Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
The first-ever Namami Barak festival has started at Police Parade ground in Silchar, Assam on November 18, 2017. The 3-day river festival is an attempt to pay tribute to the River Barak and to showcase of Barak’s potential & possibilities to emerge as a hub of trade and commerce. The cultural heritage of the valley together with its cuisine, fauna and flora, socio-economic and civic splendor will be showcased before the global audience during the festival. The event is being organised at 3 locations in Barak Valley also known as Southern Assam. Silchar will be the main event area while other two locations are Hailakandi and Karimganj district.

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The World Toilet Day (WTD) is an official United Nations international observance day to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. It is observed every year on November 19 and the 2017 theme is “Wastewater”.

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The 2017 Women’s Youth World Boxing Championship (YWBC) has started in Guwahati, Assam on November 19, 2017. Approx 200 participants from 38 countries will be seen in action in this knockout tournament. The preliminaries will take place from November 19 to 22, the semi-finals on November 24 and 25 and the finals on November 26.

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The world’s biggest toilet pot model was launched at Marora, popularly known as the ‘Trump village’, in Haryana on the World Toilet Day (WTD) on November 19, 2017 in a bid to create awareness towards sanitation and use of toilets. A mega pot of toilet is made up of iron, fibre, wood and plaster of Paris — measuring 20×10 feet. The nondescript village, with a population of 1800, in Mewat region was in June rechristened as ‘Trump village’ by NGO Sulabh International Social Service Organisation.

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Veteran journalist Manik Banerjee, who is also an acclaimed mountaineer, has been conferred with the 2017 Nain Singh-Kishen Singh Life Time Achievement (LTA) award by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) on November 19 for his achievements in mountaineering over a period of four decades and invaluable contribution in promotion of mountaineering. Beside him, Lt col RS Jamwal was presented the IMF Gold Medal. Lt. Col Jamwal has the distinction of reaching the top of Mt. Everest thrice (in 2013, 2016 and 2017) besides climbing many other peaks in Indian Himalaya.

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J P Nadda, the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, has inaugurated the 1st World Conference on Access to Medical Products and International Laws for Trade and Health in New Delhi. The Conference is organized by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare with the support of WHO Country Office for India and in partnership with Indian Society of International Law. The purpose of the conference is to exchange knowledge and expand understanding on contemporary issues in international trade laws and research and innovation for access to medical products to achieve SDG 2030 agenda.

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The Union Government has recently constituted a task force to review the Income Tax Act 1961 and draft a new direct tax law in consonance with current economic needs. CBDT member Arbind Modi will be the convener of task force while Chief Economic Adviser Dr. Arvind Subramanian will be a permanent Special Invitee. The task force will draft an appropriate direct tax legislation keeping in view the direct tax system in various countries, international best practices and economic needs of the country. It will submit its report within six months.

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Indian railways has installed Asia’s largest Solid State Interlocking (SSI) system at Kharagpur in West Bengal, which will enable station masters to set 800 different routes for trains in a matter of minutes. Interlocking is a railway signal apparatus that prevents conflicting movements of trains through an arrangement of tracks such as junctions or crossings. The cutting-edge technology is installed at a cost of Rs 39 crore, which replaces the pre-1989 route relay system that only allowed operators to set maximum 423 routes, ensures that no cross-movement takes place. The SSI software will also detect the routes a particular train can take and inform the station masters working at the panel, bringing down the operation time and the possibility of human error. It will reduce the possibility of accidents.

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The 2017 Constitution Day (or Samvidhan Divas) is celebrated every year in India on November 26 to commemorate the adoption of Constitution of India. On this day in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India, and it came into effect on 26 January 1950. From 2015, the Government of India (GoI) is observing 26th November as Constitution Day. On the occasion of Constitution Day, in 2017, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) has launched a Digital Signature campaign to generate awareness on fundamental duties enshrined in the Constitution. People can join the campaign by filling a form online.

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Gopi Thonakal from Kerala has become the first Indian man to win Asian Marathon Championship. He achieved the feat in the 16th edition of the prestigious event, at Dongguan in China on November 26, 2017. Gopi clocked 2 hours 15 minutes and 48 seconds to clinch gold. He, thus, became the first Indian man to win the title after the formation of separate Asian Marathon championships. Andrey Petrov of Uzbekistan bagged silver while Byambalev Tseveenravdan of Mongolia won bronze. Earlier, Asha Agarwal won the women’s title when it was part of the biennial Asian Track and Field Championships.