GK & Current Affairs Quiz: March 30, 2017

Notes:
Srinath Narayanan from Chennai will soon become the India’s 46th Grandmaster after he defeated Spanish GM David Anton Guijarro at the 2017 Sharjah Masters chess tournament. He became India’s youngest FIDE-rated player in 2002 when he was just 8 and also finished as joint winner in the Under-12 World Championship in 2005 in France. Srinath became an International Master at the age of 14 and crossed the 2500 Elo rating in 2016. He had already secured five GM norms.

Notes:
Bob Dylan, the renowned US musician and poet, will finally accept his Nobel Literature Prize at a meeting with the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden in April 2017. The 2016 Nobel Prize has bestowed to Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. The American singer was awarded the prize in October 2016 but failed to travel to pick up the award, or deliver the lecture that is required to receive the 8m kroner prize. He has become the first songwriter to win the prestigious award and the first American since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.

Notes:
Montenegro is set to become the 29th member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after US Senate ratify its entry into NATO. Though, ratification from Spain and the Netherlands is still pending ahead of a NATO summit in May 2017. The move was strongly opposed by Russia because it considers Montenegro and other western Balkan states part of its sphere of interest. Thus, Russia opposes the Western military alliance’s expansion in the Balkans. It must be noted that Montenegro was the former ally of Russia. Under NATO’s principle of collective defense, an attack against one ally is considered an attack against them all.

Notes:
Anil Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Group, has been inducted into the international advisory board of global think-tank “Atlantic Council”. The Atlantic Council is a foreign policy think-tank headquartered in Washington, DC. The purpose of the Atlantic Council is to shape policy choices and strategies and provide an essential forum for navigating the dramatic, economic and political changes that define the 21st century.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has signed first loan agreement with New Development Bank (NDB) US$350 million for development and up-gradation of major district roads project in Madhya Pradesh. The objective of the Project is upgradation of major district roads in the state of Madhya Pradesh to improve connectivity of the interior areas of the state with the national and state highway networks. The project implementation is 5 years.

Notes:
Paytm will become the first e-commerce company to take membership of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) in April 2017. The move is significant because advertising violations by e-commerce companies, which are big spenders on television, print and digital media, have been on the rise in recent years. This move comes after the six complaints which are filed against the errant advertisers under the e-commerce majors PAYTM, Amazon, Clear trip, Magic bricks, free charge and Pepper fry for making false and misleading claims on November 2016.

Notes:
The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal has launched a unique credit card “SBI Unnati” in New Delhi to spread credit inclusion. Initially, SBI Unnati would have no annual fees for the four years and the credit card will be offered through 20,000-plus State Bank of India (SBI) branches. The card is targeted at all SBI customers, including the Jan Dhan account-holders across the country. Primarily, it is tailored for new users of credit cards, those who do not have a credit history.

Notes:
The 3rd edition of World Conference on Environment has been organized by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in New Delhi from March 25-26, 2017 and was inaugurated by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee. The two day conference concluded with a high note in urging the importance for the sustainable development balancing which is the need to protect the environment.

Notes:
The popular tribal festival of nature worshipping – ‘Sarhul’ has started in all over Jharkhand with enthusiasm. The festival marks the beginning of New Year by worshiping trees. This annual festival is celebrated during the spring season when trees and other elements of nature are worshiped. Sarhul literally means ‘Worship of Sal’. The festival is dedicated to Dharti mata — Mother Earth. Tribals believe that they can use new crop mainly paddy, leaves of the trees, flowers and fruits of the season only after this festival is celebrated.

Notes:
The Kaundinya Wild Life Sanctuary (KWLS) is a wildlife sanctuary and an elephant reserve loacted in Andhra Pradesh. It is the only sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh with a population of Asian elephants, which migrated after 200 years from neighbouring regions. The sanctuary is covered by southern tropical dry deciduous and thorn forests. Some of the important flora consists of Albizia amara, Acacia, Lagerstroemia, Ficus, bamboo, and a species which is a regeneration of Santalum album.