Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

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 United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression is observed every year on June 4 to acknowledge the pain suffered by children throughout the world who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse. It is a time for people all over the world to become aware of the impact of monstrosity of abuse, in all its forms, against children. It is also a time when organisations and individuals learn from or take part in awareness campaigns centred on protecting children’s rights. This day affirms the UN’s commitment to protect the rights of children.

Notes:
The United Nations is hosting its first-ever World Oceans Conference at the UN Headquarters in New York, United States from June 5, 2017. The 5-day conference is co-hosted by the Governments of Fiji and Sweden with theme “Our oceans, our future: partnering for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14”. The purpose of the conference is to find solutions to some of the toughest problems facing the oceans — that includes coral bleaching, plastic pollution, overfishing and rising sea levels. It also includes measures to protect coastal and blue carbon ecosystems such as mangroves, tidal marshes, seagrass, and coral reefs, and wider interconnected ecosystems, as well as enhancing sustainable fisheries management, including to restore fish stocks in the shortest time feasible at least to levels that can produce maximum sustainable yield.

Notes:
Sudha Singh from Uttar Pradesh has won a gold medal in the women’s 3000m steeplechase at the 21st Federation Cup National Senior Athletics Championship in Patiala, Punjab on June 4, 2017. In the men’s 3000m steeplechase event, it was Naveen Kumar of Haryana who took the gold with a time of 8:50.85.

Notes:
The Mukurthi National Park (MNP) is a 78.46 km2 protected area located in the western corner of the Nilgiris Plateau west of Ootacamund hill station in the northwest corner of Tamil Nadu state in the Western Ghats mountain range of South India. It is home to an array of endangered wildlife viz. royal Bengal tiger, Asian elephant, Nilgiri langur, Bonhote’s mouse, Nilgiri tahr, etc. The park is a part of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, India’s first International Biosphere Reserve.

Notes:
The 17th summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit has started in Astana, Kazakhstan from June 8, 2017. In this summit, India and Pakistan has become full members of the organization. The SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organisation which was founded in 2001 in Shanghai by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It is mainly aimed at military cooperation between the members and involves intelligence- sharing, counter-terrorism operations in Central Asia. Afghanistan, Belarus, India, Iran, Mongolia and Pakistan have observer status.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J P Nadda has been conferred with the WHO Director-General’s Special Recognition Award for accelerating India’s tobacco control initiatives and taking bold measures to protect people against hazards of tobacco use. The global recognition was presented to him by Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia, at the ‘National Consultation on Accelerating Implementation of WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) for achievement of Sustainable Development Goals’.

Notes:
Mehrunnisa Dalwai (87), the protagonist of a reformist movement ‘Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal’, has passed away in Pune, Maharashtra on June 8, 2017. She worked for justice and equal rights for Muslim women and spearheaded a march in Mumbai seeking abolition of triple ‘talaq’. Dalwai also founded Islamic Research Institute and Maharashtra Talaq Mukti Morcha. Her autobiography, “Mi Bharun Pawle” is considered an inspirational piece for progressive movement. She was the wife of prominent Muslim activist and thinker late Hamid Dalwai.

Notes:
The Tamil Nadu government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) for the implementation of the UDAN scheme in the state. In the first phase of regional air connectivity scheme “UDAN”, the steps will be taken to start flight services to Hosur, Salem and Neyveli.The purpose of the Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) is to make regional connectivity easy at low cost so that common people could opt for air travel. Also, it would enhance infrastructure, employment opportunities and lead to trade and industry growth.

Notes:
The Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has inaugurated the first-ever Indian Railways Human Resources Round Table Conference in New Delhi on June 10, 2017. The aim of the Conference is to improve the productivity of the human resources through inter-change of ideas with various stakeholders and HR practitioners and academics. There are 3-themes of the conference viz. Stakeholders Expectations from HR, The Future of Work – HR Role and Creativity Within Constraints.