Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
Japanese lawmakers have reelected Shinzo Abe as the country’s 95th Prime Minister on November 1, 2017 after his party won a landslide victory in last month’s general election. Abe was reelected by both Houses of the Diet. The prime minister will now form his cabinet. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reappointed all of his Cabinet Ministers, following his reelection by the Diet as country’s leader, to ensure continuity of his policies.

Notes:
India has gained 30 places to rank 100th among 190 countries in the latest ease of doing business ranking by the World Bank (WB), in its Doing Business 2018 report. The improvement was due to a slew of reforms in taxation, licensing, investor protection and bankruptcy resolution. New Zealand has topped the list, followed by Singapore, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, United States and United Kingdom.

Notes:
The Inderkilla National Park (INP) is located in Himachal Pradesh, which is established in 2010. It covers an area of about 104 square kilometres.

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The 21st World Congress of Mental Health has started in New Delhi with theme “Partnerships for Mental Health” on November 2, 2017, which is organised by the World Federation for Mental Health in partnership with Caring Foundation and other institutions. It was inaugurated by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind. The 4-day WFMH World Congress is hosted in the SAARC region for the first time and will witness participation of over 1000 delegates from across the world. It will have sessions on yoga, meditation and traditional approaches to mental health.

Notes:
Veteran actor and playwright Girish Karnad will be honoured by Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement Award 2017 at the literature festival’s annual awards ceremony which will be held on November 19 at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Nariman Point, Mumbai. The festival runs from November 16-19. Karnad is also a recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards. His critically acclaimed plays in the era of 1960s such as ‘Yayati’ (1961), the historical ‘Tughlaq’ (1964), and his three seminal works ‘Hayavadana’ (1971), ‘Naga-mandala’ (1988) and ‘Taledanda’ (1990) have earned international praise.

Notes:
Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang won a silver medal in the men’s 50m rifle prone event of the Commonwealth Shooting Championships on November 2, 2017. Another Indian, Swapnil Suresh Kusale bagged the bronze in the same event, while Dane Sampson of Australia won the gold. In women’s 25m pistol final, India’s Suraj Singh won the bronze, while the gold and silver went to host country’s L Yaumleuskay and E Galiabovitch respectively.

Notes:
The International Conference on “Ramayan Circuit and Mithila-Awadh Relations” has started at Janakpur in Nepal on November 3, 2017. Eminent experts from India and Nepal are participating in 2 day event. It must be noted that during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Nepal Visit in 2014, an agreement was signed between India and Nepal to develop Ayodhya and Janakpur as twin cities.

Notes:
The Assam government has recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) and Terms of Reference (ToR) with Singapore for skilling over 78,000 rural youths in the state by 2019 and greening Guwahati. The MoU and ToR for setting up the North East Skills Centre (NESC) was signed between Skill, Employment and Entrepreneurship Department of Assam government and ITE Education Service of Singapore. The NESC will train up to 400 students each year. The MoU for Guwahati city’s greening was inked between the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority and Singapore Corporation Enterprise.

Notes:
The bi-annual multilateral exercise ‘Blue Flag-17’ has started at Uvda Air Force Base in Israel from November 2 to 16, 2017. In it, 45 member contingent of the Indian Air Force (IAF) is participating with the C-130J special operations aircraft along with Garud commandos. This is the first time the IAF is operating with Israeli AF in a multilateral exercise setting. Ex Blue Flag will give an opportunity to the IAF to share and learn best practices with some of the best professionals from other Air Forces. The purpose of the exercise is to strengthen military cooperation amongst participating nations.

Notes:
Dharmendra Pradhan, the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, has led the Indian delegation at the IEF  7th Asia Ministerial Energy Roundtable (AMER7), which took place in Bangkok, Thailand from 1-3 November 2017. India is the current chair of International Energy Forum (IEF) which is promoting the AMER – a biennial event bringing together Energy Ministers and experts from Asian countries.