Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - September, 2017

Notes:
Arun Jaitley, the Union Finance Minister, has launched Google’s UPI-based digital payment service ‘Tez’ in New Delhi. The app that will let users link their phones to their bank accounts to pay for goods in physical stores and online. It is available for both Android and iOS users that allows person-to-person money transfers. Google Tez will support several local languages including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

Notes:
Sterling K Brown has created history by becoming the first African-American to win the best actor drama Emmy awards in the past 19 years, for his performance as Randall on NBC’s “This Is Us”. The last to win the award was Andre Braugher in 1998 for his role in “Homicide: Life on the Street”. Moreover British Pakistan actor Riz Ahmed has become the first Muslim actor as well as the man of Asian descent to win an Outstanding lead actor in a limited series at Emmy award for the “systematic issue of inclusion.

Notes:
Tripura has become the India’s first state to set up family welfare district committees to examine the complaints of women against their husbands, in-laws and relatives of the husband and to find an amicable solution through negotiation. The Tripura High Court is the first high court among 24 high courts of the country that has constituted the family welfare district committees. The new system would be valid for the next six months and after that National Legal Services Authority (NLSA) would submit a report of its performance to the apex court, on the basis of which a new course of action would be decided.

Notes:
The joint military exercise “Iron Union 5” will start between United States and United Arab Emirates (UAE) exercise in Abu Dhabi on September 23, 2017 to consolidate their bilateral relations and exchange training and military expertise. The purpose of the exercise is to upgrade and boost the readiness of the UAE’s armed forces and to allow both armies to promote their international co-operation in joint military operations.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released its first tranche of emergency funding of $ 175,000 to provide essential medicines and life-saving healthcare to the vulnerable population in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar that has witnessed an influx of thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar. The WHO grant will support 20 mobile medical teams to provide essential services for at least two months. The grant is also being used to procure essential medicines and medical supplies to be distributed to pre-existing health facilities in Cox’s Bazar area. The WHO is also working closely with International Organisation for Migration, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF) and other health partners in ensuring that adequate health services are provided to the vulnerable population.

Notes:
N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, has launched ‘People First’ mobile application at the Collectors’ conference in Vijayawada. The app will empower citizens with real-time governance. It will keep the citizens updated with the latest schemes and services of the government and the users will also be able to use the app for registering their complaints. The registered complaints will be addressed as soon as possible and selected complaints will be directly monitored by the chief minister himself.

Notes:
Lillian Ross (99), a pioneer of literary journalism, has passed away in New York, United States. She was a staff writer at The New Yorker from 1945 until she retired. Her close narrative style defined a memorable and influential 70-year career, including a revealing portrait of Ernest Hemingway, a classic Hollywood expose and a confession to an adulterous affair.

Notes:
Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, has launched a nation-wide ‘Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat’ at Mota Ishanpur village in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat on September 23, 2017. The new scheme is a backup to the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana to distribute LPG connections among the rural areas where conventional fuel is used for domestic purposes. The purpose of the LPG Panchayat is to spread awareness among the LPG users about how to properly use the clean fuel and its many benefits. Under the scheme, one lakh LPG Panchayats will be activated across the country during the next one and a half years. The idea of this platform is to trigger a discussion through sharing of personal experiences on the benefits of use of clean fuel compared to traditional fuels like cowdung, charcoal or wood. India has over 21 crore LPG connections, with 51% reach in the rural areas and nearly 100% penetration across the urban centres.

Notes:
The 7th ASEM Economic Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM EMM7) was held in Seoul, South Korea on September 21-22, 2017. The 2017 theme is ‘Innovative Partnership for Inclusive Prosperity’. The meeting was conducted under the Chairmanship of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea. In it, 51 member countries signed a joint statement on supporting the multilateral trade system.

Notes:
Prime minister Narendra Modi has recently constituted Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (PMEAC) under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy. The 5-member Economic Advisory Council (EAC) will address the issues of macroeconomic importance. The council will also analyse and advise the Prime Minister on any issue, economic or otherwise, referred by him. Besides Debroy, the council includes NITI Aayog’s principal adviser Ratan Watal as its member and economists Surjit Bhalla, Rathin Roy and Ashima Goyal as part-time members.