GK & Current Affairs Quiz: November 15, 2017

Notes:
Aditi Ashok has become the first Indian golfer to qualify for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship-2017 on the LPGA Tour and will head to Florida to take part in the prestigious event. Apart from Aditi, Nicole Broch Larsen, Peiyun Chien, Nelly Korda , Olafia Kristensdottir, Sung Hyun Park, Madelene Sagstrom and Angel Yin are the other rookies in the field. It will be an extremely competitive field, with each of the Top 10 players taking part and 18 out of the top 20 in the world rankings participating. The $250,000 competition starts on November 16 and will played over four rounds, ending on November 19.

Notes:
China has launched the world’s first all-electric ship in Guangzhou in South China’s Guangdong Province, which can travel up to 80km with 2000-tonnes cargo after a two-hour charge. The vessel, manufactured by the Guangzhou Shipyard International Company Ltd, is powered by a 26-tonne lithium battery. It can cruise at the top speed of 12.8 km per hour. As the ship do not use fossil fuels, it has zero emission, including carbon, sulphur and PM2.5 and it could be used as a passenger liner or a working ship.

Notes:
Manu Sharma alias Hanuman Prasad Sharma (89), the noted author and Padma Shri awardee, has passed away in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh on November 9, 2017. He was nominated as one of the navratna of the Swachha Bharat Abhiyan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency in 2014. He donated his lifetime savings of Rs 20 lakh for the renovation of a ghat in Varanasi to carry out a cleanliness campaign. He was also the recipient of the prestigious Yash Bharti Award of the Uttar Pradesh government. Sharma has authored several hindi books including Krishna Ki Atmakatha.

Notes:
President Ramnath Kovind has launched JOHAR scheme worth Rs 1,500 cr on the occasion of State Establishment-Day in Ranchi, Jharkhand on November 15, 2017. The World Bank aided JOHAR (Jharkhand’s Opportunities For Harnessing Rural Growth) scheme is aimed at doubling the income of two lakh rural poor. On this day, in 2000, Bihar was bifurcated to give birth to Jharkhand.

Notes:
India’s first offshore desalination plant will be set up by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) about 40km from the Ennore coast in Tamil Nadu with a capacity of about 10 million litres of water per day. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the plant, which is estimated to cost Rs 2,000 crore, has been submitted to the Centre for approval. The offshore plant is designed and built by NIOT scientists. The plant will operate on the indigenously developed Low Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD), a low cost and environment friendly technology to get potable water. The technology is based on the temperature difference in seawater at different depths.

Notes:
The 15th edition of Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) Conference has started in New Delhi with theme “Building Trust in the Digital Economy” from November 12-15, 2017. It is organized by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the aegis of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. This is the first ever conference in India and South Asia, and is expected to be attended by 21 economies. The conference is expected to be attended by over 300 cyber security professionals from the Asia Pacific region, USA, Europe, Industry, Academia, Government and Media.

Notes:
Vice President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu has inaugurated the 2017 AP Ag Tech summit, which is organized by the Andhra Pradesh government in Visakhapatnam from November 15. The purpose of the 3-day summit is to bring cut edge technologies in the agriculture and allied sectors to support the small and marginal farmers. About 1,500 delegates from the national and international agencies are participating in the summit. The summit is organized in association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Dalberg Advisors. It will discuss on innovative ideas, technologies and global best practices to push agricultural transformation in the state.

Notes:
Dr. Subhash Bhamre, the Raksha Rajya Mantri, has represented the Government of India at the ‘UN Peacekeeping Defence Ministerial: Vancouver 2017’, which is held between November 14-15, 2017. It was 2nd time Dr. Bhamre attended the conference. He will be speaking on November 15. Over 500 delegates from more than 70 countries and international organisations gathered at the Defence Ministerial in Vancouver. Along with representatives from the African Union, the European Union, NATO and the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, these delegates discussed improvements to UN peacekeeping operations.

Notes:
Ganga Kumari, the resident of Raniwara in Jalore district of Rajasthan, has become the first transgender to be appointed in Rajasthan Police. On 13th November 2017, the Rajasthan High Court had directed the police department to appoint Ganga Kumari as a constable within six weeks, after officials denied her a post due to her gender and reported lack of clarity of rules in 2015. She was selected in the police recruitment examination for constables in 2013. However, her appointment was held up following the medical examination, which brought to the recruiters’ notice that she was a eunuch.

Notes:
The Chail Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) is located at Chail, a hill station which is abode of wildlife, in Himachal Pradesh and covers an area of 110 square-kilometre. It houses rhesus macaque, leopard, Indian muntjac, goral, porcupine, wild boar, langur and Himalayan black bear. It also has prevented few endangered species of reptiles and birds. The sanctuary is well connected with major routes of Shimla and Chandigarh.