Notes:
Ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, who won four Super Series titles in 2017, has won the Sportsman of the Year award at the first edition of Indian Sports Honours (ISH) in Mumbai on November 27, 2017. Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu was the Sportswoman of the Year award in the individual sport category. In the Team Sport category. Ravichandran Ashwin, who has became the fastest bowler to reach ‘Club 300’ in Test cricket, was awarded Sportsman of the Year award while women’s cricket team skipper Mithali Raj was awarded Sportswoman of the Year award. The Indian Women’s Cricket Team, which ended as runners-up in the ICC Women’s World Cup, were named as the Team of the Year. The ISH is an initiative partnered by India skipper Virat Kohli and Sanjiv Goenka, in line with their vision to support the development of Indian sports.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President’s adviser Ivanka Trump jointly inaugurated the 8th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES-2017) in Hyderabad on November 28, 2017. The 3-day event is co-hosted by India and the USA and for the first time it is held in South Asia. The NITI Ayog in partnership with the US State Department and other agencies and in coordination with the Telangana state Government is organising the prestigious event. This year’s theme “Women First, Prosperity for All” will demonstrate the commitment of the United States and Indian governments to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive. About 1500 delegates from over 150 countries are taking part in the three-day Summit. Ten countries are being represented by all women delegations.

Notes:
India will provide financial assistance of $2.87 million to Afghanistan for the refurbishment of 350 buses to help in strengthening the public transport system of capital Kabul. The assistance would be used to procure spare parts for the Milli Bus (government bus services) for refurbishment of 350 previously supplied buses under Indian assistance. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Acting Afghan Minister of Transport, Mohammad Hameed Tahmasi and Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra. The 350 buses are expected to be operational by end of 2018.

Notes:
The Band-e Amir National Park is the Afghanistan’s first national park, located in the Bamyan Province. It is a series of six deep blue lakes separated by natural dams made of travertine, a mineral deposit. The site of Band-e Amir has been described as Afghanistan’s Grand Canyon, and draws thousands of tourists a year. The river is part of the system of the Balkh River.

Notes:
India and Russia have recently signed anti-terror pact to help each other in combating terrorism. The agreement between the two countries for cooperation in tackling all forms of terrorism was signed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russia’s Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev in Moscow, Russia. Indian and Russian representatives also signed a joint action plan for countering the threat posed by narcotics. This agreement will provide legal framework for bilateral cooperation in this field.

Notes:
India’s top cueist Pankaj Advani has won the 15-frame IBSF World Snooker Men Championship 2017 at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha on November 27, 2017. Advani defeated Amir Sarkhosh of Iran 8-2 (19-71, 79-53, 98-23, 69-62, 60-05, 0-134, 75-07, 103-4, 77-13, 67-47) in the final. It was his 18th world title.

Notes:
Under the chairmanship of NK Singh, who is the former bureaucrat and ex-Member of Parliament, the 15th Finance Commission has been constituted by the Union Government. The Commission will make recommendations for the five years commencing 1st April 2020. It will recommend devolution of shareable central taxes to the States and will also review several important aspects of federal fiscal finance. It will also look at the impact of the GST, including payment of compensation for possible loss of revenues for 5 years. Former Secretary Economic Affairs Shaktikanta Das and Adjunct Professor of Georgetown University, Dr Anoop Singh will be the members of the Commission. Chairman of Bandhan Bank, Dr Ashok Lahiri and NITI Aayog Member Dr Ramesh Chand will be the Part-time members. Arvind Mehta will be the Secretary to the Commission. The Commission will make its report available by 30th October 2019.

Notes:
Karen Pierce, the Foreign Office (FCO) political director, has been appointed the first-ever female UK ambassador to the United Nations (UN). She had previously served as Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, and more recently as the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva. Pierce succeeded Matthew Rycroft under whom UK suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of India in the recent election to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This is for the first time in 70 years that Britain would have no judge in the 15-member panel of the ICJ.

Notes:
The Golden Temple in Amritsar has officially been declared the most visited place of the world in 2017 by London-based organization World Book of Records (WBR). The WBR team presented the award certificate to Shriomani Gurdwara Pharbandhak Committee (SGPC), the management body of the Golden Temple. The certificate was given to Golden Temple as over a lakh devotees visit the holy shrine every day. The award, which is bestowed after every three months, has been conferred basis observations made from September 2017. The international organization, established in 2015, catalogues and verifies world records with authentic certification. The Golden Temple stands as a symbol of peace, unity and spirituality and is the holiest pilgrimage site of Sikhism.

Notes:
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Defence Minister, has been elected as the new President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA). The IDSA was set up in 1965 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as an autonomous think tank, and it is customary to have the Defence Minister as its President. The Minister chairs the Executive Council which governs the Institute. IDSA is funded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and its faculty conducts research in military, foreign and strategic affairs. Significantly, the Government has sought its views before taking major policy initiatives, like conducting nuclear tests, as in 1974 and 1998. IDSA also executes specific assignments from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The headquarters of IDSA is loacted in New Delhi.