Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the Global Clubfoot Conference at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on November 1, 2017. The 2-day conference is organised by the CURE India in partnership with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Clubfoot is one of the most common orthopaedic birth defects, which can cause permanent disability if not treated early. This affects the child’s mobility and confidence. Inevitably, education and schooling suffer – and the child cannot fulfil his or her potential.

Notes:
Neelmani N. Raju, a 1983 batch IPS officer, has been appointed as the Karnataka’s first-ever woman Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG-IGP). She will take over from Rupak Kumar Dutta, who is retiring from service.

Notes:
The 9th edition of CMS Vatavaran, India’s only International Environment & Wildlife Film Festival and Forum, has started at Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti in New Delhi on November 2, 2017. The theme of the 5-day fest is “Conservation 4 Water”. The aim of fest is to create awareness and sensitize people through films and discussions regarding water conservation and the inter-connectedness of climate change and water, water struggles in a world dealing with global warming, climate variability, bio-diversity loss, and environmental damage. It will showcase 113 films, including four from Kashmir, one of the most ecologically sensitive zones facing the threat of global warming. The event is supported and partnered by Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, National Geographic, UNESCO, UNDP and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Notes:
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has increased the maximum age of joining National Pension Scheme (NPS) Private Sector from the 60 to 65 years of age to increase the pension coverage in the country. Now, any Indian citizen, resident or non-resident, of 60-65 years of age can join the NPS and continue up to the age of 70 years. A subscriber joining NPS after the age of 60 years will now have an option of normal exit from NPS after completion of three years. In this case, the subscriber will be required to utilise at least 40% of the corpus for purchase of annuity and the remaining amount can be withdrawn in lumpsum. However, if the subscriber wants to exit from NPS before completion of 3 years, he or she will have to utilize at-least 80% of the corpus for purchase of annuity and the remaining can be withdrawn in lumpsum. In case of death of the subscriber during his/her stay in NPS, the entire corpus will be paid to the nominee of the subscriber.

Notes:
The Assam government has recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) and Terms of Reference (ToR) with Singapore for skilling over 78,000 rural youths in the state by 2019 and greening Guwahati. The MoU and ToR for setting up the North East Skills Centre (NESC) was signed between Skill, Employment and Entrepreneurship Department of Assam government and ITE Education Service of Singapore. The NESC will train up to 400 students each year. The MoU for Guwahati city’s greening was inked between the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority and Singapore Corporation Enterprise.

Notes:
The Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) is located in Ponda taluka of northeastern Goa and covers an area of 8 km2. A wide variety of animal life can be encountered, including: sambar deer, Indian bison, Malabar giant squirrel, Indian peafowl and many species of snakes.

Notes:
Goa has topped the 2017 Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI) with score 0.649, which is recently released by the Child development NGO Plan India during its national conference in New Delhi on November 1. Kerala has acquired 2nd position followed by Mizoram and Sikkim. Bihar ranked the lowest at 30, with Delhi faring only slightly better at 29 and Uttar Pradesh at 28. The highest ranking north Indian state is Himachal Pradesh at the sixth position. The composite index has been developed within research for the NGO’s Plan for Every Child campaign which is aimed at comprehensively understanding the dimensions of various problems affecting children, particularly girls, in difficult circumstances. This index provides a state-wise ranking which is calculated by analysing four issues pertinent to the situation of girls — child safety/protection, poverty, health and education.

Notes:
Kenneth Juster, a top economic expert on India, has been appointed as the new US Ambassador to India, which is unanimously confirmed by US Senate on November 3, 2017. He will replace Indian-American Richard Verma as the top American diplomat to India. The position has been lying vacant since January 20 after Mr. Verma resigned from the post after the swearing-in of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the U.S.

Notes:
The Hazaribag Wildlife Sanctuary (HWS) is situatuted in Jharkhand and is about 89 km north of Ranchi. It covers an area of 184 km2. It is home to leopards, pantherswild boars tigers, sambar, nilgai, chital, peafowl, sloth bears, black bears, hyenas and pigeons.

Notes:
The National Cycling Championship has started from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on November 5, 2017 to promote fuel conservation. The event is organised by the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA) in four categories – Elite Cycling (50km/30km), Amateur Ride (30 km), Open Ride (10 km) and Green Ride (5 km). Approx 5,000 participants are taking part in the event, which are enrol for various categories via online registration. The championship is hosted by Saksham Pedal Delhi and supported by the Cycling Federation of India (CFI). Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar is the brand ambassador of the of Saksham Pedal Delhi. The event has prize money of Rs 8 lakh.