GK & Current Affairs Quiz: June 2, 2017

Notes:
The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) of India has won prestigious International Award of Asia Pacific Quality Network (APQN) titled “APQN Quality Award 2017 for International Co-operation in Quality Assurance” in Moscow, Russia on May 26, 2017. The NAAC is an organisation that assesses and accredits institutions of higher education in India. It’s headquarters is located in Bangalore, Karnataka.

Notes:
Aleksandar Vucic, the chairman of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), has been sworn-in as the new President of Serbia on May 31, 2017 and succeeded Tomislav Nikolic. He won the 2017 Serbian Presidential election by 55% of votes on April 2017. Prior to this post, Vucic was the Prime Minister of Serbia.

Notes:
The Telangana Government has officially launched a digital wallet “T-Wallet”, which doesn’t charge transaction fee from consumers. This is the first official e-wallet from any state government in India. The wallet can be used over the web version. One can top up the wallet using credit or debit cards, Internet banking or through cash at Mee Seva centres. It allows a maximum transaction of Rs. 1 lakh for e-KYC (know your customer) users. For non-KYC users, the limit is set to Rs. 20,000. The wallet is developed by Transaction Analysts (TA) & Vijaya Bank is a banking partner for the initiative. Presently, the wallet is available in Android version and supports English, Telugu and Urdu.

Notes:
India has ranked 137th out of 163 countries on the 2017 Global Peace Index (GPI), published by The Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP). The 2017 GPI provides a comprehensive analysis on the state of peace. It shows that amidst continuing social and political turmoil, the world continues to spend enormous resources on creating and containing violence but very little on peace. The index is topped by Iceland, followed by New Zealand, Portugal, Austria and Denmark, whereas Syria remains the least peaceful country in the world, followed by Afghanistan, Iraq, South Sudan, and Yemen.

Notes:
S Ganesh Kumar has been appointed the new Executive Director (ED) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He succeeded Chandan Sinha, who has taken voluntary retirement on May 31, 2017. As Executive Director (ED), Kumar will look after the departments of Information Technology, Payment and Settlement Systems and External Investments and Operations. Prior to being promoted as ED, he was Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Information Technology. Currently, the central bank has 11 Executive Directors.

Notes:
The Punjab government has decided to collaborate with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as part of its efforts to root out the drug menace in the State. The MoU will be signed between the health department, the Special Task Force (STF) on drugs and the UNODC in the second week of June 2017. It was also decided to develop a roadmap for the project implementation for which a project committee will be set up. The committee will be headed by principal secretary (Health) with STF chief ADGP Harpreet Singh Sidhu as co-convenor, besides two representatives of UNODC.

Notes:
India’s first automatic coastal warning for disasters will come up in Odisha from July 2017. Through alert system, Odisha will be able to warn its coastal population by pressing a single button from a control room in the Odisha capital in the event of natural disasters like tsunami or cyclone. The loud sirens will then go off simultaneously from towers at 122 spots locations including tourist destinations, fish landing centres and coastal habitations. The new system will also enable authorities to alert people in smaller pockets, depending on the severity of the disaster.

Notes:
Parvathamma Rajkumar (77), Kannada film producer and the wife of the legendary Kannada superstar Dr Rajkumar, has passed away in Bangalore, Karnataka on May 31, 2017. She was the first woman producer, distributor, exhibitor who only marketed Kannada films. She produced 87 films under her banner Vajreshwari Combines — one of the oldest and most successful banners in Kannada film — and Poornima Enterprises.

Notes:
Tamil poet S. Abdul Rahman (79), popularly known as ‘Kavikko,’ has passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on June 2, 2017. He belonged to the Vanambadi literary movement and was one of the most admired poets of modern Tamil literature. His poetry collection ‘Aalapanai’ won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi award in the year 1999. Apart from that he has won a lot of awards. His noted works includes Aalapanai, Paal veedhi, Neyar viruppam, Pithan, etc.

Notes:
Miroslav Lajcak, the Slovak foreign minister, has been elected as the new President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters in New York for the upcoming 72nd session. He will succeed Peter Thomson on September 12, 2017. The UNGA is the powerful body of 193 Member States that provides a forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the UN Charter. It meets in regular session intensively from September to December each year, and thereafter as required. The 72nd session of the UNGA will commence from September 12, 2017.