Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
The first-ever India-US Ocean Dialogue has started in Goa on November 1, 2017, which is being hosted by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO). The purpose of the Ocean dialogue is to promote sustainable development of the Blue Economy. According to the World Bank, the Blue Economy is sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods and jobs, and ocean ecosystem health.

Notes:
Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher has been honoured with the 2017 Pramod Mahajan Smriti Award in Pune, Maharashtra on October 29, 2017. Kher is awarded along with Saira Banu, who is UN ambassador for HeforShe. The award was instituted by Pune-based organization ‘Muktachhand’ in memory of Late former Union Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Notes:
The 9th edition of CMS Vatavaran, India’s only International Environment & Wildlife Film Festival and Forum, has started at Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti in New Delhi on November 2, 2017. The theme of the 5-day fest is “Conservation 4 Water”. The aim of fest is to create awareness and sensitize people through films and discussions regarding water conservation and the inter-connectedness of climate change and water, water struggles in a world dealing with global warming, climate variability, bio-diversity loss, and environmental damage. It will showcase 113 films, including four from Kashmir, one of the most ecologically sensitive zones facing the threat of global warming. The event is supported and partnered by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, National Geographic, UNESCO, UNDP and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Notes:
The book titled “Dreamnation: Uniting a Country with Handwritten Dreams” has been co-authored by Saji Mathew and Jubie John and is published by Bloomsbury. Its’ an illustrative book containing inspiring words of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, which was released online by Indian women cricket team captain Mithali Raj on the 86th birth anniversary of the former Indian President. It has been neatly divided into four sections — Spark, Resilience, Decision, and Take-off, each based on a dream-quote of the Missile Man of India. The book includes a collection of 200-plus handcrafted and handwritten postcards from across India

Notes:
India slipped 21 places on the 2017 World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap index to rank 108th among 144 countries, primarily due to less participation of women in the economy and low wages. According to the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2017, India has closed 67% of its gender gap, less than many of its international peers, and some of its neighbours like Bangladesh ranked 47th while China was placed at 100th.The index is topped by the Iceland, followed by Norway, Finland, Rwanda and Sweden. As per the report, the global average annual earnings for a female stood at $12,000, while for a male it was as high as $21,000.

Notes:
The Pan India scholarship program for school children “Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana” has launched by Union Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha to increase the reach of Philately. Under the scheme of SPARSH, the annual scholarships will be awarded to children of Standard VI to IX having good academic record and also pursuing Philately as a hobby through a competitive selection process in all postal circles. Every Postal Circle will select a maximum of 40 scholarships representing 10 students each from Standard VI, VII, VIII & IX. The amount of Scholarship will be Rs. 6000/- per annum @ Rs. 500/- per month. The acronym ‘SPARSH’ stands for “Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby”.

Notes:
Krishna Sobti (92), the renowned Hindi Litterateur, has been chosen for the 53rd Jnanpith Award for the year 2017 for her path-breaking contribution to Indian literature. She is known for experimenting with new writing styles and creating bold and daring characters in her stories who were ready to accept all challenges. Her language was highly influenced by the intermingling of Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi cultures. Some of her works include Daar se Bichhudi, Mitron Marjani, and Zindaginama. Jnanpith is the highest literary award of the country.

Notes:
The Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Science (DIPAS) of DRDO is organizing the International Conference on Human Physiology – VII Congress of Federation of Indian Physiological Societies (FIPS) “FIPSPHYSIOCON 2017” along with XXIX Annual Conference of the Physiological Society of India (PSI) in New Delhi from November 5-7, 2017. The purpose of the conference is to update the scientific community about most recent advances in human Physiology in extreme environments, Neuroscience, Yoga, Sport Physiology and translational research.

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The 2-day conference of Ministers for Power and New and Renewable Energy of States and Union Territories will be held at Rajgir in Bihar from November 10, 2017. The conference will be inaugurated by Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy Raj Kumar Singh. The objective of the conference is to review the implementation of various ongoing schemes and deliberate upon a host of issues pertaining to Power and Renewable Energy sectors. Ministers and Secretaries of States and senior officials will participate in the conference.

Notes:
The Union Power Ministry has constituted a 4-member committee to investigate into the causes of the recent accident that occurred on 1st November 2017 at NTPC’s Unchahar Thermal Power Plant in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district. The committee, headed by PD Siwal, Member of Central Electricity Authority, will submit its report to the Ministry of Power within a month. According to the term of reference of the committee, it will investigate the causes of the accident and fix responsibility for lapses, if any. It will also suggest remedial measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in the future. More than 30 people had lost their lives after a boiler exploded at the plant.