Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
Leo Varadkar, the leader of the Fine Gael Party, will become the new Prime Minister of Ireland after defeating his rival Simon Coveney with 60% of votes. Varadkar will become the first gay Prime Minister and will also be the country’s youngest ever leader. He will succeed Taoiseach Enda Kenny as leader of the centre-right party in 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:
Nepali-Hindi film Ralang Road will represent India at the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival at Karlovy Vary in Czech Republic, which is scheduled to be held from June 30 to July 8, 2017. It will be after 13 years that an Indian film will compete with other international films at this film festival. Ralang Road tells the stories of four people living in the Himalayan countryside. The film explores cultural immigration and lifestyles in a complex social setup. The film is directed by Karma Takapa and produced by HumanTrail Pictures.

Notes:
Dr. Sharad Kumar Jain has assumed the additional charge of Director General (DG) of National Water Development Agency (NWDA) under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Presently, he is working as Scientist G with National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee. Jain succeeds S. Masood Husain who has moved over as Member (WP&P), Central Water Commission.

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 TATA Projects has launched unique “Green Thumb” initiative in India to promote green cover and to protect the environment on 2017 World Environment Day (WED). The Green Thumb 2017 is in continuation to 2016 TATA Projects’ programme wherein it aimed to get 10,000 people to click (pledge) to plant a sapling on their behalf – the response received was a tremendous 23,000. Encouraged by the response, TATA Projects planted a total of over 42,000 saplings across the country in over 100 locations in the last one year (2016-17). This year, under Green Thumb initiative, the company will plants trees, citizens who wish to do their bit to save the environment, can express their support for the cause. They can do so by clicking on the banner to plant a sapling on the Green Thumb Microsite or on Facebook page, LinkedIn pagea/155507/ or on the company website www.tataprojects.com.

Notes:
Hoshiar Singh, a 1994 batch officer of the Indian Telecom Service, has been appointed as new Registrar of Copyrights for a period of five years. The Office of Copyrights, under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DoPT) is mandated to protect the music and film industry besides addressing its concerns, among others. According to norms, the Copyright Office is under the immediate control of a Registrar of Copyrights, who acts under the superintendence and directions of the Central Government. The headquarters is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
Sachin Tendulkar has joined UNICEF’s ‘Super Dads’ campaign that highlights the critical role played by fathers in children’s early development. The campaign features stars from the world of entertainment and sport including David Beckham, Novak Djokovic, Mahershala Ali, Lewis Hamilton and Hugh Jackman. The UNICEF campaign will celebrates Father’s Day and highlights the importance of love, play, protection and good nutrition for the healthy development of young children’s brains. The heart-warming videos and photos of celebrity dads in the campaign will be coupled with stories of super dads from across the world, including those who are doing their best to raise their children in extremely difficult circumstances.

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.