Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

Notes:
India’s first museum on the Partition of the Indian Sub-continent will soon open in Amritsar, Punjab, which focuses on stories and display memorabilia of survivors. The museum will include newspaper clippings and donated personal items meant to tell the story of how the region’s struggle for freedom from colonial rule turned into one of its most violent episodes, as communal clashes left hundreds of thousands of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs dead and another 15 million displaced from their ancestral homes. It will also have ‘The Gallery of Hope’, where visitors can scribble messages of love and peace. Tickets are priced low at Rs10 for Indians and Rs150 for foreigners.

Notes:
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has launched two mobile Apps namely MyFASTag and FASTag Partner in New Delhi to ensure smooth functioning of the Electronic Toll Collection system. The mobile apps will ease the process and will make it possible to buy or recharge FASTags at the click of a mobile button. Basically, MyFASTag is a consumer App that can be downloaded from the App Store for both Android and iOS systems. A consumer can purchase or recharge FASTags on this App. The app also helps to keep track of transactions and provides for online grievance redressal. While, the FASTag Partner app is for banks and agencies selling the tag. A total of 10 banks, including mobile wallets, provide FASTags.

Notes:
The Parambikulam Tiger Reserve (PTR) is a protected area located in Chittur taluk in Palakkad district of Kerala and covers an area of 391 square kilometers. It is alos home to lion-tailed macaques, Nilgiri tahr, elephants, Bengal tigers, Indian leopards, Nilgiri marten small Travancore flying squirrel, etc. According to recently conducted tiger census at the regional level in 2016, there are 33 tigers in Periyar reserve and 25 in Parambikulam reserve respectively, which is informed by the Forest Minister K Raju in the state assembly on August 18, 2017. It must be noted that as per a tiger census conducted at the national level in 2010, considered as authoritative figure, there were 38 tigers in Parambikulam spread over 643 sq feet area and 34 in Periyar that covers an area of 925 sq feet.

Notes:
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has constituted a technical committee for the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is proposed to be held from November 20-28, 2017 in Goa. The technical committee will have 12 members and will be chaired by Nagesh Kukunoor. The I&B ministry has also constituted a steering committee which will have 13 members, including film director Nagesh Kukunoor, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, Jahnu Barua (convener), Piyush Pandey, creative director of Ogilvy & Mather (India), and film director and producer Shoojit Sarcar. The director of NFDC is also a member of the committee.

Notes:
Rahul Doshi (12), an Indian-origin boy, has been crowned as the UK’s ‘Child Genius’ in a popular television quiz competition, after answering all questions correctly. He won the Channel 4 show ‘Child Genius’ by beating his nine-year-old opponent – Ronan by 10-4 in the programme’s finale on August 20, 2017. In the final, Rahul impressed with knowledge of his chosen subject – Edward Jenner’s medical innovation and methodology in 18th Century England. He clinched the title by answering a question on 19th Century artists William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. He has an IQ of 162, which is believed to be higher than the likes of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, and qualifies him to be a member of Mensa club – the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world.

Notes:
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Union Ministry of Health has inked a pact with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) to collaborate on vaccine research and development. With this partnership, India will commit an annual contribution of $5,00,000 to IVI and joins Sweden and South Korea as financially contributing signatories to IVI. In addition, ICMR will be focussed on research and development of vaccines combatting various infectious diseases. As per official statement, the IVI has 35 signatory countries and India officially became a signatory in 2012. The IVI is an international nonprofit organization i.e. devoted to developing and introducing new and improved vaccine to protect the people, especially children, against deadly infectious diseases. The headquarters of IVI is located in Seoul, South Korea. The ICMR is the apex body in the country for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research.

Notes:
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry has recently constituted a 40-member ‘preview committee’ with filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri as its convenor to select movies for the 2017 International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The other members of the new committee include Pallavi Joshi, Narendra Kohli, Hrishitaa Bhatt, Aarti Bajaj, Khalid Mohamed, and film director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury. The 2017 IFFI will be held in Panaji, Goa from November 20 to 28. Earlier, the I & B Ministry had constituted the steering committee and the technical committee for the IFFI.

Notes:
The Karnataka Government has recently launched an ambitious clouding seeding Project Varshadhari in Bengaluru to deal with poor monsoons in the state. Under the project, an aircraft will spray chemicals to induce rainfall. The purpose of the project is to condense small water particles by clouds (size less than 10 microns) to droplets of 50 microns, which can constitute rains. It is an experimental project that will cover Bengaluru, Gadag and Yadgir districts of the state. The Cloud seeding (also known as weather modification technique) is an artificial way to induce moisture in the clouds so as to cause a rainfall.

Notes:
The Sepahijala Wildlife Sanctuary (SWS) is located in Bishalgarh, Tripura and covers an area of 18.53 square kilometres. It is famous for its clouded leopard enclosures. It is woodland with an artificial lake and natural botanical and zoological gardens. It gives shelter to about 150 species of birds and the unique bespectacled monkey, Phayre’s langur. The sanctuary has been developed both as a wildlife sanctuary and as an academic and research centre.

Notes:
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant has launched the Mentor India Campaign in New Delhi on August 23, 2017. The campaign is a strategic nation building initiative to engage leaders who can nurture and guide students at more than 900 Atal Tinkering Labs. The labs are dedicated workspaces where students from Class 6th to 12th learn innovation skills and develop ideas that will go on to transform India. The Atal Tinkering Labs have been established across the country as a part of the Atal Innovation Mission. The aim of campaign is to maximize the impact of the labs.