Weekly Current Affairs Quiz: 27 August to 2 September 2018
1. The Defence Ministry has cleared procurement of how many naval helicopters at a cost of over Rs 21000 crore?
a) 99
b) 100
c) 111
d) 89
2. Union Government signed MoU with 6 states for construction of Lakhwar Multi-Purpose Project in Uttarakhand. The Lakhwar multi-purpose project is associated with which river?
a) Yamuna
b) Ganga
c) Brahmaputra
d) Godavari
3. The Union Cabinet has approved to release how much additional Dearness Allowance (DA) for Central Government employees?
a) 5 per cent
b) 3 per cent
c) 2 per cent
d) 1.5 per cent
4. The 4th BIMSTEC Summit began on August 30, 2018 in which city?
a) Colombo
b) Kathmandu
c) Delhi
d) Bangkok
5. ISRO will launch the Human Spaceflight Mission ‘Gaganyaan’ by which year?
a) 2019
b) 2020
c) 2021
d) 2022
6. Which company launched Project Navlekha to help Indian news publishers to take their content online?
a) Google
b) Facebook
c) Amazon
d) Instagram
7. Who was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)?
a) Abhinav Joshi
b) Satpal Rana
c) Satya S Tripathi
d) Sahil Shingi
8. The Government has constituted a new council to advise the Prime Minister of which matters?
a) Nation building
b) Disaster management
c) Economy
d) Science and technology
9. Which country has signed a $300 million loan agreement with the World Bank to scale up its energy efficiency programme?
a) Nepal
b) Bangladesh
c) India
d) Sri Lanka
10. Which country has banned discretionary use of state funds and first-class air travel by officials and leaders including the president and the prime minister?
a) India
b) Pakistan
c) Chile
d) Denmark
11. Who was appointed as Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)?
a) G Satheesh Reddy
b) Sanjay Mitra
c) Jitendra Singh
d) K Sivan Ramakrishnan
12. Which airline conducted India’s first-ever test flight powered by biojet fuel?
a) Lufthansa
b) Vistara
c) Indigo
d) SpiceJet
Answers with Explanation
1. (c) 111
The Union Defence Ministry on August 25, 2018 gave its approval for the acquisition of 111 utility helicopters for Navy at an estimated cost of over Rs 21,000 crore. The utility helicopters will be used in attack missions as well as for search and rescue and surveillance operations.
2. (a) Yamuna
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari on August 28, 2018 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Delhi, and Himachal Pradesh for the construction of the Rs 3966.51 crore Lakhwar Multi-Purpose projects in the Upper Yamuna Basin near Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
3. (c) 2 per cent
The Union Cabinet has approved to release an additional 2 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) to the Central Government employees from July 1, 2018. This will benefit about 48.41 lakh Central Government employees.
4. (b) Kathmandu
The 4th BIMSTEC Summit began on August 30, 2018 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The two-day Summit will be held during August 30-31, 2018 with the main focus on countering terrorism, enhancing regional connectivity and boosting trade.
5. (d) 2022
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has decided to launch `Gaganyaan — India’s first human spaceflight programme’ by 2022. The mission will send a 3-member crew to space for a period of 5 to 7 days. The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km and the total programme cost is expected to be less than Rs 10,000 crores.
6. (a) Google
Search engine giant Google launched Project Navlekha to make online content relevant for more Indian users especially in local languages. It was unveiled along with host of upgrades of Google’s other products at fourth ‘Google for India’ event held in New Delhi.
7. (c) Satya S Tripathi
Satya S Tripathi, the veteran Indian development economist and UN official, was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The appointment was made by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
8. (a) Science and technology
The Union Government has constituted a 21-member science and technology council to advice Prime Minister Narendra Modi on matters related to science, technology and innovations. The council, named as Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Committee (PM-STIAC), will be headed by K Vijay Raghavan, the principal scientific adviser to the Union Government.
9. (c) India
The Union Government of India and World Bank have signed a $220 million loan agreement and a $80 million guarantee agreement for the India Energy Efficiency Scale-Up programme. The programme will largely tackle the financing, awareness, technical and capacity barriers faced by new energy efficiency programmes.
10. (b) Pakistan
Pakistan’s new government has banned the discretionary use of state funds and first-class air travel by officials and leaders, including the president and the prime minister, as part of its austerity drive. The decisions were made at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 24.
11. (a) G Satheesh Reddy
Renowned aerospace scientist Dr G Satheesh Reddy, who is scientific adviser to the Defence minister, was appointed as the Chairman of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for a period of two years. He will also be secretary in the Department of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D) for the same period.
12. (d) SpiceJet
Budget passenger carrier SpiceJet successfully conducted India’s first-ever test flight powered by biojet fuel between Dehradun and Delhi on August 27, 2018. The 43 minute flight was operated by the airline’s Bombardier Q-400 aircraft with total 25 on onboard, including crew.