Current Affairs Quiz | 7 August 2017

The Pampadum Shola National Park (PSNP) is the smallest national park located in the Idukki district of Kerala. It protects a moderate amount of montane evergreen shola forest that is associated with the wildlife rich Eravikulam National Park. Some notable birds found here such as Nilgiri wood-pigeon, white-bellied shortwing, vernal hanging parrot, blue rock-thrush, blue-capped rock-thrush and Nilgiri flycatcher, and black-and-orange flycatchers.

The researchers at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have developed a low-cost highly sensitive nanometre-scale carbon monoxide sensor by employing an innovative fabrication technique. It is known that Carbon Monoxide (CO) can have adverse effects on the health of people exposed to it. Thus, it becomes necessary to have good, low-cost carbon-monoxide sensors. Typically, a sensor would be a thin, current carrying plate whose resistance changes on exposure to carbon monoxide. This in turn changes the value of the current flowing through it. This change when measured indicates the level of carbon monoxide in the air. The research is published in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical.

Sharada, the veteran actress and national award winner, has been selected for the prestigious Prem Nazir Award for the year 2017. The award will be presented to Sharada by state Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran at a function at Chirayankeezhu on August 15, 2017 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. It carries a cash prize of Rs 75,000, a statuette and a citation. The award is instituted by people of Chirayankeezhu, Prem Nazir’s home town in the district, in memory of Kerala’s evergreen actor. Beside her, Actor T P Madhavan will be presented Rs 50,000 cash award announced by Chirayankeezhu panchayat.

Paul Kagame, the current president of Rwanda who is ruling the tiny African nation for 17 years, has won the 2017 Rwandan presidential election with 99% of votes. He is the leader of the political party Rwandan Patriotic Front (FPR). With this, he secured his third term in office as president and will extend his 17 years in power.

The Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) is an organization under the Ministry of Environment and Forests (India) to impart knowledge and skills to the professional foresters and help them to develop competence for managing the country forest and wildlife resources on a sustainable basis. It is located at the New Forest campus of Forest Research Institute (FRI) in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. Currently, IGNFA is functioning as a Staff College for the officers of the Indian Forest Service (IFS).

India’s first helicopter-taxi (heli-taxi) service will be started in Bengaluru, Karnataka for those who cannot afford to spend time battling traffic to travel across the city. The Kempegowda International Airport will become the first airport in India to have this facility. The service will be operated by Thumby Aviation Private Limited and is expected to take off within three months. Initially, the helicopter service will be operated between Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport and the Electronics City area. The travel time will be cut down to 15 minutes instead of the two hours taken by road.

Sajan from India has bagged a bronze medal in Greco-Roman 74kg class category after defeating Ali Osman Erbay of Turkey by 6-1 at the Junior World Wrestling Championships in Tampere, Finland on August 6, 2017. He is the lone Indian Greco-Roman wrestler to bag a medal at this championship.

The Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has been appointed as the brand ambassador for Swachh Bharat Mission in Uttar Pradesh. It was recently announced by Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Apart from this, Yogi Adityanath has also made Kumar’s upcoming film “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” tax free. The movie stresses on the importance of building toilets and ending open defecation in the country.

The National Handloom Day (NHD) is celebrated every year in India on August 7 to give an impetus to the sector and encourage the use of handmade loom. The 7th of August has been chosen to celebrate the day due to its special significance in India’s history. It was on this day that the Swadeshi Movement was launched in 1905. The movement involved revival of domestic products and production processes. The 3rd edition of National Handloom Day is celebrated across the country on August 7, 2017 to promote use of Khadi among people.

S. Aparna, a 1988-batch IAS officer from Gujarat cadre, has been appointed as new Executive Director of the World Bank (WB) to represent the constituency of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for three years. Currently, she is principal secretary to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. At the World Bank, she will replace Subhash Garg, who was recently appointed Economic Affairs Secretary, Ministry of Finance.