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.

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The researchers at IIT Kharagpur has developed a wireless technology ‘AmbuSens‘ for remote monitoring of patients’ condition ferried in ambulances. The technology will allow doctors to monitor ECG, heart-rate, temperature and blood-pressure of patients moving in ambulances and fitted with wireless sensors. This will help doctors to advise technicians travelling with the patient to deal with the situation. The web interface of the AmbuSens system provides an easy-to-use graphical interface for doctors and paramedics alike with data visualisation tools such as real-time ECG graph. It can be accessed from internet-enabled laptops, tablets and smartphones.

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The World Environment Day (WED) is observed every year on June 5 to raise awareness about forests and wider issues of environmental protection. The 2017 theme is ‘Connecting People to Nature’. It implores us to get outdoors and into nature, to appreciate its beauty and to take forward the call to protect the Earth that we share. The host country for the WED 2017 is Canada, where the official celebrations take place.

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Bhamidipati Sai Praneeth from India has won the Men’s Singles Crown in the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament by defeating Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie in a tough three-game final on June 4, 2017 in Bangkok. This is the first Grand Prix Gold title for Sai Praneeth.

Notes:
India has acquired the top position among 30 developing countries on ease of doing business at the 2017 A.T. Kearney Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). The 2017 GRDI titled “The Age of Focus” ranked China at second place, followed by Malaysia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Vietnam. The 16th edition of GRDI ranked top 30 developing countries for retail investment worldwide and analyzed 25 macroeconomic and retail-specific variables to help retailers devise successful global strategies to identify emerging market investment opportunities.

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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 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:
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 World Oceans Day (WOD) is observed every year on June 8 to raise global awareness of the benefits derived from the oceans and the current challenges faced by the international community in connection with the oceans. This year, in 2017, the main conservation focus will be on plastic pollution prevention and cleaning the ocean of marine litter with theme “Our Oceans, Our Future”. The 2017 WOD has coincided with the first-ever United Nations World Oceans Conference taking place from 5 to 9 June at UN headquarters in New York. The purpose of the conference is to mobilize action for the conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources.