Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
India has been ranked 37th out of 103 nations in the 2017 global Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI), according to a new report by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative. The OPHI is an economic research centre at the Oxford University, led by Professor Sabina Alkire. The 2017 global MPI has covered 76% of the world’s population, living in 103 countries. The index measures the nature and intensity of poverty, based on the profile of overlapping deprivations each poor person experiences. It aggregates these into meaningful indexes that can be used to inform targeting and resource allocation and to design policies that tackle the interlinked dimensions of poverty together.

Notes:
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has formed committee to improve standards of corporate governance of listed companies. The committee under the chairmanship of Uday Kotak, chief of Kotak Mahindra Bank, will submit the report within a period of 4 months. The committee would make recommendations to SEBI on ensuring independence in spirit of independent directors and their active participation in functioning of the company and steps for improving safeguards and disclosures pertaining to related party transactions. Besides, the panel would suggest measures for addressing issues faced by investors on voting and participation in general meetings and ways for improving effectiveness of board evaluation practices.

Notes:
Ganeshan Neelakanta Iyer has become the first Indian to be nominated as a member of the ITTF Umpires and Referees Committee (URC). His term will be for two years and is extendable. Iyer is the only assigned competition manager of the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) in India. Beside this, Ganeshan has also been recommended as the Technical Commissioner from the Asian Continent to ITTF and his term will be for a period of four years. He is also the chairman of the South Asian Federation technical committee and a member of the Technical Committee of the Commonwealth Table Tennis Federation (CTTF).

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched its 3136 kg GSAT-19 communication satellite with its brand new and heaviest – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III D-1 (GSLV-Mk III D-1) satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on June 5, 2017. The satellite GSAT-19 has an intended life span of 10 years and is developed to improve telecommunication and broadcasting areas. The GSLV-Mk III is popularly known as “fat boy” and is developed for 15 years at a cost of around Rs 300 crore. The rocket is capable of carrying payloads of up to 4,000 kg into the GTO and 10,000 kg into the Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The GSLV-Mk III is a three stage rocket. Its first stage is made of two strap on motors filled with solid fuel. The second stage uses the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic upper stage “C25”, which is powered by the highly complex indigenous cryogenic engine “CE20”. The number 20 denotes the 20-ton thrust it generates for the rocket to reach the intended height with the heavy mass on board.

Notes:
The Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Fazilka District of Punjab. The formation of sanctuary relates to a unique success story of wildlife conservation in which people of Bishnoi community united themselves for protecting the Black Buck which is regarded as a sacred animal by them. It is also the State Animal of Punjab. It is home to several varieties of flora and fauna viz. Albizia lebbeck, Acacia nilotica, Azadirachata indica, A. tortilis, Wild Boar, Blue Bull, Porcupines, Hare, Jackal, etc.

Notes:
India’s first-ever Rural LED Street Lighting Project will be implemented by the Government of India (GoI) in Andhra Pradesh (AP). The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) under the Ministry of Power will retrofit10 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights in Gram Panchayats of 7 districts in AP. This is the first project for rural LED street lighting in the country under the GoI’s Street Lighting National Project (SLNP). In the first phase, the replacement will be undertaken in gram panchayats of the districts of Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa, Ananthapur and Chittoor. This replacement drive in rural areas will help the gram panchayats to cumulatively save approximately 147 million units of electricity annually and lead to reduction of 12 crore tonnes of CO2. The entire upfront capital cost of this project is being funded by French Development Agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

Notes:
India has been ranked 45th out of 63 countries in the IMD’s world competitiveness rankings 2017. The list is compiled by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management and Development (IMD)’s World Competitiveness Center (WCC). Hong Kong has topped the list, followed by Switzerland, Singapore, United States, Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark. The IMD measures how well countries manage all their resources and competencies to facilitate long-term value creation.

Notes:
India has been ranked 51st out of 63 countries in the 2017 IMD World Digital Competitiveness ranking. At the top of the digital ranking is Singapore, followed by Sweden, the USA, Finland and Denmark. For the first time, the IMD World Competitiveness Center has published a separate report ranking countries’ digital competitiveness. The new Digital Competitiveness Ranking (DCR) provides a measure of a country’s ability to adopt and explore digital technologies leading to transformation in government practices, business models and society in general. The ranking is based on three factors, which reflect the standing of a country in the dimensions of Knowledge, Technology and Future Readiness.

Notes:
Sher Bahadur Deuba, the Nepali Congress President, has been sworn-in as the new Prime minister of Nepal at Rashtrpati Bhawan in Kathmandu, Nepal. Deuba has taken the charge of prime minister for the 4th time. He first became PM in 1995 and later in 2001 and 2004. The 2017 Election for new prime minister was held due to resignation by the CPN (Maoist Centre) Chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal from the post of prime minister. Dahal had resigned on May 24 as per the power sharing understanding with the coalition partner Nepali Congress.

Notes:
As per second bi-monthly monetary and credit policy review for 2017-18 of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) remain unchanged at 6.25%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 6.0%, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) remains at 4% and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.50%.Though, the Central bank has cut the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 0.5%. It has projected inflation in the range of 2% to 3.5% for first half of 2017-18 and 3.5% to 4.5% for the second half. It has also cut the growth projection for current fiscal to 7.3% from 7.4%.