GK & Current Affairs Quiz: April 20, 2017

Notes:
Veteran actress Saira Banu has been named for the prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime achievement award of the Maharashtra Government. Actor Jackie Shroff is selected for the Raj Kapoor Special contribution award. Apart from this, noted Marathi film industry personalities Vikram Gokhale and Arun Nalawade have been named for the coveted V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement and V. Shantaram Special Contribution annual awards. Both the lifetime awards carry a citation and cash of Rs. 5 lakh each, while both the special contribution awards carry a citation and Rs. 3 lakh. The awards will be presented at the 54th Maharashtra State Marathi Film Festival.

Notes:
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has conducted its first-of-its-kind State-level mock exercise on forest fire in Uttarakhand on April 18, 2017. The aim of the mock exercise is to assess the efficacy of integrating the preparedness and response mechanisms of the forest department with those of the district administration. The 3-day exercise is significant as almost 70% of the State’s geographical area is under forests and incidents of forest fires are commonplace. The mock exercise has been conducted in collaboration with the State Government. The fire officials from all the districts and other departments of the state have participated in the exercise.

Notes:
India has been ranked at the 8th position in the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index. As per A.T. Kearney report, foreign companies have considered India as an attractive destination due to its reforms to enable a transparent and an easy business environment. Around 31% of firms surveyed were optimistic about India’s economic outlook over the next three years. About 70% of the respondents plan to maintain or increase their FDI in India. The Index is an annual analysis of how political, economic, and regulatory changes will likely affect FDI inflows into countries in the coming years. The Index is constructed using primary data from a proprietary survey administered to senior executives of the world’s leading corporations. All companies participating in the survey have annual revenues of $500 million or more. United States has ranked first in the FDI index, followed by Germany, China, United Kingdom and Canada.

Notes:
Vinay Sah has become the new MD and CEO of LIC Housing Finance. He succeeded Sunita Sharma, who has been promoted as Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Prior to joining LIC Housing Finance, Sah was Executive Director–Marketing/Product Development with LIC of India.

Notes:
The ICICI Bank Data Centre in Hyderabad has become the India’s first Platinum rated project to be rated under IGBC Green Data Centre Rating System. At present, more than 150 professionals from ICICI Bank are IGBC Accredited Professionals (APs) and they are fully equipped to manage the green building facilities of ICICI Bank. The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is a part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and its’ vision is to enable a sustainable built environment for all and facilitate India to be one of the global leaders in the sustainable built environment by 2025. The IGBC Green Data Centre Rating System would facilitate in providing tremendous tangible and intangible benefits. Tangible benefits include: 20 to 25% reduction in Power Usage Effectiveness, 25 to 30% reduction in water consumption. Intangible benefits include enhanced air quality, excellent day-lighting, health & well-being of the staff operating such facility.

Notes:
The Punjab government will launch an innovative scheme “Book Banks” in all schools of the state so that needy students will get the books for their academic year free of cost. These book banks will request students to deposit their old books so that the needy students in the next batch can use them free of cost. The scheme will help the needy save money and it will also reduce costs and environmental damage associated with printing new books. Though, this unique initiative will be purely on voluntary basis and no student would be bound to give away their old books. NGOs that have been running similar schemes will help the government in the implementation process.

Notes:
Devineni Rajasekhar (63), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Andhra Pradesh Minister, has recently passed away in Hyderabad. He was popularly known as Devineni Nehru. Nehru was a five-time MLA from the Kankipadu constituency in Krishna district and was an ardent follower of late Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao.

Notes:
B.N. Mohapatra, an officer of Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) of 1980 batch, has been appointed the new Financial Commissioner (FC) of Indian Railways. Prior to this posting, he served as Additional Member (Finance) since November 2016,

Notes:
Devendra Kumar Sharma, the managing director of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited, will be the new chairman of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB). The BBMB manages the release of water in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan as it controls Bhakra, Pong and other dams. The post of chairman had been lying vacant since September 2015 and its temporary charge was given to SK Sharma. The appointment committee of the Union cabinet approved DK Sharma’s name and the power ministry will issue a formal order soon. The appointment is for a period of three years on deputation from the date of assuming charge.

Notes:
Malaysia Airlines will become the world’s first airline to track its flights with the help of satellites by 2018. For this, Malaysia Airlines has signed an agreement with Aireon LLC, SITAONAIR and FlightAware LLC that will enable it to monitor its aircraft flight paths in real time anywhere in the world including over the Polar Regions and the most remote oceans. No new avionics or modifications are needed for aircraft to be tracked by the satellites.