Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - August, 2017

Notes:
The Haryana government will organize Digital Haryana Summit (DHS) in Gurugram on September 15, 2017 to discuss issues like digital governance, smart living in cities and villages, citizen partnership, entrepreneurship, skilling and geo-governance and sustainability, among others. The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) will be partner for this event and the summit would be organised as a part of the state’s Swarna Jayanti celebrations. The purpose of the summit is to bring together different stakeholders and develop a singular agenda for the digital transformation of Haryana, in line with the Digital India initiative.

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.

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:
Indian football team has won the 2017 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) under-15 football Championship by defeating Nepal by 2-1 in the final at Kathmandu in Nepal on August 27. Vikram Pratap Singh was declared best player of the championship. India won all four matches in the championship. In the league matches, India beat Maldives by 9-0 and host Nepal by 2-1. In the semifinal India defeated Bhutan by 3-0. India scored 16 goals and conceded just two.

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:
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.

Notes:
After Kalpana Chawla, Jasleen Kaur Josan has become the 2nd Indian Women and first Sikh women to be selected by NASA for the Mars Expedition happening in 2030. The Orion Mission will be the first man mission to Mars, which is on track to take place in 2030. The candidates were selected from around the world. The 2020 MARS Mission is a one-way mission where the group inhabiting Mars will not return back to planet Earth. However, Jasleen is part of the two-way mission which is set to happen in 2030.

Notes:
The Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ujjivan Financial Services Ltd., has been included in the Second Schedule to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934. With this, Ujjivan SFB has attained the status of a Scheduled Bank. This status will enhance the market acceptability of the bank in its effort to garner institutional deposits at a competitive price and participate more actively in the inter-bank market. It also opens the door for issuing Certificates of Deposits (CDs), which will be an important source of funding. Currently, Ujjivan SFB has 65 full-fledged brick and mortar branches in eight states and two Union Territories. It plans to convert 160 existing branches and 29 new Unbanked Rural Centres (URCs) by the end of FY 2017-18 and the remaining branches will be converted over a period of two years in line with RBI approval. The headquarters of Ujjivan SFB is located in Bengaluru.

Notes:
The Tanintharyi National Park (TNP) is located at the Tenasserim Hills, Myanmar and covers an area of 2072 km2. The main purposes of the park are habitat conservation. It is home to Sambar Deer, Asian Elephant, Barking Deer, Serow, Red Goral, Malayan tapir, tiger, Leopard and a number of bird species.

Notes:
Sunil Arora, a 1980 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed as the new Election Commissioner (EC). The appointment will take effect from the date he assumes the charge. Presently, Achal Kumar Joti is the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) & Om Prakash Rawat is the other Election Commissioner. Arora is the former Information and Broadcasting Secretary and Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.