Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
Jiratchaya Sirimongkolnawin from Thailand has been crowned the new Miss International Queen 2016 at a contest billed as the world’s largest and most popular transgender pageant. This 12th edition of beauty pageant was held in Pattaya City, Thailand on March 10, 2017. The mission of the pageant aims towards LGBT and Transgender awareness and equality in both society and workforce.

Notes:
The World Bank (WB) has recently sanctioned a $210 million loan for the West Bengal to strengthen the state’s Gram Panchayats (GPs), the lowest tier of rural local governments. The loan will be used to strengthen local communities’ participation in the planning, budgeting and financial eanagement of projects undertaken in rural areas, where most of the poor in the state reside. The loan has a grace period of eight years and a maturity of 15 years.

Notes:
India has been ranked 131st out of 188 countries in the 2017 Human Development Index (HDI), as per latest Human Development Report (HDR) 2016 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As per the report, India’s rank of 131 puts it in the “medium human development” bracket, which also includes nations like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Kenya, Myanmar and Nepal. The report also stated that regional disparities in education, health and living standards within India or inequality in human development has caused India’s downfall to 27% on HDI score. The list is topped by Norway, followed by Australia and Switzerland.

Notes:
Veteran photojournalist Raghu Rai has been bestowed with the Life Time Achievement (LTA) award at the 6th National Photography Awards-2017 by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) for his remarkable contribution to the field. He is known for his books, Raghu Rai’s India: Reflections in Colour and Reflections in Black and White. The subjects of his photographs include MS Subbulakshmi, Bismillah Khan, Mother Teresa, Satyajit Ray, Indira Gandhi, Raj Kapoor and Mrinal Sen. The National Photography Awards (NPA) is an annual event organized by the I & B Ministry to promote art, technique of photography and to encourage professional and amateur photographers from all corners of the country.

Notes:
Recently, Purva Barve from India has won the Under-19 Women’s Singles Li Ning-Israel Open badminton tournament 2017 by defeating Lela Minadze of Russia by 21-6, 21-4 at the Sports Hall, Rishon LeZion in Israel. Apart from this, Varun Kapur from India has also won theUnder-15 Boys Singles tournament by defeating Toby Dillingham of England in the final by 21-10, 21-2.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently appointed Malvika Sinha as new Executive Director (ED), following the appointment of B P Kanungo as Deputy Governor. As Executive Director (ED), she will look after foreign exchange department, department of government and bank accounts and internal debt management wing. Prior to being promoted as ED, she was Principal Chief General Manager, Department of Cooperative Banking Supervision in the Reserve Bank. Apart from her, there are 10 other EDs of RBI viz. Surekha Marandi, M. Rajeshwar Rao, Sudarshan Sen, Deepak Singhal, Meena Hemchandra, K. K. Vohra, Dr M. D. Patra, Chandan Sinha, Deepali Pant Joshi and Dr. Deepak Mohanty.

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The World Economic Forum published the Travel and Tourism Development Index 2024. India was ranked 39th among 119 countries in this index. The index measures factors supporting tourism development globally. India’s position improved over previous years. The Travel and Tourism Development Index is released every two years.

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The Rajasthan government has imposed a 10% cow cess as surcharge on stamp duty for protection and propagation of cows. The surcharge will be applicable on non-judicial instruments. The cess will have a bearing on costs of making documents like property sale or lease deeds, rent agreements and mortgage. Though, judicial stamps, revenue ticket and insurance ticket have been excluded from this order. Rajasthan is the only state in India which has a dedicated Cow Ministry. At present, the Rajasthan Cow Ministry is allocated 11% share of the entire land registrations revenue.

Notes:
Malala Yousafzai (19), the youngest—ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate, will become the United Nations (UN)’s youngest-ever Messenger of Peace to promote girls’ education around the world as part of her new role. She is honoured by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a ceremony at the U.N. headquarters in New York on April 10, 2017. Yousafzai is a Pakistani education activist, who came to prominence when a Taliban gunman shot her in the head on her school bus in 2012 as punishment for campaigning for girls to go to school which defied the militant Islamic group’s ban on female education.

Notes:
The G-7 Foreign Ministers meeting has started in Luca, Italy from April 10, 2017. The civil war in Syria is likely to dominate talks in the two day summit, with Italy hoping for a final communique that will reinforce United Nations’ efforts to end six years of conflict. The fight against terrorism is also expected to be high on the agenda. The meeting comes as the United States moves a Navy strike group near the Korean peninsula amid concerns over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and as the West’s relations with Russia struggle to overcome years of mistrust. The Group of 7 (G7) consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (USA).