Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
The 2017 UNESCO Natural Heritage Festival was held at Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) in Sairopa, Himachal Pradesh from February 11th to 12th. The fest was held in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and would be attended by prominent conservationists, including Dr George Schaller and Dr A J T Johnsingh, The festival feature a media workshop on environmental journalism, discussions on natural and cultural heritage of the Himalayan region and a heritage walk. Notably, GHNP was given UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2014 in recognition of its outstanding significance for bio-diversity conservation.

Notes:
The Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal has recently launched TAMRA mobile application and portal to ensure transparent award of statutory clearances for mining operations. TAMRA stands for “Transparency, Auction Monitoring and Resource Augmentation”. The portal covers block-wise, state-wise and mineral-wise information of the blocks to be auctioned, monitors various statutory clearances, and also highlights the additional resources generated through e-Auction. In case of delay in obtaining any clearances, TAMRA will send triggers to the concerned authority so that the remedial steps can be taken immediately by those responsible.

Notes:
Veteran journalist T V Parasuram (93), a former correspondent of the Press Trust of India (PTI), has recently passed away in United States. He began his stint in the US as the PTI correspondent at United Nations in the 50s. The veteran journalist, who won a Harvard Niemen Fellowship in journalism, served as the correspondent for The Indian Express for two decades till his retirement at age 58. Parasuram then became the PTI’s Washington correspondent till he quit journalism at age 82. He was a regular at the press conferences of US presidents during his over five-decade stay in America. He authored two books, ‘A Medal for Kashmir – a first hand account of the Indian Army’s operations in 1947-48 in Jammu and Kashmir – and ‘India’s Jewish Heritage’.

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:
Bhau Jambhuwantrao Dhote (83), the former Member of Parliament (MP) from Nagpur Lok Sabha constituency, has recently passed away in Yavatmal, Maharashtra. He was known for his demands of a separate state for Vidarbha. Dhote won his first election to Lok Sabha in 1971 from Nagpur as a Forward Bloc nominee. Later in 1980, he joined Congress and won the Nagpur seat on the Congress ticket. After leaving Congress he founded Vidarbha Janta Congress party in 2002. He was elected to Maharashtra Assembly five times. Due to his active participation in various movements for separate Vidarbha and farmers and his aggressive speeches, he was also known as the Lion of Vidarbha.

Notes:
Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan will host the Hindi version of popular international show “TED Talks”, which is the super-inspiring and super-influential talk series. Star India will air the Indian version “TED Talks India: Nayi Soch” in summer 2017 but a definite telecast date is yet to be announced. This is the first time TED is collaborating with a network and mega-star to produce a TV series featuring original TED Talks in a language other than English.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government has approved Rs. 250-crore cloud seeding programme to produce adequate rain because of droughts over the Vidarbha region. The programme would be coordinated by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology. It will be the first controlled experiment to quantify the extent to which clouds form water drops large enough to make rain. For their experiment, weather scientists will fly will fly two aircraft and spray dry ice and silver iodide on 100 clouds and compare them with 100 unseeded clouds. Ground radar will track the clouds and verify which ones contributed rain and by how much. The programme will account for the natural variability of the monsoon.

Notes:
Banasree Sengupta (71), the renowned Bengali singer, has recently passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal. She was known for her mellifluous voice. Some of her hit songs are Aaj Bikeler Dake Tomar Chhithi Pelam, Amar Angey Jaley Rangmoshal, Chhi chhi Eki Kando Korechi, Dur Akashay Tomar Sur, etc. She also lent her voice to Bengali, Hindi, Assamese and Odia films.

Notes:
The book “Every Time It Rains” has been authored by Nikitha Singh. It is the sequel of author’s “Like a Love song” , in which Mahi and Laila were the protagonists with the story from Mahi’s perspective. The book “Every Time It Rains” revolves around Laila’s life, how she picks up the broken pieces of her shattered heart and whether she gives love another chance in her life remains a mystery till the end.

Notes:
The National Biodiversity Congress (NBC) 2017 will be held in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from February 22. The event is hosted by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board from Feb 22nd to 26th and the focal theme is “Mainstreaming Biodiversity for Sustainable Development”. The present edition of the event comprises an array of programmes including conference, exhibition, capacity building workshops and Children’s Biodiversity Congress.