Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2017

Notes:
Anthony Lianzuala, a 1982-batch Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) Officer, took over as the new Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in New Delhi on May 1, 2017. With this, he became the first person from the North-Eastern Region to hold this position. The CGA is the apex Accounting Authority of the Central Government and exercises the powers of the President under Article 150 of the constitution for prescribing the forms of Accounts of the Union and State Governments on the advice of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India.

Notes:
Dr. Sanjay Pratihar, a scientist at Tezpur University, has been chosen for the prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) medal for the Young Scientist Award for the year 2017 for his excellent contribution to multi-metal complexes, theoretical understanding, selective sensing of Hq2+ions and important applications in agriculture. The award, which consists of a bronze medal, a certificate and cash award of Rs. 25,000, will be given to him during INSA’s anniversary meeting scheduled in December 2017. The award of an Academy medal to a Young Scientist shall be made in recognition of notable contributions to any branch of science or technology, recognised by the Academy, on the basis of work carried out in India.

Notes:
Dubai has become the first city in the world to have its own Microsoft-designed font “Dubai Font”. The type face “Dubai Font” supports both Arabic and Latin script and will be available in 23 languages. It was created in partnership with Microsoft and is now available to Microsoft Office 365 users around the world. The font is available in three styles as ‘Dubai’, ‘Dubai Medium’ and ‘Dubai Light’. The new font was officially launched by the Dubai government on May 1, 2017 to reflect the city’s symbols of tolerance, happiness and respect, enabling people to express, communicate and connect.

Notes:
The Maharashtra government has recently launched the state’s first Automated Weather Stations (AWS) at Dongargaon in Nagpur. With this, the state has become the first Indian state to install first-of-its-kind service for farmers. Around 2,065 such weather stations will also install at the village/mandal level across Maharashtra. The AWS will be helpful in measuring the wind direction, wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity, and record the amount of rainfall. The gathered information will be shared among the farmers by making them available on Mahavedh portal (Maharashtra agriculture weather information network) as well as on the Skymet mobile application.

Notes:
Mark Anthony Selby, an English professional snooker player from Leicester, has won the 2017 World Snooker Championship by beating John Higgins 18–15 in the final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. With this win, Selby has become the fourth player after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan to claim back-to-back titles in the modern era. Selby is the reigning World and UK snooker champion and is the current world number one snooker player.

Notes:
The Government of Indonesia is hosting the World Press Freedom Day (WPFD)’s main event and the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize Ceremony in Jakarta, Indonesia from May 1-4, 2017. Dawit Isaak, an imprisoned Eritrean-Swedish journalist, has been bestowed with the 2017 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize on May 3, 2017. The $25,000 Prize award was given to Dawit Isaak’s daughter “Bethelem Isaak”. He was arrested in a crackdown on the media in September 2001 by the Eritrean government and till date his present location is unknown. The 2017 theme of WPFD is “Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s Role in Advancing Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies”. The day is observed every year on May 3 to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Notes:
According to the latest rating review by the Global rating agency Fitch Ratings has forecast India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth to accelerate to 7.7% in both FY17 and FY18, from 7.1% in FY16. It expects structural reforms to increase growth, along with higher real disposable income supported by implementation of the 7th pay commission recommendations and an average monsoon. Beside this, The agency kept India’s sovereign rating unchanged at ‘BBB-‘, which is the lowest investment grade. It has also retained “stable” outlook for the India’s ratings. The ratings agency has also indicated that its India’s sovereign ratings balance a strong medium-term growth outlook and favourable external balances with a weak fiscal position and difficult business environment.

Notes:
The Sualgiri and Swalgiri communities of Odisha have been notified as Scheduled Castes (SC) after President Pranab Mukherjee gave the nod to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2017. Now, the SC category status will entitle these communities to reservation in government jobs and admission in educational institutions, besides some other financial benefits. As per the modified list for Odisha, the “Sabakhia, Sualgiri, Swalgiri” are notified Scheduled Castes. The Constitution empowers the president to specify the scheduled castes in states and union territories in a list of notified scheduled castes. It also allows the list to be modified by Parliament. The new law has also replaced the term Union Territory of Pondicherry to Puducherry in the Constitution (Pondicherry) Scheduled Castes Order, 1964.

Notes:
Bengaluru FC skipper Sunil Chhetri, who scored seven goals in the 10th edition of the Hero I-League football tournament, has won the most coveted 2017 Hero of the League award. Mohun Bagan’s Debjit Majumder was adjudged the Best goalkeeper award of this season. Apart from this, Bagan’s Anas Edathodika won the ‘Jarnail Singh Best Defender’ of the league award while Alfred Kemah Jaryan of Aizawl FC was adjudged as the Best Midfielder.

Notes:
The World Asthma Day (WAD) is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to increase the awareness among public worldwide about the precautions and prevention of the asthma. It is celebrated on annual basis at first Tuesday of May month. It is thought that as many as 300 million people suffer from some form of asthma in the world – and there are 250,000 deaths each year linked to the disease. The 2017 theme is “Better air better breathing”.