Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is co-hosting the Second Gateway of India Geo economic Dialogue with Gateway House in Mumbai, Maharashtra on February 13-14, 2017 . This is India’s premier geo-economics conference on the theme ‘Where Geopolitics meets Business’ focused on building synergies between business and foreign policy. There will be panel discussions covering topics like Sovereign Funds, Global Taxation and Digital Economy.

Notes:
India’s first inter-disciplinary school on Quality and Reliability (Q&R) will be set up by the IIT Kharagpur. The school will be truly interdisciplinary in which faculty members as well as students will be from various disciplines. The purpose for establishing the school is to improve the quality of life for the people of India as well as develop quality conscious global citizens. The school, in collaboration with other academic units in the Institute, will offer academic courses, research and mission-mode programmes in the area of Quality and Reliability (Q&R), which will bring social transformation. It shall also serve as a hub of Intellectual Property in Quality.

Notes:
A solenoid is defined as a cylinder-shaped coil consisting of many circular turns of insulated copper wire placed closely together. The magnetic field inside the solenoid is represented by parallel straight field lines, signifying a uniform magnetic field throughout its interior. Both statements correctly describe the structure and field properties of a solenoid.

Notes:
The book “Welcome to Nowhere” has been authored by acclaimed children’s writer Elizabeth Laird. This is a book about war and its consequences. Through book, author tells the story of 12-year-old Omar, his parents and four siblings, all of who are caught in the crossfire as civil war rages over Syria. Laird references real-life events and gives you great characters, heartwarming moments and even occasional humour.

Notes:
The first edition of Gramin Khel Mahotsav (GKM) will be held from March 25th to 31st, 2017 in New Delhi. The games will be held in five sports disciplines Athletics, Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Volley Ball and Wrestling. The festival will help participation of rural youth in large numbers in popular sports and encourage them to achieve excellence and adopt healthy life style. The purpose of this fest to promote sports in rural areas across the country and will be replicated in other States and UTs as well.

Notes:
Gopal Baglay, the 1992-batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), has been appointed as the new spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Earlier, he headed the division of the MEA dealing with Pakistan. He has also served as the Deputy High Commissioner to Islamabad. Baglay replaced Vikas Swarup, who is headed to Canada as envoy.

Notes:
The book “Mr and Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage that Shook India” has been authored by well-known journalist Sheela Redddy. The author sketches an illuminating portrait of Ruttie Petit, whose marriage to Mohammad Ali Jinnah shocked Bombay society of that time. The book provides a comprehensive history of the Jinnahs, as well as the era of their marriage, its lengthy descriptive passages are spliced with amusing excerpts from Ruttie’s letters.

Notes:
India will attend the meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC), which is scheduled to be held in Lahore, Pakistan on March 2017. The PIC is a bilateral commission of officials from India-Pakistan, created to implement and manage goals of Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). Under the IWT treaty, it is required that India and Pakistan meet every financial year. As per the provisions in the treaty, India can use only 20% of the total water carried by the Indus River. The treaty which was signed in 1960 by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistan President Ayub Khan, gives India control over the three eastern rivers of the Indus basin, the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej, while Pakistan has the three western rivers, the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum.

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:
Mahabaleshwar Sail, the noted Konkani writer, has been honoured with the 2017 Saraswati Samman for his novel ‘Hawthan’. The Goa-based Sail is a renowned bi-lingual writer who has four Marathi dramas and seven Konkani novels to his credit. The award carries a cash prize of Rs.15 lakh and a citation.