Weekly CA Quiz: March 2018 2nd week with PDF

Explanation: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has tied-up with NITI Aayog for the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) initiative. Through a joint programme, Ficci and NITI Aayog shall provide hand-holding, mentorship, capacity building, scaling up and networking support to 100 technology led women enterprises over a period of five years.

Explanation: Shri Ananthkumar launched ‘Suvidha’, the 100% Oxo-biodegradable Sanitary Napkin, under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP). The affordable sanitary napkin will be available for Rs. 2.50 per pad at over 3200 Janaushadhi Kendrasacross India and would ensure ‘Swachhta, Swasthya and Suvidha’for the underprivileged Women of India.

Explanation: Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi was awarded this year’s Pritzker Prize for being able to interpret architecture and transform it into buildings that respect Eastern culture, at the same time that he has improved the quality of life in his homeland.  He is the first Indian to win the award.

Explanation: International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. Before the UN adopted it in 1977, the day was mostly celebrated in socialist and Communist countries. The International Women’s Day 2018 theme is “Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives”

Explanation: India ranked 52 among 57 countries studied for the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE), according to the findings of its second edition.

Explanation: Leading global IT services organisation, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was named as the fastest growing IT services brand in the world in an assessment done by leading brand valuation firm, Brand Finance. This puts TCS in a unique group of businesses with a brand valuation over USD 10 billion mark.

Explanation: The Karnataka government has unveiled a state flag. The flag design will now be sent to the Central Government for approval, following which it will be announced as the state flag. The unveiled flag consists of three colors- red, white and yellow and has state emblem “Ganda Bherunda”, a two-headed mythical bird in the middle.

Explanation: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, March 8,the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises(MSME) launched a portal for women entrepreneursof India: www.udyamsakhi.org.

Explanation: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved 2% Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central Government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners.

Explanation: Guangzhou, a city in China, tops the list with property prices appreciating by 27.4% in the last one year.

Explanation: The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in association with Uttar Pradesh Government had organized Swachh Shakti 2018, a Women’s Convention on occasion of International Women’s Day in  Lucknow. This year, Uttar Pradesh had hosted Swachh Shakti 2018, being largest state in country (in terms of population) with massive rural populace.

Explanation: The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, received the first copy of the book ‘Fulfilling Bapu’s Dreams – Prime Minister Modi’s Tribute to Gandhiji’ from Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, who formally released it at a function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Explanation: The government announced that the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of all the banks in the country amounted to Rs 8,40,958 crore in December, led by industry loans followed by services and agriculture sectors. The highest amount of gross NPAs was for country’s largest lender SBI at Rs 2,01,560 crore.

Explanation: Pyare Lal Wadali, the younger brother of Sufi singer Puran Chand Wadali of the Wadali brothers, died of cardiac arrest. The Wadali brothers some years ago had taken the country by storm by their hit album featuring Sufi songs such as ‘Tu mane ya na mane dildara, aasan te tenu rab manya’.

Explanation: Diu has become the first Union Territory in India to run 100 percent on solar power generated energy. Diu has managed to generate surplus solar power for its residents, reducing their electricity costs, in a span of just three years.

Explanation: On International Women’s day on 8th March, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Kosh’ scheme. Under this scheme, the women who aren’t married and are above the age of 50 will be given pension.

Explanation: In another first for women, 25-year-old Prakriti has been inducted as the first direct-entry combat officer in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The ITBP is the last of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to induct women officers in combat roles after the government first allowed it to enrol them in 2016.

Explanation: On the occasion of International Women’s Day on March 8, for the first time in the country a sanitary pad dispensing machine was installed in a coach of Mumbai-New Delhi Rajdhani Express.

Explanation: World Kidney Day, which is a global campaign aimed at raising awareness on the importance of kidneys, was celebrated on March 8 this year. Ever since its inception in 2006, it has been observed on the second Thursday of March with a special theme for the year. The theme of  World Kidney Day 2018 is “Kidneys and Women’s Health”.

