Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

Notes:
‘Rayichapalu’ has been officially declared as one of the rarest species of fish in the world by the researchers from the Marine Living Resources Department of Andhra University. The fish is a regular catch for fishermen in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. It is a colourful fish which is around 97mm in length and lives near the reefs. The researchers stated that this fish has a unique colour pattern with spectacular diamond shaped bands. Reportedly, it is the only fifth fish in this category of size. Now, the tiny colourful fish will have the scientific name ‘Pseudathias Vizagensis’, after the city where it was first discovered.

Notes:
The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Google India has launched Android Skill Development programme to impart mobile development training on the Android and Web platform and to improve the quality of mobile app development ecosystem in India. The NSDC is a public-private partnership enterprise under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. Under the initiative, NSDC will introduce a specific course with the scope to train developers to create applications for the mobile platform that can be used on smartphone and tablets running on the Android operating system. The NSDC and Google India will also work together to focus on up-skilling Android trainers under the programme.

Notes:
ISRO will soon launch a full-fledged niche Earth observation (EO) satellite called the Hyperspectral Imaging Satellite (HySIS) by using a critical chip it has developed. The purpose of the HySIS satellite is to enable distinct identification of objects from about 600 km in space. The Vis-NIR Hyperspectral payload of HySIS satellite is a hyperspectral imaging sensor operating in the visible and near infrared regions of the electronmagnetic spectrum. The Hyperspectral (or hyspex imaging) is said to enable distinct identification of objects, materials or processes on Earth by reading the spectrum for each pixel of a scene from space.

Notes:
August 10 is International Biodiesel Day. This day spreads awareness about the benefits of biodiesel as an alternative fuel. Biodiesel is made from renewable sources like vegetable oils and animal fats. It is biodegradable and cleaner for the environment compared to fossil fuels. Celebrating International Biodiesel Day promotes the production and use of this eco-friendly fuel option.

Notes:
The Vansda National Park (VNP) is a protected area which represents the thick woodlands of the Dangs and southern Gujarat and is situated in the Vansda tehsil, Navsari District of Gujarat. It is home to important animals such as Indian leopard, rhesus macaque, common palm civet, Hanuman langur and small Indian civet. There are 443 species of flowering plants like teak, sadad, khakhro, kadad, humb, timru, kalam, bamboo, dudhkod, mahudo, behda, umaro, kusum, tanach, asan, shimlo, etc.

Notes:
Gerish Khemani and Akshat Nigam have won The Hindu Playwright Award 2017 for their play ‘In Search of Dariya Sagar’ at the 13th edition of The Hindu Theatre Fest in Mumbai. ‘In Search of Dariya Sagar’ is a play that brings together public events and private lives, political history and personal memory, in a manner that resonates both the real and the magical. The Rs 2 lakh award, instituted in 2008 to reward the best new unpublished and unperformed play-script in English.

Notes:
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister, has launched a nationwide campaign “Gaj Yatra” in New Delhi to protect elephants on the occasion of World Elephant Day (WED). The campaign is planned to cover 12 elephant range states. The World Elephant Day (WED) is celebrated every year on August 12 to focus the attention of various stakeholders in supporting various conservation policies to protect elephants, including improving enforcement policies to prevent illegal poaching and trade in ivory.

Notes:
Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, has recently launched Facebook’s ‘She Means Business’ programme in Bhubaneswar to train women entrepreneurs in the state. For this, Facebook has partnered the Odisha’s MSME department and Project Mission Shakti to train 25,000 women entrepreneurs and self-help group (SHG) members on digital marketing skills by the end of 2018. After imparting training, Facebook will make a database of entrepreneurs in the state and will monitor their growth, turnover and profit after one year.

Notes:
The Desert National Park (DNP) is located near Jaisalmer, Rajasthan and covers an area of 3162 km². The park is an excellent example of the ecosystem of the Thar Desert. The sand dunes form around 20% of the Park. It is home to desert fox, Bengal fox, desert cat, wolf, hedgehog, blackbuck and chinkara.

Notes:
Melbourne has been declared the world’s most liveable city for the 7th consecutive year by The Economist’s annual global liveability survey, despite soaring housing costs and serious congestion challenges. The annual survey assesses 140 cities and ranks them according to their stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Others in the 10 most liveable cities in the world include Vienna (3rd), followed by Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Adelaide, Perth, Auckland, Helsinki and Hamburg. As per the survey, the least liveable city was Damascus at 140th place, followed by Lagos (139), Tripoli (138), Dhaka (137), Port Moresby (136), Algiers (135), Karachi (134), Harare (133), Douala (132) and Kiev (131).