Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
Dr Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister of India, will be honoured with the 2017 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for his leadership of the country between 2004 and 2014 and for enhancing India’s stature globally. According to a statement from the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, Dr Singh was unanimously chosen for the award by an international jury chaired by former President Pranab Mukherjee. The Trust stated that Dr Singh is only the third Indian prime minister to complete two full terms as the PM between 2004 and 2014. The award, named after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was announced on the eve of Gandhi’s birth anniversary on November 19, 2017.

Notes:
The 42nd World Congress of the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) has started in New Delhi on November 19, 2017. The 5-day event is organised for the first time in India, and is the largest medical conference ever organised by the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS). The theme of this 42nd World Congress is “Military Medicine in Transition: Looking Ahead”. The ICMM is an international inter-governmental organisation created in 1921 with its secretariat at Brussels in Belgium and currently has 112 nations as members. Approx350-400 foreign delegates from 80 countries are participating in the event.

Notes:
Jana Novotna (49), a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic, has passed away in Brno, Czech Republic on November 19, 2017. She won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon in 1998, 12 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and four mixed doubles titles. She was also inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in 1997, and achieved the No. 1 ranking in doubles.

Notes:
India has been ranked 51st globally in terms of ability to attract, develop and retain talent while Switzerland topped the list compiled by leading global business school IMD. The annual IMD World Talent Ranking covered 63 countries and assessed the methods the countries adopted to attract and retain talent. The rankings are based on a country’s performance in three main categories – investment and development, appeal, and readiness – and India was ranked 62nd, 43rd and 29th on these terms. Globally, Europe continues to dominate the rankings, with Switzerland, Denmark, and Belgium being the most competitive countries. Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg made up the top 10.

Notes:
The World Fisheries day (WFD) is celebrated every year on November 21 throughout the world by the fisherfolk communities holding rallies, workshops, public meetings, cultural programs and exhibition to highlight the importance of maintaining the world’s fisheries. The day helps in highlighting the critical importance to human lives, of water and the lives it sustains, both in and out of water. A recent United Nations study reported that more than two-thirds of the world’s fisheries have been overfished or are fully harvested and more than one third are in a state of decline because of factors such as the loss of essential fish habitats, pollution, and global warming.

Notes:
President Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the Manipur Sangai Festival at Palace Compound in Imphal on November 21, 2017. The festival will reflect the State’s proud cultural heritage and the love for art which is inherent amongst various tribes inhabiting the State of Manipur. It will showcases the best of what the state has to offer to the world in terms of art and culture, handloom, handicrafts & fine arts, indigenous sports, cuisines & music, eco & adventure sports as well as the scenic natural beauty of the land. It is named after the State animal ‘Sangai’ the brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur. The galaxy of foreign dignitaries including ambassadors of South-East Asian countries and some western countries will also attend the inaugural function of the 10-day state festival. A two-day North-East Development Summit will also be opened by the President today as a part of the festival at City Convention Centre in the capital Imphal. As many as 175 delegates including official representatives of foreign countries and multi-national corporate firms are also attending the Summit.

Notes:
Professor Quarraisha Abdool Karim, an acclaimed South African Indian-origin AIDS researcher, has been appointed as a UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV. Professor Abdool Karim is one of the world’s leading AIDS researchers and has made pioneering contributions to understanding the HIV epidemic among young people, especially among young women. She is a strong advocate for the rights of people living with and affected by HIV. In her new role as a UNAIDS Special Ambassador, Abdool Karim will focus on adolescents and HIV, while also championing the involvement of young women in science.

Notes:
Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former Vice President, will be sworn in as the President of the Zimbabwe on November 24, 2017 after the resignation of Robert Mugabe following a military intervention. The ruling ZANU-PF party has nominated him to fill the vacancy left by Mr Robert Mugabe. Mr Mugabe stepped down on November 21 after 37 years ruling the country. Mr Mnangagwa’s dismissal from the Vice President post led the ruling party and the military to intervene and forced Mr Mugabe to resign.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Umang mobile application, an integrated platform for government to citizen services, on November 23, 2017. The acronym of Umang stands for ” Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance”, which has been developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY). Currently, the app will host around 162 services from 33 government departments of central and state governments. The app provides all pan India e-Gov services ranging from central to local government bodies and other citizen-centric services like Aadhaar and Digilocker on one single platform. Citizen can download UMANG by giving missed call on 9718397183 and also access it on ‘www.umang.gov.in’.

Notes:
IKEA, the Swedish furnishing retailer, has launched its first experiential centre “IKEA Hej (Hello) HOME’ in India at Hyderabad. The Hej Home, designed and set up over a six-month duration, highlights what the retailer stands for and what to expect from an IKEA store. It is an exhibition of IKEA products and solutions which its future customers can actually buy it from its store (in Hyderabad) in spring 2018. The display includes the bedroom, living area, kitchen and dining, play area among others. After the Hyderabad store, the second store will open in Mumbai during 2019, followed by Bengaluru and Delhi NCR.