Explanation: Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao inaugurated the biennial event on Civil Aviation and Aerospace titled ‘Wings India 2018’ at the Begumpet Airport. The four-day event was Jointly organised by the Civil Aviation Ministry, Airports Authority of India and the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated National Legislators Conference on the theme ‘We For Development’ in New Delhi. The motive of the conference is to bring MPs and MLAs on a single platform where ideas and plans for development can be exchanged.

Explanation: The President of India Ramnath Kovind has on the advise of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, directed Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu to take up the additional charge of the Civil Aviation Ministry. This move has been necessitated due to the resignation of incumbent Ashok Gajapati Raju of the Telugu Desam Party( TDP), whose party quit the NDA government.

Explanation:World champions Australia have lifted the coveted Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey title. In the final at Ipoh, Malaysia, they beat defending champions England by a narrow 2-1 margin. Australia have now won the prestigious tournament for the 10th time.

Explanation: The Telangana government has launched a start-up incubator to exclusively promote entrepreneurship among women. The facility was launched on the occasion of International Womens Day. The incubator, named We-Hub, is the countrys first state-led incubator exclusively for women entrepreneurs.

Explanation: India’s biggest Media & Entertainment Services Market – enTTech 2018 was inaugurated in Mumbai. The market, spread over two days (March 7 – 8, 2018) will see fast matchmaking between 100 international delegates and their Indian counterparts.

Explanation: The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is working for deployment of over 1000 GW of solar energy and mobilising more than US$ 1000 billion into solar energy by the year 2030.

Explanation: Senior Congress leader and former Maharashtra minister Patangrao Kadam has passed away.

Explanation: All India Radio’s News Services Division (NSD) director general Sitanshu Kar will be the next head of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) after superannuation of Frank Noronha on April 30.

Explanation: Founding Conference of International Solar Alliance (ISA), which is headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, was held in New Delhi. PM Narendra Modi held bilateral level talks with several heads of states on the sidelines of the International Solar Alliance Founding Conference in New Delhi. He met leaders from Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Seychelles, Comoros and several other countries.

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rakhi sister Sharbati Devi has passed away at the age of 103. Sharbati Devi had hit the headlines last year when she met Prime Minister Modi at his official residence in Lok Kalyan Marg on Raksha Bandhan. She was invited by the Prime Minister himself to tie a rakhi on his wrist.

Explanation: Passport details of borrowers taking loans of Rs 50 crore and more have been made mandatory to ensure a swift action in case of fraud and prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country. Passport details will help banks to take timely action and inform the relevant authorities to prevent fraudsters from fleeing the country.

Explanation: Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) has launched ‘Vikas She Plus’, a loan scheme for women to take up new ventures or for expanding/modifying the existing enterprises. This scheme provides loan up to a maximum of ₹2 lakh with a repayment period of 60 months.

Explanation: The first-ever multi-nation naval exercise at sea, MILES-18, began at the Andaman sea. 11 naval ships of 8 countries and nine Indian ships are participating in the three-day exercise.

Explanation: Senior journalist Ranjan Roy has passed away after battling cancer for several years. Roy, chief of the Times News Network (TNN) and a member of the paper’s national editorial board, was 57.

Explanation: Noted actor Amol Palekar was honoured with the ‘Godavari Gaurav’ award. The 73-year-old actor is known for his performance in films like “Gol Maal” , “Choti Si Baat”, “Chitchor”, etc.

Explanation: Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim will step down amid allegations she spent money from a charity on shopping in Dubai.

Explanation: Coinciding with the visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to India, an Indo-French Centre of Excellence (CoE) was inaugurated in Bengaluru, Karnataka to impart vocational training to engineers in electricity, automation and energy management.

Explanation: John E. Sulston, a pioneer in the field of genome research and founder of the Sanger Institute has passed away. Sir John headed Britain’s contribution to the first working draft of the human genome, and he won the Nobel prize along with two of his former colleagues for work to help the understanding of how genes control cell division and cell death in organisms.

