Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia has won the men’s singles at the 2017 All England Open badminton championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom by defeating Shi Yuqi of China in the final by 21-12, 21-10. It is his 5th singles title. Apart from this, the Chinese pair of Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong won the Mixed Doubles title by defeating the Malaysian duo of Peng Soon Chan and Liu Ying Goah in the final by 18-21, 21-19, 21-16.

Notes:
Arun Jaitley, who is the current Finance Minister and Minister of Corporate Affairs in the Cabinet of India, has taken additional charge of the Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) on March 14, 2017. He succeeded Manohar Parrikar, who resigned from the post to take on the new role of Chief Minister of Goa. This is the 2nd time that Jaitley is holding the additional portfolio of Defence Ministry during the present NDA government. He was in-charge of the ministry earlier from 26th May to 9th November in 2014.

Notes:
The National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) has recently installed India’s largest floating solar Photo-Voltaic (PV) plant at Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power Plant (RGCCPP) in Kerala’s Kayamkulam district. This 100 kWp (kilowatt peak) floating solar generation plant has been indigenously developed by NTPC Energy Technology Research Alliance (NETRA) in collaboration with Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology (CIPET), Chennai. The system was installed by Swelect Energy Systems Ltd, Chennai with support from NETRA & NTPC Kayamkulam station in a short span of 22 days. The solar PV plant has various benefits like conserving water through reduction of evaporation, increased generation due to cooling effect on the panels, reduced installation time etc and could be installed on saline water environment.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare has launched Mission Fingerling programme with a total expenditure of about Rs. 52000 lakh to achieve Blue Revolution. The focus of the programme is to create an enabling environment for an integrated and holistic development and management of fisheries for the socio-economic development of the fishers and fish farmers. The target of the mission is to increase the fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-21.

Notes:
Upendra Tripathy, an IAS officer of Karnataka Cadre, has been appointed as the full-time Interim Director General (IDG) of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). The purpose of the ISA is to provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource rich countries where the global community including bilateral and multilateral organizations, corporates, industry, and stakeholders can make a positive contribution to assist and help achieve the common goals of increasing use of the solar energy in meeting energy needs of prospective ISA member countries in a safe, convenient, affordable, equitable and sustainable manner. The headquarters of ISA is located at National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), Gwalpahari, Gurgaon.

Notes:
The 23rd Conference of Auditors General of Commonwealth Countries and British Overseas Territories has held in New Delhi from 21-23 March, 2017. The conference was attended by 52 commonwealth countries and 9 British overseas territories. The theme of the conference is “Fostering Partnerships for Capacity Development in Public Audit”. This is the first time the prestigious conference is held in India, which is hosted by Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG). The last such conference was held in Malta in 2014.

Notes:
Ravichandran Ashwin has recently won the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year 2016 as well as the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year 2016 from former India captains Kapil Dev and Sunil Gavaskar. With this, he became the 3rd Indian to win the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the ICC Cricketer of the Year after Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar and also the second cricketer ever after Dravid to win the two awards in the same year. The Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy is a cricket trophy awarded annually by the International Cricket Council to its chosen world player of the year. It was first awarded in 2004 to Rahul Dravid.

Notes:
Bob Dylan, the renowned US musician and poet, will finally accept his Nobel Literature Prize at a meeting with the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden in April 2017. The 2016 Nobel Prize has bestowed to Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. The American singer was awarded the prize in October 2016 but failed to travel to pick up the award, or deliver the lecture that is required to receive the 8m kroner prize. He has become the first songwriter to win the prestigious award and the first American since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.

Notes:
The famous Berhampur Thakurani Yatra festival has started with great pomp and gaiety in Berhampur, Odisha. It is one of the biggest festivals of southern Odisha. The month-long festival of the deity “Goddess Budhi Thakurani” will be held for 29 days till May 1,2017. As per tradition, the Goddess will stay in a temporary abode near her parental house in Desibehera street. The idol of the Goddess would be taken out in a procession to different streets to facilitate residents worship her at their own doorsteps. The biannual extravaganza is the festival of the weaving community, known as Devangiris, and organised by P Durga Prasad Desibehera, whose family has been conducting the festival for generations.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has recently launched the Deendayal Rasoi Yojana (DRY), under which subsidized meals will be available at Rs 5 per plate to people, especially the economically disadvantaged sections of society. Under the yojana, anyone can have a wholesome meal at Rs 5 which includes four chapatis, one vegetable curry and Dal every day between 11 am to 3 pm. The arrangement would cater to at least 2000 persons every day. The wheat and rice would be made available at these canteens at Rs one each through fair price shops. Local municipal bodies will make the water and electricity available free-of-cost. The funds for setting up these centres would be made available under Chief Minister’s Urban Infrastructure Scheme.