GK & Current Affairs Quiz: September 9-10, 2017

Notes:
The traditional Bonderam festival has started in Divar Island of Goa on September 9, 2017 . The word “Bonderam” originated from the involvement of flags. It is stated that during the Portuguese rule in Goa there were frequent disputes between two sections of the Divar village over property issues. These often led to violence and fights in the village. To find a solution to this problem, the Portuguese introduced a system of demarcation of boundaries with flags. The festival is a memoir to the protest by the local villagers against the Portuguese while trying to resolve the property ownership disputes. This festival starts with a flag which is accompanied by the brass band. Bonderam is a very popular monsoon festival in Goa and it draws huge crowds from all parts of Goa and world over.

Notes:
The Punjab National Bank (PNB) and state-run owned BSNL has signed an agreement to roll out open mobile wallet Speedpay across 10 states in the country. Under the agreement, BSNL will expand Speedpay services in Punjab, Chandigarh(UT), Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. PNB’s Speedway wallet will operate like any other mobile wallet for paying bills, recharging phone besides its users will be able to deposit and withdraw money from authorised retail outlets. Also, Speedway users will be able to operate Internet banking services from the application.

Notes:
Konjum Taba has clinched gold in the junior men’s 94 kg category by lifting 317 kg at the 2017 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships in Gold Coast, Australia. In the senior men’s 94 kg, Vikas Thakur won the bronze medal by lifting 340 kg, while Punam Yadav won silver in the 69 kilogram senior category by lifting 217 kg. In the youth girl 75 kg event, A Anju Devi won the silver medal by lifting 167 kg overall. On day 5 of the championship, India bagged six medals, including two Gold.

Notes:
Dr Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DONER), has inaugurated North East Festival ‘North-East Calling’ at India Gate in New Delhi on September 9, 2017. On the occasion, Dr Singh launched three initiatives, viz. North-East Venture Fund (NEVF), North East Tourism Development Council (NETDC) and Science and Technology Intervention in North Eastern Region (STINER). The purpose of the 2-day fest is to promote the art, culture, handicrafts, business and tourism of North East India. The event will showcase all activities and products of North-East and the entry for the general public is free. The event will include music festival for bands of North-East, Cultural night for dances of North-East and Handloom Demo Show presenting the clothes of North-East.

Notes:
Waltherus Norbertus Maria Marijne has been named as the new chief coach of the Indian Senior Men Hockey Team. Marijne will succeed Roelant Oltmans on September 20, 2017. Currently, Marijne is the chief coach of Indian Senior Women Hockey Team. Besides, Harendra Singh, who is hockey coach and Dronacharya Awardee, has been appointed as High Performance Specialist Coach for Indian Senior Women Hockey Team. The decisions were announced by the newly-appointed Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on his official twitter page. According to a top Hockey India official, both Marijne and Harendra have been given a tenure till the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Notes:
Ajay Bhushan Pandey, the CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) has been appointed as interim chairman of the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN). He succeeded Navin Kumar, who completed his term on August 29. GSTN is a not-for-profit entity owned by the Centre, states and non-government financial institutions, and is responsible for building and running the Information Technology (IT) backbone for new GST tax regime. Pandey has been given additional charge of the post of Chairman of GSTN with immediate effect and until further orders.

Notes:
The 2018 World University Rankings (WUR), released by Times Higher Education, has found that India’s flagship Indian Institute of Science (IISc) fall from previous year’s 201-250 band to 251-300. This was attributed to drops in its research influence score and research income. In it, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore has been named the top university in India, followed by IIT-Bombay, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur and IIT-Kharagpur. Globally, the University of Oxford has retained its first place in the rankings, followed by University of Cambridge, California Institute of Technology and Stanford University. The World University ranking is the only global university performance table to judge research-intensive universities across all of their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Notes:
India will host the 2018 Junior Asian Wrestling Championship (JAWC), which is scheduled to be held from July 19 to 22 in New Delhi. Recently, the United World Wrestling (UWW) has announced the hosting rights to Indian city for the tournament. The UWW is the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling and is headquartered in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland.

Notes:
Rattihalli Nagendra Sudarshan (78), the veteran Kannada actor, producer and singer, has passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka on September 8, 2017. In his five decade film career, Sudarshan acted in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films. He was one of the villains in Nayagan directed by Manirathnam. His last film was Super (2010) by Upendra in Kannada. Music lovers still remember him for songs such as Hoovandu Balibandu and Irabeku, Irabeku, Ariyada, which he sung in Shubhamangala (1975) directed by Puttanna and songs from his own film Naguva Hoovu (1971).

Notes:
The Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) is a protected area in Jhajjar district of Haryana and covers an area of 411.55 hectares. The major wildlife supported here are neelgai, geedar, langur and Bandar, blue peafowl, rufous treepie, greater coucal, Indian grey hornbill, coppersmith barbet, etc.