Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2017

Notes:
The International Day of Rural Women is observed every year on October 15 to recognize the crucial role that women and girls play in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall wellbeing. The 2017 theme is “Challenges and opportunities in climate-resilient agriculture for gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls”.

Notes:
Jackson Singh Thounaojam from Manipur is in news recently because he created history at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by scoring India’s first-ever goal in a FIFA U-17 World Cup during India’s match against Colombia on October 9, 2017. The moment for which the entire country was waiting with baited breath, came in the 82nd minute of the match when Jackson headed home from a corner and the 48000 odd-crowd erupted in sheer joy.

Notes:
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 Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has launched an online campaign #IamThatWoman to end gender bias in women against women.Through the campaign, the Ministry seeks to highlight the various aspects of women standing ‘by’ and ‘for’ women. The purpose of the campaign is to shed light on the enormous contributions made by women for women. For this, Twitter and Facebook users have been encouraged to tag and share stories of women helping women with a photograph and post online with the hashtag #IamThatWoman. Hence, join the ‘#IamThatWoman’ campaign and spread the message that a woman can move mountains for another woman”.

Notes:
The Chhilchhila Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS) is located in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana and is spread over an area of 28.92 hectares. According to a local legend, the lake in the sanctuary had an ancient link during the epic Mahabharata days when the Pandavas escaped to Haridwar through a tunnel under the lake. It is home to blue peafowl, rufous treepie, greater coucal, Indian grey hornbill and coppersmith barbet.

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Shamsher Khan (86), India’s first swimmer who had participated in the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, has passed away at his native village Repalle in Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh on October 15, 2017. Mr. Khan had enrolled himself in the Indian Army in 1949. He had taken part in various national swimming competitions. He won a place in the Indian Olympics contingent that had visited Australia in 1956. However, he secured 4th place in the competition. He continued to serve in the Army till he retired in 1973.

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The first-ever International tri services joint exercise “INDRA – 2017” has started between Indian and Russian Armed Forces at the 249th Combined Army Range Sergiyevisky and in the Sea of Japan near Vladivostok port from October 19, 2017. The 11-day exercise will serve towards strengthening mutual confidence and interoperability as well as sharing of the best practices between the armed forces of both the countries. The Indian contingent will comprise of 350 personnel from Army, 80 from Air Force, two IL 76 aircraft and one Frigate and Corvette each from the Navy. The Russian Federation Armed Forces is represented by approximately 1000 troops of the 5th Army, Marines and Ships of Pacific Fleet and aircraft from Eastern Military District. The joint tri-service exercise will be a demonstration of the increasing commitment of both nations to address common challenges across the full spectrum of operations.

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Indian-American Gitanjali Rao has won the 2017 Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge for her prototype water lead contamination detector ‘Tethys’. The sensor-based device detects the quality of water and shares the results to a mobile application via bluetooth. The aim of the competition, open to citizens of the US who are enrolled from Class 5 to 8, is to identify a solution to an everyday problem that directly impacts either the contestant or the global population. The winner of the competition is awarded $25,000 along with the title of ‘America’s Top Young Scientist 2017’.

Notes:
Roy Dotrice (94), a veteran British actor, has passed away in London, England on October 16, 2017. He was best known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the revival of ‘A Moon for the Misbegotten’. He also narrated the first five books in George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’.

Notes:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched India’s first Roll On-Roll Off (Ro-Ro) ferry service between Ghogha in Bhavnagar district and Dahej in Bharuch district, which will facilitate vehicular and passenger ferry services across the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat. The Ghogha-Dahej Ferry Service will reduce the distance between the two coastal towns from 310 km by road to 30 km, saving time and money. The travel time will be cut by at least 5 hours. The ferry will be able to carry up to 100 vehicles (cars, buses and trucks) and 250 passengers between the two ports. The ro-ro ferry services are vessels made to carry wheeled cargo that are driven on and off the ferry on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle. The wheeled cargo includes cars, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers, and railroad cars. This ferry service project cost stands at Rs 614 crore.