Notes:
The think tank NITI Aayog in collaboration with Proffer, a blockchain startup founded by graduates of MIT and Harvard, will organise a ‘Blockchain Summit’ and hackathon at IIT Delhi from Nov 10-13, 2017. The objective of the event is to explore how blockchain architectures can enable a new digital infrastructure for India, improving efficiency, transparency, privacy, and cost across all sectors. 1,500+ students from IITs, MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, and top engineering institutions around the world will be participating in the event, with 500 attending in-person on IIT Delhi’s campus. Multinational majors that include Microsoft, IBM, Accel, Coinbase, and Amazon AWS are sponsoring $17,000+ in prizes to reward the top 5 blockchain-based applications addressing problems in government/enterprise infrastructure, finance, energy markets, supply chain, decentralized Aadhar identities, information exchange, and more.

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:
Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of Kerala, has launched the She Pad scheme for school girls on November 8, 2017, which will be implemented in 300 government schools across 114 panchayats in Kerala. The scheme will facilitate free sanitary napkins, storage spaces for napkins and environment-friendly incinerators at all government & aided schools in the state. It is a first-of-its-kind scheme in India, which aims to raise awareness about the need for menstrual hygiene and break the taboo around the subject. The financial cost for the project, about Rs30 crore, is provided by local panchayats and Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation.

Notes:
As many as 64 cities from 44 countries have been designated as UNESCO Creative Cities by its Director General Irina Bokova. In it, Chennai has been included in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network for its rich musical tradition. Some of the other cities included along with Chennai are Alba (Italy), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Auckland (New Zealand), Cairo (Egypt), Cape Town (South Africa), Manchester (UK), and Milan (Italy). With this, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network now counts a total of 180 cities in 72 countries. From India, Jaipur and Varanasi are the other Indian cities that feature on the list.

Notes:
The 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit has started in Danang, Vietnam with theme “Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future” on November 10, 2017. The 2-day summit will gives an opportunity to tout the benefits of global free trade. The 2017 summit will highlight Vietnamese culture, as well as represent the five components, which are as follows: Dynamism, creativity, action, unity, and movement to the future.

Notes:
The 4-day traditional Lavi Fair has started at Rampur Bushahr in Himachal Pradesh on November 12, 2017, which was inaugurated by Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat. The 300-year-old Lavi fair is an important trade event between India and Tibet. It is a unique example of the glorious, social, cultural, economic history and legacy of Himachal Pradesh. It provides a good opportunity for people to promote and sale woolens, dry fruits and other traditional crafts and products.

Notes:
Veteran cyclist Ashok Khale (64), who was recently injured in the suspected hit-and-run case on the Sion-Panvel highway, has passed away in the Bombay hospital during treatment on November 12, 2017. He won several medals for cycle-riding in state and national-level championships. He had represented India in Giro d’Italia event and was also called as the King of the Ghats. He was also the recipient of the Shiv Chhatrapati award.

Notes:
India’s first Tribal Entrepreneurship Summit has organised by NITI Aayog in partnership with the US government at Dantewada in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on November 14, 2017. The event is a part of 8th Global Entrepreneurship Summit being held in India. The summit was inaugurated by Minister of State for Science and Technology YS Chowdhary. The purpose of the summit is to inspire, nurture and promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in tribal youth. The summit will see the participation of tribal entrepreneurs from various sectors across the country and abroad. The summit will be addressed by eminent speakers from NITI Aayog, health and agri-pharma sectors. The summit not only provides a platform to tribal youth but also addresses the issues faced by the tribal community in pragmatic and progressive ways.

Notes:
The 15th edition of Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT) Conference has started in New Delhi with theme “Building Trust in the Digital Economy” from November 12-15, 2017. It is organized by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under the aegis of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology. This is the first ever conference in India and South Asia, and is expected to be attended by 21 economies. The conference is expected to be attended by over 300 cyber security professionals from the Asia Pacific region, USA, Europe, Industry, Academia, Government and Media.

Notes:
Ganga Kumari, the resident of Raniwara in Jalore district of Rajasthan, has become the first transgender to be appointed in Rajasthan Police. On 13th November 2017, the Rajasthan High Court had directed the police department to appoint Ganga Kumari as a constable within six weeks, after officials denied her a post due to her gender and reported lack of clarity of rules in 2015. She was selected in the police recruitment examination for constables in 2013. However, her appointment was held up following the medical examination, which brought to the recruiters’ notice that she was a eunuch.