Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
The Union Health Ministry has launched an Intensified Diarrhea Control Fortnight (IDCF) across the country to reduce child deaths due to diarrhoea. Through this initiative, the Ministry will mobilize health personnel, State Governments and other stakeholders in controlling the disease, which is one of the most common childhood illnesses. During the IDCF, the awareness campaign on hygiene and promotion of ORS and Zinc therapy will be conducted at state, district and village levels. Nearly 12 crore under five children will be covered during the programme. As per an estimate, 1.1 million children die every year in India out of which about one lakh death occur due to this disease. Diarrhoea can be prevented with safe drinking water, sanitation, breastfeeding and appropriate nutrition.

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Dr. Neeru Chadha has become the first Indian woman to be elected as the judge of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) for a nine-year term from 2017 to 2026. She got most of the votes in Asia Pacific Group. With this election, Dr. Chadha has also become the first Indian woman to occupy a top UN position, after Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, who served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The Hamburg-based ITLOS, established in 1996, is one of dispute settlement mechanisms under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that entered into force in 1994.

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David Grossman has become the first Israeli author to win the 2017 Man Booker International prize for his novel “A Horse Walks Into a Bar”. The novel was translated by Jessica Cohen and is published in Britain by Jonathan Cape. The book is an ambitious high-wire act of a novel that shines a spotlight on the effects of grief, without any hint of sentimentality. Since 2016, the Man Booker International Prize awards both the winning author and translator £25,000. To be considered for the prize, books had to be translated into English and published in the UK between May 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017.

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India has been ranked 60th out of 130 nations on the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2017. The 2017 index highlighted the continual improvement of India in terms of investment, tertiary education, quality of its publications and universities, its ICT services exports and innovation clusters. Among India’s neighbors, Sri Lanka has acquired 90th spot, Nepal 109th, Pakistan 113th and Bangladesh 114th spot. The list is topped by Switzerland, followed by Sweden and the Netherlands. The theme of the 2017 Index is “Innovation Feeding the World” that focuses on innovation in agriculture and food systems. The index is co-authored by Cornell University, INSEAD and World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

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The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved $150 million equity investment loan to the India Infrastructure Fund (IIF), which is AIIB’s first such loan to fund private projects. The purpose of the Infrastructure Fund is to invest in mid-cap infrastructure companies in India and to expand the bank’s equity and loan deal sourcing pipelines in the private sector through its equity participation in this fund. This initiative will benefit local infrastructure development by enhancing private capital inflows from global long-term investors, such as public pension funds, endowments and insurance companies.

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Helmut Kohl (87), the former German Chancellor, has passed away in Oggersheim, Germany on June 16, 2017. Kohl, who led the centre-right Christian Democrats, was the longest-serving German chancellor of the 20th Century. As Germany’s leader for 16 years, Kohl is remembered for reuniting the country and for making a huge political and economic contribution to Europe’s integration. Kohl is credited with bringing East and West Germany together after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Together with his French ally President Francois Mitterrand, he was responsible for the introduction of the Euro.

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Ana Brnabic, a graduate of the University of Hull in England, will become the first gay and first female prime minister of Serbia, following her nomination by the nation’s president, Aleksandar Vucic. She will succeed Ivica Dacic on June 2017. The role of the Prime Minister in Serbia is to direct the work of the Government, and to submit to the National Assembly the Government’s Program, including a list of proposed ministers. The resignation of the Prime Minister will cause the fall of the Government.

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The International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is observed every year on June 19 to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world and to pay tribute to all those who have courageously devoted their lives to and lost their lives in standing up for the eradication of these crimes. The 2017 theme is “Preventing Sexual Violence Crimes through Justice and Deterrence”.

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The Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal has launched Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017 in New Delhi to prescribe the energy performance standards for new commercial buildings to be constructed across India. The updated version of ECBC provides current as well as futuristic advancements in building technology to further reduce building energy consumption and promote low-carbon growth. The purpose of the code is to optimize energy savings with the comfort level for occupants, and prefers life-cycle cost effectiveness to achieve energy neutrality in commercial building. The ECBC 2017 was developed by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) with technical support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the U.S.-India bilateral Partnership to Advance Clean Energy – Deployment Technical Assistance (PACE-D TA) Program.

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The World Refugee Day (WRD) is observed every year on June 20 to honor the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence. This year, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appointed Syrian refugee Muzoon Almellehan as its newest and youngest Goodwill Ambassador on June 20, 2017 to promote child education. The WRD 2017 has marked a key moment for the public to show support for families.