Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
Divya Deshmukh (11) has won gold in the girls’ Under-12 category at the World Cadets Chess Championship at Pocos de Caldas, Brazil. She scored a total of 9.5 points to give India its only medal in the championship this year. It is Divya’s second world title after her victory in the under-10 World Youth Chess Championship-2014 in Durban.

Notes:
The world’s highest sandcastle 54.72 feet (16.68 metres) tall has recently built in the German city of Duisburg. It was constructed in over 3 weeks and is supposed to stand until at least September 24, 2017. The representative of Guinness World Records (GWR) has certified the record. It takes the title from a 14.84-meter (48.69-foot) sandcastle built early this year in India. The new sandcastle is decorated with sand models of tourist attractions such as Athens’ Acropolis, Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Notes:
Shirish Pai (88), the renowned Marathi poet and activist, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on September 2, 2017. She was credited with introducing ‘Haiku’ to the Marathi speaking world. Pai was the daughter of noted writer-journalist ‘Acharya’ Pralhad Keshav Atre. She started writing ‘Haiku’ in 1975. She studied Japanese ‘Haiku’, its origin and nature and published five Marathi ‘Haiku’ books. Ms. Pai also translated some Japanese ‘Haiku’ from English to Marathi. She also worked as a journalist in the Maratha newspaper and participated in the ‘Samyukta Maharashtra’ (United Maharashtra) movement.

Notes:
Satish Kumar, the decorated West Bengal wrestler, has been awarded Rs 25 lakh as compensation by the Delhi court for being wrongly restrained from taking part in the 14th Asian Games-2002 at Busan in South Korea under the mistaken impression that he had taken performance-enhancing drugs. The court also directed the government to ensure that such incidents are never repeated and no other sportsperson goes through the humiliation which Satish Kumar has undergone. Kumar was selected by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for the 14th Asian Games, but was wrongly stopped from boarding the flight with other athletes as he was confused with another wrestler of same name who hailed from West Bengal. He was then banned for two years after testing positive in the dope test.

Notes:
Raj Kumar Singh has recently take charge as new Union Minister of State (IC) in Ministries of Power & New & Renewable Energy after latest reshuffle in the Union Cabinet on September 3, 2017. He succeeded Piyush Goyal, who is now Cabinet Minister for Railways. Singh is the Member of Parliament (MP) from Arrah Lok Sabha constituency. Singh is also the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Notes:
The Phawngpui Blue Mountain National Park (PBMNP) is located in the state of Mizoram and covers an area of 50 square kilometers. It is the natural home of a wonderful range of birdlife including the rare Blyth’s tragopan, falcon, sunbirds, dark-rumped swift, and Mrs. Hume’s pheasant, which is the Mizoram state bird, and also rare animals like the mountain goat, slow loris, tiger, leopard, leopard cat, serow, goral, Asiatic black bear, stump-tailed macaque and capped langur.

Notes:
The Union Government has recently told Supreme Court that an expert committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of former apex court judge Justice BN Srikrishna to identify key data protection issues in India and recommend methods to address them. The government told the apex court that after the committee’s report is submitted, there is a possibility that the law shall be passed regulating data protection. Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, state that the committee will study various issues and make specific suggestions for consideration of the government on the principles to be considered for data protection. The apex court has fixed the matter for further hearing on November 20, 2017.

Notes:
Amritpal Singh, the captain of the Indian basketball team, has scripted history by becoming the first Indian-born player to be picked up by an Australian National Basketball League (NBL) team. He will be a part of the Kings side as they begin their pre-season tour where they will also take on popular NBA side Utah Jazz, which will be an incredible achievement for Indian basketball. With this, Amritpal has become the first Indian player to play for an Aussie team in the NBL.

Notes:
N Baijendra Kumar, an IAS officer of 1985 batch of Chhattisgarh cadre, has recently taken charge as  Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the state-run National Mineral Development Corporation  (NMDC). Prior to this post, he was holding the post of Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh, as well as Commerce & Industries and Energy Departments in the Chhattisgarh government. The NMDC is under administrative control of the Ministry of Steel and its headquarters is located at Hyderabad. It is involved in the exploration of iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite etc.

Notes:
The book “How India Sees the World: Kautilya to the 21st Century” has been authored by former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran, which is launched by former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on September 6, 2017. The book records the crucial meeting of the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) on the eve of India-Pakistan Defence Secretary-level talks in May 2006.