Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Railways has recently signed MoU with Italy’s public sector rail company Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane Group (FS Group) for technical cooperation in rail sector especially in the areas safety in train operations. The cooperation areas identified in this MoU includes safety audit of Indian Railways and measures required for enhancing safety in train operation, assessment and certification of advanced technology based safety products and systems to Safety Integrity Level (SIL4), training and competency development with focus of safety, modern trends in maintenance and diagnostic etc.

Notes:
Dr P Raghu Ram, President of Association of Breast Surgeons of India (ABSI), has been selected for the prestigious 2016 Dr B C Roy National award for outstanding service in the field of socio-medical relief. This is the highest award that is bestowed upon a Medical person practicing in India & would be conferred by Hon’ble President of India on July 1, 2017 on Doctors’ Day. It is claimed that he is the youngest surgeon ever from the Telugu states (Telangana and Andhra Pradesh) to have been selected for this award. The award recognises Dr Ram’s significant contribution towards improving the delivery of breast health care in India and equally creating the much needed awareness about importance of early detection of breast cancer in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh through a number of initiatives.

Notes:
India has recently signed MoU with United Kingdom to ease restrictions on number of scheduled flights. The limits on flights from key Indian cities including Chennai and Kolkata have been scrapped and the MoU will allow for a greater range of flights for passengers while providing a boost to trade and tourism for the UK and India. The agreement has also opened all destinations in the UK for Indian carriers for code share flights and reciprocally the UK carriers can also operate code share flights to any International Airport in India, through domestic code share arrangements.

Notes:
The 13th edition of National Agriculture Science Congress (NASC)-2017 has started at the campus of the University of Agricultural Sciences-Bengaluru (UAS-B) in Bengaluru, Karnataka from February 22, 2017. The 4-day congress is jointly organised by the UAS-B, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The theme of the Congress is ‘Climate-smart Agriculture’. The Congress will provide an intellectually stimulating platform for discussing key issues related to ‘Climate-smart Agriculture’ in all its facets, including socio-economic empowerment of marginal farmers through technology development and policy initiatives for sustainable farming, forestry and natural resource management in tune with global climate change.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has recently approved investment proposal for generation component of Arun-3 Hydro Electric Project in Nepal by SJVN Limited to promote clean and green energy in India and the sub continent. This project will generate 900 Megawatt of hydro power at an estimated cost of Rs. 5723.72 crore. The project is expected to achieve financial closure by September 2017 and be implemented in five years thereafter.

Notes:
The World Bank (WB) will provide 63 million loan to India to empower approx 6.8 lakh adolescent girls in Jharkhand under the ‘Tejaswini: Socio-Economic Empowerment of Adolescent Girls and Young Women’ project. For this, a financing agreement for International Development Association (IDA) credit of 63 million (equivalent) has recently signed between the WB and the Government of India (GoI). The Tejaswini project will be delivered in 17 districts of Jharkhand. It has three main components — expanding social, educational and economic opportunities; intensive service delivery; and state capacity-building and implementation support. The closing date for the project is June 30, 2021.

Notes:
Indian grandmaster Harika Dronavalli has won a bronze medal at the 2017 Women’s World Chess Championship in Tehran. This is Harika’s 3rd bronze medal at the World Championship level. The first two were in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2012 and Sochi in 2015. Harika has won the World Juniors in 2008, Commonwealth women’s title in 2010, Asian Championship in 2011 as well as World Online Blitz Championship in 2015. She received the Arjuna Award in 2008.

Notes:
The book “Lincoln in the Bardo” has been authored by George Saunders, the Folio prize-winning author. The novel is a tale of death and beyond that captures the grief of Abraham Lincoln over the death of his 11-year-old son Willie while the Civil War raged on in the United States of America (USA). The book draws a parallel line between the lives of Willie’s ghost and a similar uncertain state of Lincoln, after the boy’s death. In simple words, the novel is a confrontation with the mysterious beyond the inevitable death, a question that has haunted humankind, and the way death can bring even the head of a nation to his knees.

Notes:
The 2nd edition of joint military exercise “Al Nagah-II” has started between India and Oman in the Dhauladhar Ranges at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh from March 6, 2017. The purpose of the 14-day exercise is to build and promote bilateral Army-to-Army relations and enhance inter-operability while exchanging skills and experiences between the Indian Army and the Royal Army of Oman. The exercise would be mainly focused on counter terrorism and forest warfare and approx 60 troops from both countries will participate in the exercise.

Notes:
Babul Supriyo, the singer-turned BJP MP, has become the Vice-President (VP) of the Local Organising Committee (LoC) of the FIFA U-17 World Cup 2017, which is to be hosted by India. The event will be held in October 2017. Currently, he is the Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.