Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
Achamkulangare Gopinathan, a top Indian diplomat, has been re-appointed by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) for a 5-year term beginning from January 1, 2018. Beside him, Sukai Prom-Jackson of Gambia, Jean Wesley Cazeau of Haiti and Nikolay Lozinskiy of Russia are also appointed members of the JIU. The Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) is the only independent external oversight body of the United Nations (UN) system mandated to conduct evaluations, inspections and investigations system-wide. Gopinathan’s re-appointment follows his nomination by India and endorsement as the sole candidate of the Asia-Pacific Group.

Notes:
The Pakistan Navy has started its 5th edition of multinational naval exercise “AMAN – 2017” at the Navy Dockyard in Karachi. The 2017 theme is ‘Together for peace’ and focus is on maritime security including counter-piracy and counter terrorism operations at sea. The naval exercise will include ships, aircraft, helicopters, Special Operations Forces (SOF), Explosives Ordinance Disposal (EOD), marine teams and observers from regional as well extra-regional navies. The 4-day naval drill involves 37 countries such as Australia, China, Indonesia, Turkey, Sri Lanka, UK, Unites States, Japan and Russia.

Notes:
Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar has been honoured with the ‘Legendary Award ‘ 2017 by Brand Laureate. The Brand Laureate Awards recognise world-class achievement in branding amongst individuals and companies. She is known for songs like “Lag jaa gale”, “Aayega aanewala”, “Aye mere watan ke logon”, “Luka chuppi”, and many more.

Notes:
The Mangalore-based public sector lender, Corporation Bank has won the ‘National MSME Excellence Award 2017’ at a function in New Delhi for playing constructive role in the MSME sector viz. online loan facility for MSME borrowers, online facility for revival and rehabilitation of MSME, campaign for growth with various concessions and collateral
free loans up to Rs 2 crore under Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS), etc. The award is instituted by the Federation of Industry Trade and Services (FITS), which is a national industry body working in the form of a bridge between the industry and the state and central governments.

Notes:
Ankur Mittal has won silver in men’s double trap at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup at the Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi. Beside this, in the mixed team 10m air pistol event, the Indian pair of Heena Sidhu and Jitu Rai won the ‘gold badge’. The ISSF is expected to scrap men’s 50m free pistol, 50m rifle prone and double trap events from the Olympic Games and will announce so shortly.

Notes:
The book “The Wrong Turn: Love and Betrayal in the Time of Netaji” has been authored by Sanjay Chopra and Namita Roy Ghose. It is a sweeping tale of passion set against the freedom struggle.

Notes:
Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli has been named as the ‘Captain of the Year’ at the 10th annual ESPNcricinfo Awards. Kohli led India to 9 wins out of 12 Tests in the year gone-by. Apart from this, Englishman Ben Stokes won the Test Batting Performance of the Year for his incredible counterattacking innings of 258 runs off 198 balls against South Africa in Cape Town.

Notes:
Ajay Tyagi, a 1984 batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, has become the 9th Chairman of markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a period of 3-years on March 1, 2017. He succeeded U K Sinha. Prior to this appointment, he has handled capital markets division in the Finance Ministry. Tyagi also has diverse experience at the Centre. He was Joint Secretary in Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change before joining Finance Ministry in November 2014 as Additional Secretary. He has also worked in ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Steel and Rural Development. The chairman of SEBI receives a consolidated pay package of Rs 4.5 lakh per month.

Notes:
The book “Lincoln in the Bardo” has been authored by George Saunders, the Folio prize-winning author. The novel is a tale of death and beyond that captures the grief of Abraham Lincoln over the death of his 11-year-old son Willie while the Civil War raged on in the United States of America (USA). The book draws a parallel line between the lives of Willie’s ghost and a similar uncertain state of Lincoln, after the boy’s death. In simple words, the novel is a confrontation with the mysterious beyond the inevitable death, a question that has haunted humankind, and the way death can bring even the head of a nation to his knees.

Notes:
The Global rating agency Fitch has forecasted India’s GDP growth for FY 17 to 7.1% and for both FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 to 7.7%. Fitch stated that the December quarter GDP number suggests that economic activity was hardly hit by the cash crunch after the government’s move to remove 86% of currency in circulation overnight. It expects the policy interest rate to stay at its current level of 6.25%. Fitch projection of growth for this fiscal is in line with the estimates of global think-tank Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).