Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

Notes:
Sam Shepard (73), the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, has passed away in Kentucky, United States on July 27, 2017. He was Oscar-nominated actor and celebrated author whose plays chronicled the explosive fault lines of family and masculinity in the American West. He wrote nearly 50 plays and won the Pulitzer for drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child. His plays are chiefly known for their bleak, poetic, often surrealist elements, black humor, and rootless characters living on the outskirts of American society.

Notes:
Ustad Hussain Sayeeduddin Dagar (78), maestro and custodian of the venerable Dhrupad tradition of Hindustani classical music, has passed away in Pune, Maharashtra on July 30, 2017. He was known affectionately to his legions of disciples and admirers as ‘Saeed Bhai’. He was born in Alwar in Rajasthan in 1939 and was a part of the Dagar family of musicians. He represented the 19th generation of Dagar Tradition. Dhrupad – a Sanskrit portmanteau of Dhruva (immovable) and Pad (verse) has its roots since ancient times, mentioned as early as the 3rd Century B.C. in the Natyashastra.

Notes:
The Union government has recently launched a portal e-Rashtriya Kisan Agri Mandi (e-RaKAM) which will provide a platform to sell agricultural produce. The e-RaKAM is a first of its kind initiative that leverages technology to connect farmers of the smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world through internet. Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Union Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh jointly launched the portal in New Delhi on August 1, 2017. The portal is a digital initiative bringing together the farmers, PSUs, civil supplies and buyers on a single platform to ease the selling and buying process of agricultural products. Under this initiative, e-RaKAM centres are being developed in a phased manner throughout the country to facilitate farmers for online sale of their produce. The farmers will be paid through e-Payment directly into their bank accounts.

Notes:
The world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge “Europaweg (or Europe Bridge)” has recently opened in Randa, Switzerland. It measures 1,620 feet long and rises as high as 278 feet above the Grabengufer ravine. The bridge connects a hiking trail through the Alps between Zermatt and Graechen.

Notes:
Peter O’Neill has been re-elected as the new Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG) for a second five-year term with a healthy majority, 60 to 46 by a newly elected parliament. He is the leader of the People’s National Congress and represents the constituency of Ialibu-Pangia.

Notes:
Manju Kumari from India has won the bronze medal in 59kg category with a 2-0 victory over Ilona Prokopevniuk of Ukraine in the Junior World Wrestling Championship in Tampere, Finland on August 3, 2017.

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Noted economist Dr. Rajiv Kumar will be the new Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, which is a think-tank that replaced the Planning Commission. He will succeed Arvind Panagariya, who will leave the government think tank on August 31, 2017 and return to Columbia University. Currently, Rajiv Kumar is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a non-governmental think tank on public policy based out of New Delhi. He had also been part of a Government appointed high-level search Panel that went into the appointment of regulators in the Indian financial sector. Meanwhile, the Centre has also appointed Vinod Paul, a Paediatrician at AIIMS, as a member of NITI Aayog.

Notes:
The 15th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of BIMSTEC countries will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal from August 10-11, 2017. From India, the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will represent India in the meeting and will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of the members countries. During the BIMSTEC meeting, progress on several programmes will be discussed.

Notes:
Robert Hard (91), who portrayed the role of Minister of Magic ‘Cornelius Fudge’ in four of the ‘Harry Potter’ films, has passed away in London, England on August 3, 2017. He was also known for his many portrayals of Winston Churchill and as the irascible vet Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. His voice performance as Robin Hood in Tale Spinners For Children, an LP from the 1960s, is considered one of the best Robin Hood renditions.

Notes:
Indian shooter Ankur Mittal has clinched the individual as well as the team gold medal in men’s double trap at the 7th Asian Shotgun Championship at Astana, Kazakhstan on August 5, 2017. Mittal shot 71 in the six-man final to finish at the top of the podium. With scores of Sangram Dahiya and Mohammad Asab added to Mittal’s final total, India managed to bag the top prize in the team event also. Dahiya had a score of 43 and Asab had shot 34.