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:
The current Solicitor General of India is Tushar Mehta, a senior counsel. He served as Additional Solicitor General before being appointed the new Solicitor General of India on 11 October, 2018. His term will expire on 30 June 2020. He was Gujarat advocate general when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.

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.

Notes:
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched its 3136 kg GSAT-19 communication satellite with its brand new and heaviest – Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III D-1 (GSLV-Mk III D-1) satellite into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh on June 5, 2017. The satellite GSAT-19 has an intended life span of 10 years and is developed to improve telecommunication and broadcasting areas. The GSLV-Mk III is popularly known as “fat boy” and is developed for 15 years at a cost of around Rs 300 crore. The rocket is capable of carrying payloads of up to 4,000 kg into the GTO and 10,000 kg into the Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The GSLV-Mk III is a three stage rocket. Its first stage is made of two strap on motors filled with solid fuel. The second stage uses the liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic upper stage “C25”, which is powered by the highly complex indigenous cryogenic engine “CE20”. The number 20 denotes the 20-ton thrust it generates for the rocket to reach the intended height with the heavy mass on board.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 5th international conference of Spic Macay on June 5, 2017 at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi via video conferencing. The 7-day conference coincides with the 40th year of inception of SPIC MACAY. Every year Spic Macay organizes an International Convention to expose the youth from across the world to the rich and multi-hued culture of India. It is the Society for the promotion of Indian classical music and culture amongst youth.

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:
India has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to provide fresh assistance of $318 million credit line to develop the island nation’s railway sector. The agreement was signed in Colombo, Sri Lanka on June 6, 2017. India has already provided four Lines of Credit for the development of railway sector in Sri Lanka through its EXIM bank amounting to approximately $966 million. These credit facilities have been utilized to improve the Southern and Northern railway lines and for the procurement of rolling stocks for the Sri Lanka Railways.

Notes:
As per second bi-monthly monetary and credit policy review for 2017-18 of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) remain unchanged at 6.25%. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains at 6.0%, Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) remains at 4% and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.50%.Though, the Central bank has cut the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 0.5%. It has projected inflation in the range of 2% to 3.5% for first half of 2017-18 and 3.5% to 4.5% for the second half. It has also cut the growth projection for current fiscal to 7.3% from 7.4%.

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.