Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2017

Notes:
Birendra Sasmal, a Ghana-based Indian entrepreneur, has won a prestigious International Business Person of the Year at the Asian Achievers Awards in London for his efforts to bring innovative IT solutions to Africa. Sasmal is CEO of Subah Group, which employs around 350 people with offices in Guinea, Sierra Leone, New York City and Dubai. Under Sasmal’s leadership, the group’s revenues have increased by over 3,000% and it has been named among one of Africa’s fastest growing tech companies.

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The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2017 was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution. It’s a method of simplifying and improving the imaging of biomolecules.

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The Karnataka government has launched ‘Mathru Poorna’ scheme to meet the nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women in rural areas. Under the programme, pregnant and lactating women in rural areas will get one nutritious meal daily for 25 days in a month. This meal will meet 40-45% of the daily calorie, protein and calcium requirement per day of the pregnant and lactating mothers. Along with the meal, Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablets will be administered and gestational weight monitoring will be ensured for pregnant women. The scheme will be implemented through anganwadis in the State. Each meal is estimated to cost around Rs. 20. The food will be provided for 15 months, from the start of pregnancy up to six months after delivery.

Notes:
India’s first-ever Industrial Training Institute (ITI) for the Divyangans will come up in Assam. Recently, the foundation stone for the institute was laid at Dibrugarh ITI Complex at Borboruah in Assam. As per the guidelines of National Council for Vocational Training (NCVT), the ITI will have sixty seats for three different trades with 20 seats per trade. The three different trades included in the curriculum are Computer Operator and Programming Assistant, Cutting and Sewing Technology and Hair & Skin Care.

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Rafael Nadal, a Spanish professional tennis player, has won the 2017 China Open Tennis tournament by defeating Nick Kyrgios in the final by 6-2, 6-1 in Beijing, China. It is his 6th ATP title of the year. Nadal’s six trophies this year include a record 10th title at the French Open and a third at the US Open.

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India has been ranked 8th out of 100 countries on a list of most valuable nation brands, according to Brand Finance’s Nation Brands 2017 report. The list is topped by US, followed by China, Germany, Japan and United Kingdom. In terms of valuation, India’s National Brand Value in 2017 is 2.04 trillion, down one percent from last year’s 2.06 trillion. However, India’s brand rating has improved from ‘AA-‘ to ‘AA’. Despite a rating improvement, India does not feature in the list of 10 best performing nation brands. Iceland topped the ‘Top 10 best performing nation brands’ list. Brand Finance measures the strength and value of the nation brands of 100 leading countries using a method based on the royalty relief mechanism employed to value the world’s largest companies.

Notes:
Rajnath Singh, the Union Home Minister, has inaugurated the first annual BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017 (BIMSTEC DMEx-2017) in New Delhi on October 10. The 4-day exercise is conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as the lead agency and its focus on testing the region’s preparedness and resilience towards effective activation of inter-Governmental interaction for immediate deployment of regional resources for disaster response. The main exercise will comprise of Table Top Exercise (TTX), Field Training Exercise (FTX) and After Action Review (AAR). The delegates from all 7 nations of the BIMSTEC grouping, – namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand are participating in the event.

Notes:
M Venkaiah Naidu, the Vice President of India, has inaugurated the 3rd International Conference on Yoga in New Delhi with theme “Yoga for Wellness”on October 10, 2017. The 2-day conference is being organized by the Ministry of AYUSH as a part of year long events being organized to celebrate 21st June as International Day of Yoga. The conference consists of seven technical sessions and a panel discussion on different aspects of Yoga and Wellness including recent research trends, Integrated medicine, non communicable diseases, mental health, women health, cancer, pain management and policy making. Around 500 delegates, including those from 44 countries are attending the conference, which will provide a common platform for AYUSH and allopathy practitioners, researchers, academicians, and policy makers and students.

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The Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary (AWS) is the northernmost wildlife sanctuary of Kerala and is spread over 55 square kilometres. It is home to a vast variety of flora and fauna endemic to the Western Ghats. Elephant, gaur, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, Nilgiri langur, Hanuman langur, Malabar giant squirrel, etc can be seen here. This is one of the main production centres of hybrid coconut seeds in the country.

Notes:
Nisha Biswal, a former state department official, will head the US-India Business Council (USIBC), a powerful advocacy group of US companies with business interest in India. She is expected to join on November 1, 2017. The USIBC is a part of the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest lobbying organisation in the country that wields real political power in Washington.