Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2017

Notes:
Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej and Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveries have been awarded the 2017 Global Leadership Awards of the US-India Business Council (USIBC) at the USIBC 42nd Anniversary Leadership Summit in Washington DC for their role in integrating India in the global supply chain. Both were honoured for creating inclusive business environments, integrating India into the global supply chain and advancing core values such as manufacturing, innovation and scale in tough market conditions. Beside this, USIBC has also presented its first-ever “Artistic Achievement Award” to Yashwant Shirwadkar, a visionary and master in impressionistic landscape painting inspired by scenic cities in India.

Notes:
The United Nations (UN)’ International Co-operative Day (IDC) is observed every year on the first Saturday of to recognize and reaffirms the role of cooperatives in economic, social and cultural development and in the achievement of social policy objectives. This year, in 2017, the day is observed on July 1 under the theme ‘Co-operatives ensure no one is left behind’. The 2017 IDC theme complements the priority theme of the 2017 High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development: ‘Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world’.

Notes:
Germany has won the 10th edition of FIFA Confederation Cup Football-2017 title by defeating Copa America Champion Chile by 1-0 goals in the final at St Petersburg, Russia. With this, Germany has won the title for the first time after Lars Stindl scored the only goal in the 20th minute when Chile midfielder Marcelo Diaz gave the ball away on the edge of his own area.

Notes:
Jehan Daruvala of Sahara Force India Academy has become the first Indian driver to win in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in Race 3 at the Nuremberg circuit on July 2, 2017. Jehan’s victory in race 3 comes 18 years after Narain Karthikeyan won in the British F3 Championship. The 2.3-km Norisring is an extremely fast and flowing layout for a street circuit and mistakes are punished by the concrete walls instead of tyre barriers. FIA Formula 3 is the toughest junior racing category in the world.

Notes:
India has ranked 88th with 676 million Swiss francs (about Rs 4,500 crore) in terms of money parked by its citizens with Swiss banks, according to an analysis by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) for 2016-end. As per latest figures, the money officially held by Indians with banks in Switzerland now accounts for a meagre 0.04% of the total funds kept by all foreign clients in the Swiss banking system. The SNB’s official figures haven’t include the money that Indians, NRIs or others might have in Swiss banks in the names of entities from different countries. The United Kingdom (UK) has topped the list, followef by United States (US), West Indies, France, Bahamas, Germany, Guernsey, ect.

Notes:
Pinarayi Vijayan, the Chief Minister of Kerala, has launched G-Ride, a digital ride sharing app for techies. The app is specially designed and deployed for the IT industry by the Group of Technology Companies (Gtech), the industry body of IT companies in the state. The G-Ride app automatically matches co-workers and neighbours and help them travel together to work. It is available in Android and iOS versions.

Notes:
Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP), a Pune-based NGO, has won the 2017 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s Equator Prize for its women led climate resilient agro-ecological farming model and innovative solutions in climate resilient farming in the Marathwada region of India. The SSP is one of the 15 winners of Equator Prize 2017 by UNDP. The SSP has empowered 72,000 women in the drought-prone state of Maharashtra to act as agricultural decision-makers, improving their health, food security, and economic well-being.

Notes:
The 9th edition of Delhi Dialogue has started with theme “ASEAN-India Relations: Charting the Course for the Next 25 Years” in New Delhi on July 4, 2017. It has inaugurated and addressed by the Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. In the two day dialogue, political leaders, policy makers, senior officials, diplomats, business leaders, think tanks and academicians from India and ASEAN countries will participate in the discussions. It is a premier event to discuss politico-security, economic and socio-cultural engagement between ASEAN and India. This Dialogue has been held annually since 2009.

Notes:
The 15-day long annual joint military training exercise “Ex-Maitree-2017” between the Indian and Thai army has started from July 3, 2017 at Bakloh in Himachal Pradesh. The aim of the joint military exercise is to build and promote bilateral Army-to-Army relations and enhance inter-operability between the two armies. Exercise Maitree 2017 is a continuation of a series of joint exercises between the Indian Army and the Royal Thailand Army. The previous edition of the exercise was held at Krabi in Thailand in 2016.

Notes:
Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines, has launched the Merit Order Despatch of Electricity for Rejuvenation of Income and Transparency (MERIT) app and e-bidding portal for providing e-Bidding solution to States to select Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for procurement of power by transferring their domestic coal under the scheme of flexibility in utilization of domestic coal. This system will bring transparency in states’ power distribution and sales and save Rs 20 thousand crore in next 5 to 7 years.