Explanation: President Xi Jinping is all set to become China’s leader-for-life as the country’s rubber-stamp parliament prepares to amend the Constitution to remove decades old two-term limit for the president. Xi is already regarded as the most powerful leader of China after Mao Zedong.

Explanation: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced Paytm as the official umpire partner for the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next five years. Paytm is also the title sponsor for Indian Cricket.

Explanation: India topped the medals tally in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup with four gold, one silver and four bronze medals for a total of nine medals in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Explanation: In a bid to provide mentorship in design, innovation and entrepreneurship for software companies and startups, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) in association with Facebook launched “Design4India Studio” in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Explanation: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council mandated the use of electronic way (e-way) bills from April to track inter-state movement of goods but deferred a decision on a simplified return filing process due to lack of consensus.

Explanation: In a first for both countries, the director generals of the Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) declared an 8.3 km stretch of the Indo-Bangladesh border as a ‘crime-free zone’.

Explanation: Private banking major ICICI Bank announced the launch of an instant overdraft facility for the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) customers in a completely online and paperless manner. Titled ‘InstaOD’, this first-of-its-kind offering in the Indian banking industry enables a few lakhs of pre-qualified current account customers of the bank to instantly avail the facility without visiting a branch and submitting physical documents.

Explanation: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a campaign to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) from India by 2025, five years ahead of a globally-set deadline. After inaugurating the Delhi End-TB Summit, the prime minister launched the TB-free India Campaign to take the activities under the National Strategic Plan for TB Elimination forward in a mission mode for ending the epidemic by 2025.

Explanation: Nepal’s first woman president Bidya Devi Bhandari has been reelected for a second term in office. Incumbent President Bhandari defeated Nepali Congress leader Kumari Laxmi Rai with an overwhelming majority in the presidential election.

Explanation: The government has planned to construct 1,911- km international connectivity roads and 3,319-km border roads under its flagship Bharatmala programme. The project would be completed in a phased manner, with the first phase set to be completed betweem 2017-18 and 2021-22. In the first phase, it is proposed to develop 2,000 km of border and international connectivity roads with an outlay of Rs 25,000 crore over five years.

Explanation: The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on cooperation for an effective implementation of the Bankruptcy Code. The MoU provides for “sharing of information between the two parties, subject to the limitations imposed by the applicable laws” and “sharing of resources available with each other to the extent feasible and legally permissible.

Explanation: The Indian Premier League (IPL) launched the anthem for the 2018 edition, starting April 7, with defending champions Mumbai Indians taking on Chennai Super Kings. The BCCI and Star India have collaborated to create anthem for the campaign this year. And aptly, they have named the anthem “Best vs Best”.The anthem has been released in five languages — Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Kannada and Telugu — across all platforms (TV, radio, and digital).

Explanation: The Centre has constituted a three-member Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal, with Supreme Court Judge AM Khanwilkar as the Chairman, to adjudicate the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing the river’s water. The Tribunal, which will have its headquarters in Delhi, has been constituted following the Supreme Court orders in January in a suit filed by the Odisha Government.

Explanation: First Commissioner of Delhi Police and former Director General of Uttar Pradesh Police Jayendra Nath Chaturvedi has passed away.

Explanation:The Reserve Bank of India discontinued Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) and Letters of Comfort (LoCs) for Trade Credits. The RBI said that the Letters of Credit will be continued to be issued subject to compliance with the provisions contained in Department of Banking Regulation Master Circular on ‘Guarantees and Co-acceptances’ dated July 1, 2015.

Explanation: Former UP minister and one of the most popular faces in the state capital, Begum Hamida Habibullah has passed away.

Explanation: Technology giant Google made ‘searching for Indian addresses’ on Google Maps a tad bit simpler, by announcing Plus Codes, a simple location-based digital addressing system. Besides, the company also added Voice Navigation in six additional Indian languages, to its system.

Explanation: Noted film and television actor Narendra Jha has passed away following a heart attack. He was 55. The actor best is known for his performances in films such as “Raees”, “Kaabil” and “Haider”.

