Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2017

Notes:
The World Polio Day (WPD) is observed every year by the World Health Organization (WHO) on October 24 to raise awareness about the hazards of the crippling and potentially fatal infectious disease. The day was established by Rotary International over a decade ago to commemorate the birth of Jonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis. There is no cure for this disease, but there are safe and effective vaccines. Polio can be prevented through immunization. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, almost always protects a child for life. The strategy to eradicate polio is therefore based on preventing infection by immunizing every child until transmission stops and the world is polio-free.

Notes:
The 2nd edition of World Congress on Marxism will be held at Peking University in Beijing, China, which is scheduled to be held from May 5-6, 2018, with theme “Marxism and the current world and China”. The congress will discuss Marxism in the 21st century and its development in China. It coincides with the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx and the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up. Approx 300 Marxism researchers from all over the world will attend the conference.

Notes:
Suresh Sethi, the former MD of Vodafone M-Pesa Ltd., has been appointed as the new Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB). He succeeded A.P. Singh, who had been the interim MD & CEO of IPPB since January 2017. Sethi has broad international experience of over 27 years in the banking and financial services industry with Citigroup and YES Bank, across India, Kenya, the UK, Argentina and the US.

Notes:
Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran (also known as I V Sasi) (69), the legendary filmmaker, has passed away at Saligramam, Chennai, on October 24, 2017. He was best known for his films “Avalude Ravukal” and “Devasuram”. In his more than three-decade career, Sasi directed over 150 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and worked with stars such as Mohanlal, Mammootty, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth.

Notes:
Professors Salim Abdool Karim and Quarraisha Abdool Karim, a globally-acclaimed South African Indian-origin researcher couple, has been honoured with a prestigious 2017 IHV Lifetime Achievement Award for their exceptional contributions in the field of HIV/AIDS. The researcher couple received the award from the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) in Baltimore in the US. The award was presented to them by Robert Gallo, who discovered HIV as the cause of AIDS, at the 19th international meeting of the IHV. The Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a syndrome caused by a virus called HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). The disease alters the immune system, making people much more vulnerable to infections and diseases.

Notes:
Girija Devi (88), the veteran Indian classical singer of the Seniya and Banaras gharanas, has passed away in Kolkata, West Bengal on October 24, 2017. She was known as ‘Thumri queen’, who popularised the genre of semi-classical Indian music. She was conferred with all three Padma awards, and was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan in 2016.

Notes:
The World Day for Audiovisual Heritage (WDAH) is observed every year on October 27 to raise general awareness of the need to preserve and safeguard important audiovisual material for future generations, and for urgent measures to be taken to conserve this heritage and ensure it remains accessible to the public now, and to future generations. The 2017 theme is “Discover, remember and share”.

Notes:
The 14th South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation in Law (SAARCLAW) Conference has started in Colombo, Sri Lanka along with the 11th SAARC Chief Justices Conference on October 27, 2017. The three-day conference was inaugurated by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and will see participation from South Asia’s top Judges, legal practitioners and academics. The conference provides a platform for legal professionals to meet and discuss issues of mutual interests and emerging legal trends in the South Asian countries. The conference will deal with issues like artificial intelligence, human trafficking, FDIs and environmental protection concerns. The 11th Chief Justices conference will be held tomorrow with a closed-door session attended only by the Chief Justices or their representatives.

Notes:
The parliamentary standing committee on defence has been constituted to examine the operational preparedness of the armed forces and review the accidents involving strategic defence assets. The committee, headed by BJP MP B C Khanduri, will also assess the procurement policy relating to defence equipment. According to a Lok Sabha bulletin, the issue of preparedness of the armed forces is likely to be discussed in the next meeting of the panel, which is scheduled from November 2017. The committee has also decided to “critically review” the accidents involving strategic defence assets and look into the quality of ration given to the forces especially in border areas.

Notes:
The United Nations’s World Cities Day (WCD) is observed on October 31 to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanization, push forward cooperation among countries in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanization, and contributing to sustainable urban development around the world. This year, in 2017, the United Nations has selected the theme “Innovative Governance, Open Cities” to highlight the important role of urbanization as a source of global development and social inclusion. The general theme of World Cities Day (WCD) is ‘Better City, Better Life’, while each year a different sub-theme is selected, to either promote successes of urbanization, or address specific challenges resulting from urbanization.