Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

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:
The 2-day event ‘North East Calling’ will be organized by the Union government under its Destination North East series at India Gate lawns in New Delhi on September 9, 2017. The purpose of the event is to promote the art, culture, handicrafts, business and tourism of North East India. The event will showcase all activities and products of North-East and the entry for the general public is free. The event will include music festival for bands of North-East, Cultural night for dances of North-East and Handloom Demo Show presenting the clothes of North-East.

Notes:
NITI Aayog has constituted an Expert Task Force to provide a major thrust to job creation by enhancing India’s exports. It will be headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar. The panel will give recommendations on sector-specific policy interventions in key employment sectors and measures to enhance trade in services with high employment potential. It will also propose a comprehensive plan of action to generate employment and alleviate under-employment in both goods and services sectors and low wages by boosting India’s exports in key labour-intensive industries. Members of the Task force include CEO, NITI Aayog, Secretaries of Departments of Commerce, Industrial Policy and Promotion, Economic Affairs and Textiles. Leading economists and industry experts are also members of the Task Force, which will submit its report by November 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 Kalesar National Park (KNP) is a protected area in Yamunanagar district of Haryana and covers 13,000 acres. It is a popular destination for Leopard and home to red jungle fowl among other birds. Other animals recorded were leopard cat, rusty-spotted cat, jungle cat, Indian jackal, Asiatic elephant, chital, sambar, barking deer, etc.

Notes:
India’s first Hyperloop project will come up in Andhra Pradesh, which will connect the city centres of Vijayawada and Amaravati. It will supposedly cover the distance of over 35 km only in five minutes. The Andhra Pradesh – Economic Development Board (AP-EDB) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) for developing the project. The Hyperloop Technology is a brainchild idea of Tesla founder Elon Musk, who dubs it as the 5th mode of transportation. It is a system of magnetically levitating capsules (pods) that are sent at high speeds through low-pressure tubes.

Notes:
The Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) is a protected area in Jhajjar district of Haryana and covers an area of 411.55 hectares. The major wildlife supported here are neelgai, geedar, langur and Bandar, blue peafowl, rufous treepie, greater coucal, Indian grey hornbill, coppersmith barbet, etc.

Notes:
Prakash Padukone, the renowned Indian Badminton legend, will be conferred with the first Lifetime Achievement Award instituted by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) for his rich contribution to the sport. The award carries cash prize of Rs 10 lakh with a citation, which will be presented to Padukone at New Delhi very soon. Padukone had won the 1980 All England, besides bagging a bronze at the 1983 World Championship in Copenhagen. He also won a gold medal at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. He was bestowed with the Arjuna award in 1972 and the Padma Shri in 1982.

Notes:
Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, has launched a nation-wide hackathon #OpenGovDataHack on September 12, 2017. As part of the Startup Eco-system Development program, NIC and IAMAI have collaborated to conduct Nation Wide Hackathon #OpenGovDataHack across seven states of India. The purposeof the hackathon is to support & showcase potentially great Ideas/Talent from Inner India by reaching out in their own State/City (7 Cities). It is to enable them making their ideas developed into Apps/Infographics primarily by use of Open Government Data around the themes of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Transport, Education, Crime and Health to a stage, after which it can be evaluated by jury and be selected for Prizes and future support/funding.