Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra has become the first Indian woman ambassador for Tourism Australia to encourage Indians to visit the country. She was presented the Friend of Australia (FOA) recognition by Australian Consul General Tony Huber for her contribution to promote Australia recently. Prior to Chopra, famous chef Sanjeev Kapoor and cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle have been great advocates for Australia, encouraging Indians to visit Australia.

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.

Notes:
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and K Sanjita Chanu has recently qualified for 2018 Commonwealth Games after winning a gold each in their respective weight categories (48kg & 53kg) at the Commonwealth Senior (men & women) weightlifting championships at Gold Coast in Australia. Mirabai lifted 85kg in snatch and 104kg in clean & jerk for an overall total of 189kg to finish on top of the podium in women’s 48kg weight division. She broke Commonwealth record in snatch event with a lift of 85kg, bettering her own record by one kilogram. Meanwhile, Sanjita also bagged the yellow metal in women’s 53kg with a total effort of 195kg and qualified for the Commonwealth Games which would be held at the same venue next year.

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 Gujarat Government and Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation-Amul have recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to save the children of anganwadi from malnutrition. According to the MOU, under the ‘Take Home Ration’, district dairies in cooperation with the Gujarat milk marketing federation will provide nutritive foods to more than 42-lakh children of more than 53 thousand anaganwadis, pregnant-mothers, lactating mothers and young girls. Apart from this, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has flagged off statewide ‘Narmada Mahotsav Yatra’ from Surendranagar district to create awareness about the importance of increased water supply from Narmada canal-based projects in different parts of the state. The 10 days long Narmada Mahotsav Yatra will end at Dabhoi- in Narmada district in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday on 17th September.

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:
The Union government has set up an online service facility that can be used by importers and exporters to resolve all foreign trade-related issues. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), which comes under Ministry of Commerce, has asked all exporters and importers to use the system – Contact@DGFT – for resolution of their matters. Traders can raise all matters related to the directorate or other agencies of the Centre and States through this facility activated at the DGFT website. Contact@DGFT system has been activated as a single point contact for resolving all foreign trade-related issues. The DGFT notice to all regional authorities, export promotion councils, commodity boards and members of trade and industry has stated that the best efforts will be made for expeditious resolution.

Notes:
The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) will undertake major research works on agriculture this year (in 2017) with the World Bank (WB) fund of Rs 1100 crore. It is announced by the Deputy Director General of the national apex agricultural research body Narendra Singh Rathore in the convocation function at the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University in Chennai yesterday. The funds will be allocated to ten each of the premier agricultural and veterinary universities in the country. It must be noted that though India ranks first in milk production in the world, the milk yield per animal is very low as compared to international standards. The headquarters of ICAR is locaed in New Delhi.