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

On February 26, 2018, a high level committee chaired by Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh approved a central assistance of around Rs 6000 crore for nine states which suffered from natural calamities during 2017-18. Central assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) amounting to Rs 1055.05 crore for Gujarat, Rs 420.69 crore for Uttar Pradesh, Rs 420.57 crore for Rajasthan and Rs 838.85 crore for West Bengal has been approved by the committee. All these states were affected by floods during 2017-18. The committee has approved assistance of Rs 1711.66 crore for Bihar, which too was affected by floods during 2017-18. Assistance of Rs 169.63 crore has been approved for Kerala, which was affected by cyclone Ockhi while Rs 133.05 crore has been approved for Tamil Nadu which too was affected by cyclone Ockhi and North East Monsoon. Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which were affected by kharif drought, will receive central assistance of Rs 395.91 crore and Rs 836.09 crore respectively.

Union Cabinet approved the Commerce Ministry’s proposal to give focused attention to 12 identified Champion Services Sectors for promoting their development and realising their potential. Focused attention on select Service Sector is necessary as services sector as a whole contributes significantly to India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), exports and job creation. For this purpose, a dedicated fund of Rs 5000-crore has been set up to support initiatives for sectoral Action Plans of the Champion Sectors. By deploying this fund for various initiatives, productivity and competitiveness of the Champion Service Sectors will increase which will eventually boost exports from these sectors.

Union Civil Aviation Minister, P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated a one-of-its-kind aviation multi skill development centre in Chandigarh. This aviation multi skill development centre in Chandigarh is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of Airports Authority of India (AAI) and has been set up by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Aerospace and Aviation Sector Skill Council of India. It is equipped with modern training infrastructure to supplement an industry-relevant course curriculum. Over the next three years, the centre will train (free of cost) nearly 2300 students in eight aviation job roles.

Union Defence Ministry has started the process to set up India’s first defence industrial ‘Quad’ (quadrilateral corridor) linking Chennai with four other cities of Tamil Nadu to promote industries manufacturing weapons and military equipments. ‘Quad’ project in Tamil Nadu will connect Chennai with Hosur, Coimbatore, Salem and Tiruchirappalli. Officials from Defence Ministry along with representatives from defence PSUs – Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bharat Electronics Ltd. and Bharat Earth Movers – will soon start interactions with defence manufacturers in Coimbatore, Salem, Chennai and Tiruchirappalli to take their views on the proposed Quad in Tamil Nadu. As announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the other defence industrial corridor will come up in the Bundelkhand region which shall bring an investment of Rs 20000 crore.

Haryana State Cabinet approved a proposal to bring in legislation for awarding death penalty to those found guilty of raping girls aged 12 years or less. This decision was taken at Haryana State Cabinet Meeting chaired by Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar. As per the new legislation, individual/s found guilty of rape or gang rape of a girl up to 12 years of age, will be punished with death sentence or rigorous imprisonment of not less than 14 years which may extend to imprisonment for life, that is for remainder period of person’s natural life. The proposal that has been approved, also contains several amendments in existing criminal laws related to sexual offences. The amendments seek harsher punishments for sexual offences.

In a bid to become a paperless organisation, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has made it mandatory to file online claims for provident fund (PF) withdrawals above Rs 10 lakh. Online claims for withdrawals of above Rs 5 lakh under the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 has also been made mandatory. Claims of only those subscribers will be processed, who have an active universal account number (UAN). Besides, bank account of the subscriber has to be linked and verified in the system before claim settlement. EPFO currently has more than 5 crore subscribers and manages a corpus of over Rs 10 lakh crore.

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year and Comeback of the Year awards at the 2018 Laureus World Sports Awards, in Monaco. Roger Federer had won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles in 2017. Serena Williams bagged the World Sportswoman of the Year award. She had won her 23rd grand slam in 2017.

On 24th and 25th February 2018, the seventh meeting of Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on Nepal-India relations was held in Kathmandu, Nepal. Issues like the 1950 Peace and Friendship treaty, trade, environment, border and hydropower were discussed in the meeting. Nepal coordinator of EPG Dr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa said that, a positive report on the issues discussed in the meeting will be submitted in a few months. EPG’s next meeting will be conducted in New Delhi. After the meeting, Dr Bhekh Bahadur Thapa and India coordinator of EPG Bhagat Singh Koshiyari said that, a report is being prepared to take bilateral relations to the next level.

On 26th January 2018, ‘SRIJAN’ (Station Rejuvenation through Joint Action), an idea competition, in a move to redevelop nearly 600 major railway stations in India, was announced at MyGov portal. SRIJAN (Station Rejuvenation through Joint Action) was launched by Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC). All classes of people from railway passengers to architects, urban planners, engineers can submit their ideas. Last date for submission is 26 March 2018. Railway Ministry has announced that, the winners will be awarded certificates and good ideas will be considered for implementation in the redevelopment plans for stations. IRSDC has also launched competitions for logo and tagline at the MyGov portal. Winners of logo and tagline competitions will be awarded Rs 75,000 each. Last date of submission for logo and tagline competitions is also March 26, 2018.

