Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
Noted economist Rajiv Kumar has taken over charge as the new vice-chairman of government think tank Niti Aayog. He replaced Indian-American economist Arvind Panagariya who left the think tank to return to academia. Kumar was a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy in economics from Oxford and a PhD from Lucknow University. He also served as Secretary General of industry association, FICCI. He was a member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) between 2006 and 2008. He also served as the Chief Economist of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and held senior positions in the Asian Development Bank, the Indian Ministry of Industries, and the Ministry of Finance.

Notes:
The state-owned NTPC has signed a term loan agreement for Rs. 3,000 crore with ICICI Bank for partially funding its capital expenditure. The loan which has a door-to-door tenure of 15 years will be utilised to part finance the capital expenditure of NTPC.

Notes:
J Y Pillay, an Indian-origin veteran civil servant, has been appointed as the acting president of Singapore. He succeeded Tony Tan Keng Yam, who completed a six-year term. He will act as the president until after polling day on Septemeber 23 – or after nomination day on September 13, if a candidate is elected unopposed. According to the report, this is the first time the office has fallen vacant since the elected presidency was introduced in 1991.

Notes:
Shirish Pai (88), the renowned Marathi poet and activist, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on September 2, 2017. She was credited with introducing ‘Haiku’ to the Marathi speaking world. Pai was the daughter of noted writer-journalist ‘Acharya’ Pralhad Keshav Atre. She started writing ‘Haiku’ in 1975. She studied Japanese ‘Haiku’, its origin and nature and published five Marathi ‘Haiku’ books. Ms. Pai also translated some Japanese ‘Haiku’ from English to Marathi. She also worked as a journalist in the Maratha newspaper and participated in the ‘Samyukta Maharashtra’ (United Maharashtra) movement.

Notes:
Satish Kumar, the decorated West Bengal wrestler, has been awarded Rs 25 lakh as compensation by the Delhi court for being wrongly restrained from taking part in the 14th Asian Games-2002 at Busan in South Korea under the mistaken impression that he had taken performance-enhancing drugs. The court also directed the government to ensure that such incidents are never repeated and no other sportsperson goes through the humiliation which Satish Kumar has undergone. Kumar was selected by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the 14th Asian Games, but was wrongly stopped from boarding the flight with other athletes as he was confused with another wrestler of same name who hailed from West Bengal. He was then banned for two years after testing positive in the dope test.

Notes:
Lt. Col. (Retd.) Rajyavardhan Rathore, the Olympic silver medallist and a former professional shooter, has been appointed as a Cabinet minister with independent charge for Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on September 3, 2017 in the latest cabinet reshuffle of the Narendra Modi government. He replaced Vijay Goel. Rathore is also holding the portfolio of Minister of State in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B). He is Member of Parliament (MP) from Jaipur Rural Lok Sabha constituency.

Notes:
Lewis Hamilton, a British racing driver who races in Formula Onefor the Mercedes AMG Petronas team, has won the 2017 Italian Formula One Grand Prix tournament on September 3, 2017 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy.

Notes:
The Jaldapara National Park (JNP) is located at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in Alipurduar District of northern West Bengal and on the banks of the Torsa River. It is home to Indian leopard, Indian elephants, sambar, barking deer, spotted deer, hog deer, wild boars, gaur, etc. Jaldapara is a paradise for bird watchers. It is one of the very few places in India, where the Bengal florican is sighted. The other birds to be found here are the crested eagle, Pallas’s fish eagle, shikra, Finn’s weaver, jungle fowl, peafowl (peacock), partridge, and lesser pied hornbill. Pythons, monitor lizards, kraits, cobras, geckos, and about eight species of fresh water turtles can also be found here.

Notes:
The Union Environment Ministry has launched an environment awareness initiative on September 5 on the occasion of Teachers’ Day. Under the initiative, an online environmental quiz competition named “Prakriti Khoj” will be conducted at the national level. The objective of the quiz is to generate interest among school children about the science related to environment. This will help in sensitizing the children on the issues related to environment and development. The initiative is to motivate children towards environment conservation-oriented lifestyles. It will also trigger their sensitivity towards nature appreciation and conservation, leading to positive environmental actions at different levels.

Notes:
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has launched Gyankunj e-class project on the occasion of Teachers day on September 5, 2017. The project has been launched at Shahpur primary school in Gandhinagar in presence of state Chief Secretary. The entire project will work on pilot basis with Interactive e-class room and smart boards have been provided under this initiative. According to official sources, 1609 government primary schools have been provided laptop, projector, infrared camera, smart board, speaker and wifi router facilities for 3,173 class rooms of standard 7 and 8. About 10,000 tablets are to be given to standard 7 and 8 students across 100 more schools on free of cost. Education for all courses in standard 5 to 8 will be given through e-content and internet.