Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
The 9th edition of BRICS summit-2017 has started at Xiamen in the Fujian Province of east China on September 3, 2017 with theme “BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future”. For this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarked on a two nation tour of China and Myanmar. On the first leg of his visit, Mr. Modi will attend the 2017 BRICS Summit. In the 3-day summit, at least four documents, BRICS Action Agenda on Economic and Trade Development, BRICS Action Agenda on the Innovation Cooperation, BRICS Customs Cooperation and an MoU between BRICS Business Council and New Development Bank are expected to be signed. On the second leg of the visit, Prime Minister Modi will pay a State visit to Myanmar from September 5th to 7th. This will be Prime Minister Modi’s first bilateral State visit to Myanmar. During the visit, Prime Minister will hold discussions with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on matters of mutual interest and also call on President U Htin Kyaw. Apart from his engagements in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw, Mr Modi will visit Yangon and Bagan.

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:
J Y Pillay, an Indian-origin veteran civil servant, has been appointed as the acting president of Singapore. He succeeded Tony Tan Keng Yam, who completed a six-year term. He will act as the president until after polling day on Septemeber 23 – or after nomination day on September 13, if a candidate is elected unopposed. According to the report, this is the first time the office has fallen vacant since the elected presidency was introduced in 1991.

Notes:
The Pulie Badze Wildlife Sanctuary (PWS) is located at Kohima District of Nagaland and covers an area of 923 hectares.The sanctuary is a natural habitat for Blyth’s Tragopan (or Grey-bellied Tragopan).

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:
The Jaldapara National Park (JNP) is located at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in Alipurduar District of northern West Bengal and on the banks of the Torsa River. It is home to Indian leopard, Indian elephants, sambar, barking deer, spotted deer, hog deer, wild boars, gaur, etc. Jaldapara is a paradise for bird watchers. It is one of the very few places in India, where the Bengal florican is sighted. The other birds to be found here are the crested eagle, Pallas’s fish eagle, shikra, Finn’s weaver, jungle fowl, peafowl (peacock), partridge, and lesser pied hornbill. Pythons, monitor lizards, kraits, cobras, geckos, and about eight species of fresh water turtles can also be found here.

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 Assam government has recently set up a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Cell for implementation of DBT across schemes in the Country and to coordinate efforts at the State Level in taking the DBT initiative forward with immediate effect. The Chief Secretary will be the chairman of the cell and the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary, Finance Department will be the convenor. The Cell will Coordinate with Central Ministries & disseminate the directives to the respective Departments in States. It will closely monitor & evaluate the progress of various Departments on DBT related indicators and in addition, the Cell will also function as the research unit to explore possibility of using information technology for better service delivery across range of Govt. Services in the State.

Notes:
India will host the 2019 edition of the Commonwealth (Youth, Junior and Senior) Weightlifting Championships. It was decided by the Executive Board of Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation to allot the 2019 edition of the competitions to India at Gold Coast, Australia. The 2018 edition of the tournament is being held at the Gold Coast.

Notes:
Gauri Lankesh, the noted journalist and activists, was shot dead at her Rajarajeshwari Nagar’s residence in Bengaluru, Karnataka on September 5, 2017. She was the editor of popular Kannada tabloid Lankesh Patrike founded by her father and well-known writer P Lankesh. Lankesh was also part of a panel formed by State government to help surrender Naxals to reform. She was known to be a notable social and political commentator and acclaimed for her lifelong support for free speech and strong journalistic ethics, her works were popular in all quarters, her critics alike. The state government has formed a three team comprising of senior police officer to investigate the crime. AIR correspondent reports that killing of senior journalist known for her out spoken views, is being compared with the murder of rationalist, liberal thinkers, M M Kulburgi, Pansare and Dabholkar in recent years. Several associations of writers and journalists are holding protest in the state demanding immediate arrest of the perpetrators of crime.