Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
The Union ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has appointed a new nine-member committee to work on a new National Education Policy (NEP). The former ISRO chief Dr. K Kasturirangan will head the committee on NEP. The committee also includes former IAS officer KJ Alphonse and Ram Shanker Kureel, who has a wide experience in the field of agricultural sciences and management. The committee has been appointed keeping in mind that the members bring expertise related to the diverse areas of education. Significantly, the panel also reflects the diversity of the country as the members belong to different sections as well as regions.

Notes:
The 3rd edition of Whatashort Independent International Film Festival (WIIFF) will be held at the Instituto Cervantes in New Delhi from July 8-9, 2017 to promote short films from across the globe. More than 400 films participated from over 34 countries and more than 45 films will be screened this year. The significance of the festival lies in the very core idea of uplifting the indie and short film makers and their creations. It not only provides a unique platform to the shorter version of the motion picture but paves the way to the pinnacle it should achieve.

Notes:
Roger Federer, a Swiss professional tennis player, has won the 2017 Gerry Weber Open tennis tournament by defeating Alexander Zverev in final by 6-1 6-3 at the Gerry Weber Stadion in Halle, Germany. With this win, Federer clinch his 92nd career title.

Notes:
P V Sindhu, an ace shuttler and Rio Olympics silver medallist, will be conferred with the best Sportsperson of the Year Award by the Sports Journalists Federation of India (SJFI). The Best Team of the Year award was bagged by the Indian Junior Hockey Team, which won the Junior World Cup title by defeating Belgium 2-1 in the final in Lucknow on December 2016. Both the awards would be presented at the 40th convention of the SJFI to be held in Indore in September 2017.

Notes:
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has constituted a special 7-member committee to study contentious issues in implementing Lodha panel reforms which are being opposed by the state units. The committee’s mandate is to identify the few critical points in respect of the said judgement for the General Body of the BCCI to consider before its submission to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The other members of the committee include former India captain Sourav Ganguly, T.C. Mathew (Kerala Cricket), Naba Bhattacharjee (North East representative), Jay Shah (Gujarat Cricket Association), BCCI Treasurer Anirudh Chaudhary and BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhary. The four contentious Lodha panel recommendations that are delaying the implementation process are one-state, one vote, age cap of 70 for office-bearers, cooling-off period for office-bearers and size of the national selection panel.

Notes:
Kaushik Basu, an Indian economist, has taken over as new President of the International Economic Association (IEA) on June 23, 2017 and will serve the post for 3-years. The IEA is a leading organization founded in 1950 for professional economists that seeks to shape global economic policy and research. He has also served as senior vice-president and chief economist at the World Bank from 2012 to 2016 and as the chief economic adviser to the government of India from 2009 to 2012. Currently, Basu is the C. Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University.

Notes:
O N Dhar (89), the veteran figure and former bureaucrat, has passed away in New Delhi. During the Quit Kashmir movement, he was detained for 13 months following the arrest of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in 1946-47. Dhar had worked with Sheikh Abdullah, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed and Mir Sadiq when they were prime ministers of Jammu and Kashmir till 1965. Till 1967, the elected head of government in Jammu and Kashmir was called prime minister before the nomenclature was changed to chief minister. Dhar had also held key secretarial-level posts in the state subsequently.

Notes:
The Dudhwa National Park is located in the Terai of Uttar Pradesh and covers an area of 490.3 km2, with a buffer zone of 190 km2 (73 sq mi). It is home to swamp deer, sambar deer, barking deer, spotted deer, hog deer, tiger, Indian rhinoceros, sloth bear, ratel, jackal, civets, jungle cat, fishing cat, etc. The park is home to one of the finest forests in India, some of these trees are more than 150 years old and over 70 ft tall.

Notes:
Krishna R Urs, a veteran Indian- origin career diplomat, has been appointed as the new US Ambassador to Peru by the Donald Trump administration. Currently, Urs is Charge d’ Affaires of the US Embassy in Madrid, Spain. He has specialization in economic issues and is considered an expert on the Andean region of South America.

Notes:
The Uttarakhand state has been conferred with the award of excellence at the 2nd edition of Global Skill Development Summit (GSDM) – 2017 in Paris, France on June 23, 2017 for innovations and extensive use of IT for skill developments the state’s youth. The Embassy of India, Paris and Europe India Foundation for Excellence (EIFE) has organized the GSDM 2017 along with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) with central theme “Making India a Global Hub of Skilled Manpower – The Next Step”. The purpose of this event was to create awareness about the skill development scenario in India, looking at specific sectors and assessing the requirements.