Explanation: Indian filmmaker Nila Madhab Panda’s “Halkaa”, which had its world premiere at the 21st edition of Film Pour Enfants de Montreal Film (FIFEM), has bagged the Grand Prix de Montreal. “Halkaa” was selected among seven international children’s films from different countries in the official competition of the festival.

Explanation: The World Bank today projected India’s GDP growth at 7.3% for the next financial year and accelerate further to 7.5% in 2019-20.

For the better management of fly ash waste from thermal power plants across country, a web portal for monitoring of fly ash generation and utilization data of Thermal Power Plants and a mobile based application titled “ASHTRACK” has been launched that will help to establish a link between fly ash users and power plants executives for obtaining fly ash for its use in various areas.

Explanation: Home Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the two-day Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) in New Delhi. The theme of the conference is “Challenges to Policing in 2020 – How is Cyber Space shaping our approach to Cybercrime and Terrorism, how do we perform within it and take advantage of it”.

Explanation: Actor Jackie Shroff’s short film “Shunyata” has won an award at Best of India Short Film Festival in Los Angeles, US. The 22-minute fiction film directed by Chintan Sarda was selected to be in top six from amongst thousands of entries and was played at a theatre in Los Angeles.

Explanation: Prominent British theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has passed away. The theoretical physicist is known for his groundbreaking work with black holes and relativity.

Explanation: The 9,600 sq.ft flag on a 110 m flag pole has been unfurled in Belagavi, Karnataka. Schoolchildren, NGO members, leaders and others gathered at the Kote Kere lake front to witness a unique celebration: the unfurling of what is claimed to be the country’s tallest national flag.

Explanation: India has announced a new Line of Credit of USD 100 million for defense procurement by Mauritius as the two sides signed many agreements on the second day of President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit. President Kovind also inaugurated the World Hindi Secretariat building in Mauritius.

Explanation: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and French President Shri Emmanuel Macron inaugurated Uttar Pradesh’s biggest solar power plant of 75 MW (101DC) capacity in Mirzapur. Built at a cost of around Rs.528 crores, the 75 MW solar plant at Vijaypur village in Mirzapur, will generate 13 crore units of electricity per annum.

Explanation: To empower womenfolk, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur released a handbook titled ‘Mahila Suraksha’ on women safety. The booklet talks about measures required for personal safety and safeguards regarding crimes, including sexual harassment at workplace. It also contains important telephone and helpline numbers.

Explanation: India has been ranked at the 78th position in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) report on Energy Transition Index (ETI).

Explanation: The 17th World Conference on Tobacco or Health (WCTOH) was held in Cape Town, South Africa from 7-9 March 2018.

Explanation: Renewable solution provider Suzlon Group announced the installation and commissioning of its new product, S128, claiming it to be the largest wind turbine generator (WTG) in India. The first prototype of S128 has been commissioned at the Sanganeri site in Tamil Nadu.

Explanation: Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar has resigned, hours after the Supreme Court annulled the result of a September referendum that approved a 1-billion-euro railway project, the centre-left government’s biggest investment programme.

Explanation: The World Happiness Index 2018, which measures 156 countries in terms of happiness, has placed India in the 133rd position, a drop of 11 places from last year’s 122nd rank.

Explanation: Sweden topped the list, followed by Norway at the second position, and Switzerland finishing in third.

Explanation: Acclaimed Lebanese author and feminist Emily Nasrallah, who articulated women’s experiences in her writing about Lebanon’s civil war, has passed away.

Explanation: World Consumer Rights Day is observed on 15th March every year. The day is an opportunity to promote basic rights of all consumers, demanding that those rights are respected and protected. It also gives people a chance to protest against the market abuses and social injustices. The theme of World Consumer Rights Day 2018 is “Making Digital Marketplaces Fairer”.

Explanation: Member-countries of the World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region, including India, committed to intensifying efforts to eradicate tuberculosis by 2030.