GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 6, 2017

Notes:
The 3rd edition of International conference on sports “CII ScoreCard 2017” has started at Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi on July 6-7, 2017, which is organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Sports. The CII SCORECARD 2017 offers a unique platform for corporates and entrepreneurs to come together to network and form collaborations with management organizations, educational institutes, infrastructure companies, marketing, advertising, brand managers and manufacturers in sports domain. The focus areas of the conference are sports education, channeling CSR funds, building robust sports ecosystem, enhancing business opportunities and career & livelihood opportunities in sports.

Notes:
The 22nd edition of Asian Athletics Championships (AAC) has started at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on July 6, 2017 and will continue till July 9, 2017. Athlete Tintu Luka was the flag bearer for the Indian contingent which received a rousing welcome from the crowd. Odia athlete Srabani Nanda had the honour of taking the oath on behalf of athletes at the inaugural ceremony. Over 1,200 athletes and officials from 43 countries in Asia witnessed the largest sporting event. The official mascot of the Championship is “Olly Turtle” that represents the famous Olive Ridley sea turtle.

Notes:
The Odisha government has signed an Expression of Intent (EOI) with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to establish a High Performance Academy in Bhubaneswar on July 6, 2017. The EOI was signed by Sports Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev and AFI president Adille Sumariwala and IAAF president Lord Sebastian Coe in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. As per the agreement, the Union Sports Ministry will provide coaching, integrated support services and education to athletes. The State Sports and Youth Services Department will provide funds and make sure availability of necessary infrastructure and support services, including an outdoor stadium. Besides, the IAAF will assist in educating elite coaches and provide specialists.

Notes:
India’s leading cueist Pankaj Advani teamed up with Laxman Rawat to demolish Pakistan in the final of the Asian Team Snooker Championship by 3-0 in Bishskek, Kyrgyszstan on July 5, 2017. With the title and the win in the final, Advani remained the only player not to lose a single individual match in the team event. This title brings up Advani’s second Asian title this season and 8th overall while it was a first major first international title for Rawat.

Notes:
Achal Kumar Jyoti (64), a retired 1975 IAS Officer batch of Gujarat Cadre, is the newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), who took over as the head of the Election Commission in New Delhi on today. He succeeded Dr Nasim Zaidi. Jyoti will continue as the Chief Election Commissioner till January 17, 2018. Prior to this appointment, he was Election Commissioner of India. A CEC or an EC can have a tenure of six years or hold office till the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.

Notes:
The 12th edition of G20 summit will be held at Hamburg in Germany on July 7, 2017 with theme “Shaping an interconnected world”. In the 2-day summit, from India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead the Indian Delegation at the G20 meet with a firm message on the global menace of terrorism. The G20 countries account for more than four-fifths of Gross world product and three-quarters of global trade. They are home to almost two-thirds of the world’s population. In that context expectations are always high from a G20 summit. The G20 is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies with the aim of studying, reviewing and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability.

Notes:
Pradeep Kumar Rawat, the IFS officer of 1990 batch, has been appointed as the new Ambassador of India to Indonesia. Presently, he is the joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He will succeed Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhaya.

Notes:
The 7th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Health Ministers Meeting has started in Tianjin, China on July 6, 2017 with focus on international cooperation on the development of traditional medicine. From India, Jagat Prakash Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, has highlighted the achievements of India in the health sector and spoke on the theme – ‘Strengthen Health System and Achieve Health-Related SDGs in the meeting. In the 2-day meet, About 300 delegates, including health ministers of BRICS nations , international organizations, etc., are participating.

Notes:
The Guindy National Park (GNP) is the 8th smallest National Park of India, located at Chennai in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the very few national parks situated inside a city. The park has a role in both ex-situ and in-situ conservation and is home to 400 blackbucks, 2,000 spotted deers, 24 jackals, a wide variety of snakes, geckos, tortoises and over 130 species of birds, 14 species of mammals, over 60 species of butterflies and spiders each, a wealth of different invertebrates—grasshoppers, ants, termites, crabs, snails, slugs, scorpions, mites, earthworms, millipedes, and the like. These are free-ranging fauna and live with the minimal of interference from human beings.

Notes:
The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) has been ranked 2nd among best climate think tank in the world. The rankings were released by the International Centre for Climate Governance (ICCG), which focuses on the design of climate policy and related governance issues. The New Delhi-based think tank “TERI” was ranked under the category ‘2016 Top Climate Think Tanks in the Rest of the World – Absolute Global Rankings’ during ICCG’s 23rd annual conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) in Athens in Greece. TERI conducts research for the sustainable development of India. The ICCG ranking helps highlight the scale and magnitude of work done by the think tanks working in the field of climate change.