GK & Current Affairs Quiz: October 26, 2017

Notes:
Professors Salim Abdool Karim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim, a globally-acclaimed South African Indian-origin researcher couple, has been honoured with a prestigious 2017 IHV Lifetime Achievement Award for their exceptional contributions in the field of HIV/AIDS. The researcher couple received the award from the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) in Baltimore in the US. The award was presented to them by Robert Gallo, who discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS, at the 19th international meeting of the IHV. The Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a syndrome caused by a virus called HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). The disease alters the immune system, making people much more vulnerable to infections and diseases.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of AYUSH hosted the first-ever meeting of BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine (BITFM) on October 24-25, 2017 at Parvasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi. India being a major stake holder in the field of Traditional Medicine plays an important role in influencing the policies and strategies related to the Traditional Medicine in the BIMSTEC Forum. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an International Organisation involving a group of countries in the South Asia and South East Asia namely, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

Notes:
The 2017 Vigilance Awareness Week (VAW) will be observed by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) from 30th October to 4thNovember, 2017 with theme “My Vision-Corruption Free India”. The Vice President of India Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will be the Chief Guest at the Inaugural Function to be held on 30th October 2017. The purpose of observing VAW is to educate the public at large about the corruption related practices and also educating them how to report about it.

Notes:
Odisha will be the ‘Focus State’ in the mega international food event “World Food India (WFI) 2017”, which is scheduled to be held at New Delhi on November 3-5. In the WFI 2017, Japan, Denmark and Germany are partner countries, and Italy & Netherlands are ‘Focus Countries’. More than 200 global companies and 41 global CEOs from 30 countries will participate and will also see 21 ministerial and business delegations. Besides, 450 domestic companies and leading Research and Development (R&D) institutes along with 95 Indian industry captains are likely to participate in WFI.

Notes:
India’s passport has been ranked 75th out of 94 countries with a visa-free score of 51, according to the ‘Global Passport Power Rank 2017’ by global financial advisory firm Arton Capital. The list is topped by Singapore, followed by Germany, Sweden and South Korea. As per report, Singapore’s passport is the most powerful ranking with a visa-free score of 159. Afghanistan was on bottom most position (94th) with the score of 22, while Pakistan was at 93rd Position with Iraq with the score of 26. The index ranks national passports by the cross-border access they bring, assigning a “visa-free score” according to the number of countries a passport holder can visit visa-free or with visa on arrival.

Notes:
Ministries of Power and Textiles have jointly launched a new scheme SAATHI under which Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will provide energy efficient power loom equipment to small and medium units at no upfront cost. The use of the efficient equipment would result in energy and cost savings to the unit owner and he will repay in instalments to EESL over a 4 to 5 year period. The SAATHI initiative of the government will be jointly implemented by EESL and the office of the Textile Commissioner on a pan-India basis. The EESL will procure energy efficient powerlooms, motors and rapier kits in bulk and provide them to the small and medium power loom units. The acronym of SAATHI stands for “Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help small Industries”.

Notes:
Girija Devi (88), the veteran Indian classical singer of the Seniya and Banaras gharanas, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on October 24, 2017. She was known as ‘Thumri queen’, who popularised the genre of semi-classical Indian music. She was conferred with all three Padma awards, and was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2016.

Notes:
The Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (AWS) is located in the southeast part of Kannur District of Kerala and covers an area of 55 Sq. Km. It is home to elephant, wild boar, leopard, mongoose, nilgiri langur, hanuman langur, malabar giant squirrel, etc.

Notes:
Rajiv Mehrishi, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India(CAG) and former Union home secretary, has authored an e-book titled “India 2017 Yearbook” on current affairs in India. It is recently launched by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in Jaipur. The e-book includes a plethora of information on important dignitaries, state policy, public schemes and important data about demographics, trade, economy and many other topics.

Notes:
The global conference on consumer protection has inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on October 26, 2017 with theme “Empowering Consumers in New Markets”. This is the first time that an international conference on consumer protection is being organised by India for countries of the region which account for a majority of the global consumers and share common challenges and experiences. The 2-day conference will deliberate upon steps taken by Asian countries to implement the United Nations guidelines on consumer protection as well as challenges faced by consumers of financial services and e-commerce. Experts from different countries and India will present their papers and views. Twenty two countries from East, South and South-East Asia are participating in the conference. These include China, South Korea, Singapore, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.