Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
The 36th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) 2017 has open at the Expo Centre in Sharjah on November 1 with theme “A World inside My Book”. The book fair will see the participation of 1,650 publishing houses from 60 countries. More than 15 lakh titles will be on display throughout the 11 day celebration of literature, knowledge and culture. The 2017 edition will feature 393 guests from 48 countries who will take part in more than 2,600 events. The United Kingdom (UK) will be the ‘Country of Honour’ at the Book Fair. The SIBF is an annual event and is considered the 3rd largest book Fair in the world. The most extensive of the programmes on offer at this year’s edition is the Kids’ Programme, which will see 1,632 activities presented by 44 guests from 20 countries. Publication Division is also participating in the SIBF 2017 with its latest collection of books.

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:
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:
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.

Notes:
The Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) is located in Ponda taluka of northeastern Goa and covers an area of 8 km2. A wide variety of animal life can be encountered, including: sambar deer, Indian bison, Malabar giant squirrel, Indian peafowl and many species of snakes.

Notes:
Goa has topped the 2017 Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI) with score 0.649, which is recently released by the Child development NGO Plan India during its national conference in New Delhi on November 1. Kerala has acquired 2nd position followed by Mizoram and Sikkim. Bihar ranked the lowest at 30, with Delhi faring only slightly better at 29 and Uttar Pradesh at 28. The highest ranking north Indian state is Himachal Pradesh at the sixth position. The composite index has been developed within research for the NGO’s Plan for Every Child campaign which is aimed at comprehensively understanding the dimensions of various problems affecting children, particularly girls, in difficult circumstances. This index provides a state-wise ranking which is calculated by analysing four issues pertinent to the situation of girls — child safety/protection, poverty, health and education.

Notes:
Tamil Nadu’s historic Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam has won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit 2017 for cultural heritage conservation. The main reasons for the temple to won the UN award are as follows: Use of traditional methods in renovating its structures and re-establishment of rainwater harvesting and historic drainage system, and to augment water and prevent flooding. With this, it has become the first temple in Tamil Nadu to be given the prestigious award from the UN body. The temple is situated on an islet between Cauvery and Kollidam rivers. It has seven prakaras and 21 towers, including the 236-feet-high rajagopuram.

Notes:
The India women’s national field hockey team has won the 2017 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup Tournament by defeating China in the final by 5-4 via a shootout at Kakamigahara in Japan on November 5, 2017. Savita was adjudged Goalkeeper-of-the-Tournament while Monica won the Woman-of-the-Match award. With this win, Indian team has qualified for the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup i.e. scheduled to be held in England. South Korea secured third place with a 1-0 win over Japan. India had to wait long for their second Women’s Asia Cup title with the last one coming way back in 2004, when they had beaten Japan in New Delhi for the trophy. The triumph of the Indian women’s team follows the Asia Cup victory of the men’s side in October 2107.

Notes:
Mohan Joshi, the veteran Indian film and television actor, has been honoured with the prestigious Vishnudas Bhave award for his contribution to theatre on November 5, 2017. He was honoured with the award at a ceremony held in Sangli on the eve of Marathi Rangbhumi Din. Joshi has acted in a number of Hindi, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Kannada films, besides in plays. The award is conferred in memory of Vishnudas Bhave, the founder of Marathi theatre. The award includes a trophy, a citation and a cash of Rs 25,000.