Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

Notes:
The 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup will be held in India from October 6 to 28, which is first-ever FIFA tournament in India. It is in news because the curtain raiser function for FIFA U-17 World Cup was held in Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi on August 19, 2017. The trophy for FIFA World Cup was also displayed at the stadium. The objective of the programme was to promote football in India, especially among children and youth.

Notes:
The Periyar National Park (PNR) is a protected area near Thekkady in the districts of Idukki, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta in Kerala and covers an area of 925 km2. It is notable as both elephant reserve and tiger reserve. The park is made up of tropical evergreen and moist deciduous forests, grasslands, stands of eucalyptus, and lake and river ecosystems. It is surrounded by agricultural regions such as tea, cardamom, and coffee. It is also home to gaur, sambar, wild pig, Indian giant squirrel, Travancore flying squirrel, jungle cat, sloth bear, Nilgiri tahr, lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur, etc.

Notes:
The Telangana government has recently launched an exclusive 24×7 helpline ‘181’ for women welfare. The helpline will respond to calls on dowry harassment cases, stalking, domestic violence, sale of girl child and immoral trafficking. Women with suicidal tendencies or those who are mentally disturbed can also contact the helpline. Apart from contacting police, the helpline can also be used to seek medical help, ambulance and other emergency services. The helpline will work 24X7 on all 365 days. It is funded by Centre & supported by GVK EMRI.

Notes:
Prakash Javadekar, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), has recently launched ‘Swasth Bachche, Swasth Bharat’ Programme. The programme is an initiative of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to prepare a physical health and fitness ‘Profile Card’ for over 12 lakh Kendriya Vidyalaya students. The programme will provide a comprehensive and inclusive report card for children of all age groups and differently-abled kids. The programme aims to make students, teachers and parents aware of the importance of good health and fitness and encourage ‘60 minutes of play’ every day. The programme also intends to imbibe values of Olympics and Paralympics among students.

Notes:
Home Minister Rajnath Singh has launched digital police portal under Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems Project (CCTNS) on August 21, 2017. The portal is a smart policing initiative to provide services to citizens and aid efficient police investigation. It is a platform for citizens to file online crime related complaints and also request for antecedent verification. The portal will also provide access to authorized persons to use National Database of crime records for the purpose of investigation. In addition, central investigating and research agencies have also been provided logins to the portal to access crime statistics. Till date, the CCTNS national database has around seven crore records of old and new criminal cases.

Notes:
Ashwani Lohani, an officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), has been appointed as the new Chairman of Railway Board after AK Mital tendered his resignation following recent train accidents. Presently, Lohani is serving as the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India. Earlier, he served as the Divisional Regional Manager of Delhi and was also ITDC chairman as well as the director of the Rail Museum in the capital.

Notes:
In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court has declared right to privacy a fundamental right under the constitution on August 24, 2017. A nine-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice JS Khehar ruled that right to privacy is an intrinsic part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty under Article 21 and entire Part III of the Constitution. The ruling on the highly contentious issue was to deal with a batch of petitions challenging the Centre’s move to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of various social welfare schemes. Others members of the bench comprising Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, R F Nariman, A M Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, S K Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer also shared the same view. The nine judges unanimously overruled the two earlier judgements of the apex court that right to privacy is not protected under the Constitution.

Notes:
Microsoft has launched its ‘Project Brainwave’ deep learning acceleration platform for real-time artificial intelligence (AI). With the help of ultra-low latency, the system processes requests as fast as it receives them. The ‘Project Brainwave’ uses the massive Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) infrastructure that Microsoft has been deploying over the past few years. The real-time AI is becoming increasingly important as cloud infrastructures process live data streams, whether they be search queries, videos, sensor streams, or interactions with users.

Notes:
Tony de Brum (72), the former Marshall Islands foreign, has passed away in Majuro, Marshall Islands on August 22, 2017. He was the leading advocate for the landmark Paris Agreement and an internationally recognised voice in the fight against climate change. de Brum also fought against nuclear weapons and for his nation’s independence.

Notes:
The Murlen National Park (MNP) is located in the Champhai district of Mizoram and covers an area of 200 square kilometres. The tropical, semi-evergreen and sub montane Forests of Murlen are home to a rich variety of flora and fauna. It is home to the tiger, leopard, sambar, barking deer, Malayan giant squirrel, Hume’s pheasant, etc. About 15 species of mammals, 150 species of birds, 35 species of Medicinal plants, 2 species of bamboos, and 4 species of orchids so far have been recorded in this Park.