Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
Basudev Chatterji, the noted historian, has passed away in Guwahati, Assam on June 8, 2017. He was also the former chairman of Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR). Chatterji was an academician and used to taught at St Stephen’s College in Delhi, University of Hyderabad besides supervising undergraduates at the University of Cambridge. The books ‘Trade, Tariffs and Empire : Lancashire and British Policy in India’, and ‘Dictionary of Martyrs India’s Freedom Struggle’ were among his works.

Notes:
Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli is the sole sportsperson from India to feature among the world’s 100 highest paid athletes in the 2017 Forbes list. Kohli has been ranked 89th on the 2017 Forbes list with a total pay of $22 million that includes $3 million from salary and winnings and another $19 million from endorsements. The list is topped by soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, followed by American basketball star LeBron James, Argentine football player Lionel Messi and Swiss Tennis star Roger Federer.

Notes:
NITI Aayog has launched a program ‘Sustainable Action for Transforming Human capital (SATH)’ with the State Governments for cooperative federalism. The vision of the program is to initiate transformation in the education and health sectors. The aim of SATH is to identify and build three future ‘role model’ states for health systems. NITI will work in close collaboration with their state machinery to design a robust roadmap of intervention, develop a program governance structure, set up monitoring and tracking mechanisms, hand-hold state institutions through the execution stage and provide support on a range of institutional measures to achieve the end objectives. The program will be implemented by NITI along with McKinsey & Company and IPE Global consortium, who were selected through a competitive bidding process. Of the five shortlisted states three will be selected on the basis of further evaluations. The program will be launched in the three selected states after the signing of MoUs.

Notes:
Muttiah Muralidaran, the most successful bowler in Tests and One Day Internationals, has been inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame in London on Thursday. He was honoured during the innings break of the India versus Sri Lanka ICC Champions Trophy match at The Oval in London on June 8, 2017. With this, he became the first player from Sri Lanka and the 83rd overall to be inducted into the Hall of Fame when ICC CEO Dave Richardson presented him with a commemorative framed cap.

Notes:
Vikram Limaye will be the new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) after he gets relieved from his duties at apex cricket body BCCI. Limaye is a member of a panel appointed by the Supreme Court to administer the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Now, Limaye will approach the Supreme Court (SC) in July when it reopens from vacation to relieve him from his duties at the committee of administrators (CoA) of BCCI. Once the Supreme Court relieves him, he will join NSE.

Notes:
Spain’s Rafael Nadal has won the 2017 French Open Men’s Singles Tennis Tournament by defeating Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka in final by 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in Paris, France. With the win, Nadal has become the first player in the Professional arena to win the same Grand Slam title 10 times. Nadal, the world’s 4th ranked player, has 15 Grand Slams to his credit. Now, his collection of Slams stands just three behind great rival Roger Federer.

Notes:
The Union Government has launched a video conferencing aided legal service ‘Tele Law’ for the people living in rural areas. Through Tele-Law, the legal aid to poor will fulfill the government’s commitment to ensure access to justice and empowerment of the poor. Under the scheme, the Tele-Law portal will be available across the Common Service Centre (CSC) network connecting the citizens to legal service providers. The portal will connect law school clinics, District Legal Service Authorities, voluntary service providers and Non-Government Organisations working on legal through the CSCs. Also, the National Legal Services Authority’s panel of lawyers from state capitals will provide legal advice and counseling to the applicants across the 1000 CSC through video conferencing. In the first phase, the Tele-Law scheme will be tested as a pilot across 500 CSCs in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Notes:
The Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary is located in Unnao district on the Kanpur-Lucknow highway in Uttar Pradesh. In 2015, the sanctuary is renamed asShahid Chandra Shekhar Azad Bird Sanctuary. It is home to arus crane, painted stork, peafowl, white ibis, dabchick, whistling teal, open-bill stork, white-necked stork, etc. The major reptiles found in the sanctuary are cobra, viper, krait, ratsnake and water snakes. It also houses a deer park, watchtowers and boats.

Notes:
The International Albinism Awareness Day (IAAD) is observed every year on June 13 to raise worldwide awareness on albinism and to prevent attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism. Albinism is a genetic disorder resulting in little or no pigmentation in the skin, hair, and eyes. The lack of melanin in the skin makes albinos more prone to sunburn and skin cancers. Albinism is also associated with visual problems such as photophobia, amblyopia (lazy eye),nystagmus, etc.

Notes:
The water conservation model “Project Jal Sanchay” has been selected for the national award for excellence in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP). The award will be conferred at a function held at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on June 19, 2017. The model is adopted successfully by the authorities in Nalanda district of south central Bihar. Under the project, check dams were created and traditional Aahar-Pyne irrigation system and traditional water bodies were desilted and renovated to create awareness about rainwater harvesting. In it, the traditional water conservation system was used in water management and in maintaining water table in the area. Thus, through campaigns and support from local farmers, the water conservation project has not only improved the availability of water but has also positively impacted farm production in the areas covered by the project.