GK & Current Affairs Quiz: July 7, 2017

Notes:
India has been ranked 23rd out of 165 nations in the 2017 Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI), which is released by the UN telecommunications agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The index measures the commitment of nations across the globe to ensuring cybersecurity to their digital systems. India is ranked 23rd on the index with a score of 0.683 and has been listed in the maturing category, which refers to 77 countries that have developed complex commitments to cybersecurity and engage in cybersecurity programmes and initiatives. The index has been topped by Singapore with a 0.925 score. The top 10 most committed countries to cybersecurity are Singapore, United States, Malaysia, Oman, Estonia, Mauritius, Australia, Georgia, France and Canada. Russia is ranked 11th.

Notes:
The host nation India bagged 7 medals including two gold to sit atop the medal tally on the day one of the 22nd Asian Athletics Championships at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on July 6, 2017. Long distance runner Govindan Laxman has won gold in men’s 5000m race, while Manpreet Kaur won gold medal with a career second best throw of 18.28m in the women’s shotput event. V Neena and Nayan James bagged a silver and bronze in women’s long jump while Vikas Gowda, Sanjivini Yadav, Annu Rani added a bronze each in the men’s discus throw, women’s 5000m race and javelin throw respectively. The Asian Championships winner gets automatic berth for the World Championships to be held in London in August 2017.

Notes:
Sanjiv Goenka, the Chairman of RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, has been selected as the Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT-Kharagpur. He will be Chairman for three years. The Board of Governors is the highest administrative body comprising eminent panel of external representatives that include Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, State Bank of India; Sudha N Murty, Chairperson, Infosys Foundation; N Balakrishnan, IISc Bangalore and Jai Pal Mittal, M N Saha Distinguished Professor (NASI).

Notes:
The Union Government has officially launched a student- scientist connect programme “Jigyasa” in New Delhi to develop interest among students to pursue science. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has joined hands with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to implement this programme. The programme is expected to connect 1151 Kendriya Vidyalayas with 38 National Laboratories of CSIR targeting 100,000 students and nearly 1000 teachers annually. It will also enable the students and teachers to practically live the theoretical concepts taught in science by visiting CSIR laboratories and by participating in mini-science projects. The model of engagement includes student residential programmes, scientists as teachers and teachers as scientists, popular lecture series/demonstration programme at Schools and student apprenticeship programmes among others.

Notes:
India’s first university only for Dalit students will come up in Hyderabad by 2018 as part of the Telangana government’s policy of free education to students from weaker sections from kindergarten to post-graduation (KG to PG) level. The proposal was mooted by a government arm, Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS), which runs nearly 268 residential institutions for Dalit students from class 5 to under-graduate level. The purpose of establishing an exclusive university for Dalit students is to provide them a comprehensive education, so that they would come out as complete and knowledgeable citizens.

Notes:
According to the latest report of BMI Research, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is expected to grow at 6.9% for FY 18 (2017-18). As per report, India’s growth is expected to pick up following the negative ramifications from the demonetisation drive in November 2016, but weak public banks will likely cap the recovery. The Fitch Group company noted that the negative effects from the demonetisation measure is already wearing off, and the Indian economy will likely benefit from positive demographic trends, greater external stability (due to improved terms of trade from lower oil prices), and continued reforms that should help to improve the country’s admittedly poor business environment. However, the report noted that the public banking sector is still weak and plagued with mounting non-performing assets and it is likely to weigh on India’s growth potential.

Notes:
Indus OS, the domestic android-based mobile operating system, has partnered with YES Bank to launch an OS-integrated UPI payment platform in India. Through this partnership, Indian users with Indus OS will be able to use this UPI payment platform on SMS/ messaging, dialler interface and on third party apps like WhatsApp. The platform is expected to launch in this quarter.

Notes:
The 2017 Malabar trilateral naval exercise has started between India, United States and Japan in the Bay of Bengal from July 7-17, 2017 to address the variety of shared threats to maritime security in the Indo-Asia Pacific. The exercise will feature both ashore and at-sea training. The at-sea portions will be conducted in the Bay of Bengal and are designed to advance participating nations’ military-to-military coordination and capacity to plan and execute tactical operations in a multinational environment. The Ashore training will include exchanges on carrier strike group operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance operations, surface and anti-submarine warfare, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) operations in Chennai.

Notes:
The 5th edition of BRICS Education Ministers’ Meeting-2017 was held on July 5, 2017 at Beijing, China. The Indian delegation was led by Prakash Javadekar, the Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD). Minister Javadekar specifically spoke about the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), SWAYAM platform which has already hosted over 480 courses online, research initiative IMPRINT and Smart India Hackathon. The delegation of all the five BRICS countries participated in the two-day deliberations.

Notes:
The Karian Shola National Park (KSNP) is is located at the southern end of the Western Ghats, in the Anaimalai Hills in Tamil Nadu. The park consists of areas of stunted, mossy rainforests known as shola forests interspersed with rolling montane grassland with towering rocky cliffs, making it a biologically unique ecosystem. It is home to about 560 to 680 species of animal such as Nilgiri tahr, Asian elephant, deer, wild boar, tiger, leopard , etc.