Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - June, 2017

Notes:
John Bew has been bestowed with the 2017 Orwell Prize for his extraordinary biography “Citizen Clem” , which is about Clement Attlee, the founder of the NHS. The £3,000 award is the Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing, which is awarded annually by the Orwell Foundation to a book that comes closest to the George Orwell’s ambition to make political writing into an art in London.

Notes:
Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale (67), the current President of Vanuatu, has passed away in Port Vila, Vanuatu on June 17, 2017. He was a former senior civil servant and served as the secretary general of the Torba provincial government before becoming an Anglican priest. Father Lonsdale was the 2nd Anglican priest to become head of state in Vanuatu. He served the nation from September 22, 2014 until his death.

Notes:
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a loan agreement of $275 million with Government of India (GOI) for improving urban services in 64 small towns in Madhya Pradesh. As part of the agreement, the project will develop sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient water supply in 64 small and medium-sized towns, and integrated storm water and sewerage infrastructure in two heritage towns of Khajuraho and Rajnagar. Along with ADB’s loan, the Government of Madhya Pradesh will provide counterpart support of $124 million. The project will run for almost 5 years with an expected completion date of June 2022.

Notes:
India has recently signed a historical agreement with Portugal to promote cooperation in the field of archives in Lisbon, Portugal. As a part of the cooperation, the Torre do Tombo (National Archives of Portugal) has handed over digital copies of 62 volumes of the collection known as ‘Moncoes do Reino’ (Monsoon correspondence) to the National Archives of India (NAI). These volumes serve as the most important primary source for the study of the Portuguese expansion in Asia and their trade rivalries with the Arabs and European powers as well as their relations with neighboring Kings in South Asia and East Asia.

Notes:
India’s first indigenously built Floating Dock (FDN-2) for the Indian Navy has launched at the L&T Shipbuilding Yard at Kattupalli near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Floating Dock is 185 metres long and 40 metres wide and will enable docking of all kinds of vessels, including Naval ships and submarines (excepting aircraft carriers and tankers) of up to 8,000 tonnes displacement, with draughts of up to seven metres, during both day and night. FDN-2 was designed and built by Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T) at a cost of Rs 468 crore.

Notes:
The book titled ‘Hope in a challenged democracy; An Indian narrative’ has authored by Dr. Ashwini Kumar, the renowned lawyer, author and veteran parliamentarian. The principal themes of the book are firstly on the incestuous relationship between wealth and power’ and its impact on the credibility and moral authority of the government and secondly on an insufferable atmosphere of intolerance. The book was launched by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on April 10, 2017.

Notes:
The World Hydrography Day (WHD) is observed every year on June 21 to publicise the work of hydrographers and to create awareness about hydrography which is an essential science before undertaking any activity on or under the sea. The 2017 theme is “Mapping our seas, oceans and waterways – more important than ever”.

Notes:
Imran Khawaja, the Chairman of Associates counties and an administrator from Singapore, has been unanimously elected as the new Deputy Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) board. He will deputize in ICC meetings in case the chairman Shashank Manohar is absent. Khawaja is a senior lawyer and serving in the ICC Board for several years. The post of deputy chairman is recently created by the ICC Full Council following the constitutional change on June 22, 2017.

Notes:
Kavita Devi, the former Indian powerlifter and South Asian Games gold medal winner, will become the first Indian woman to compete in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) when she takes part in the first ever Mae Young Classic tournament for women from July 2017. She will be among the 32 participants who will compete at the tournament. The event is set to take place on July 13 -14 in Full Sail Live in Orlando, Florida.

Notes:
Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth has won the Australian Open Super Series Badminton trophy by defeating former world number one and Rio Olympics Gold medalist Chen Long in the final by 22-20, 21-16 in Sydney on June 25. 2017. With this, Srikanth has become the fifth player in the world to contest three successive Super Series finals by reaching the summit clash in Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.