Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2017

Notes:
Textile minister Smriti Zubin Irani has been given the additional charge of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry, while Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been given additional charge of Urban Development Ministry. Both the posts fell vacant after Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu resigned to contest Vice presidential election as NDA candidate. Naidu was holding the portfolio since July 2016 in addition to urban development, housing and poverty alleviation ministry.

Notes:
Ananya Dabke from India has won the under-15 girl title at the Dutch Open Junior Squash Championship by defeating Serena Daniel of the US in the final by 11-7, 11-4, 12-10 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Apart from this, the top seeded Neel Joshi bagged the under-15 boys title in the tournament by defeating 5/8 seed Khalil Alhassan of England in the final by 9-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6.

Notes:
The 9-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court (SC) headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar will determine whether the right to privacy is a fundamental right or not under the Constitution. The nine-judge bench also comprises Justices J Chelameswar, S A Bobde, R K Agrawal, Rohinton Fali Nariman, Abhay Manohar Sapre, D Y Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and S Abdul Nazeer. The bench is dealing with the limited issue of right to privacy and matters challenging the Aadhaar scheme would be referred back to a smaller bench. The hearing is in progress.

Notes:
Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the UAE Minister of State for Tolerance, has topped a poll of the most powerful Arab women in government 2017, according to latest Forbes Middle East report. Ms Qasimi was followed by Sahar Nasr, Ghada Wali, Hind Subaih Barrak Al-Subaih, Iman Houda Feraoun and Iman Houda Feraoun. Forbes has also released a list of the top 100 most powerful Arab businesswomen for 2017, and the UAE represents the highest number of women, with 18, followed by Egypt, with 16. As per the report, women in the Arab world were pioneering in the banking sector and women in this industry represents 28% of the 2017 businesswoman list. The rankings were compiled by taking into account scope of the role or ministry, years of experience and company revenues, or GDP in the case of government.

Notes:
Karamjyoti Dalal from India has won bronze in the women’s F55 category of discus-throw at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships. She won the medal in the F55 category, with her best throw of 19.02m outscoring Baharain’s Alomari Roba, who managed a throw of 19.01m. Dalal belongs to Haryana and was an active member of Indian national kabaddi team before she was forced to leave the sport due to a mishap when she fell from her terrace.

Notes:
In a first of its kind, Telangana State will have eco-friendly bridges over a canal cutting across the tiger corridor linking the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra with the forests in Telangana’s Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. It requires the laying of fertile soil to grow grass and plants over the structure, so that fragmentation of the reserve forest is camouflaged. The ‘eco-bridges’ will be constructed at key spots along the 72 km-long, and at some places over a kilometre wide, right flank canal of the Pranahita barrage in the Bejjur and Dahegaon mandals.

Notes:
Maneka Gandhi, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, has launched an online complaint system ” Sexual Harassment e-box (SHe-Box)” for registering sexual harassment complaints at workplace in New Delhi on July 24, 2017. Initially, this online portal is open for central government women employees only and later on, complaints from private sector will be entertained effectively. The complaint management system has been developed to ensure the effective implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (SH Act). This portal will provide a platform to women working or visiting any office of Central Government to file complaints related to sexual harassment at workplace under the SH Act. Beside this, the Ministry will soon conduct a national level survey to examine the magnitude of sexual harassment at workplace.

Notes:
The 2017 Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships have started at the Nepal Army Sports Complex in Kathmandu, Nepal on July 23, 2017. The delegates from 38 countries including India are taking part in the weeklong event. More than 300 weightlifters will compete for total 96 medals, 48 each in men’s and women’s categories. In the championship, players from 13 to 17 years of age group taking part in youth category and 15 to 20 years in junior category. All four categories have eight weight divisions. The competitions have started from July 24 and will continue till July 29.

Notes:
Indian Shuttler H S Prannoy has won the 2017 US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament title by defeating his compatriot Parupalli Kashyap at Anaheim, California. He beat Kashyap in the final by 21-15, 20-22, 21-12. Prannoy had found place in the final defeating Vietnam’s Tien Minh Nguyen while Kashyap overcame Korean Kwang Hee Heo in the semi-finals. In the women’s singles of the tournament, Japanese Aya Ohori won the final beating Michelle Li of Canada.

Notes:
The Union Government has launched the mobile phone app “Aarambh” to simplify the maintenance management of rural roads. The purpose of the app is to use of Geographic Information System (GIS) based mapping for making road inventories, condition surveys and producing cost estimates and other relevant data for preparation and monitoring of annual road maintenance plans. Its usage would greatly enhance the service delivery of the state level institutions in planning and implementing performance based rural roads maintenance contracts. The app was launched jointly by the Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Drinking Water & Sanitation Narendra Singh Tomar and ILO Deputy Director General (Policy) Ms. Deborah Greenfield on July 24, 2017. Apart from this, the Ministry has also launched a concept note and guidance note “Mobilizing Funds for Maintenance of Rural Road” to outline innovative ways which can be adopted by the state Governments for mobilizing additional funds for road maintenance and presents some international best practices worldwide.