GK & Current Affairs Quiz: May 28-29, 2017

Notes:
The 2017 World Table Tennis Championships (WTTC) has started at Dusseldorf, Germany on May 29 with the Qualification matches. The main draw will start from May 20. Top-ranked Indian in the world, Achanta Sharath Kamal will lead the 8-member Indian squad. The team also includes Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai, reigning national champion Madhurika Patkar, Manika Batra and Mouma Das. It will be the 54th edition of the competition, and hosted by Germany for the seventh time.

Notes:
Gregory LeNoir Allman (69), an American musician, singer, keyboardist and songwriter, has recently passed away at Georgia in United States on May 27, 2017. He was the pioneer of southern rock and co-founder of the Allman Brothers Band.

Notes:
South Korea has won the 15th edition of the Sudirman Cup-2017 by defeating China in the final with a 3-2 win Carrara Sports and Leisure Centre in Australia on May 28, 2017. It is S.Korea’s fourth title, with the last one coming in 2003. It was the first time that Australia had hosted the tournament and the first time this event is hosted outside Asia and Europe since its establishment in 1989.

Notes:
C A Bhavani Devi from India won the gold medal in the sabre event of the Tournoi Satellite Fencing Championship held at Reykjavik in Iceland on May 27, 2017. She beat Sarah Jane Hampson of Great Britain in the final by 15-13. With this, Bhavani Devi became the first Indian to win a gold medal in an international fencing event.

Notes:
Ananya Kamboj, an 8th standard student from Chandigarh, has been selected to represent India as a young journalist at the Football for Friendship (F4F) social programme in St. Petersburg, Russia in July 2017. The F4F programme, supported by Gazprom and FIFA, focuses on the development of children’s football, fostering tolerance and respect for different cultures and nationalities among children from different countries. India joins the programme for the first time and will participate alongside 60 other countries.

Notes:
Padmalaya Nanda from Odisha will represent India at the 2017 Little Miss Universe beauty pageant competition, which is scheduled to be held in Georgia, United States from May 31. She will compete against 15 other contestants from around the world for the title of Little Miss Universe. Beside this, she will also lead India in the 2017 Little Miss World contest in Greece.

Notes:
China has been ranked first in having most complex jurisdiction for taxation and most complicated requirements of tax in the Asia Pacific region, as per 2017 Asia Pacific Tax Complexity Survey conducted by Deloitte. India ranks only after China in the most complex tax jurisdiction in Asia-Pacific the survey, followed by Australia, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. The report surveyed over 300 financial and tax executives on their views of the current and anticipated tax environment of 20 jurisdictions across Asia Pacific. Of the respondents, 147 had business operations in India.

Notes:
The construction of the world’s largest optical telescope has started in northern Chile, which is expected to begin operating in 2024. The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is being built by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and will have a main mirror that is 39m in diameter. The telescope will be positioned on top of Cerro Armazones – a 3046-metre long mountain Chile. It will tackle a wide range of scientific challenges, including probing Earth-like exoplanets for signs of life, studying the nature of dark energy and dark matter, and observing the universe’s early stages to explore humans’ origins.

Notes:
Satyabrata Rout, a professor from the Department of Theatre Arts, S N School of Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad (UoH), has been bestowed with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for the year 2016 for developing a unique method of teaching and practicing direction and design achieved from his experience working with eminent theatre practitioners and scholars. He is one of the pioneers of ‘visual theatre’ in India, and has ‘Scenography: An Indian Perspective’. He has directed a number of plays, participated in national and international theatre festivals and conducted numerous theatre workshops across the globe. The Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar is an award given by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance & Drama. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practising artists.

Notes:
According to the latest report of World Bank titled “’India Development Report”, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to grow at 7.2% for FY18 (2017-18) due to the impact of demonetisation and protracted investment recovery. Though, India’s growth would accelerate to 7.7% by FY 20 on strong fundamentals, reform momentum and improving investment scenario. The report stated that the overall impact of GST on equity and poverty is likely to be positive.