Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
The Phawngpui Blue Mountain National Park (PBMNP) is located in the state of Mizoram and covers an area of 50 square kilometers. It is the natural home of a wonderful range of birdlife including the rare Blyth’s tragopan, falcon, sunbirds, dark-rumped swift, and Mrs. Hume’s pheasant, which is the Mizoram state bird, and also rare animals like the mountain goat, slow loris, tiger, leopard, leopard cat, serow, goral, Asiatic black bear, stump-tailed macaque and capped langur.

Notes:
The book “How India Sees the World: Kautilya to the 21st Century” has been authored by former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, which is launched by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on September 6, 2017. The book records the crucial meeting of the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) on the eve of India-Pakistan Defence Secretary-level talks in May 2006.

Notes:
India’s first Hyperloop project will come up in Andhra Pradesh, which will connect the city centres of Vijayawada and Amaravati. It will supposedly cover the distance of over 35 km only in five minutes. The Andhra Pradesh – Economic Development Board (AP-EDB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) for developing the project. The Hyperloop Technology is a brainchild idea of Tesla founder Elon Musk, who dubs it as the 5th mode of transportation. It is a system of magnetically levitating capsules (pods) that are sent at high speeds through low-pressure tubes.

Notes:
The Union government has set up an online service facility that can be used by importers and exporters to resolve all foreign trade-related issues. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which comes under Ministry of Commerce, has asked all exporters and importers to use the system – Contact@DGFT – for resolution of their matters. Traders can raise all matters related to the directorate or other agencies of the Centre and States through this facility activated at the DGFT website. Contact@DGFT system has been activated as a single point contact for resolving all foreign trade-related issues. The DGFT notice to all regional authorities, export promotion councils, commodity boards and members of trade and industry has stated that the best efforts will be made for expeditious resolution.

Notes:
Indian weightlifters Sivalingam Sathish Kumar and Ragala Venkat Rahul have qualified for 2018 Commonwealth Games after winning a gold medal each in their respective weight divisions at the 2017 Commonwealth Senior (men & women) Weightlifting Championships in Gold Coast, Australia. Two Indian women weightlifters- S.Nirupama Devi and Nikeeta Kale- also claimed gold medals in 69 kilogram weight division of junior section in the Championships.

Notes:
Harendra Singh, the hockey coach and Dronacharya Awardee, has been appointed as High Performance Specialist Coach for Indian Senior Women Hockey Team (ISWHT). The decision was recently taken jointly by SAI and Hockey India on the basis of his recent and past performance. Under his coaching, the junior men team won the Junior Men World Cup in 2016 at Lucknow. He was also the Chief Coach of the Senior Men Hockey team from 2008 to 2009 and National coach from 2009 to 2010. He is a Level III certified Coach. Harendra Singh will take over the new responsibility shortly. It has also been decided that the present Chief Coach of India senior women Hockey Team, Mr. Waltherus Norbertus Maria Marijne will take over as Chief Coach of Indian Senior Men Hockey Team on his return from the on-going Europe tour. Marijne has accepted the offer of Chief Coach of the senior Indian Men Hockey Team.

Notes:
Viveck Goenka, the CMD of Express Group, has been elected as the new Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI). He succeeded Riyad Mathew, who is Senior Assistant Editor and a member of the Manorama management. N. Ravi, the former Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, has been unanimously elected as new Vice Chairman of PTI.

Notes:
The Punjab National Bank (PNB) and state-run owned BSNL has signed an agreement to roll out open mobile wallet Speedpay across 10 states in the country. Under the agreement, BSNL will expand Speedpay services in Punjab, Chandigarh(UT), Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. PNB’s Speedway wallet will operate like any other mobile wallet for paying bills, recharging phone besides its users will be able to deposit and withdraw money from authorised retail outlets. Also, Speedway users will be able to operate Internet banking services from the application.

Notes:
Rattihalli Nagendra Sudarshan (78), the veteran Kannada actor, producer and singer, has passed away in Bengaluru, Karnataka on September 8, 2017. In his five decade film career, Sudarshan acted in Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films. He was one of the villains in Nayagan directed by Manirathnam. His last film was Super (2010) by Upendra in Kannada. Music lovers still remember him for songs such as Hoovandu Balibandu and Irabeku, Irabeku, Ariyada, which he sung in Shubhamangala (1975) directed by Puttanna and songs from his own film Naguva Hoovu (1971).

Notes:
R M Hidayathulla, who is from Androth in Lakshadweep, in his research work stated that biodiversity-rich uninhabited ‘Parali I island’ of Lakshadweep has been eroded to an extent of 100% due to coastal erosion. The study stated that the complete erosion and inundation of Parali I was pointing to the gravity of issues associated with coastal erosion within the atoll. Apart from Parali I, net erosion was higher in Parali II (80%), followed by Thinnakara (14.38%), Parali III (11.42%) and Bangaram (9.968%). Hidayathulla was awarded a doctoral degree in July 2017 by Calicut University in Kerala for his work entitled “Studies on coastal erosion in selected uninhabited islands of Lakshadweep archipelago Archipelago with Special Reference to Biodiversity Conservation.” He conducted studies on the biodiversity of five uninhabited islands — Bangaram, Thinnakara, Parali I, II and III, of which Parali I has been inundated.