Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
Japanese lawmakers have reelected Shinzo Abe as the country’s 95th Prime Minister on November 1, 2017 after his party won a landslide victory in last month’s general election. Abe was reelected by both Houses of the Diet. The prime minister will now form his cabinet. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has reappointed all of his Cabinet Ministers, following his reelection by the Diet as country’s leader, to ensure continuity of his policies.

Notes:
Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher has been honoured with the 2017 Pramod Mahajan Smriti Award in Pune, Maharashtra on October 29, 2017. Kher is awarded along with Saira Banu, who is UN ambassador for HeforShe. The award was instituted by Pune-based organization ‘Muktachhand’ in memory of Late former Union Minister Pramod Mahajan.

Notes:
K Satchidanandan, noted Malayalam Poet and literary critic, has been selected for the prestigious 2017 Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, the highest literary award of the Government of Kerala, him for his contributions to Malayalam literature and poetry. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and a citation. Satchidanandan is the former Editor of Indian Literature journal and the former Secretary of Sahitya Akademi. He is also a public intellectual of repute upholding secular anti-caste views, supporting causes like environment, human rights and free software and a well known speaker on issues concerning contemporary Indian literature. Moreover, he is the festival director of Kerala Literature Festival.

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will be required to utilise at least 40% of the corpus for purchase of annuity and the remaining amount can be withdrawn in lumpsum.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of 3 years, he or she will have to utilize at-least 80% of the corpus for purchase of annuity and the remaining can be withdrawn in lumpsum.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 Samaspur Sanctuary is located near Salon in Rae Bareli district of Uttar Pradesh, which is established in 1987, and covers an area of about 780 hectares of land. The best time to visit the place is between November to March. More than 250 varieties of birds can be seen here such as Greylag Goose, Pintail, Common Teal, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Shoveler and Ruddy Shelduck (Surkhab).

Notes:
Fake news has been named official word of the year 2017 by Collins dictionary due to its widespread use around the world. The UK-based dictionary writer found that the use of this word registered a 365% rise in the last 12 months. The term-was defined as false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting. Other words on 2017 shortlist included “genderfluid”, defined as not identifying exclusively with one gender rather than another; “fidget spinner”, the toy being twirled by children around the world; and “gig economy” – the term for a system of casual, unstable employment that firms like Uber are associated with. All new words and meanings from the year will be added to CollinsDictionary.com and considered for inclusion in future print editions of the dictionary.

Notes:
India’s first-ever conservation reserve for black buck will come up on over 126 hectares in the trans-Yamuna region of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh. The State cabinet has recently approved a Blackbuck Conservation Reserve in the Meja forest division that is known for its rocky, undulating and arid terrain. For this, the U.P. government evoked Section 36 A (1) and (2) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, to declare the conservation reserve. With this, the conservation of blackbuck can be done in an effective way. It will also create awareness about biodiversity conservation and provide opportunities for people’s participation. Eco-tourism will be encouraged and locals will get opportunities for employment.

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:
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:
Shiv Kapur from India has won the 2017 Panasonic Open (India) Golf tournament at the Delhi Golf Club in New Delhi on November 5, 2017. It is second Asian Tour title of the season for Kapur, who fired five birdies against one bogey to stay three strokes clear off a pack of fellow Indians, including Ajeetesh Sandhu (65), Sudhir Sharma (69) and Chirag Kumar (64).