Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

Notes:
The 9th meeting of heads of Governments of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states on disaster prevention and relief has started at Choplon Ata in Kyrgyz Republic on August 24, 2017. The 2-day meeting will focus on prevention and elimination of emergency situations. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is leading the Indian delegation which includes senior officers from Home and External Affairs Ministries and National Disaster Management Authority. The participation of India as SCO Member will open additional opportunities for giving new impetus to the development of international cooperation in the field of protecting the population and territories from emergency situations within the framework of the Organisation.

Notes:
Nandan Nilekani, the Infosys co-founder and the architect of Aadhaar, has been appointed as the new non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Infosys. The sweeping changes have been made to the board in an attempt to restore stability after the resignation of Vishal Sikka as CEO, and a bitter rift between Narayana Murthy and the board came to the fore. Nilekani’s appointment will allow Infosys to focus on the strategic changes it needs to make in order to capitalize on the attractive opportunities in the years ahead. Nilekani served as Infosys’s CEO from 2002 to 2007.

Notes:
Sanjivani Jadhav from India, a marathon runner from Nashik, has clinched silver medal in the women’s 10,000-metre at the 29th World University Games in Taipei, Taiwan on August 24, 2017. Earlier, she won a bronze in the 5000 metres at the Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar in July 2017.

Notes:
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal (ICAN) to establish mutual co-operation for the advancement of accounting knowledge, professional and intellectual development, advancing the interests of their respective members and positively contributing to the development of the accounting profession in Nepal and India. ICAI has a membership base of over 5,000 members in Nepal. The ICAI was established on July 1, 1949 as a statutory body under the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 enacted by the to regulate the profession of Chartered Accountancy in India. Its headquarters is located in New Delhi.

Notes:
Saina Nehwal from India has won bronze in the 2017 women’s singles World Badminton championships (WBC). In the first women’s singles semi-final at Glasgow, Nehwal lost to Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in three games 12-21, 21-17, 21-10. It must be noted that Okuhara is the first shuttler from Japan to reach the finals of World Championship. Apart from this, Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu from India has won 2nd Women’s Singles semi-final by defeating Chinese Chen Yufei 21-13 21-10 on August 26, 2017 and reached at finals of the World championship.

Notes:
The Indian Institutes of Technology, Bombay and Indore, have jointly developed a biosensor that makes it possible to detect kidney disorders in less than 8 minutes. The biosensor can accurately measure both the pH and urea concentration with a single drop of urine. The researchers who developed it say that it will help make a point-of-care test to determine whether the kidneys are functioning normally. The biosensor is made by encapsulating an enzyme urease and a molecule FITC-dextran in alginate microspheres. The combination glows in response to a chemical reaction with urea and changes in pH when urine is added. The fluorescence reduces when the pH is acidic and increases when it is alkaline. The changes in fluorescence intensity are measured, which helps to calculate the values of pH and urea. Thus, it will help make a rapid and accurate point-of-care diagnostic test for kidney disorders.

Notes:
National Sports Day is celebrated on August 29 in India. This day marks the birthday of hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand, regarded as one of the greatest field hockey players of all time. National Sports Day aims to raise awareness on the importance of sports and physical fitness.

Notes:
Ahmed Khan (90), legendary footballer and Olympian, has passed away in Bengaluru on August 27, 2017. He is best remembered for his role in the 1948 Olympics in London, where India lost its first-round match in heartbreaking fashion to France but made a deep impression on the public. He was also part of the Indian sides that won gold at the Asian Games of 1951 and went to the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, will be remembered as a gifted inside-left who mesmerised spectators with his ball control. Khan was also known for being an East Bengal legend and was a part of the famous ‘Pancha Pandavas’ of red and gold. The other four were Venkatesh, Saleh, Appa Rao and Dhanraj.

Notes:
The Defence Accounts Department (DAD) has organized its first Synergy Conference on Defence Pensions in New Delhi on August 28, 2017. The conference was attended by all Defence Pensioners Associations and was open to all Defence Pensioners. The purpose of the conference was to obtain feedback from the pensioners that would help the department to serve them better with constantly improving systems and procedures. Digitization of pension data and implementation of a pensions app were also discussed in detail.

Notes:
India and Germany has recently signed pact on technical cooperation under the Indo-German Energy Programme – Green Energy Corridors (IGEN-GEC). The main purpose of this programme component is to improve the sector framework and conditions for grid integration of renewable energy. As per the pact, both the countries will work on improving market mechanisms and regulations for integration of renewable energies, advancing technical and institutional conditions in specified target states, regions and on a national level, adding human capacities to handle systemic (strategic, managerial, financial, technical) renewable energies integration in an efficient and effective manner.