Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2017

Notes:
India’s top cueist Pankaj Advani has won the 15-frame IBSF World Snooker Men Championship 2017 at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha on November 27, 2017. Advani defeated Amir Sarkhosh of Iran 8-2 (19-71, 79-53, 98-23, 69-62, 60-05, 0-134, 75-07, 103-4, 77-13, 67-47) in the final. It was his 18th world title.

Notes:
Under the chairmanship of NK Singh, who is the former bureaucrat and ex-Member of Parliament, the 15th Finance Commission has been constituted by the Union Government. The Commission will make recommendations for the five years commencing 1st April 2020. It will recommend devolution of shareable central taxes to the States and will also review several important aspects of federal fiscal finance. It will also look at the impact of the GST, including payment of compensation for possible loss of revenues for 5 years. Former Secretary Economic Affairs Shaktikanta Das and Adjunct Professor of Georgetown University, Dr Anoop Singh will be the members of the Commission. Chairman of Bandhan Bank, Dr Ashok Lahiri and NITI Aayog Member Dr Ramesh Chand will be the Part-time members. Arvind Mehta will be the Secretary to the Commission. The Commission will make its report available by 30th October 2019.

Notes:
Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Defence Minister, has been elected as the new President of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA). The IDSA was set up in 1965 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as an autonomous think tank, and it is customary to have the Defence Minister as its President. The Minister chairs the Executive Council which governs the Institute. IDSA is funded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and its faculty conducts research in military, foreign and strategic affairs. Significantly, the Government has sought its views before taking major policy initiatives, like conducting nuclear tests, as in 1974 and 1998. IDSA also executes specific assignments from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The headquarters of IDSA is loacted in New Delhi.

Notes:
The India Hypertension Management Initiative (IHMI) has been launched by Preeti Sudan (Secretary of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW)) and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan (Director of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)) in New Delhi on November 28, 2017. The purpose of IHMI is to reduce disability and death related to Cardio-Vascular Disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in India. The initiative seeks to improve control of high blood pressure (hypertension), cut salt consumption and eliminate artificial trans-fats regarded as leading risk factors for CVD.

Notes:
Indian men’s national Kabaddi team has won the gold medal at the 2017 Asian Kabaddi Championships after defeating Pakistan in the final by 36-22 under the captaincy of Ajay Thakur in Gorgan, Iran on November 26, 2017. Beside this, Indian women’s national team has also won gold medal at the Asian Kabaddi Champions 2017 by defeating South Korea in the final by 42-20.

Notes:
Valtteri Bottas, a Finnish racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Mercedes, has won the 2017 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tournament on November 26.

Notes:
Raj Shah, who holds a key position in the White House, has become the first Indian-American to hold press gaggle with reporters on board US Presidential chopper Air Force One. Gaggle is the term used for informal briefing by the White House Press Secretary, which is on the record but bars reporters from video-graphing. Mr Shah did so in the capacity of the Principal Deputy Press Secretary. For this position, he was promoted by President Donald Trump in September 2017 as he restructured his press office by making Hope Hicks Director of Communications. He was accompanying Mr Trump as he flew to Missouri to deliver a major speech on middle-class tax relief and business tax relief.

Notes:
Mirabai Chanu from Manipur has become the first Indian in over two decades to claim a gold medal at the International Weightlifting Federation World Weightlifting Championship (IWFWWC) in Anaheim, USA on November 30, 2017. Chanu lifted 85kg in snatch and 109kg in clean and jerk to total an impressive 194kg in the women’s 48kg, in the process setting a new national record. Two decades earlier, Olympic bronze medalist Karnam Malleshwari had won the top prize in worlds twice – in 1994 and 1995.

Notes:
The 7th International Military Sports Council (CISM) Military World Games will be hosted from Oct. 18 to 27, 2019 in Wuhan, capital city of central China’s Hubei Province. The games, which are top sporting gala for military personnel, consist of 329 competitions in 27 categories and are expected to attract around 8,000 participants from more than 100 countries and regions. It will be an international event with great significance and far-reaching influence and it will also be an opportunity for foreign military personnel to learn more about China and its military. The emblem consists of a dove, a star, ribbons and other elements and the mascot is called Bing Bing, the design of which is based on the Chinese sturgeon, a critically endangered fish known as the “panda in water”. The slogan is of the games is “Military glory, world peace”. The games, which were inaugurated in Rome in 1995, is a multi-sport event organized every four years by the CISM.

Notes:
The Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP) is located in Kendrapara district of Odisha and is spread over 672 square kilometers. It is in news recently because the national park has registered an impressive rise in mammal population due to adequate conservation measures and vigil by anti-poaching squad of the forest department. According to the latest head count report released by the forest department, the enumerators spotted 7,129 mammals of 14 species in Kendrapara district while the figure stood at 6,122 in 2016. According to wildlife staff, there are couple of factors are contributing to the rising graph. First, the rich and lush-green mangrove forest has turned out to be an ideal habitat for hyenas, boars and deer. Besides, lack of human interference in their habitation corridors has also emerged favourable. There is also imbalance in predator-prey base in Bhitarkanika. Unlike the Sundarbans, Bhitarkanika mangroves are devoid of tigers.