Current Affairs Weekly Updates – November Week I

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AWARDS AND HONOURS

 NAME OF THE AWARD

AWARD WINNER

KEY POINTS TO NOTE

2017 Newton Award Andrew Shennan, Shivaprasad Goudar Both teams were awarded £200,000 or Rs 1.7 crore
53rd Jnanpith Award Krishna Sobti She is Renowned Hindi littérateur
Vishnudas Bhave award Mohan Joshi For his contribution to theatre
Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco She is hails From Philippines
2018 Jewish Nobel Prize Natalie Portman For professional achievement and commitment to Jewish values

APPOINTMENTS

NAME

DEPT/FIELD

Sudhanshu Jain Paytm Payments Bank
Shamika Ravi Part-time member of PM economic panel
Hasmukh Adhia Finance Secretary
Mary Kom Youth World Championships ambassador

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

  • The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is set to launch its ‘One Nation One Food Law’ initiative.
  • The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the Global Clubfoot Conference being organised by the CURE India in New Delhi on November 1, 2017.
  • The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will inaugurate World Food India 2017 on 3rd November 2017 from Vigyan Bhavan New Delhi.
  • ONGC has received the Information Memorandum from the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management for acquiring majority stake in fellow public sector undertaking HPCL.
  • India a 30 place jump in its ease of doing business ranking, the World Bank has said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and reforms push by the government will catapult the country to high middle income economy in 30 years.
  • River Ganga has been an unceasing source of livelihood for more than 40 percent of India’s population. It has been unconditionally providing for our needs and has been the very essence of spirituality.
  • The 1st Heli Expo India and International Civil Helicopter Conclave-2017 is inaugurated in New Delhi by the Uttrakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaja ji.
  • “FIPSPHYSIOCON 2017”, Conference on Human Physiology – VII Congress was inaugurated at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute (VPCI), University of Delhi.
  • Public sector undertaking Coal India has launched the ‘Grahak Sadak Koyla Vitaran App’ aimed at benefitting customers of the company that are being supplied coal by road.
  • Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has launched an online portal for registering complaint related to sexual harassment in non-government and government organisations
  • Indian Railways will showcase its first train with enhanced features and upgraded utilities. New Delhi-Kathgodam Shatabdi Express will bear a new look. The Swarn project aims to upgrade premium trains like Rajdhani and Shatabdi.
  • The Indian Railways has launched the main arch of the world’s highest bridge on the River Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district which will provide direct connectivity to the Kashmir Valley.
  • Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha has launched a Pan India scholarship program for school children called Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana to increase the reach of Philately.

NEWS IN STATES

  • Assam government has signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) and Terms of Reference (ToR) with Singapore for skilling youth of the state.
  • Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has rolled out 647 schemes entailing an investment of Rs 24.57 crore for development of the world’s largest river island Majuli.
  • Uttar Pradesh cabinet has decided to make India’s first conservation reserve for black buck in Allahabad’s Meja.
  • The Dubai-based Bin Zayed group has proposed to invest about ₹12,500 crore in the infrastructure sector in Telangana.
  • The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) will be hosting ninth edition of Nasscom Game Developer Conference (NGDC) — 2017 from November 8-11 in Hyderabad.
  • The aroma of Hyderabad’s trademark cuisine biryani, baghare baingan and seviyan -may ‘waft’ through the air the next time you receive a mail from the India Post.
  • The Kerala government has decided to formulate a trauma-care scheme in the State wherein all emergency care and treatment will be provided to accident victims free-of-cost for the first 48 hours once the person has been admitted to a hospital.
  • Karnataka will be the focus State in the three-day ‘World Food India 2017’ trade fair being held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.
  • Almost a year after it reopened, Charni Road’s Royal Opera House has been awarded the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
  • The health of mangroves in Maharashtra will now be monitored using real-time satellite images. The state mangrove cell has approved a proposal from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in Valiamala, Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala.
  • Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the 9th Agrovision Summit in Nagpur on November 10. The three-day summit will be held at the Reshimbagh ground.
  • The two-day Coastal Security Exercise ‘Sagar Kavach’ is scheduled on November 8 and 9, 2017
  • The Goa government has executed a trilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Department of Bio-Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India (GoI) and Nobel Media, Sweden to hold the ‘Nobel Prize Series.
  • The massive renovation and restoration effort at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam has won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit 2017 for cultural heritage conservation.
  • The aim of exhibiting this wall is to spread further awareness about all the Nobel Laureates from India and their contribution to the society.

CABINET APPROVALS

  • The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for the trade Agreement between India and Ethiopia for strengthening and promoting trade and economic co-operation.
  • The Union Cabinet has given its approval for signing and ratifying an Agreement between India and Armenia on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters. The Agreement will be signed on behalf of the two countries after it is approved by the respective Governments.

