Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2017

Notes:
The 2019 AFC Asian Cup football tournament will be hosted by United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is the quadrennial international men’s football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the 17th edition of the AFC Asian Cup. The winner of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup will earn the right to participate in the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup. Recently, India thrashed Macau 4-1 to qualify for the 2019 football tournament at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore on October 11, 2017. This is the fourth time that India has qualified for the Asian Cup. The last time they qualified was six years ago when they won the AFC Challenge Cup to book their tickets to the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

Notes:
All-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has become the first cricketer from Bangladesh to be inducted in the MCC World Cricket Committee under the chairmanship of Mike Gatting. He is regarded as one of Bangladesh’s finest players since they were awarded the Test status in 2000, with the all-rounder having played 51 Test matches and 177 One-day Internationals (ODI). Beside him, other cricketers added to the committee are Suzie Bates, Ian Bishop and Kumar Dharmasena.

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Carnatic vocalist T M Krishna has won the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for 2015 -16 for his services in promoting and preserving national integration in the country. He will be presented with the honour by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on October 31, Indira Gandhi’s death anniversary. The award consists of a citation and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.

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The Indian Air Force (IAF) has launched an innovative mobile health App ‘MedWatch’ TO Provide authentic health information to all IAF personnel at New Delhi on 11 Oct 17. The app has been developed in-house with zero financial outlay by the Directorate of Information Technology (DIT). The important component of the App is its ‘Reminder Tool’ that will enable timely immunization for the children of all Air Warriors. It will be available on the IAF’s AFCEL network and will directly enable ‘Mission Indradhanush’ of the Govt of India. It is the first mobile health app in the three Armed Services.

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The World Food Day (WFD) is observed every year on October 16 to raise worldwide awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and for the need to ensure food security and nutritious diets for all. The day also marks the foundation of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945. The global message for WFD 2017 is “Change the future of migration. Invest in food security and rural development”.

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The National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) of India has signed an investment agreement worth $1 billion with a wholly owned unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). As part of the partnership agreement, ADIA will become the first institutional investor in NIIF’s Master Fund and a shareholder in NIIF’s investment management company. The agreement marks the culmination of an extensive process of collaboration with ADIA to develop an investment structure that is attractive to international investors while remaining closely aligned with the NIIF’s objectives.The Indian government has set up NIIF in 2015 with the aim to attract investments from both domestic and international sources for infrastructure development in commercially viable projects.

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The first-ever International tri services joint exercise “INDRA – 2017” will be conducted between Indian and Russian Armed Forces in the Eastern Military District of Russia from 19 to 29 Oct 2017. the INDRA-2017 will strengthen mutual confidence, inter-operability and enable sharing of best practices between both the armed forces. It will be a landmark event in the history of Indo-Russian defence cooperation. It must be noted that Exercise INDRA in its previous nine avatars has been conducted as a single service exercise alternately between the two countries. The year 2017 marks a major milestone as this Exercise has been upgraded to involve all the three Services of the Armed Forces (Army, Navy & Air Force), which further accentuates the importance of Joint Services in the present world environment.

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The Global Handwashing Day(GHD) is observed every year on October 15 as an annual global advocacy day to increase awareness and understanding about the importance of handwashing with soap as an easy, effective, and affordable way to prevent diseases and save lives. The day is an opportunity to design, test, and replicate creative ways to encourage people to wash their hands with soap at critical times. The 2017 theme “Our hands, our future!” reminds us that handwashing protects our own health, but also allows us to build our own futures, as well as those of our communities, and the world.

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The Multi-Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) has launched India’s first commodity options in gold and gave stakeholders a new set of financial instruments to hedge their price risks. It is launched by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on October 17, 2017. MCX has currently launched a Gold Option contract, with Gold (1 Kg) futures as the underlying asset, with expiry on November 28, 2017 and January 29, 2018. The options product is unique and the first of its kind, giving buyers the right to buy or sell the underlying asset, but no obligation, at a specified price at the expiry. Thus, for buyers, the risk is limited only to the premium paid to the option seller (i.e. Option writer).

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Sunny Verghese, co-founder and Group CEO of Singapore-based Olam International, has been appointed as the new chairman of World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Verghese is the first ever Asian CEO to be appointed as Chair in the organisation’s 25 years of history. His term will begin on January 1, 2018 for a duration of two years and will succeed Paul Polman, whose term ends on 31 December 2017. The WBCSD is a global network of more than 200 CEOs who are responsible for combined revenue of more than $8.5 trillion and 19 million employees.