Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2017

Notes:
Telangana has become the first Indian state to introduce a logo for vehicles driven by persons with hearing impairment. The logo is designed by Hyderabad-based graphic designer Manikanta Annapragada, who incidentally is the first person to obtain a driving license in the ‘hearing impaired’ category. For two-wheelers, the logo should be four inches high and three inches wide on the rear side, and three inches tall and two inches wide on the front. For four-wheelers, the logo should be six inches tall and five inches wide at the rear side and four inches tall and three inches wide in the front.

Notes:
India’s first-ever National Basketball Association (NBA) academy has officially opened in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. The NBA Academy India is the NBA’s 5th elite training centre globally, which will be fully funded by the NBA. The NBA academy will employ a holistic, 360-degree approach to player development with focuses on education, leadership, character development and life skills. As part of the program, the students will compete against top competition throughout the year and will have an opportunity to be selected for travel teams that play in international tournaments and exhibition games. The initiative is part of NBA’s drive to expand recruitment globally.

Notes:
Sumit Kumar of India has won silver medal in the men’s Freestyle 125 kg category at the 2017 Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi on May 14, 2017. In the gold medal round, Sumit lost to Yadollah Mohammadkazem Mohebi of Iran 2-6 to settle for the second position. With this, India finished their Asian Wrestling Championship campaign on a resounding note. The Indian wrestlers overall bagged 10 medals comprising a gold, five silver and four bronze. This bettered their tally of nine medals in the last edition of the Championship at Bangkok.

Notes:
The Nandankanan Zoological Park (NZP) is located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. It is home to about 1660 individual animals representing 166 species, including 67 species of mammals, 81 species of birds, and 18 species of reptiles. It has the largest collection of white tigers in India. The zoo also includes 34 aquaria which are home to a large variety of fresh water fish. The endangered species such as the Asiatic lion, three Indian crocodilians, Sangal lion-tailed macaque, Nilgiri langur, Indian pangolin, mouse deer and countless birds, reptiles and fish have been breeding successfully at Nandankanan. The zoo enjoys a good reputation internationally for successfully breeding black panthers, gharials, and white tigers in captivity.

Notes:
The Vishakhapatnam railway station in Andhra Pradesh has been adjudged as the cleanest railway station among the 75 busiest stations in the country in category A1, followed by Secunderabad, Jammu Tawi, Vijayawada and Anand Vihar railway stations. This was revealed by Third Party Audit Report on Station Cleanliness i.e. released by Ministry of Railway in New Delhi on May 17, 2017. The railway stations are categorised — A1, A, B, C, D, E and F — based on their annual passenger revenue by the ministry. Among the ‘A’ category stations, Beas railway station in Punjab was rated the cleanest station followed by Khammam station in Telangana and Ahmednagar station in Maharashtra. Zone wise South-East Central railway has been ranked first followed by East Coast railway and Central Railway. The survey was carried out by the Quality Council of India (QCI) and was based on criteria such as toilets on platforms, management of tracks and dustbins.

Notes:
The Bhindawas Bird Sanctuary (BBS) is located in Jhajjar district, Haryana. It is home to many birds such as Blue Peafowl, Gray Francolin, Black Francolin, Shikra, Black Kite, Greater Coucal, White-throated Kingfisher, Coppersmith Barbet and Indian Roller. It is in news because the sanctuary will soon be developed as a beautiful tourist resort and the additional facilities to be provided to the tourists coming to this place would include arrangements for camping for night stay, beautification of the lake, and opening of dispensary for birds and the wild life.

Notes:
Two Indian peacekeepers, Rifleman Brijesh Thapa and Private Ravi Kumar will be honored posthumously with a prestigious United Nation (UN)’s Dag Hammarskjold Medal for their courage and sacrifice in the line of duty. They are among 117 military, police and civilian personnel who will be awarded with the UN Medal on the 2017 International Day of UN Peacekeepers to be observed on May 29. Permanent Representatives to the UN will collect the medals on behalf of the fallen peacekeepers. Currently, India has deployed more than 7,600 military and police personnel to UN peace operations in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, the Middle East, South Sudan, Sudan and the Western Sahara.

Notes:
Iran’s incumbent President Hassan Rouhani has won his second term defeating his conservative rival Ebrahim Raeisi with a huge margin of votes in the the 2017 Presidential election of Iran. With this, he became the second Iranian President, after Mohammad Khatami, to win a presidential victory as an incumbent with an increased electoral mandate. Rouhani is considered to be a moderate and pragmatic politician.

Notes:
Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez has been bestowed with the International Humanitarian Award in Editor’s Choice category at the 2017 annual Asian Voice Charity Awards for her work in India and worldwide. She has been working with the charity ‘Habitat for Humanity for last five years. This organization works to help people to live with dignity by giving them homes to live in.

Notes:
Recently, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 52nd annual meeting of African Development Bank (AfDB) Group-2017 at the Mahatma Mandir convention centre in Gandhinagar Gujarat with theme “Transforming Agriculture for Wealth Creation in Africa”, which has started from May 22 and will continue till May 26, 2017. It is the first-ever AfDB meeting in India, in which more than 3000 delegates from 81 member countries from across the world including the Governors, Alternate Governors, Executive Directors, policy makers and businesses. The 2018 annual meeting of AfDB Group is scheduled to be held in Busan, South Korea.