Moody’s Investors Service has stated that India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to grow at 7.6% in the calendar year 2018. Moody’s has outlined that Indian economy has started to recover from the negative impact of demonetisation in November 2016 and disruption caused by Goods and Services tax (GST) roll out in July 2017. Moody’s expects that sentiment in Indian economy will improve on account of measures to stabilise rural economy (announced in Union Budget 2018) and public sector bank recapitalisation plan. For calendar year 2019, Moody’s has estimated that Indian economy will grow at 7.5%. In 2018, G20 economies will collectively grow at 3.4 %, up from prior forecasts of 3.2 %.

India has ranked 47th out of 86 countries on Inclusive Internet Index 2018. This year’s ranking marks a drop of 11 spots as compared 36th rank in 2017. Inclusive Internet Index is commissioned by Facebook and is conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Inclusive Internet Index 2018 assesses the performance of countries in four categories of inclusion viz. Accessibility, Affordability, Relevance and Readiness. It covers 91% of world population residing in 86 countries.

A K Pradhan has been appointed as the Group Chief Risk Officer of Punjab National Bank (PNB). Mr. Pradhan was earlier holding the post of a General Manager. Although the functions and responsibilities of the Group Chief Risk Officer have not been disclosed by PNB, the decision for this appointment seems to be in wake of Rs 12700 crore fraud unearthed at one its branches. In response to the PNB fraud, Union Finance Ministry has asked all the state-owned banks to scrutinise all their non-performing accounts (NPAs) of over Rs 50 crore for possible fraud and report it Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Besides, state-owned banks have also been asked to come up with a pre-emptive risk mitigation action plan within 15 days to check recurrence of frauds.

Additional Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathi has been made the new chief secretary of Jharkhand. Sudhir Tripathy replaces Rajbala Verma as Jharkhand Chief Secretary. Rajbala Verma retired from his position on 28th February 2018. Sudhir Tripathy is a 1985 batch IAS (Indian Administrative Service) Officer. He was the Additional Chief Secretary in the state health department.

Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has developed a multivendor e-commerce website and mobile app named ‘marinefishsales’ to help fishermen sell their products and marine catch directly to the customers. The website and mobile app were developed under the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) project of CMFRI. This has been done in a move to increase the income of coastal community. CMFRI acts as an administrator for the multi-vendors and consumers interacting through the portal. Fishermen and fish farmers who are willing to sell their products online can form Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and register on the platform. The vendor profiles, order status and sales will be monitored by CMFRI. The SHGs can update their stock availability and this will be displayed on both the website and the app.

J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, launched the ‘‘Viral Load testing for all People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV),” initiative. This initiative will offer free of cost viral load testing for 12 lakh people living with HIV/AIDS on treatment in India at least once a year. J P Nadda said that, regular viral load testing will improve utilization of 1st line regimens. This in turn will prevent drug resistance and increase the life time of people living with HIV. He also launched the National Guidelines for HIV-1 Viral Load Laboratory Testing, National Operational Guidelines for Viral Load Testing, Standard Operating Procedure for HIV-1 Quant Assay with CBNAAT and Guidelines on Quality Monitoring System for Outsourced Viral Load Tests.

Penny Vincenzi, a popular British novelist, passed away. Penny Vincenzi was 78 years old. Cause of her death and other details were not revealed. She started her career as a journalist. In 1989, she published her first novel “Old Sins”. She has published nearly 17 novels and two story collections. In 2017, she published her last book “A Question of Trust”.

Kanchi acharya Sri Jayendra Saraswathi died after suffering from breathing problems, at a hospital in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu. Jayendra Saraswathi was 82 years old. He was the 69th head of the Kanchi mutt. He was considered one of the most influential spiritual leaders of his time. He was born in Irulneeki village of Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu in 1935. He became the head of the Kanchi mutt in 1994.

On 28th February 2018, S Ratnavel Pandian, former Supreme Court judge, died following a short term illness in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. S Ratnavel Pandian was 89 years old. He was Supreme Court judge in the 1988 to 1994 period. After his retirement from Supreme Court, he served as chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes. He hailed from Thirupadaimarudur village in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu. He was born on 13 February 1929. He was an advocate for 17 years. In 1971, he was appointed State Public Prosecutor in the High Court of Madras. In 1974, he was promoted as a judge. He served as the acting Chief Justice of the Madras High Court twice.

On 28th February 2018, National Science Day was celebrated all over India. National Science Day is celebrated all over India every year, to mark the discovery of the Raman effect by Indian physicist Sir CV Raman on 28th February 1928. Sir CV Raman was honoured with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. Raman effect denotes the inelastic scattering of a photon by molecules which are excited to higher vibrational or rotational energy levels. National Science Day was first celebrated on 28 February 1987. National Science Day is celebrated to highlight the importance of science in daily life. On this day, students and research institutes display their science and research projects. The theme for National Science Day 2018 is”Science and Technology for a sustainable future.”