Weekly CA Quiz: August 1st week (1 August – 7 August)

The central government has constituted an expert panel, which would study various issues relating to data protection in the country and suggest a draft data protection Bill. The 10-member panel is headed by Justice (retired) B N Srikrishna

The data released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), shows that of the 830 million young people online worldwide, 320 million, or 39 per cent, are in China and India

Former Union Minister (Heavy Industry Minister in the UPA-I government) Santosh Mohan Dev has passed away.

World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) is an annual celebration which is being held every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 120 countries.

Peter O’Neill is re-elected as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given ex-post facto approval for an MoU signed by India and other BRICS nations for setting up of an agriculture research platform.

1. The government has informed Parliament that medical devices will have to mandatorily carry maximum retail price (MRP) on packages from January 1, 2018.

To build out a more elaborate personal assistant for the Messenger users, Facebook has acquired an artificial intelligence (AI) startup Ozlo that specialises in understanding text-based conversations.

The panel will work under the chairmanship of former Lok Sabha Secretary General and former Law Secretary K. Viswanathan.

E-commerce major Flipkart and global technology major eBay have successfully concluded the merger transaction, thus roping in the latter under the Flipkart Group Company, effective immediately.

Swarup, who was functioning in the capacity of a Public Interest Director with BSE, replaces incumbent Sudhakar Rao, retired IAS officer.

Leading dance critic and Sangeet Natak Akademi member Shanta Serbjeet Singh has passed away.

Two-time former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, a Ukrainian former professional boxer has announced retirement from his “incredibly successful boxing career” which lasted 21 years.
Born in Kazakhstan

Hassan Rouhani was officially sworn in for a second term as Iran’s President

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), formerly the Bureau of Investigation (BOI), is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States, and its principal federal law enforcement agency.

Payback India has appointed Gautam Kaushik as the new Chief Executive Officer.

Indian wallet major, MobiKwik entered into a strategic tie-up with non-banking financial company, Bajaj Finance Ltd, to launch India’s first debit and credit wallet, which will enable the consumer to avail instant purchases and payment option via a credit facility through the app.

The Hyderabad-based ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) has launched “AGRI UDAAN” programme in which selected startups will be trained to develop innovative agriculture products.

Spanish motorcycling legend Angel Nieto has passed away.

Senior bureaucrat Mohammad Mustafa has been appointed as the Chairman and Manging Director in Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Indian Grandmaster R.R. Laxman clinched the National Blitz Chess Championship title held in Kolkata.

The 15th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of BIMSTEC countries will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 10th and 11th August. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will represent India in the meeting.

The Loan and Project Agreements for Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) lending of US$ 329 million for Gujarat Rural Roads Project have been signed between the Government of India/ Government of Gujarat and the AIIB

The Centre has announced the revision of the base year to calculate the All-India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) from 2004-05 to 2011-12, as part of an exercise to capture structural changes in the economy and to improve the quality, coverage and representativeness of the indices.

Infosys has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Brilliant Basics, a London-based product design and customer experience (CX) innovator known for its world-class design thinking-led approach and experience in executing global programmes.

The government of Telangana and Microsoft had signed an MoU in November 2016 to use Microsoft’s cloud technology to drive citizen services and digital inclusion. The latest tie up is the result of an initial pilot to understand the health screening programme conducted under the National Health Mission.

As part of the commemorative events to mark the 25th anniversary of the India-Asean dialogue partnership, an India-Asean Youth Summit will be held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh from August 14 to 19.

The first meeting of the Japan-India Coordination Forum (JICF) for Development of North-Eastern Region was held in New Delhi.

Seeking to make desi GPS – indigenous regional positioning system named as Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) – independent from the US clock system, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will sign an MoU with CSIR-National Physical Laboratory (NPL) for time and frequency traceability services.

A High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice BN Srikrishna which was set up to review the Institutionalization of Arbitration Mechanism in India has submitted its report.

Taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has initiated a cleanliness drive ‘Swachata Ka Shankhnad’ in the state.

According to the latest guidelines, the families of a deceased will now have to produce his/her Aadhaar number for establishing his/her identity in order to register the death and proceed with the norms to obtain a death certificate. The new rule is said to be applicable starting October 1, 2017.

The government has launched the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign in a phased manner for across the country to reduce measles morbidity and mortality.

The ETF will include 22 companies. It will feature four banking stocks — SBI, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank — other than CPSEs such as Nalco, ONGC, IOC, BPCL and Coal India.

As a part of Government of India’s initiative to develop green airports, two airports in Andhra Pradesh- Tirupati and Vijayawada are going to go completely green

The centre has approved a proposal to rename the Mughalsarai railway station in Uttar Pradesh after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya

He served as the Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Urban Development and Information and Broadcasting before getting elected as the Vice President of India.

Economist Rajiv Kumar has been appointed as the new vice chairman of NITI Aayog. He will replace Arvind Panagariya who resigned earlier in the week.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced the appointment of Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission in the state and also made his upcoming film “Toilet: Ek Prem Katha” tax free.

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has been named the world’s most highly-paid author with earnings of £72.2m ($95m) this year as announced by Forbes.

Veteran actor and national award winner Sharada has been selected for this year’s Prem Nazir Award.

Industry chamber Ficci has decided to appoint economist and journalist Sanjaya Baru as its new Secretary General. Baru will assume office from September 1, 2017.

One of India’s top scientists and founder-director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Pushpa Mitra Bhargava has passed away.

Acclaimed playwright Sam Shepard (American), who was also praised as an actor, screenwriter, and director, has passed away.

Hussain Sayeeduddin Dagar, popularly known as Saeed Bhai, was an Indian classical vocalist belonging to the Dhrupad tradition, the oldest existing form of north Indian classical music (Hindustani classical music).

Arvind Panagariya, an academic on leave from Columbia University, has resigned as the NITI Aayog Vice Chairman. He wants to resume his teaching job at Columbia University where he was working as a professor of Indian political economy.

Men’s singles – C Rahul Yadav
Men’s doubles – Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy

The government has launched “e-RaKAM” (Rashtriya Kisan Agri Mandi), an e-platform to trade agriculture commodities to ensure better returns to farmers and access to larger markets to buyers.

Paris, France

Los Angeles, USA

The UNESCO has cautioned that the damage caused to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR)in the northern part of West Bengal due to the Gorkhaland agitation may put in peril the World Heritage tag it earned in 1999.

The Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, Karnataka will become the first airport in the country to have a helicopter-taxi (heli-taxi) service for those who cannot afford to spend time battling traffic to travel across the city.

Indian professional boxer Vijender Singh outslugged his Chinese opponent Zulpikar Maimaitiali to retain the WBO Asia Pacific Super Middleweight title and win the WBO Oriental Super Middleweight title.

German Alexander Zverev won the Citi Open held at Washington for his fourth title of the year after defeating South Africa’s Kevin Anderson.

Aparna, an IAS officer from Gujarat cadre has been appointed as Executive Director, World Bank to represent the constituency of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka for three years.
She is currently Principal Secretary to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Betty Cuthbert, Australia’s most successful Olympic track and field athlete, has passed away aged 79.

She will replace Subhash Garg, who was recently appointed Economic Affairs Secretary, Ministry of Finance.

Chandigarh’s Chitkara University’s Pro-Chancellor, Dr. Madhu Chitkara was awarded the prestigious Himachal Pradesh Environment Leadership Award 2017 for excelling in the promotion of environmental conservation and sustainable development through inspiring and exemplary initiatives, vision, and transformative action.

Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has formed his cabinet and it also included the first Hindu in a Pakistan government in more than 20 years, Darshan Lal.