Bay of Bengal coast recently. Gymnothorax pseudotile was discovered at the Digha coast of the Bay of Bengal. It was dark brown in colour with white dots on it. It was 1 to 1.5 feet in length. Gymnothorax visakhaensis was discovered in the Visakhapatnam coast of the Bay of Bengal. It had a uniformly brown coloured body. It was 1 foot in length. Enchelycore propinqua was also discovered in the Visakhapatnam coast of the Bay of Bengal. It had a reddish brown body with irregular white spots. It was less than 1 foot in length. It is relatively rare compared to the other two species. David G. Smith, Subhrendu Sekhar Mishra, Swarup Ranjan Mohanty, Dipanjan Ray and Prasad C. Tudu were also part of these discoveries.

Steve Smith, Australia cricket captain, won his second Allan Border Medal in Melbourne, Australia. Stevan Smith won 246 votes, surpassing David Warner who obtained 162 votes and Nathan Lyon who scored 156 votes. He had already won the Australia Border Medal in 2015. Other Australian cricketers who had won Australia’s Border medal are: Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson and David Warner. Ellyse Perry won the Belinda Clark Award for the second time that makes her the best female cricketer of Australia in the past 12 months. She had earlier won the award in 2016.

Kishan Gangolli of Karnataka won the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for Blind for the 5th consecutive time, at the Andheri Sports Complex in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The 13th edition of the National ‘A’ Chess Championship was organised by the All India Chess Federation for the Blind (AICFB). In the 13th round, Kishan Gangolli finished in a draw against Odisha’s Prachurya Kumar Pradhan. Kishan Gangolli won the National ‘A’ Chess Championship for Blind. Ashvin Makwana of Gujarat finished second and Soundarya Kumar Pradhan of Odisha finished third in the championship.After the 13 rounds, Kishan Gangolli (Rating 1996) secured 10.5 points. Ashvin Makwana (Rating 1744) scored 9.5 points. Soundarya Kumar Pradhan (Rating 1753) secured 9 points.

On 12th February 2018, Parbati Ghosh, Odia actress, producer and director, died following a long-term illness, in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Parbati Ghosh was 85 years old. She was born in Manasinghpatana in Cuttack, in 1933. She had received national film award for her performances in movies ‘Laxmi’, ‘Kaa’ and ‘Stree’.

On 8th February 2018, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh released “Mere Sapno Ka Bharat”, a book on best interviews of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the Parliament premises. The book was compiled by Tarun Vijay, former BJP MP and Editor of journal Panchjanya. The book contains some of the best interviews of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. BJD (Biju Janata Dal) leader Bhartruhari Mahtab, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) Joint President of Delhi unit Alok Kumar, national vice-president of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) Shyam Jaju and Rajya Sabha MP from Telangana, Anand Bhaskar Rapolu were present during the release. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was fondly rememberes as ‘Ajaatshatru’ (who has no enemies) by them.

On 12th February 2018, National Productivity Day was observed in India by National Productivity Council. National Productivity Week is observed from 12th to 18th February 2018. National Productivity Day 2018 marks the 60th Anniversary of the National Productivity Council. This year is celebrated as Diamond Jubilee Year. The theme for the National Productivity Week 2018 is: Industry 4.0 Leapfrog Opportunity for India. Industry 4.0 includes improving digitization and interconnection of products, value chains and business models. Industry 4.0 will combine the real and virtual worlds. This will lead to the formation of “Smart Factory”. Smart Factory will have increased versatility, resource efficiency, ergonomic design and direct integration with business partners.