PERSONS IN NEWS

  • Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank was named the most powerful woman in India as she ranked 32nd in World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list by Forbes.
  • Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani overtook China’s Hui Ka Yan to become Asia’s richest person with a total wealth of $42.1 billion.
  • Award-winning writer and veteran journalist Inderjit Badhwar has been chosen by the Prague Writers Festival (PWF) to represent India at its annual literary conclave to be held at the European city of Spires.

BANKING AND FINANCE

  • Private sector HDFC Bank has announced that it will launch SmartUp Zonesin 30 cities, aimed at serving entrepreneurs.
  • ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector bank by consolidated assets, has launched voice-based international remittance service on its Money2India
  • Private sector lender Yes Bank has signed an agreement with the government to provide Rs 1,000 crore financing for food processing projects.
  • AU Small Finance Bank has received Reserved Bank of India (RBI) approval to operate as Scheduled Commercial Bank. This bank’s name has now been included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
  • Private lender HDFC Bank has made online transactions through RTGS and NEFT free of cost from November 1, with an aim to promote a digital economy.

FOREIGN RELATIONS

  • Moscow and Tehran are about to sign a memorandum of understanding to back a new gas pipeline project, according to Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak.
  • The first-ever Seoul- India Friendship Festival will be held at Cyber Hub, Gurugram from November organised by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

  • According to a new study published in the scientific journal The Lancet, while most news articles on the impact of climate change on health are published in Asia, more than half the research, however, continues to focus, primarily, on the impact felt in Europe and America.
  • The Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan will be on an official visit to Bangkok, Thailand from 01-02nd November 2017 to participate in the IEF 7thAsian Ministerial Energy Roundtable (AMER7).
  • China will begin construction of the world’s highest planetarium next year in Tibet.
  • Thailand will introduce biometric checks nationwide for mobile telephone users to register their SIM cards from Dec. 15, the telecoms regulator, in a bid to stamp out fraudulent electronic transactions.
  • The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have signed a Joint Financial Partnership Declaration for the promotion of solar energy.
  • The 2017 World Youth Forum was held at Sharam El Shiekh in Egypt. The 5-day forum was inaugurated by the President of Egypt Mr Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

  • Astronomers have added 219 candidates to the growing list of planets beyond our solar system, 10 of which may be about the same size and temperature as Earth, boosting their chances of hosting life.
  • Researchers plan to retrofit a school building in quake-prone Uttarakhand with a novel concrete coating that can dramatically enhance the earthquake resistance of seismically vulnerable structures.
  • China, which is building its own navigation system to rival United States GPS, has launched two BeiDou-3 satellites into space though a single carrier rocket.

INDEX AND RANKING

  • India slipped 21 places on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap index to 108, behind neighbours China and Bangladesh, primarily due to less participation of women in the economy and low wages.
  • India’s domestic passenger traffic was the highest among major aviation markets at 15.5 per cent in September, followed by China and the Russian Federation.
  • India has jumped 30 positions to become the top 100th country in terms of ease of doing business ranking this year.

DEFENCE NEWS

  • A fourteen day joint training exercise “PRABAL DOSTYK – 2017” was commenced between the Indian Army and the Kazakhstan Army with the Opening Ceremony at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh.
  • The Indian Air Force, along with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully tested an indigenously developed light weight ‘Glide’ bomb in Chandipur in Odisha. With this DRDO announced that this bomb will soon be inducted into the armed forces.
  • The Indian and the Bangladeshi army are all set to take part in an intensive combat exercise at India’s Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte in Mizoram.
  • India has conducted a flight test of its indigenously designed and developed long-range sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’, which can carry warheads of up to 300 kg from a test range at Chandipur along the Odisha coast.

SPORTS

WINNER

TITLE

SPORT/ VENUE

India T20I cricket, Against New Zealand
Gagan Narang Silver medal  in Commonwealth Shooting Championships Gold Coast
Annu Raj Singh Bronze medal in the women’s 50m pistol Commonwealth Shooting Championships Gold Coast
Shahzar Rizvi, Pooja Ghatkar, Jitu Rai Gold at Commonwealth Shooting Championship Gold Coast
Anjum Moudgil Bronze at Commonwealth Shooting women’s 50m Rifle Prone Championships
Achanta Sharath Kamal and G Sathiyan Bronze medal at the prestigious 2017 Challenge Belgium Open Table Tennis tournament in De Haan (Belgium)
Aditi Ashok Fatima Bin Mubarak Ladies Open/Ladies European Tour
Indian women Team women’s Asia Cup hockey title The team qualify for Hockey World Cup

OBITUARY

NAME OF THE PERSON

FIELD

Vettoor Purushan Veteran Malayalam Actor

IMPORTANT DAYS

DATE OBSERVED

DAY OBSERVED

THEME / PURPOSE

November 01 National Stress Awareness Day To raise awareness of the effects of psychological stress
November 05 Tsunami Awareness Day To promote a global culture of tsunami awareness

 

 


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