GK & Current Affairs Quiz: November 24, 2017

Notes:
Basel, a city in northwestern Switzerland, will become the first city to jointly host the Badminton and Para Badminton World Championships after it was awarded the 2019 edition of the Para event. The Badminton World Federation (BWF) confirmed on November 23, 2017 that the two tournaments will be staged simultaneously for the first time. The Swiss city defeated Tokyo to land the 2019 Para Badminton World Championships in a vote which was delayed by the BWF Council to allow “further discussion”. The event will be the last held in the sport before Para Badminton makes its Paralympic Games debut at Tokyo 2020. There will be 14 medal events in badminton at the 2020 Paralympic Games.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Umang mobile application, an integrated platform for government to citizen services, on November 23, 2017. The acronym of Umang stands for ” Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance”, which has been developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY). Currently, the app will host around 162 services from 33 government departments of central and state governments. The app provides all pan India e-Gov services ranging from central to local government bodies and other citizen-centric services like Aadhaar and Digilocker on one single platform. Citizen can download UMANG by giving missed call on 9718397183 and also access it on ‘www.umang.gov.in’.

Notes:
The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. Its headquarters are located in London, England.

Notes:
The Rani Jhansi Marine National Park (RJMNP) is located in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and covers an area of 256.14 square kilometres. It was founded in 1996 and commemorates Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi (1828-58). The park provides shelter to some very crucial wildlife and habitats which include Dugongs, Crocodiles, Marine Life, Coral Reefs, Mangroves, Terrestrial Moist forest and birds. It is an area which is strictly reserved for the betterment of the wildlife & biodiversity, and where activities like developmental, forestry, poaching, hunting and grazing on cultivation are not permitted. Their boundaries are well marked and circumscribed.

Notes:
IKEA, the Swedish furnishing retailer, has launched its first experiential centre “IKEA Hej (Hello) HOME’ in India at Hyderabad. The Hej Home, designed and set up over a six-month duration, highlights what the retailer stands for and what to expect from an IKEA store. It is an exhibition of IKEA products and solutions which its future customers can actually buy it from its store (in Hyderabad) in spring 2018. The display includes the bedroom, living area, kitchen and dining, play area among others. After the Hyderabad store, the second store will open in Mumbai during 2019, followed by Bengaluru and Delhi NCR.

Notes:
David Cassidy (67), the teen and pre-teen idol who starred in the 1970s sitcom ‘The Partridge Family’, and sold millions of records as the musical group’s lead singer, has passed away in Florida, United States on November 21, 2017.

Notes:
Jon Hendricks (96), the legendary jazz singer and lyricist, has passed away in New York, United States on November 22, 2017. Hendricks found fame in the 1950s and ’60s teaming with Dave Lambert and Annie Ross. The Jazz singer wrote the lyrics to existing Basie songs, and the three recorded their own voices in layers instead of using backup singers. The trio’s first album, “Sing a Song of Basie,” won acclaim for its use of vocalese, in which the voices mimic the instrumental parts. Others experimented with vocalese before Hendricks, but he is widely regarded as the father of the spirited singing style for popularising it. After the group broke up in 1962, he pursued a solo career in London, worked as a jazz critic in San Francisco and released several solo albums.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) has launched a Digital Signature campaign on Constitution Day affirming faith in Indian Constitution and to generate awareness on fundamental duties enshrined in the Constitution. People can join the campaign by filling a form online. The Constitution Day is celebrated every year in India on 26 November to commemorate the adoption of Constitution of India. On this day in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted the Constitution of India, and it came into effect on 26 January 1950.

Notes:
The State Bank of India (SBI) has recently launched a unified integrated app YONO (You Need Only One) that would offer all kinds of financial and lifestyle products. The omni-channel platform will allow customers to meet their lifestyle needs across 14 categories from booking cabs to paying for medical needs — all under one roof. For this, the bank has partnered with 60 e-commerce players, including Amazon, Ola, Flipkart, Yatra, Swiggy and BYJU’s. Offline players such as Thomas Cook, Shoppers Stop and Cox and Kings are also part of the SBI partnership. The portal has been designed to offer maximum customer convenience and has been developed by SBI using artificial intelligence, predictive analysis and machine learning

Notes:
The 2017 International Gita Mahotsav will be inaugurated by President of India Ram Nath Kovind in Kurukshetra, Haryana on November 25, 2017. The President will also participate in Gita Yajna and Gita Poojan ceremonies at Brahma Sarovar. He will also lay the foundation stone of the Gita Research Centre at Gita Gyan Sansthanam. The mahotsav, which will conclude on December 3, will have Mauritius as partner country and Uttar Pradesh as partner state. Approx 25-30 lakh people are likely to participate in this Mahotsav.