Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - July, 2017

Notes:
The veteran actress Shakuntala Barua has been honoured with the 2017 Mahanayak Samman at Nazrul Mancha in Kolkata for her contribution to the world of cinema. Awards were also presented to Prosenjit Chatterjee, Nusrat Jahan, Arindam Sil, Bickram Ghosh, Soumik Halder and Padmanabha Dasgupta in various categories. Suparnokanti Karati for Bisarjan and Shiboprasad Mukhopadhyay of Windows Productions for Praktan were among awardees for the Best Film and Best Producer categories. The Mahanayak Samman is the highest film award given by the West Bengal government. The awards were instituted in the year 2012 in the memory of the legendary actor ‘Mahanayak’ Uttam Kumar.

Notes:
The Fakim wildlife sanctuary is located in the eastern part of Nagaland under Kipheri district bordering Myanmar. The sanctuary lies in the Pungro circle headquarters and is spread over an area of 642 hectares. It receives high rainfall and is home to rare species. The area is covered with hills, high ridges, deep gorges and narrow valleys. Because of this variation in altitude, vegetation is equally varied. It is home to tiger, hoolock gibbon, panther, jungle cat, Himalayan bear, bison, sambar, barking deer, etc.

Notes:
The BRICS NSAs meeting has started in Beijing, China on July 27, 2017, which will be attended by Ajit Doval, the National Security Advisor (NSA) of India. The visit comes in the backdrop of ongoing standoff between India and China in the Doklam region. Doval is expected to hold separate talks with China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi on the standoff issue on the sidelines of the meeting. Mr Doval and Mr Yang are Special Representatives of the India-China border mechanism. Besides Doval and Yang, Minister of State Security David Mahlobo of South Africa, Minister Sergio Etchegoyen of the Office of Institutional Security of the Presidency of Brazil, Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev of the Russian Federation will also attend the NSAs meeting.

Notes:
Indian delegation led by Bandaru Dattatreya, the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour & Employment, participated in the BRICS Labour & Employment Ministers’ Meet, held on July 26-27, 2017 at Chonqging, China. China is the chair for the BRICS Labour & Employment Ministers’ Meet for the year 2017. The meeting concluded with the adoption of the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministerial Declaration by the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers. The declaration covered a variety of areas that are of critical importance to all BRICS countries including India and called upon strengthening collaboration and cooperation on these through appropriate institutionalisation . These areas consisted of : “Governance in the Future of Work”, “Skills for development in BRICS”, “Universal and sustainable social security systems”, “BRICS Network of Labour Research Institutions”, “BRICS Social Security Cooperation Framework” and “BRICS entrepreneurship research”.

Notes:
Microsoft India has officially launched ‘Kaizala’ a Made for India app for businesses and organizations, which is powered by Azure Cloud platform. It is designed for large group communications and work management, and works even on 2G networks. The app would help organisations communicate, collaborate and complete tasks and bring together desktop users and mobile-only users who may be within or outside their organisations.

Notes:
According to 2017 Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) index, Bengaluru (40th) and Delhi (49th) are the only Indian cities among the top 50 global cities that foster high-potential women entrepreneurs. The list is topped by New York, followed by Bay Area, London, Boston, Stockholm and Los Angeles.   The index ranks cities in terms of its ability to attract and foster growth of women-owned firms. It provides a diagnostic tool to advise entrepreneurs and policy-makers on how to improve conditions to enable businesses founded by women to thrive. The index also  ranked cities based on the impact of local policies, programmes and characteristics in addition to national laws and customs.

Notes:
Lovepreet Singh from India has won bronze medal in 105 kg men junior category at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships at Kathmandu, Nepal. Lovepreet lifted 151 kgs in snatch and 180 kgs in clean and jerk to get the bronze. He lifted total 331 kgs. This is India’s fourth medal in the championships. Apart from him, Konsam Ormila Devi won gold in the 44kg weight category. While, Ajay Singh and S. Nirpupama Devi have won bronze medal in 77 kgs men’s junior category and in 69 kgs women youth category, respectively.

Notes:
The International Tiger Day (ITD) is observed every year on July 29 to raise awareness for tiger conservation. The day is also known as Global Tiger Day (GTD). The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has stated that only 3,890 tigers are left in the world. Of them, India has the highest number. Till July 2016, there were 2,500 tigers in the country.

Notes:
Iran has successfully launched an advanced satellite-carrying rocket ‘Simorgh’ into space from the Imam Khomeini National Space Station in Semnan on July 27, 2017. The rocket is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds).

Notes:
The Supreme Court of India (SCI) has stated that women have the constitutional right to enter the famous Sabarimala temple in Kerala and pray like men without being discriminated against. The court was hearing a bunch of petitions that challenged the traditional ban on the entry of women between 10 and 50 years of age in the Sabarimala temple, which is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. A 5-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said that even if there was no law, women cannot be discriminated against with regard to offering prayer in a temple. As per the temple tradition, entry of women in the 10-50 age group is restricted in the shrine dedicated to Lord Ayyappa, who is considered a ‘Naishtika Brahmachari’ (perennial celibate).