Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Railways has recently signed MoU with Italy’s public sector rail company Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group (FS Group) for technical cooperation in rail sector especially in the areas safety in train operations. The cooperation areas identified in this MoU includes safety audit of Indian Railways and measures required for enhancing safety in train operation, assessment and certification of advanced technology based safety products and systems to Safety Integrity Level (SIL4), training and competency development with focus of safety, modern trends in maintenance and diagnostic etc.

Notes:
India will host 2017 FIBA Women’s Asia Cup basketball tournament at Bengaluru, Karnataka from July 23 to 29. This tournament will be the qualifying tournament for FIBA Asia at the 2018 FIBA World Championship for Women in Spain. Beside this, India will also host the 2017 FIBA U-16 Women’s Asian Championship, which will be held from October 22 to 28 in Hyderabad. In both the tournaments, 14 teams will compete, with 8 teams in Division A and six in lower Division B. India is in Division B in both the Senior and U-16 events.

Notes:
India has been ranked 43rd out of 45 global economies in the 5th edition of Intellectual Property Index (IPI)-2017, as per the latest report titled “The Roots of Innovation” by the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC)’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC). This is the 5th year in a row that India has been ranked at the bottom of the pack in the index. The list is topped by United States, followed by United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Sweden respectively. The GIPC highlighted the need for the government to build upon the positive rhetoric of its IPR policy with the substantial legislative reforms that innovators need.

Notes:
India’s first-ever floating elementary school “Loktak Elementary Floating School” has started at Langolsabi Leikai of Champu Khangpok floating village on Loktak Lake in Manipur. The school has been opened under the initiative undertaken by All Loktak Lake Fisherman’s Union with the support of an NGO – People Resources Development Association (PRDA). The school will not only cater to the need of the children but for the illiterate adults as well. The Loktak Lake is referred as the “lifeline of Manipur” as it is highly productive and many lives depend on the lake for endurance. The lake is also an Important Bird Area as it’s a potential breeding site for waterfowl and is a staging site for migratory birds.

Notes:
Kalidasa is known as the greatest poet and dramatist in the Sanskrit language. Some of his notable works include Abhijyanashakuntalam and Meghaduta. However, Mrichchhkatikam was composed by Shudraka, not Kalidasa.

Notes:
The book “Jobless Clueless Reckless” has been authored by Revathi Suresh. It’s a novel about teenagers that gives an insight into what happens in the minds and lives of teenagers in an upper middle class, urban society.

Notes:
The 3rd edition of the annual LIC Gateway LitFest will be held in Mumbai, Maharashtra on February 25 and 26, 2017. The 2017 theme is ‘the contemporary face of Indian literature’, which focuses on five languages – Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi and Tamil. There will be a discussion for writers from script-free languages such as Ahirani, Bhojpuri, Khasi, Konkani, Kosli and Santhali. In the Litfest, approx 50 writers from 15 languages, including National Award winner K R
Meera, script-writer Anjali Menon and ace filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan will participate. Apart from this, Kosli poet Haldhar Nag will be bestowed with the first Gateway LitFest Lifetime Achievement Award.

Notes:
The Indian government has sanctioned $340 million soft loan to Nepal for various infrastructure development programmes at Nepal Infrastructure Summit 2017 at Kathmandu, Nepal on February 19, 2017. Under this programme, Mahalaki bridge and 15 roads will be constructed in various parts of Nepal.

Notes:
The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik will inaugurate the “World Integrated Medicine Forum on Regulation of Homeopathic Medicinal Products: National and Global strategies” in New Delhi on February 23, 2017. This is the first-of-its-kind forum considering the increased perception of the International world towards India as a key player in the progress of the homoeopathy drug industry. In the 2-day forum, the drug lawmakers, regulators, manufacturers and pharmacopeial experts from various regulatory authorities, eminent scientific organisations and pharmaceutical industries from 25 countries will participate to strategize the actionable aspects in the homoeopathic drug industry, which, in turn, will promote global harmonisation in the sector. The event is organised by Ministry of AYUSH and Central Council for Research in Homeopathy (CCRH) and supported by Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIMH) & Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO).

Notes:
The 9th edition of BRICS Summit will be held in Xiamen city, China from September 3 to 5, 2017. The theme of this year’s event is ‘BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future’.