Notes:
The Maharashtra government has constituted a 7-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sudhir Shrivastava to recommend ways to stop the custodial deaths. The formation of the panel comes in the wake of the custodial death of Aniket Kothale in Sangli city earlier in November 2017. The committee will also recommend measures so that people get proper treatment at police stations. It will also take into account the government circulars issued in the past as well as the judgments of the high court and Supreme Court.

Notes:
Two-time Olympic-medallist Sushil Kumar, India’s lone woman Olympic medal winner Sakshi Malik and Geeta Phogat won gold medal in their respective categories in the National Wrestling championship in Indore on November 17, 2017. Sushil Kumar took less than three minutes to bag a gold medal as three of his rivals gave him a walkover in men’s 74kg freestyle competition. Sakshi finished on the top of the podium after posting a dominating 10-0 victory over Pooja Tomar of Haryana in the final of women’s 62kg, while Geeta clinched the yellow metal with a win against Ravita in the final of 59kg category.

Notes:
Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi (72), the veteran Congress leader, has passed away in New Delhi on November 20, 2017. He was on life support system after he suffered a massive stroke which left him paralysed in 2008. He represented the Raiganj (Lok Sabha constituency) of West Bengal and was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. Mr Dasmunsi served as Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs. He was elected to Lok Sabha five times.

Notes:
The world’s biggest toilet pot model was launched at Marora, popularly known as the ‘Trump village’, in Haryana on the World Toilet Day (WTD) on November 19, 2017 in a bid to create awareness towards sanitation and use of toilets. A mega pot of toilet is made up of iron, fibre, wood and plaster of Paris — measuring 20×10 feet. The nondescript village, with a population of 1800, in Mewat region was in June rechristened as ‘Trump village’ by NGO Sulabh International Social Service Organisation.

Notes:
Pondicherry University library has bagged the Highest Profile Registration category award for effective utilisation of the J-Gate@eShodhSindhu platform. University librarian R. Samyuktha received the award at the first J-Gate@eShodhSindhu Forum and Information and Library Network Centers (INFLIBNET) meet jointly organised by INFLIBNET and Informatics Publishing Ltd, held at Gandhi Nagar recently. Pondicherry University is a member of the consortia of leading universities in the country for access to e-resources including electronic journals and electronic databases for major publishers.

Notes:
Veteran journalist Manik Banerjee, who is also an acclaimed mountaineer, has been conferred with the 2017 Nain Singh-Kishen Singh Life Time Achievement (LTA) award by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) on November 19 for his achievements in mountaineering over a period of four decades and invaluable contribution in promotion of mountaineering. Beside him, Lt col RS Jamwal was presented the IMF Gold Medal. Lt. Col Jamwal has the distinction of reaching the top of Mt. Everest thrice (in 2013, 2016 and 2017) besides climbing many other peaks in Indian Himalaya.

Notes:
Sudip Datta Bhowmik (49), the noted journalist was shot dead under mysterious circumstances at a battalion headquarters of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) near Agartala on November 21, 2017. He was working for a vernacular daily ‘Syandan Patrikaand’ and was also contributing to local television channel ‘News Vanguard’.

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has signed a $98 million loan agreement and $2 million grant agreement with World Bank (WB) for “Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project (SISPP)”. The project will finance the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA), to provide sub-loans to select states to invest in various solar parks, mostly under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) Solar Park Scheme. The purpose of the project is to increase solar generation capacity through establishment of large-scale parks in the country. The project will help establish large-scale solar parks and support the government’s plan to install 100 Gigawatts (GW) of solar power out of a total renewable-energy target of 175 GW by 2022.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is observing ‘Vasectomy Fortnight’ from November 21 to raise awareness about male sterilisation and to promote the participation of men in family planning. Under this awareness campaign, all states and union territories will observe Vasectomy Fortnight till December 4, 2017 by providing quality of male sterilization services at public health facilities. The theme for this campaign is “Zimmedar Purush ki yehi hai Pehchan, Parivar Niyojan mein jo de Yogdaan”. The Vasectomy fortnight will be observed up to block level with a focus on family planning service delivery along with information, education, communication, and advocacy.

Notes:
The 5th edition of Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS) has inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on November 23, 2017. The theme of the conference is “Cyber for All: A Secure and Inclusive Cyberspace for Sustainable Development”. The main objective of the conference is to have mutual understanding of latest practices in cyberspace, more coordination and security measures. For the first time, the event is being organized in India. The representatives from 124 countries and 33 Ministerial delegates from 31 countries including Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremasinghe will attend the conference. nternational leaders, policymakers, industry experts, think tanks and cyber experts will deliberate on issues and challenges for optimally using cyber space. The conference will promote the importance of inclusiveness and human rights in global cyber policy.