Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2017

Notes:
Freedom fighter and lawyer Gaur Kishore Ganguli (96) has passed away in his native village in Purulia in West Bengal. Born on October 21, 1923 in Purulia in West Bengal Ganguli was influenced by his father Sasodhar Ganguli, a freedom fighter. He joined the Quit India movement in 1942 when he was 19 years old and a student of Ranchi College. He served a two-and-half-year long jail term along with his father in the prisons of Ranchi, Hazaribagh and Patna. He began practising in Dhanbad district court after the reorganization of states in 1956 and was a member of the bar association.

Notes:
The President of India Ram Nath Kovind has constituted a Commission under Article 340 of the Constitution to examine Sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the central list. The four-member Commission headed by Justice G. Rohini will submit its report to the President within 12 weeks. The commission has commenced functioning on 11th October 2017, from its office at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi. The sub categorization of the OBCs will ensure that the more backward among the OBC communities can also access the benefits of reservation for educational institutions and government jobs. On receipt of the report, the Central Government will consider ways and means for equitable distribution of the benefits of the reservation in Central Government jobs and admission in Central Government Institutions amongst all strata of the OBC.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of AYUSH hosted the first-ever meeting of BIMSTEC Task Force on Traditional Medicine (BITFM) on October 24-25, 2017 at Parvasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi. India being a major stake holder in the field of Traditional Medicine plays an important role in influencing the policies and strategies related to the Traditional Medicine in the BIMSTEC Forum. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an International Organisation involving a group of countries in the South Asia and South East Asia namely, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.

Notes:
Ministries of Power and Textiles have jointly launched a new scheme SAATHI under which Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will provide energy efficient power loom equipment to small and medium units at no upfront cost. The use of the efficient equipment would result in energy and cost savings to the unit owner and he will repay in instalments to EESL over a 4 to 5 year period. The SAATHI initiative of the government will be jointly implemented by EESL and the office of the Textile Commissioner on a pan-India basis. The EESL will procure energy efficient powerlooms, motors and rapier kits in bulk and provide them to the small and medium power loom units. The acronym of SAATHI stands for “Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help small Industries”.

Notes:
The Sai Yok National Park (SYNP) is located in in Sai Yok district of Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand and covers an area of 500 Sq. Km. The park is home to mountains, waterfalls and caves. Animal species include elephants, tiger, barking deer, sambar deer, wild pig, gibbon, Malayan porcupine, slow loris and serow. It is home to Kitti’s hog-nosed bat, a rare bat species considered to be the world’s smallest mammal (weighing around 2 grams).

Notes:
The 36th edition of National Games of India will be held in Goa from November 4 to 17, 2018. The Games were originally scheduled to be held in November 2016 but the Goa administration requested a postponement at the Indian Olympic Association (IOA)’s annual general meeting based on extraneous factors, mainly the State elections. The delays to the 34th and 35th editions of the Games, which were hosted by Jharkhand and Kerala respectively, affected Goa’s plan to hold the mega-event.

Notes:
Gautam Adhikari (67), the chairman and whole time director of the SAB group, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on October 27, 2017. The group is behind the successful SAB TV channel, most popularly known for the show ‘Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’. Adhikari produced and directed several films and television series, including Hello Inspector, Commander, Marshall, Silsila and Waqt ki Raftar.

Notes:
Patna Pirates (PTP) has won the 5th edition of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) by defeating Gujarat Fortunegiants in the final by 55-38 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is their third consecutive Pro Kabaddi title. The PTP team is led by Pardeep Narwal and coached by Ram Mehar Singh. The league is organised by Mashal Sports and Star India.

Notes:
Giriraj Singh, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), has launched MSME Delayed Payment Portal – MSME Samadhaan (http://msefc.msme.gov.in) on October 30. The purpose of the portal is to empower Micro and Small Entrepreneurs (MSEs) across the country to directly register their cases relating to delayed payments by Central Ministries/Departments/CPSEs/State Governments. The information on the portal will be available in public domain, thus exerting moral pressure on the defaulting organisations. The CEO of PSEs and the Secretary of the Ministries concerned will also be able to monitor the cases of delayed payment under their jurisdiction and issue necessary instructions to resolve the issues. The MSEs will also be empowered to access the portal and monitor their cases.

Notes:
Heena Sidhu clinched the 10-metre air pistol gold medal at the Commonwealth Shooting Championships in Brisbane, Australia on October 31, 2017. She gave a perfect start at the Championships, which is held from Oct. 31 to Nov. 6. Sidhu shot a combined score of 626.2 to claim the top honours. This was Sidhu’s second successive international gold after she along with Jitu Rai, claimed the top position in the 10-metre air pistol mixed team event in the ISSF World Cup Finals in Delhi earlier this month. Among other Indians, Deepak Kumar won a bronze medal in the 10-metre air rifle event. London Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang finished fourth, while Ravikumar ended fifth.