Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
The 105th edition of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) will be held at the Osmania University (OU) in Hyderabad from January 3-7, 2018. The theme of the conference will be ‘Science and Technology – Reaching the Unreached’. This will be the 6th time the university will be hosing the conference and ISC will be meeting in Hyderabad for the 7th time. Approx 25 Nobel laureates are expected to participate in the conference.

Notes:
India forward SV Sunil has been named the Asian Player of the Year 2016 in the senior men’s category by the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF). SV Sunil played a vital role in team India’s successful outing at 2016 FIH Champions Trophy in London where he led the forwardline and was instrumental in the team’s historic Silver medal winning performance. Apart from him, Harmanpreet Singh has been named the ‘Promising Player of the Year 2016’ in the junior men’s category.

Notes:
Aleksandar Vucic, the current Prime Minister of Serbia, has won the 2017 Serbian Presidential election by 55% of votes. He will take office on May 31, 2017. Vucic is also the leader and president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). The current office holder is Tomislav Nikolic.

Notes:
Ajey Jhankar (57), the noted author and filmmaker, has recently passed away. He was well-known for his novels such as Sarkarnama and Drohpar. The hollywood movie ‘Singularity’ by filmmakar Roland Joffe was based on Jhankar’s novel ‘Drohparv’. He was the co-screenwriter for the film. Jhankar was known for his marketing venture ‘Market Missionaries.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) and the United Kingdom (UK) have decided to set up a fund worth £240 million to finance clean energy projects in India. This will be known as the Green Growth Equity Fund (GGEF), which will be sub-fund of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). The purpose of joint UK-India fund is to leverage private sector investment from the City of London to finance India’s infrastructure projects and is likely to raise around £500 million initially. It will focus initial investments in India’s rapidly growing energy and renewable market. The NIIF was formed in 2015 to finance greenfield as well as brownfield projects.

Notes:
India and Israel have signed mega defence deals worth over $2 billion for advanced Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) systems, which are designed to destroy hostile aircraft, missiles and drones at a range of 70-km. As part of the deal, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will provide Barak-8 advanced Medium-Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) systems to the the Indian Army.These Barak-8 systems, with their Multi-Function Surveillance and Threat Alert Radars (MF-STARs) as well as weapon control systems with data links, can detect and track hostile aerial threats at a range of 100-km and destroy them at 70-km. Consequently, they will help in plugging the existing holes in India’s air defence coverage.

Notes:
The Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) is the India’s premier advanced research facility in the field of veterinary medicine and allied branches. It is in news because Scientists at the IVRI is in process of setting up a Deoxyribo- Nucleic Acid (DNA) bank for wild animals, the first of its kind in North India, which is expected to start at the end of 2017. So far, they have collected samples of 140 species. Through the DNA bank, scientists at IVRI’s Centre for Wildlife will be able to tell the name and schedule of the species if they get only a part of the meat, hair, blood, skin or bone of any animal. Besides, the centre is also collecting serum of animals. The move will help clamp down on wildlife poaching and smuggling and also aid in research on wildlife species. At present, a DNA bank exists in Hyderabad. The headquarters of IVRI is located at Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.

Notes:
Anuja Ravindra Dhir, an Indian-origin woman, has become the first non-white judge to sit at the Old Bailey Court of London. She is also the youngest circuit judge to sit at the court. The Old Bailey Court of London is the central criminal court of England and Wales. It houses 15 judges including 10 men and 5 women.

Notes:
The Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, M Venkaiah Naidu has recently released a book titled “Gandhi in Champaran” authored by noted author Dinanath Gopal Tendulkar at National Mahatma Gandhi Museum in New Delhi. Naidu also released a book containing a collection of letters and articles of the correspondence between Nobel laureate Romain Rolland and Mahatma Gandhi as well as DG Tendulkar’s 8 volume biography of Mahatama Gandhi.

Notes:
The State Bank of India (SBI) has become the India’s most valued Public Sector Unit (PSU) in terms of market valuation. At the end of trade on April 18, the market cap of SBI stood at Rs 2,35,307.51 crore. Among the top-10 most valued companies list, SBI is at 5th position, while ONGC is at 7th. Apart from this, IT major TCS is the most valued Indian company with a market cap of Rs 4,54,902.85 crore followed by RIL, HDFC Bank, ITC, SBI, HDFC, ONGC, Infosys, HUL, and Maruti Suzuki.