Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2017

Notes:
The Wilpattu National Park (WNP) is the largest and one of the oldest National Parks in Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of “Willus” (Natural lakes) – Natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. The park is 1,317 square kilometers (131, 693 hectares) and ranges from 0 to 152 meters above sea level. It is home to elephant, sloth bear, leopard, water buffalo, etc. The most common reptiles found in the park are the monitor lizard, mugger crocodile, common cobra, rat snake, Indian python, pond turtle, etc. The best time to visit Wilpattu is during the months of February and October.

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:
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 5th edition of BRICS Education Ministers’ Meeting-2017 was held on July 5, 2017 at Beijing, China. The Indian delegation was led by Prakash Javadekar, the Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD). Minister Javadekar specifically spoke about the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), SWAYAM platform which has already hosted over 480 courses online, research initiative IMPRINT and Smart India Hackathon. The delegation of all the five BRICS countries participated in the two-day deliberations.

Notes:
The Karian Shola National Park (KSNP) is is located at the southern end of the Western Ghats, in the Anaimalai Hills in Tamil Nadu. The park consists of areas of stunted, mossy rainforests known as shola forests interspersed with rolling montane grassland with towering rocky cliffs, making it a biologically unique ecosystem. It is home to about 560 to 680 species of animal such as Nilgiri tahr, Asian elephant, deer, wild boar, tiger, leopard , etc.

Notes:
The Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched an app – GST Rates Finder in New Delhi to verify the accurate tax rate on commodity and services under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. Through this app, user can determine GST rate by entering the name of the commodity or service. The search result will list all the Goods and Services containing the name which was typed in the search box. A taxpayer can search for applicable CGST, SGST, UTGST rate and Compensation Cess on a supply. This mobile app can be downloaded on any smart phone and can work in offline mode, once downloaded. The application has been launched on Android platform, and will soon be available on iOS platform. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has also provided a GST rate finder on its portal – cbec-gst.gov.in to help taxpayers know applicable GST rate on their supplies

Notes:
The day-long National Conference of Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories organised by NITI Aayog has started in New Delhi on July 10, 2017 to further the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism. The focus of the conference is on best practices in social and economic sectors across states. Various developmental indicators developed by NITI Aayog, in areas like health, education, water management and digital transformation are being discussed. The idea is to measure performance and progress of states and rank them appropriately to instill healthy competition among them. In addition several interactive sessions on issues including agriculture and health are also on the agenda.

Notes:
Khaltmaagiin Battulga, the leader of Democratic Party (DP), has won the 2017 Mongolian presidential election by 50.6% votes & has taken office on July 10, 2017. Mongolia is a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, where the President is directly elected. The government is run by a prime minister, but the president has powers to veto legislation and make judicial appointments. The President of Mongolia is elected using the two-round system. Here, the Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Notes:
Tata Steel Ltd. (TISCO) has won the Prime Minister’s trophy for ‘Best Performing Integrated Steel Plant’ in India during 2014-2015 and 2015- 16. This makes it the third consecutive-year for the firm to be honoured with this coveted award. Tata Steel has been recognised as the best integrated steel plant for 12 times and has won the PM’s Trophy 10 times. The Tata Steel Group is among the top 10 global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 27.5 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) as on March 31, 2017. It is the world’s second-most geographically diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries.

Notes:
Debi Prasad Dash, a 1985-batch Indian Revenue Service (customs) officer, has taken over as director-general of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the premier agency that tackles smuggling and black money. Dash was the acting DRI chief for the past 5-months. Earlier, he has worked in the UN Security Council, Commonwealth Secretariat and the CBI. The DRI is the major intelligence agency that works to secure India’s national and economic security by preventing the outright smuggling of contraband such as firearms, gold, narcotics, Fake Indian Currency notes, antiques, wildlife and environmental products. Furthermore, it also works to prevent the proliferation of black money, commercial frauds and trade based money laundering. The headquarters of DRI is located in New Delhi.