Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2017

Notes:
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2017 has awarded jointly to Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young for their discoveries on how plants, animals and humans adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised with the Earth’s revolutions. For many years, we have known that living organisms, including humans, have an internal clock that helps them adapt to the rotation of earth. But how does this clock actually work? It is explained through 2017 Nobel laureates discoveries. Using fruit flies as a model organism, they isolated a gene that controls the daily biological rhythm. They showed that this gene encodes a protein that accumulates in the cell during the night, and is then degraded during the day. The trio will share the prize sum of nine million Swedish kronor (about 1.1 million US Dollars) by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Notes:
In Libya, the Port of Benghazi has officially reopened for the first time in three years on September 30, 2017 after being forced to cease operations because of clashes in the cradle of the 2011 revolution. After long-time dictator Muammar Kadhafi was ousted and killed in the 2011 revolution, the country descended into political and military chaos. Commercial operations at the port had ended in 2014 when armed movements, including the Islamic State terror group, occupied the North African country’s second city. In a bid to boost business at the facility, port officials announced a temporary customs exemption for all imports through Benghazi. The port is situated in the eastern part of the country.

Notes:
The 8th Conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from October 4, 2017. The 3-day conference will be inaugurated by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. The Indian delegation will be lead by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who will deliver the lead speech on the topic Association of the SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians, a platform for the Parliamentarians of South Asia to work together to reach the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. She is accompanied by a delegation of MPs and senior officials of Lok Sabha.

Notes:
The 2017 World Habitat Day (WHD) is observed on October 2 with theme “Housing Policies: Affordable Homes” to bring attention to UN-Habitat’s mandate to promote sustainable development policies that ensure adequate shelter for all. The purpose of day is to reflect on the state of our towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. It is also intended to remind the world that we all have the power and the responsibility to shape the future of our cities and towns. The United Nations (UN) has officially designated the first Monday of October of every year as World Habitat Day.

Notes:
The Karnataka government has launched ‘Mathru Poorna’ scheme to meet the nutritional needs of pregnant and lactating women in rural areas. Under the programme, pregnant and lactating women in rural areas will get one nutritious meal daily for 25 days in a month. This meal will meet 40-45% of the daily calorie, protein and calcium requirement per day of the pregnant and lactating mothers. Along with the meal, Iron Folic Acid (IFA) tablets will be administered and gestational weight monitoring will be ensured for pregnant women. The scheme will be implemented through anganwadis in the State. Each meal is estimated to cost around Rs. 20. The food will be provided for 15 months, from the start of pregnancy up to six months after delivery.

Notes:
Dr Soumya Swaminathan has become the first Indian to hold deputy director general post for Programmes at the World Health Organisation (WHO). Currently, she is the Director General (DG) of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Dr Swaminathan is a paediatrician and is known for her research in tuberculosis and HIV. She is daughter of MS Swaminathan, the acclaimed geneticist and father of green revolution. Beside her, Jane Ellison from Britain has been appointed as a Deputy Director General for Corporate Operations (DDC).

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Golden Jubilee Year Celebrations of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) in New Delhi on October 4, 2017. The event assumes significance as it comes close on the heels of the government action of de-registering over 2.1 lakh dormant, shell companies and disqualifying over one lakh directors as part of a clean up of the corporate system and tackling the menace of shell companies. Originally, the ICSI was set up as not-for-profit organisation on 4th October 1968. In 1980, the institute was converted into a statutory professional body under an Act of Parliament, ‘The Company Secretaries Act 1980’. The headquarters of ICSI is located in New Delhi. 

Notes:
British writer Kazuo Ishiguro has won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. The novelist was praised by the Swedish Academy as a writer “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world”.The prize of 9 million Swedish kronor will be awarded to him. The literature prize is given for a lifetime of writing rather than for a single work. Ishiguro has written eight books, which have been translated into over 40 languages. His most famous novels “The Remains of the Day” and “Never Let Me Go” were adapted into highly acclaimed films. He won the Booker Prize in 1989 for The Remains of the Day and made an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1995.

Notes:
The Union government has set up a high-level committee for proper management of water resources in the North-Eastern region. The Committee will be headed by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar. It will facilitate optimising benefits of appropriate water management in the form of hydro-electric power, agriculture, bio-diversity conservation, reduced flood damage erosion, inland water transport, forestry, fishery and eco tourism. The committee is also tasked with spelling out actionable steps for optimizing water resources in the region and chalking out an action plan for dovetailing of Central schemes. The high-level committee will submit its report by June 2018.

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The World Teachers’ Day (WTD) is observed every year on October 5 to 1994 to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of the 1966 UNESCO/ILO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers. The day also aims to mobilize support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers. The 2017 theme is “Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers”.