GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 12, 2017

Notes:
Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to provide women an injectable contraceptive for free. The state’s public health department launched a programme “Antara” on July 10, 2017 to cover Pune, Mumbai, Raigad, Nandurbar, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Sangli, Ratnagiri, and Beed. The programme will be launched in 23 district hospitals, 20 medical colleges and 12 women’s hospitals. The new method under government-funded contraceptives, called Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (MPA), will add to existing contraception options for women, such as intrauterine devices, pills, and permanent sterilisation procedure— tubectomy. The contraceptive injections will deter pregnancy for three months and allow conception seven months after the injection is stopped. The injection will be given intramuscularly to women in age bracket of 18-45 years.

Notes:
Axis Bank has tied up with Inter-American Investment Corporation (IIC) to facilitate trade with Latin America and the Caribbean. It is the first Indian bank to participate in the Trade Finance Facilitation Programme as a confirming bank. IIC, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, is a multilateral development bank committed to supporting the private sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Notes:
Subhash C. Garg, a 1983 batch lAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, has taken charge as the new secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the finance ministry. The post fell vacant after Shaktikanta Das retired on May 31, 2017. As the secretary in the DEA, Garg will oversee capital markets, Budget preparation as well as infrastructure financing and decide on borrowing, along with RBI. He will also decide on funding by multilateral institutions. Prior to this post, Garg was Executive Director at World Bank for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka.

Notes:
Dr Mukul Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, has recently launched a flagship programme ‘Livelihood Intervention and Facilitation of Entrepreneurship’ (LIFE) at Songsak in East Garo Hills for the state on July 11, 2017. LIFE is a programme of the State Rural Livelihood Society, an agency of the Community and Rural Development Department, which is implementing the Centre’s flagship programme – National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). NRLM promotes livelihood through women Self Help Groups (SHGs) and their Federations. The programme offers thrust on improving the livelihood of rural poor in a sustainable manner through the process of SHGs, Village organisation and Producers Groups.

Notes:
The 22nd edition of World Petroleum Congress (WPC) International Conference has started in Istanbul, Turkey from July 10 – 12, 2017 under the theme ”Bridges to Our Energy Future”. The WPC’s 65 member countries represent over 96% of the world’s oil and gas consumption and production. The purpose of the conference is to promote the management and sustainable use of oil, gas and other energy resources worldwide for the benefit of all. Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, is representing India in the conference. The tri-annual WPC Conference is widely recognized as the `Olympics` of the oil and gas industry.

Notes:
Rajasthan has become the India’s first State to lay down the minimum educational qualifications for contesting elections to village cooperative societies and various other cooperative bodies. For this purpose, the State Cooperative Societies Rules, 2003, were amended and notified. The new rules would benefit about 10,000 cooperative and agricultural credit societies. The educational qualifications will range from Class V to Class VIII for election as members of governing boards of dairy societies, farming societies, consumer societies, weavers’ societies, housing construction societies, urban banks, primary land development banks, credit societies, salary earners’ societies and cooperative union.

Notes:
The Karnataka Government has constituted a 9-member committee to study and submit a report to the government on the possibility of designing a separate flag for Karnataka and providing it a statutory standing. The committee will be headed by Principal Secretary, Department of Kannada and Culture. It must be noted that there is no prohibition in the Constitution for the State to have its own flag. As per S.R. Bommai v/s Union of India (Supreme Court 1994) case, the Supreme Court has declared that federalism is a basic feature of the Constitution and States are supreme in their sphere. This being the Constitutional position, however, the manner in which the State flag is hoisted should not dishonour the national flag. It has to be always below the national flag. The national flag code specifically authorises use of other flags subject to the regulation by the court. So, State flag is not unauthorized.

Notes:
Milkha Singh, also known as The Flying Sikh, has been honoured with the 2017 Maruti Suzuki Living Legend of the Year award at the 6th edition of ‘Maruti Suzuki Sportsperson of the Year’ Charity Gala Awards on July 6, 2017 at ITC Grand Central in, Mumbai, Maharashtra. However, Milkha could not attend the function. Beside this, Rio Olympics silver medallist P V Sindhu was bestowed with the Sportsperson of the Year award while Indian cricketer KL Rahul was presented with Gamechanger of the year award. The 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award was bestowed to Abhinav Bindra. The Coach of the Year award 2017 was given to Pullela Gopichand for mentoring a host of shuttlers like Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Kidambi Srikanth, B Sai Praneeth, HS Prannoy, and many others to do well on the international circuit over the last few years.

Notes:
The Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary is located at Uttara Kannada District in Karnataka. The sanctuary is a birdwatchers paradise, housing nearly 200 species of birds, most famous for the great Indian hornbill and the Malabar pied hornbill. It is also the only known tiger reserve in India to report frequent sightings of the elusive black panther. It is also known to house the Indian sloth bear, the Indian pangolin, the giant Malabar squirrel, dhole, the Indian jackal and the muntjac (barking deer). The king cobra and the mugger crocodile (Indian crocodile) are the prime reptilians in the sanctuary.

Notes:
Rcently, the Indian Railways Organization for Alternate Fuel (IROAF) has won the 2017 Golden Peacock Award for Eco-Innovation for introducing eco-friendly and cost-saving Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) based Dual Fuel 1400 HP Diesel engines on Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) trains. This innovation will reduce emissions considerably by bringing down NOx by 16%, CO2 by 6% and Particulate Matter by 18% besides achieving economy in fuel cost by 8%. So far, 19 Engines of DEMUs have been successfully converted into CNG based dual fuel engines with this technology. The IROAF is a unique organization in the Government space which was established by Ministry of Railways to explore new environment friendly fuels/ renewable energy and eco- friendly technologies like substitution of diesel with CNG/LNG in train sets, etc.