Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2017

Notes:
The 3rd edition of Women of India Organic Festival has started at Dilli Haat in New Delhi on October 1, 2017. The purpose of the 15-day festival is to promote women entrepreneurs and farmers in the organic sector. Maneka Gandhi, the Union Minister of Women and Child Development (WCD) has inaugurate the festival. The theme of the festival is – Good for Women, Good for India, Good for You.

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 sixth edition of the World Government Summit (WHS) is scheduled to be held from February 11th – 13th, 2018 in Dubai, UAE. India will be the guest of honour in this summit. The summit is the largest movement to review and share the best experiences, and the first global forum for governments, countries, organizations and private sector leaders interested in the industry of the future. At its 5th session in February 2017, the World Summit of Governments attracted more than 4,000 participants from 139 countries and 150 speakers attended 114 sessions.

Notes:
The Bihar government has launched a state-wide campaign against child marriage and dowry on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. In it, people pledged not to get married a girl below 18 years or a boy below 21 or participate in a child marriage or a wedding with dowry. They also took a pledge to stop such marriage if they come across any as a part of their social responsibility and make their state free of these two social evils. In case of any information on child marriage or dowry they can contact the district magistrates, SP, local elected representatives, block development officer or the police station or call on the toll free number 181. Bihar accounted for 15% of the total dowry deaths as per 2015- 16 national crime record bureau data. 25% girl children were getting married below 18 years age in the state.

Notes:
The 8th Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from October 4, 2017. The 3-day conference will be inaugurated by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. The Indian delegation will be lead by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who will deliver the lead speech on the topic Association of the SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians, a platform for the Parliamentarians of South Asia to work together to reach the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. She is accompanied by a delegation of MPs and senior officials of Lok Sabha.

Notes:
The Global Wildlife Programme (GWP) conference has started in New Delhi on October 2, 2017. India is hosting the programme jointly with World Bank (WB) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to address illegal wildlife trade across 19 Asian and African countries. In it, Environment Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan unveiled the 3rd National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) for 2017-2031 to spell out the future road map for wildlife conservation. The 4-day conference will act as a platform for knowledge exchange and coordination on the action taken on the ground to combat illegal poaching of wildlife and improve governance on wildlife conservation. It will provide an opportunity for India to showcase its conservation efforts through joint forest management, vana sanrakshan samitis, eco-development committees in and around protected areas.

Notes:
The 3rd National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP) for 2017-2031 has recently unveiled by Dr. Harsh Vardhan , the Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC), at the 2017 Global Wildlife Programme (GWP) conference in New Delhi. This NWAP plan was drafted by a 12-member committee chaired by JC Kala, a former secretary to the ministry. The plan is unique as this is the first time India has recognised the concerns relating to climate change impact on wildlife and stressed on integrating actions that need to be taken for its mitigation and adaptation into wildlife management planning processes. The plan adopts a landscape approach in conservation of all wildlife – uncultivated flora and fauna – that have an ecological value to the ecosystem and to mankind irrespective of where they occur. It gives special emphasis to recovery o hreatened species of wildlife while conserving their habitats.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Union Environment Minister, has launched SECURE Himalaya project in association with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Global Wildlife Programme (GWP) conference in New Delhi. The purpose of the 6-year project is to secure livelihoods, conservation, sustainable use and restoration of high range Himalayan ecosystems, which is meant for specific landscapes. It includes Changthang (Jammu and Kasmir), Lahaul – Pangi and Kinnaur (Himachal Pradesh), Gangotri – Govind and Darma – Byans Valley in Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand) and Kanchenjunga – Upper Teesta Valley (Sikkim). The focus of the project will be on protection of snow leopard and other endangered species and their habitats, while securing livelihoods of the people in the region and enhancing enforcement to reduce wildlife crime

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently released its 4th bi-monthly monetary policy statement for the year 2017-18. As per the monetary policy statement, the policy repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) has remain unchanged at 6%. The reverse repo rate, at which RBI borrows from banks will continue to be at 5.75%.