Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2017

Notes:
Thiruvananthapuram has topped the list of Indian cities in the urban governance ranking of the 4th edition of Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS)-2016. The survey conducted by Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, which evaluated 21 cities across 18 states. Pune stood at 2nd position followed by Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The ASICS highlighted inadequacies in urban governance that could affect public service delivery and quality of life. Janaagraha recommends changes in planning laws to address the issues challenging the efficient planning of the cities.

Notes:
Kalika Prasad Bhattacharya (46), the noted Bengali folk music singer, has recently passed away in Hooghly district, West Bengal. Besides popularising folk songs of rural Bengal among the present generation in the albums of his band ‘Dohar’, he had also lent his voice in films like Jaatishwar (2014), Moner Manush (2010) and Bhuban Majhi (2017).

Notes:
M Chandrakasu (67), the Former Puducherry Minister, has recently passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He represented Nedungad constituency in the outlying enclave of Karaikal for six terms. He was Agriculture Minister in the All India N R Congress (AINRC) government formed by N Rangasamy in 2011.

Notes:
Iran has successfully test fired naval strike ballistic missile “Hormuz 2”, which is intended to hit moving targets at sea with high precision and has a range of nearly 300 kilometers (186 miles).

Notes:
The World Kidney Day (WKD) is observed every year on the 2nd Thursday in March as a global health awareness campaign to raise awareness about impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide. The WKD is a joint initiative of the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF) and International Society of Nephrology (ISN). In 2017, the WKD was observed on March 9 with the theme “Kidney Disease and Obesity: Healthy Lifestyle for Healthy Kidneys” to promote education about the harmful consequences of obesity and its association with kidney disease, advocating healthy lifestyle and health policy measures that make preventive behaviors an affordable option.

Notes:
Diphan Sivakumar (47), the noted Malayalam film director, has recently passed away in Kochi, Kerala. He is known for the Prithviraj starrer superhit movie Puthiya Mugham. His other noted movies include – Hero, SIM, Dolphin Bar, etc. His upcoming movie with Jayaram titled Sathya is in the post production stage.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare has launched Mission Fingerling programme with a total expenditure of about Rs. 52000 lakh to achieve Blue Revolution. The focus of the programme is to create an enabling environment for an integrated and holistic development and management of fisheries for the socio-economic development of the fishers and fish farmers. The target of the mission is to increase the fisheries production from 10.79 mmt (2014-15) to 15 mmt by 2020-21.

Notes:
The 2017 National Theatre Festival (NTF) has started at Tagore Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from March 16 and will continue till March 24. The Festival is organised by the Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala. The 2017 edition of the festival is dedicated to one of the doyens of Indian theatre, the late Kavalam Narayana Panikkar. This year’s edition will reflect contemporary India’s problems like atrocities against Dalits, issues being faced by women and sexual minorities. There will be a total of 17 plays, from various states, including six from Kerala. The opening play will be Deepan Sivaraman’s ‘The Legends of Khasak’, theatrical adaptation of OV Vijayan’s ‘Khasakkinte Ithihasangal’. A highlight of the festival will be Manipuri play ‘Pebet’, brought out by the celebrated Manipuri theatre group ‘Kalakshetra’, founded by the late theatre person Heisnam Kanhailal.

Notes:
The 6th edition of the International Engineering Sourcing Show (IESS) has started in Chennai, Tamil Nadu from March 16, 2017. It is the largest Engineering sourcing show in India for International visitors, which is organized under the aegis of Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry. The focus sectors of the IESS are industrial supply, metal & shop floor, industrial & electrical machinery, automotive component, etc. The 3-day event has exclusive Technology and Innovation Pavilions with representations from BARC, IIT Mumbai, IIT Madras, Fluid Control Research Institute (FCRI), International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI) and MSME Tools Room.

Notes:
India has been ranked 148th out of 193 countries in the world for the number of women MPs in Parliament, according to the 2017 edition of “Women in Politics 2017 Map” published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women. Rwanda topped the list, followed by Bolivia, Cuba, Iceland, Nicaragua and Sweden. The map of Women in Politics not only provides a country ranking for both ministerial and parliamentary representation, but also statistics on women in political leadership positions – Heads of State or government, women Speakers of Parliament, as well as ministerial portfolios held by women throughout the world.