Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2017

Notes:
The Karian Shola National Park (KSNP) is is located at the southern end of the Western Ghats, in the Anaimalai Hills in Tamil Nadu. The park consists of areas of stunted, mossy rainforests known as shola forests interspersed with rolling montane grassland with towering rocky cliffs, making it a biologically unique ecosystem. It is home to about 560 to 680 species of animal such as Nilgiri tahr, Asian elephant, deer, wild boar, tiger, leopard , etc.

Notes:
The day-long National Conference of Chief Secretaries of States and Union Territories organised by NITI Aayog has started in New Delhi on July 10, 2017 to further the spirit of cooperative and competitive federalism. The focus of the conference is on best practices in social and economic sectors across states. Various developmental indicators developed by NITI Aayog, in areas like health, education, water management and digital transformation are being discussed. The idea is to measure performance and progress of states and rank them appropriately to instill healthy competition among them. In addition several interactive sessions on issues including agriculture and health are also on the agenda.

Notes:
Sumita Sanyal (71), the veteran Bengali actress, has passed away at her residence in Kolkata, West Bengal. She has worked in around 50 Bengali films and was also part of Hindi films like Guddi, Mili, Aashirwad and Mere Apne. Apart from her brilliant contribution to Bengali cinema, she is best known for co-starring with with Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna in 1970 movie Anand. She also worked with Dilip Kumar in Sagina Mahato (Bengali film) and with Biswajit and Sandhya Roy in Kuheli (Bengali film).

Notes:
Danfoss India, the Climate and energy efficiency solutions company, has been conferred with the ‘Golden Peacock Award’ for Environment Management at the 19th World Congress on Environment Management’ in Hyderabad. The company has been recognized for its LEED Platinum rated constructed manufacturing facility in Chennai. Recently, the Danfoss manufacturing facility at Oragadam near Chennai was conferred with a LEED Platinum rated certification for its green and sustainable setup, which includes a 1 MW solar power plant, a bio-gas plant, Zero Liquid Discharge Waste Water Treatment plant, Rain Water Harvesting Pond, energy efficient fixtures, carbon foot print reduction initiatives, extensive green cover at Campus among others.

Notes:
The 2017 Family Planning Summit (FPS) has started in London, United Kingdom (UK) on July 11, 2017 to discuss efforts to reach Family Planning 2020 goals and ensure that more women and girls around the world are able to plan their families and their futures. The summit has been organized by the UNFPA, the United Kingdom and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is taking place on 11 July, which is World Population Day (WPD), a day to focus attention on population issues, including family planning. The event will focus on four key issues: innovative financing models for procuring and delivering high-quality contraceptives; strengthening supply chains and expanding the range of contraceptives available to women; empowering young people with access to family planning information and care; and reaching the hardest to reach, such as women in humanitarian crises or facing cultural barriers.

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The Karnataka government will organize the 2017 International conference “Reclaiming Social Justice, Revisiting Ambedkar” from July 21 at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Bengaluru to mark the 126th birth anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar. The 3-day event will see delegates deliberate on universal principles of democracy and importance of social justice in the current global environment. The conference will come out with a ‘Bengaluru declaration outlining a new deal for India – who are & who we can be’. This conference is an invitation to substantially re-think current social, political and economic paradigms motivated by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s imaginative and creative work. Approx, 2000 delegates from across the globe are expected to participate.

Notes:
The 8th edition of Theatre Olympics ‘The Biggest Theatre Celebration of the World’ will be hosted by India from February 17 –April 08, 2018, which is being organised by National School of Drama, under the aegis of Ministry of Culture. The Theatre Olympics 2018 will feature maximum number of Indian & International theatre groups, invitee eminent theatre personalities along with their performances. In addition, there will be ambience performances with allied activities like exhibitions, seminars, symposia, interactive discussions and workshops with well-known academicians, authors, actors, designers and directors. It’s first time that the Theatre Olympics will be held in India. In 2016, the 7th Theatre Olympics were held in Wroclaw, Poland.

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The Indian Railways has recently launched a virtual server “RailCloud” with an inbuilt security system to optimise server usage and faster connectivity. The technology is developed by rail PSU RailTel at an estimated cost of approx Rs 53 crore. The RailCloud technology enables maximising the usage of available server and storage resulting in accommodation of bigger data and more applications within same server space. It will cover all management related to various services like human resources, health and hospital, signal assets, freight and logistics and energy among others. Beside this, the first IT application on RailCloud “Nivaran-Grievance Portal” was also launched. Nivaran is a platform for resolution of service-related grievances of serving and former railway employees.

Notes:
Maharashtra has become the first Indian state to make social boycott a crime after President Pranab Mukherjee cleared the legislation. The Maharashtra Prohibition of People from Social Boycott (Prevention Prohibition and Redressal) Act prescribes a maximum punishment of 3 year in jail and a fine of Rs 1 lakh. It aims to prevent atrocities carried out by extra-judicial courts and caste panchayats. The Act also provides for compensation to victims. The fines imposed on violators will be used to compensate them. The Act also has a provision to withdraw cases with the consent of victims and permission from a court. In case of a withdrawal, the accused will have to perform community service.

Notes:
Indian Railways has launched an integrated mobile app “Rail Saarthi” to cater to all kinds of passenger requirements, which includes ticket booking, inquiry, onboard cleaning and ordering a meal on a single platform. The acronym of Rail “Saarthi” stands for “Synergised Advanced Application Rail Travel Help and Information”. The app has various features such as women safety feature, compliant facility and suggestion for improvement. One can also book unreserved seat tickets and platform tickets besides reserved seat tickets.