Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
Rajkummar Rao has won the best actor award for his movie “Newton” at the most prestigious 11th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA-2017). Beside this, the best screenplay award was also goes Amit V Masurkar and Mayank Tewari for “Newton”. Newton is India’s official entry for the foreign language film category at the Academy Awards 2018. The movie is produced by Drishyam Films and directed by Masurkar. It revolves around a young government clerk who is sent on election duty to a Maoist-controlled town and how the ideological struggle puts him in an awkward situation.

Notes:
Private sector lender Axis Bank has recently launched instant international payment services using Ripple’s enterprise blockchain technology solution for retail and corporate customers. The bank has launched a service for its retail customers in India to receive payments from RAKBANK in UAE and for its corporate customers in India to receive payments from Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. Ripple makes international remittances faster and transparent for customers while ensuring security and improving efficiencies. The transactions reach their destination account in minutes, with the certainty of settlement, and with end-to-end visibility over the journey of the payment.

Notes:
India will provide financial assistance of $2.87 million to Afghanistan for the refurbishment of 350 buses to help in strengthening the public transport system of capital Kabul. The assistance would be used to procure spare parts for the Milli Bus (government bus services) for refurbishment of 350 previously supplied buses under Indian assistance. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Acting Afghan Minister of Transport, Mohammad Hameed Tahmasi and Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra. The 350 buses are expected to be operational by end of 2018.

Notes:
Karen Pierce, the Foreign Office (FCO) political director, has been appointed the first-ever female UK ambassador to the United Nations (UN). She had previously served as Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, and more recently as the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. Pierce succeeded Matthew Rycroft under whom UK suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of India in the recent election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This is for the first time in 70 years that Britain would have no judge in the 15-member panel of the ICJ.

Notes:
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Defence Minister, has been elected as the new President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA). The IDSA was set up in 1965 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as an autonomous think tank, and it is customary to have the Defence Minister as its President. The Minister chairs the Executive Council which governs the Institute. IDSA is funded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and its faculty conducts research in military, foreign and strategic affairs. Significantly, the Government has sought its views before taking major policy initiatives, like conducting nuclear tests, as in 1974 and 1998. IDSA also executes specific assignments from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The headquarters of IDSA is loacted in New Delhi.

Notes:
The first edition of the International Symposium to Promote Innovation & Research in Energy Efficiency (INSPIRE 2017) has started in Jaipur, Rajasthan on November 27, 2017. The 5-day symposium is being organized by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) in partnership with World Bank (WB) and Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). INSPIRE 2017 is a global conference which aims to bring together various stakeholders like policymakers, innovators, financiers to showcase best practices in the sector. It is designed to provide global and national thought-leaders and implementers to expand perspectives on energy efficiency. Approx 350 participants from 13 countries across North America, Asia, Europe and Middle East are attending the event.

Notes:
Badri Narain Sharma, the 1985 batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed the chairman of the newly constituted National Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. Prior to this appointment, Sharma was an Additional Secretary in the Department of Revenue. The NAA has been set up for a two-year period and is mandated to ensure that the benefits of input credit and the reduction in tax rates effected by the GST Council are passed on to the consumers.

Notes:
The 2-day Korea Tourism festival 2017 was held in Gurugram, Haryana on November 25 to showcase famous South Korean tourist destinations, delicacies, art, culture and the country’s heritage. The festival displayed food counters (managed by Korea Agro Fisheries and Food Trade Cooperation) to give a taste of the local Korean flavours to serve Indian taste buds besides featuring experiential attractions like face mask painting, Hangeul calligraphy and video gallery exhibiting Korean history & cultural assets. The fest was inaugurated by Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO) Executive Vice President Min Hong Min along with Suman Billa, the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism.

Notes:
The 7th International Military Sports Council (CISM) Military World Games will be hosted from Oct. 18 to 27, 2019 in Wuhan, capital city of central China’s Hubei Province. The games, which are top sporting gala for military personnel, consist of 329 competitions in 27 categories and are expected to attract around 8,000 participants from more than 100 countries and regions. It will be an international event with great significance and far-reaching influence and it will also be an opportunity for foreign military personnel to learn more about China and its military. The emblem consists of a dove, a star, ribbons and other elements and the mascot is called Bing Bing, the design of which is based on the Chinese sturgeon, a critically endangered fish known as the “panda in water”. The slogan is of the games is “Military glory, world peace”. The games, which were inaugurated in Rome in 1995, is a multi-sport event organized every four years by the CISM.

Notes:
Thodupuzha Vasanthi (65), the veteran Malayalam film and theatre actor, has passed away at Vazhakulam in Kerala on November 28, 2017. She was known for character roles in over 400 Malayalam movies in her four-decade-old acting career. Vasanthi was better known for her roles in God Father, Alolam and Karyam Nissaram.