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.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has recently appointed Governors in five states and Lieutenant Governor in one Union Territory. These are as follows: Brigadier (Retd) B D Mishra has been appointed as the new Governor of Arunachal Pradesh and former member of Bihar Legislative Council Ganga Prasad as new Governor of Meghalaya. Satya Pal Malik, the former Union Minister, has been appointed as the new Governor of Bihar while Assam Governor Banwarilal Purohit will now be the new Governor of Tamil Nadu. Admiral (Retd) Devendra Kumar Joshi will be the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar while Prof. Jagdish Mukhi will be the new Governor of Assam. The above appointments will take effect from the dates the incumbents assume charge of their respective offices.

Notes:
The National Hard Court Tennis Championship has started in New Delhi on October 2, 2017. Among the men players, Tamil Nadu led Dhakshineswar Suresh, who last year won the Under-16 National championship, Aryan Goveas and Paramveer Singh Bajwa are participating in the tournament. Among the women players, Zeel Desai will head the field. Other players to watch out for would be Mihika Yadav, Sai Samhita, Snehadevi S Reddy and Mahak Jain. Tennis is the only sport in the country where the top players do not compete at the Nationals.

Notes:
The 2017 World Habitat Day (WHD) is observed on October 2 with theme “Housing Policies: Affordable Homes” to bring attention to UN-Habitat’s mandate to promote sustainable development policies that ensure adequate shelter for all. The purpose of day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns. The United Nations (UN) has officially designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day.

Notes:
For the first time, Nepal and India will conduct a joint tiger census in their national parks, forests and protected areas adjoining the two countries by using a globally-recognised method – camera tapping procedure from November 2017. By using this method, officials can avoid chances of repeated counting of the same tiger. The Chitwan National Park and Parsa Wildlife Reserve, which are the habitats of tigers in Nepal, are adjacent to the Balmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar. Similarly, Nepal’s Bardiya National Park is close to India’s Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary while the Shuklaphanta National Park in Nepal adjoins India’s Dudhwa Tiger Reserve. The tiger is regarded as an endangered animal and is listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Notes:
British writer Kazuo Ishiguro has won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. The novelist was praised by the Swedish Academy as a writer “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”.The prize of 9 million Swedish kronor will be awarded to him. The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work. Ishiguro has written eight books, which have been translated into over 40 languages. His most famous novels “The Remains of the Day” and “Never Let Me Go” were adapted into highly acclaimed films. He won the Booker Prize in 1989 for The Remains of the Day and made an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995.

Notes:
Ganga Prasad, the former member of Bihar Legislative Council (BLC), has been sworn-in as the new Governor of Meghalaya at Raj Bhavan in Shillong on October 5. Prasad has been a member of the legislative council in Bihar for 18 years. He was a businessman by profession, joined politics as a Jan Sangh member in 1967 and held various organisational posts in it as well as in the BJP.

Notes:
The Union government has set up a high-level committee for proper management of water resources in the North-Eastern region. The Committee will be headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar. It will facilitate optimising benefits of appropriate water management in the form of hydro-electric power, agriculture, bio-diversity conservation, reduced flood damage erosion, inland water transport, forestry, fishery and eco tourism. The committee is also tasked with spelling out actionable steps for optimizing water resources in the region and chalking out an action plan for dovetailing of Central schemes. The high-level committee will submit its report by June 2018.

Notes:
The World Teachers’ Day (WTD) is observed every year on October 5 to 1994 to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the 1966 UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. The day also aims to mobilize support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers. The 2017 theme is “Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers”.

Notes:
Purushottam Lal Kaushik (87), the former Minister for Information and Broadcasting, has passed away in Mahasamund, Chhattisgarh on October 5, 2017. He was elected to the Lok Sabha twice in 1977 and 1989. The departed leader was the Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation in the Morarji Desai Ministry and later, the Minister for Information and Broadcasting in the Charan Singh government.