Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
The Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary (TWS) is located in South Tripura District of Tripura and covers an area of about 163.08 square kilometres. It has a number of perennial water rivulets, water bodies and grass land. In this sanctuary, there are patches of virgin forests which are rich in rare vegetation. Indian Gaur (Bison) is an attraction of this sanctuary. Apart from it, there are varieties of Birds, Deers, Hollock Gibbon, Golden Langur, Capped Langur, Pheasant and many other animals and reptiles.

Notes:
The Union Environment ministry has constituted a 7-member committee to continuously monitor the short-term and long-term solutions to air pollution. It will be headed by C.K Mishra, the Secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The committee will meet at regular, short intervals to draw up a plan and ensure enforcement.

Notes:
Air Force Sportsmen Sergeant Shahzar Rizvi has won a gold medal in 10 mtrs Pistol for India at recently conducted Commonwealth Shooting Championship held at Gold Coast, Australia. Sergeant Deepak Kumar won Bronze medal in 10 mtrs Air Rifle at the same event. Both are outstanding Sportsman in shooting and they have performed consistently well in their career as well. Sergeant Rizvi had also won Gold and Silver medal in 2014 & 2015 in the Senior National Shooting Championship respectively.

Notes:
The Mathikettan Shola National Park (MSNS) is located in Poopara village of Udumbanchola taluk in Idukki district of Kerala and covers an area of 12.82 square kilometres. It is notified as a national park to protect the wildlife and rich biodiversity of the area. It is home to beautiful and rare animals like panthers, wild elephants, spotted deer, Nilgiri tahrs and giant grizzled squirrels, etc. Among reptiles, species like rat snakes, crocodiles, vipers, cobras, turtles, lizards and pythons inhabit the park.

Notes:
The 5th meeting of Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism was held at Kathmandu on November 8, 2017. A comprehensive review of the progress achieved in the implementation of bilateral projects in last 4 months was made in the meeting. Both sides reiterated their commitment to the early completion of all bilateral economic and development cooperation projects within specified time frame by providing required facilities and resolving difficulties in an expeditious manner. Foreign Secretary of Nepal Shanker Das Bairagi and Ambassador of India to Nepal Manjeev Singh Puri jointly chaired the meeting. The Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism was set up as agreed during then Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal India visit in September 2016. The next meeting of the mechanism will be held at Kathmandu on a mutually convenient date.

Notes:
Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Adviser for Department of Biotechnology (DBT), has been awarded with National Entrepreneurship Award, 2017 under Mentor (Government) category in the Recognition Track at the National Entrepreneurship Award Ceremony, 2017 in New Delhi. Dr. Swarup also holds position of Managing Director, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public Sector Company.

Notes:
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) is an apex organization of marketing cooperatives for agricultural produce in India. Its headquarters is located in New Delhi. Recently, it is in news because Consumer Affairs Ministry led-Price Stabilization Fund Management Committee (PSFMC) has decided to import onions through government agency to augment the availability of onions in market and moderate prices in New Delhi. In it, Consumer Affairs Secretary Avinash Srivastava stated that NAFED will procure 10 thousand tonnes and the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) two thousand tonne of onions from producing areas and supply it to consuming areas to enhance its availability.

Notes:
The India Disaster Response Summit has inaugurated by Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, in New Delhi on November 9, 2017. The summit is jointly organised by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Facebook to leverage social media platforms to ‘prepare, respond and recover’ for, during and after natural disasters in India. Facebook will now share its disaster maps, developed using aggregated, de-identified data, with NDMA. These maps can aid swift disaster response by providing real-time, actionable information. The Disaster Information Volunteers (DIV) programme, which is being executed by SEEDS, will establish a network of volunteers to provide real-time, first-hand information on disasters in their local communities. The programme will be piloted in two disaster prone states — Assam and Uttarakhand.

Notes:
The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) will celebrate the Child Rights Week Hausla 2017 between 16 and 20 November. To mark the occasion various events will be held including Bal Sansad, painting competition, athletics meet, football, chess competition and speech writing. The country celebrates the Children’s Day on 14 November and the International Child Rights Day on 20 November every year. The period between the two important events will be celebrated as Child Rights Week by WCD Ministry by hosting an Inter CCI Festival for the children who reside in Child Care Institutions (CCIs). The fest “Hausala 2017” will provide an occasion to showcase the talents of children from CCIs from various child care institutions across the country and provide them with a space to express their dreams and aspiration.

Notes:
K Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, has declared Urdu as the state’s second official language. Every office in the state will now have an Urdu speaking officer. As per reports, the state government will appoint Urdu officers in all the offices over the next 60 days to receive petitions from public and reply them in Urdu. Apart from this, all competitive examinations will also be conducted in Urdu.