Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
India and Switzerland have signed two pacts for technical cooperation in the field of Railways after delegation level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting President of Swiss Confederation Doris Leuthard in New Delhi. The aim of pacts is to cooperate in the areas of traction rolling stock, EMU and Train sets, traction propulsion equipments, freight and passenger cars, etc. To boost bilateral ties, Swiss president, Doris Leuthard is on a 3-day visit to India. The visit is significant as Switzerland is the chair of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) where India has been seeking membership. The main theme of the presidential visit is the Treaty of Friendship signed between Switzerland and India in 1948, in which the two countries gave assurances of “perpetual peace” and “unalterable friendship”.

Notes:
India and Myanmar will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the conservation of earthquake-damaged pagodas at Bagan during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Myanmar on September 6-7, 2017. Began is a renowned tourist attraction of Myanmar and India’s role in rebuilding damaged pagodas at Began will be an opportunity to showcase India’s expertise in the restoration and conservation of monuments not only to the people of Myanmar but also tourists from other countries. This pact will further strengthen India’s enduring ties with Myanmar, in culture and religion.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the annual conference – Rajaswa Gyan Sangam (RGS-2017) in New Delhi on September 1, 2017. The conference is jointly organised by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). The objective of the Conference is to enable a two-way communication between the policy-makers and the senior officers in the field offices with a view to increase revenue collection and facilitate effective implementation of law and policies in key result areas. Apart from the joint sessions, separate technical sessions of each Board will be held during the two-day Conference. Issues arising in implementation of policies and strategies to achieve targets in core functional areas will also be discussed. Crucial issues like Tax Evasion, GST, Customs Reforms and Modernisation will also come up for discussion. For the first time, senior officers of the Finance Department of the States and Union Territories will attend the event.

Notes:
Rajiv Kumar, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, has been appointed as the new Secretary in the Department of Financial Services (DFS). He succeeded Anjuly Chib Duggal, who superannuated. At present, Kumar is Special Secretary and Establishment Officer in the Ministry of Personnel. The DFS looks after the functioning of banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and the national pension system. Rajiv Kumar has spearheaded several reforms in Indian bureaucracy including an online system for recording of the bureaucrats annual performance appraisal reports.

Notes:
The 3-day International Hindu Conference has started in Kathmandu, Nepal with the theme of ‘Emerging spiritualism: Renaissance of Hinduism’ on August 31, 2017. The aim of the conference is to make Kathmandu the global capital of Hinduism. Approx 500 Hindu scholars, religious leaders, Hindu activists and officials from different countries including India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the US and the UK are are taking part in the conference. The conference will discuss papers on various contemporary issues including, scientific basis of Hinduism, climate change and global warming.

Notes:
Goa chief minister Manohar Parrrikar has launched an online Public Grievance Redressal System at the state secretariat on September 1, 2017. It is a single window online portal for citizens to register grievances towards any state government department. The system’s performance in terms of glitches would be monitored and addressed gradually. In the future, a call centre facility would be added to the system. Under the online Public Grievance Redressal System, citizens will be notified about the status of their complaint through SMS and email based on a unique grievance id. There is a provision for automatically escalating unaddressed grievances to higher authorities periodically. Written complaint registration will be continued and uploaded online by the public grievances department.

Notes:
Nirmala Sitharaman, the former minister of state for the commerce and industry ministry, has become the new Defence Minister of India on September 3, 2017 after latest Union cabinet reshuffle. She succeeded Arun Jaitley. With this, she has become the India’s first woman Defence Minister after Indira Gandhi. Currently, she is Member of Parliament (MP) in Rajya Sabha representing the state of Karnataka. Now, Suresh Prabhu has become the new Union Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Notes:
The Karnataka government has recently decided to provide free education for girls across the state from Class 1 up to graduation in all public and aided private schools and colleges, excluding professional institutions. The scheme will be able to avail free education without paying a penny from the next academic year. According to officials, the government would reimburse all fees except examination fees of girl students of Class 1 to graduation level, irrespective of their family’s annual income. The students will have to pay the fees first and the same would be reimbursed by the government. The entire tuition fee will be reimbursed, according to the minister. The purpose of the scheme is to help underprivileged and lower middle-class sections of the state. Currently, the girls are given free education in government schools and colleges up to undergraduate level in the state. Karnataka is not the only state in India to start this grand scheme. Telangana and Punjab have also launched similar schemes. Telangana has announced free education for girls from kindergarten to post-graduation, and Punjab has extended the scheme until PhD.

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:
The Indian pair of Rohan Kapoor and Kuhoo Garg bagged the mixed doubles title at the Hellas Open International badminton series after registering a straight-game victory in Livadia on September 3, 2017. The top-seeded Indian combination of Garg and Kapoor defeated compatriots Karishma Wadkar and Utkarsh Arora by 21-19 21-19 in the final.