Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

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The 19th edition of Organic World Congress (OWC- 2017) will be held at India Expo Centre in Greater Noida from Nov 9-11. The International Federation of Organic Farming Movements (IFOAM) and OAFI are organizing the event where 55 seeds group from 15 Indian states will showcase 4,000 varieties of seeds. It will see the participation of 1,400 representatives from 110 countries, and 2000 delegates from India. The Organic World Congress (OWC) is organized once every three years in a different country and this time it is being organised in India. The last edition of the OWC took place in Istanbul, Turkey in 2014.

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Indian boxer M C Mary Kom won gold medal in 48kg category at Asian women’s Boxing Championships by defeating North Korea’s Kim Hyang Mi in Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam on November 8, 2017. It is her first Asian gold medal in this category.

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Natalie Portman, an acclaimed Israeli-born actress and director, has been awarded Israel’s 2018 Genesis Prize in recognition of her commitment to social causes and deep connection to her Jewish and Israeli roots. It is announced by the Genesis Prize Foundation on November 7, 2017. The $1 million award, known as “the Jewish Nobel Prize,” is granted each year to a person recognised as an inspiration to the next generation of Jews through professional achievement and commitment to Jewish values. Ms. Portman is the fifth winner and first woman to receive the prize.

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Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company has won the ” 2017 General Insurance Company of the Year” award at the 21st Asia Insurance Industry Awards. The Health Insurance Company is a joint venture between Apollo Hospitals Group and the Munich Re Group The award recognises Apollo Munich’s contribution in demonstrating market leadership during the qualifying period via innovation in products, services, practices, responsiveness to end-users and intermediaries, initiatives in boosting the image of insurance in society, narrowing the protection gap, and showcasing exceptional business growth through professionalism and sound management.

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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.

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The Maharashtra government will soon set up village climate resilient committees for adopting different agricultural practices in over 5,000 villages of 15 districts in the state. A 13-member committee will be set up in all these villages to stress on adopting new agricultural practices, judicious use of water and soil testing to keep a check on its health. As per a Government Resolution (GR) issued on November 7, 2017, under the Nanaji Deshmukh Krushi Sanjivanee Project, Village Climate Resilient Agriculture Management Committees (VCRMCs) would be set up at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore. The project would be funded by the World Bank. The project recommends use of seed technology, precision farming along with diversification of agriculture to coarse grains.

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Saina Nehwal has won the women’s singles title at the 82nd Senior National Badminton Championships in Nagpur, Maharashtra on November 8, 2017. She defeated PV Sindhu in the final by 21-17, 27-25. It is her third singles title in the national championships.

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The third edition of international film festival “Russian Film Days” has started at Siri Fort Auditorium in Delhi on November 10, 2017 with a special tribute to Raj Kapoor. It is an initiative to strengthen the Indo-Russian relationship through cinematic and cultural exchange. During the festival over the course of three days, Delhi movie-goers will be able to watch ‘The Bolshoi’, ‘The Ghost of Sonora’, ‘Yana + Yanko’, ‘Kitchen: World chef battle’, and ‘Attraction’ at DT Cinemas in Saket. This year the event expanded its borders and will be held in three major cities—Delhi, Mumbai and Panaji (Goa).The festival will come to an end in Delhi on November 12 before moving to Mumbai. It will conclude at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, Goa from November 20.

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Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge), has released the India Youth Development Index (YDI) and Report 2017 in New Delhi on November 13, 2017. The Index enables recognizing the high and low performing states, identifies the weak domains and informs the policy makers the priority areas of intervention for youth development in the states. The purpose of constructing the index is to track the trends in youth development across the States. The Index will enable the policy makers track the national and the regional progress as well setbacks in youth development policies, planning, priority identification and implementation strategies. The ministry stated that the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu has come out with Youth Development Index and Report 2017. This is a pioneering attempt made by the Institute in 2010 which it followed up with the India YDI in 2017.

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Audrey Azoulay, a former Minister of Culture and Communication of France, has been appointed as the new Director-General (DG) of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She will succeed outgoing DG Irina Bokova on November 15, 2017. The new Director will set priorities for the organization’s World Heritage program that protects cultural sites and traditions. Ms Azoulay is the 11th Director-General of UNESCO and the second woman to occupy this position. She was born in Paris to a Moroccan Jewish family from Essaouira, and is the daughter of Andre Azoulay, who is current adviser to king Mohammed VI of Morocco.