Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
Recently, the Union Sports Minister Vijay Goel has laid the foundation stone of the India’s first centre of excellence for differently-abled sportsmen at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The Center of Excellence is proposed with an estimate of over Rs 50 crore. It will have world class facilities where para athletes can train for various international competitions including Asian Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games. It will also act as a classification center for para athletes. The Center will also hold seminars, educational programmes and workshops throughout the year with the help of International Paralympic Committee. Approx 50 differently-abled sportspersons (boys & girls) between age group 8-12 will be imparted training in Athletics, Swimming and power lifting at the training centre. The entire project will be constructed by CPWD in coordination with various experts and consultants having full accessibility as per the norms of IPC.

Notes:
The Indian Panorama Film Festival has started in Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar on February 15, 2017. The 5-day festival is organized by the Directorate of Information and Publicity, Andaman & Nicobar, in association with the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Directorate of Film Festivals/IFFI, New Delhi. Approx 15 popular as well as award winning films, of different languages and genre will be screened at two different venues viz. PBMC Auditorium and ITF Ground during the fest.

Notes:
Surendra Verma, the well-known Hindi scholar and playwright, has been selected for Vyas Samman 2016 for his novel “Kaatna Shami Ka Vriksha : Padma Pankhuri Ki Dhar Se”. It is awarded annually by the K.K. Birla Foundation and includes a cash payout of Rs 3.50 lakhs. To be eligible for the award, the literary work must be in the Hindi language and have been published in the past 10 years.

Notes:
The Ahmedabad-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) has won the prestigious International Mercury Awards for the year 2016-17 for the best overall presentation of its 2015-2016 annual report. The EDII is an autonomous and not-for-profit national resource institute for entrepreneurship education, research, training and institution-building. The Mercury Awards, founded in 1987, promote excellence, quality and performance in the various fields of public relations. The award entertains participation from agencies, associations, corporations, government agencies, nonprofit groups, and organizations from around 80 countries worldwide every year.

Notes:
India has become the world’s largest arms importer during 2012-16, according to the latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). As per the report, India accounted for 13% of the total global arms import between 2012–16 which is highest among all the countries. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China
and Algeria are the next four biggest global importers. As per the SIPRI report, the five biggest exporters—the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany—together accounted for 74% of the total volume of arms exports.

Notes:
Hassan Ali Khayre, a former aid worker and oil executive, has been appointed the new Prime Minister of Federal Republic of Somalia. He succeeded Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. Prior to this appointment, Khayre had never held public office, although over the course of his career he has worked with a range of high-level executives and government officials in various capacities.

Notes:
The ‘Destination North East-2017’ festival has started in Chandigarh from March 6, 2017 to showcase North East as a potential destination for investment. The main theme of this festival is to highlight the use of appropriate technologies in all sectors of development for North East Region (NER). It will see round table discussions and exhibition stalls showcasing various features of the NER in order to attract investments in tourism, food processing, handlooms and handicrafts, horticulture and floriculture, medicinal & aromatic plants, organic farming and bamboo development. The festival has organised by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Government of India (GoI) and an industry body PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Notes:
IDFC Bank has become the India’s first bank to launch the biometric-based digital payment system ‘Aadhaar Pay’ through its network that will allow even those without mobile phones to do cashless transactions. The Aadhar Pay service is for merchants which will enable them to receive Aadhaar-enabled payments by passing credit and debit cards, pin and password.

Notes:
The book “From Inside the Steel Frame: The Memoirs of an Administrator” has been authored by Dr. Ashok Pandey, a retired IAS officer. This is an account of his journey from a small village in Bihar to the corridors of powers in Delhi.

Notes:
The Krishi Unnati Mela (or Agriculture Science Fair) 2017 was held at the campus of IARI in New Delhi from March 15-17, which was jointly organized by Indian Agricultural Research Institute (ICAR) and Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare. The purpose of the mela is to display and popularise the latest advancement in agricultural research and technology development among farmers and end users since 1972.