Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

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Sebastian Vettel, a German racing driver currently driving in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, has won the 2017 Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix tournament at the Hungaroring in Mogyorod, Hungary.

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The researchers at the IIT Kharagpur have developed a low-cost dirt detector that alerts authorities when a place needs cleaning. The Smart Hygiene Monitor (SHM) records levels of ammonia, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds and particulate matter through sensors and sends online alerts to stakeholders when a certain threshold is crossed. It can be installed at any place where cleanliness needs to be monitored at regular intervals. At present, public facilities such as toilets, eateries, hospitals, parks, airports and railway stations are generally cleaned at fixed intervals, irrespective of how dirty they are.

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According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s 3rd bi-monthly monetary policy statement for year 2016-17, the policy repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) has reduced by 25 basis points from 6.25% to 6.0% with immediate effect. This move is expected to lower EMIs for home, auto and personal loans. This is the first rate cut since October 2016 and the interest rate is now at 6-year low. In line with record low retail inflation, the reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 5.75%, and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.25%. The RBI Governor headed, six member Monetary Policy Committee also decided to keep the policy stance neutral in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index inflation of 4%.

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The world’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge “Europaweg (or Europe Bridge)” has recently opened in Randa, Switzerland. It measures 1,620 feet long and rises as high as 278 feet above the Grabengufer ravine. The bridge connects a hiking trail through the Alps between Zermatt and Graechen.

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Indian shuttler Rahul Yadav Chittaboina has won the men’s singles title by defeating his compatriot Karan Rajan Rajarajan by 21-15 21-13 in the summit clash at the 2017 Lagos International Badminton Classics in Lagos, Nigeria. Beside him, Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy from India have won the men’s doubles title in the tournament.

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The Indian Army has developed a mobile application ‘Humraaz’ through which serving soldiers can track details like postings and promotions. Through the ‘Humraaz’ app, soldiers can also view their monthly salary slips and the Form 16 and also download them. For security reasons, the installation of the application has been linked to verification of Aadhaar details. The Aadhaar details will be verified with the Army database over National Information Centre (NIC) cloud and he will get a one-time-password on his registered mobile number. Thus, to enable usage of this mobile application, the latest mobile number of individuals should be linked to his Aadhaar number. The mobile app has been developed in-house by the Army and will be launched in the second week of August for prompt communication of information to junior commissioner officers and other personnels.

Notes:
Hassan Rouhani has been officially sworn-in as the 7th President of Iran for his second term on August 3, 2017. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei gave his official approval for the president-elect by giving him a decree to assign him his duties. Rouhani won re-election in May 2017, after securing 57% of the votes and defeating his main contender Ebrahim Raeisi. Under Iran’s election law, a president-elect is required to gain the Leader’s official approval before being sworn in before the Parliament. Rouhani will take the oath of office in Iran’s Parliament on August 5, 2017. The oath of office will be administered by Chief Justice, Sadeq Larijani.

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The World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is observed every year from August 1st to 7th to focus attention on the important aspect of promotion and support of breastfeeding. The 2017 theme is “Sustaining Breastfeeding Together”. To intensify the efforts for promotion of breastfeeding in India, the Union Health Ministry has initiated a nationwide programme called “MAA-Mother’s Absolute Affection’’ to bring undiluted focus on promotion of breastfeeding and provision of services towards supporting breastfeeding, along with ongoing efforts of routine health systems. In addition, “National Guidelines on Lactation Management Centres in Public Health Facilities” have been recently released to facilitate establishment of lactation management centres for ensuring that the sick and pre-term babies are fed with safe human breast milk.

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Dhirendra Swarup, who was a public interest director at the BSE, has been appointed as the new chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). He succeeded Sudhakar Rao. Swarup is a former Chairman of Pension Funds Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and has over four decades of experience across finance, budgeting, public debt management, public policy and pension reforms. He was also chairman of the Cash and Debt Management Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from 2000 to 2003.

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The Maharashtra Government has launched two online portals MahaDBT and MahaVASTU to streamline the process of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and to bring in more transparency in construction sector. With this, Maharashtra has become the first state in India to launch such a system that will provide direct benefits with Aadhaar authentication. The MahaDBT portal is an Aadhaar-authenticated electronic mechanism that will enable direct transfer of benefits for over 40 schemes currently implemented. MahaDBT’s design is based on central government’s direct transfer benefit scheme and Aadhaar will be mandatory to claim benefits through this portal. On the other hand, MahaVASTU portal is an online building permission management system, through which construction approvals will be sanctioned with full transparency.