Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
London has retained its position as the world’s top financial centre in the 2017 Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI). The index is compiled and published by Z/Yen Group, which ranked 92 financial centres globally on factors such as infrastructure and access to high-quality staff. New York has acquired 2nd position followed by Hongkong, Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai, etc. Meanwhile, Mumbai is the only India that has been listed in the index and acquired 60th rank. The GFCI is a ranking of the competitiveness of financial centres based on over 29,000 financial centre assessments from an online questionnaire together with over 100 indices from organisations such as the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Notes:
Abhay Firodia, the Chairman of Force Motors, has been elected as the new president of the automobile industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) for 2017-18. Firodia headed SIAM in 1990-91 and 1991-92 as well. Beside him, Mahindra & Mahindra’s President-Automotive Sector Rajan Wadhera has been elected as the new vice-president of the organization. Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director & CEO Kenichi Ayukawa has taken over as Treasurer for the year 2017-18.

Notes:
The 12th edition of the India-Japan annual summit-2017 has held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on September 14, 2017. This is the 4th annual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. In it, India and Japan have signed 15 agreements for enhancing bilateral cooperation in several key areas including investment promotion, civil aviation, and science and technology. The two leaders also reviewed the entire spectrum of bilteral cooperation.They also laid the foundation for the country’s first high-speed rail corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Notes:
The Shiretoko National Park (SNP) is located at the northeastern tip of the island of Hokkaido in Japan and covers an area of 386.33 square kilometers. The park is best known as the home of Japan’s largest brown bear population and for offering views of Kunashiri Island, ownership of which Japan and Russia dispute.

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The National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) has signed MoU with Ludhiana based Bonn Food Industries to promote coloured wheat with antioxidant qualities beneficial for control of diabetes, cholesterol and obesity. It has been developed by routine way of plant breeding by crossing high yielding Indian cultivars PBW550, PBW621, HD2967 with colored wheat procured from Japan and America, which is as rich in anthocynanins as blueberries and high in zinc. Anthocyanins can act as antioxidants that remove free radicals from the body and help in prevention of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, inflammation, cancer, obesity and aging. Anthocyanin rich colored wheat developed at NABI also has enhanced Zinc content-one of the most deficient micro-nutrients in the developing countries. The NABI is an autonomous body of Ministry of Science and Technology.

Notes:
The International Day for the preservation of the Ozone Layer is observed every year on September 16 to mark the commemoration of the date of signing of the Montreal Protocol in 1987 on substances that deplete the Ozone layer. It is mainly intended to spread awareness of the depletion of the Ozone Layer and search for solutions to preserve it. The 2017 theme ‘Caring for all life under the sun’. The Ozone layer is a fragile shield of gas which protects the Earth from the harmful ultraviolet radiation of the sun and thus helping preserve life on the planet. Substances like Chlorofluorocarbons, halons, Carbontetrachloride are responsible for ozone layer depletion.

Notes:
Rio Olympics Silver medallist P V Sindhu from India has won the 2017 women’s singles title at the Korea Open Super Series badminton tournament by defeating Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in three sets 22-20, 11-21, 20-18 at Seoul in South Korea. With this, Sindhu has become the first Indian to win the Korea Super Series crown. It is also her third super series title of her career.

Notes:
The 13th edition of joint military training exercise “Yudh Abhyas-2017” has started between Indian and US armies at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington, USA on September 16, 2017. During the two week long exercise soldiers from both countries will hone their tactical skills in counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations under a joint brigade headquarter. Both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well-developed tactical drills for neutralization of likely threats that may be encountered in UN peace keeping operations. Experts from both sides will hold detailed discussions to share their experience and expertise on varied operational topics.

Notes:
The first ever National Conference on “Mission Mode to address Under-Nutrition” was successfully held in New Delhi on September 19, 2017. The conference was organized by the Ministry of Women & Child Development in collaboration with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, keeping in mind the goal of “Mission Malnutrition Free India-2022”. The Ministry of Women & Child Development will soon issue new guidelines on supplementary nutrition in this regard in the next few days which will supersede all existing guidelines. Similarly, a separate self contained protocol for severely and acutely malnourished (SAM) children will also be issued shortly. The Minister also highlighted the importance of child protection alongwith nutrition.

Notes:
The high-level committee headed by retired judge Arvind Kumar Goel has recommended that Non-resident Indians (NRIs) who harass or desert their wives could face impoundment or cancellation of their passport. The panel has also recommended that cases of domestic violence be included in the scope of extradition treaties that India inks with other countries. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has constituted the committee in May 2017 to look into various legal and regulatory challenges and suggest measures to address them due to several complaints lodged by women deserted by their NRI husbands.