Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

Notes:
Ustad Hussain Sayeeduddin Dagar (78), maestro and custodian of the venerable Dhrupad tradition of Hindustani classical music, has passed away in Pune, Maharashtra on July 30, 2017. He was known affectionately to his legions of disciples and admirers as ‘Saeed Bhai’. He was born in Alwar in Rajasthan in 1939 and was a part of the Dagar family of musicians. He represented the 19th generation of Dagar Tradition. Dhrupad – a Sanskrit portmanteau of Dhruva (immovable) and Pad (verse) has its roots since ancient times, mentioned as early as the 3rd Century B.C. in the Natyashastra.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has recently constituted a committee of experts under the chairmanship of a former Judge of Supreme Court Justice B N Srikrishna to study and identify key data protection issues and recommend methods for addressing them. The purpose to form the committee is to recognize the importance of data protection and keeping personal data of citizens secure and protected. The committee will also suggest a draft Data Protection Bill. 

Notes:
The Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR) is located in the Sahyadri ranges of the Western Ghats of Maharashtra. It is in news because the Maharashtra government is planning to relocate tigers from Vidarbha region to the sanctuaries elsewhere where their population is smaller, including the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR). At present, STR has only seven tigers. For this, the state government has also set up a committee to examine this issue, and a decision will be taken based on its recommendations. It will also consult experts from the Centre and submit its report in 2-3 months.

Notes:
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:
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.

Notes:
The 7th Meeting of BRICS Trade Ministers was held in Shanghai, China from August, 1-2, 2017. From India, the 6-member delegation led by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman , along with Ambassador J.S. Deepak, PR to WTO participated in the meeting. The trade ministers of BRICS nations discussed trade facilitation, economic and technological cooperation, capacity building and the multilateral trade system in the meeting. And, adopted the following documents at the conclusion of the meeting: 7th BRICS Trade Ministers’ Joint Statement, BRICS trade in services cooperation roadmap, BRICS e-commerce cooperation initiative, BRICS IPR cooperation guidelines, etc.

Notes:
Noted economist Dr. Rajiv Kumar will be the new Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog, which is a think-tank that replaced the Planning Commission. He will succeed Arvind Panagariya, who will leave the government think tank on August 31, 2017 and return to Columbia University. Currently, Rajiv Kumar is a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a non-governmental think tank on public policy based out of New Delhi. He had also been part of a Government appointed high-level search Panel that went into the appointment of regulators in the Indian financial sector. Meanwhile, the Centre has also appointed Vinod Paul, a Paediatrician at AIIMS, as a member of NITI Aayog.

Notes:
The high level committee under the Chairmanship of Justice BN Srikrishna has recently submitted its on review of the Institutionalization of Arbitration Mechanism in India. The committee has recommended for setting up an Autonomous Body, Arbitration Promotion Council of India (APCI) having representatives from all stakeholders for grading arbitral institutions in India. The APCI may recognize professional institutes providing for accreditation of arbitrators. The APCI may hold training workshops and interact with law firms and law schools to train advocates with interest in arbitration and with a goal to create a specialist arbitration bar comprising of advocates dedicated to the field. It has also recommended for creation of a specialist Arbitration Bench to deal with such Commercial disputes, in the domain of the Courts. 

Notes:
Robert Hard (91), who portrayed the role of Minister of Magic ‘Cornelius Fudge’ in four of the ‘Harry Potter’ films, has passed away in London, England on August 3, 2017. He was also known for his many portrayals of Winston Churchill and as the irascible vet Siegfried Farnon in All Creatures Great and Small. His voice performance as Robin Hood in Tale Spinners For Children, an LP from the 1960s, is considered one of the best Robin Hood renditions.

Notes:
Narendra Singh Tomar, the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, has recently launched a Swachh Survekshan (Gramin)-2017 in New Delhi to encourage states and districts to improve their sanitation coverage and Solid Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). Under the Swachh Survekshan Gramin, all districts of the country will be ranked on the basis of performance, sustainability and transparency. So far, 4,600 villages and 1.4 lakh households have been covered under Swachh Sarvekshan (Gramin) Survey. The Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has stated that toilet usage have increased to 91% in the country whereas overall toilet coverage in rural India has reached to 66%.