AN I.P.'S BLOG

Saturday 19 November 2016

CURRENT AFFAIRS OF THE WEEK NOV'17

Padmini Rout has recently won the 43rd edition of National Women Premier Chess Championship 2016 in New Delhi. It is 3rd time she won the championship. Rout is an Indian chess player who holds the titles of International Master and Woman Grandmaster.

The 2nd edition of National children’s film festival (NCFF) has started at Birla Auditorium in Jaipur, Rajasthan on November 14, 2016 with the theme “Make in India”.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has formed a special task force under the Chairmanship of Deputy G Governor of RBI SS Mundra to re-calibrate all ATMs and cash dispensing machines with the new design of (Rs 500 and Rs 2000) notes. The task force will consists of representatives from the government, large banks like SBI, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and select channels.

The Government of India (GoI) has recently signed a $500 million loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to build a 9.8 km long road bridge across the Ganges River to improve transport connectivity between North and South Bihar and for better link between Patna and the surrounding areas. This will be India’s longest river bridge. The project will also build viaducts, embankments, and toll and service facilities, and will link to national highway networks.

India and Israel has inked two agreements in the field of water resources management and agriculture. The agreements were signed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in New Delhi.

India’s first Cherry Blossom Festival has started at Shillong in Meghalaya on November 14, 2016, which is widely celebrated in Japan. The 4-day festival will provide opportunities to showcase the unique beauty of pink and white cherry blossoms and traditional arts, culture and cuisine to the naturalists and tourists of state. The Cherry Blossom Festival is popularly known as Sakura Festival in Japan i.e. held in April every year.

The book “Heyday: Britain and the Birth of the Modern World” has been authored by Ben Wilson. It is a lucid survey of episodes, diversities of experience and responses to these innovations as the Northern Atlantic cultures begin to span far-flung geographies and histories of peoples.

The 3rd edition of World Internet Conference has started in Wuzhen, China on November 16, 2016 to discuss the future of the digital economy.The 3-day event is expected to be attended by delegates from more than 120 countries, including 8 top foreign leaders.

The Maharashtra government has become the first Indian state to adopt the Fly Ash Utilization Policy to generate wealth from waste and environment protection. The state cabinet has recently approved a policy for 100 % use of fly ash generated from thermal power plants and biogas plants for construction activities. The policy will create new employment opportunities in the power plant sector and pave way for prosperity by generating Wealth from Waste. The fly ash will be used to make bricks, blocks, tiles, wall panels, cement and other construction materials. This policy will save soil excavation and aid construction of low-cost housing.

Veteran journalist S Nihal Singh has been honoured with the 2016 Raja Ram Mohan Roy Award for his outstanding contribution to journalism on the occasion of the National Press Day (NPD) and is presented by the Press Council of India (PCI). The award carries a cash component of Rs 1 lakh. The National Press Day (NPD) is celebrated every year in India on November 16 as a symbolic of a free and responsible press in India. This year, the day is coincides with Golden Jubilee of Press Council of India.

Trade 
The Hind-Iran portal “hindirantrade.org” has been launched between India and Iran to facilitate trade. The purpose of the trade portal is to disseminate information relevant to Indo-Iran Trade and to provide an e-marketplace for the buyers and sellers of the two countries. It is a joint initiative of STC and Douman Queshm, Iran.
Sara Gruen 
The “Water for Elephants” is a historical novel authored by Sara Gruen. The novel presents us with a fascinating history of the American circus as well as a painful look at the time known as “The Great Depression”.
Sprint 
Haryana sprinter Dharambir Singh is in news because he has been slapped an 8-year ban by the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) because of his second dope-related offence. Earlier, he was barred from representing India in the 2016 Rio Olympics at the last minute for failing a dope test.
Viswanathan Anand 
Indian chess Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand has won the 2016 Champions Showdown in Saint Louis, USA. Anand beat three other grandmasters- Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and Veselin Topalov to clinch the top spot. The tournament saw each competitor play 24 matches, including two classical round robins, two rapid round robins and four blitz round robins. Anand won seven and drew 16. His only defeat came on the final day against Nakamura.
Maharashtra 
The 6th edition of India-China Joint Military Training Exercise “Hand-in-Hand 2016” has started at the parade ground in Aundh Military Camp in Pune, Maharashtra from November 15 and will continue till November 27. The purpose of the joint exercise is to share the expertise in drills and practices while tackling insurgency and terrorism and also to promote healthy military to military relations between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army of China.
Bihar 
The Bihar government has recently launched “Har Ghar Bijli Lagataar (continuous power to every home)” programme to provide free electricity connection to about 50 lakh households above the poverty line. The purpose of the programme is to supply power to every household in Bihar in the next two years.
Pakistan 
The comprehensive joint exercise “2016 Raad ul Barq – Strike of thunder” has been conducted by Pakistan Army and Pakistan Air Force in Khairpur Tamewali firing range of Cholistan desert, near Indo-Pak border, to showcase the combat readiness of the country’s defence line with live firepower demonstration using heavy artillery fighter jets and air defence weapons.
Rs. 100 per quintal 
The Union Government has hiked Rs. 100 per quintal in wheat Minimum Support Price (MSP) to Rs. 1,625 per quintal for the 2016-17 and pulses by up to Rs. 550 per quintal to boost the output of these rabi (winter- sown) crops and check prices. Apart from this, MSP on Gram has been hiked to Rs. 4,000 per quintal including bonus, from 3,500 rupees per quintal while MSP of Masur has been raised to Rs. 3,950 per quintal from Rs. 3,400. The support price on Mustard and safflower has been hiked to Rs. 3,700 per quintal each. On Barley the support price has been increased to Rs. 1,325 from Rs. 1,225 per quintal. To incentivize cultivation of pulses and oilseeds, CCEA also announced a bonus on these crops over and above MSP. The MSP is the rate at which government buys the grain from farmers.

Chhattisgarh 
Chhattisgarh has become the first Indian state to adopt a resolution on demonetization of high-value currency notes. The decision was taken to flush out black money from the system and to usher in the clean transaction and clean money system. Besides fighting black money, it will also impact various other contentious issues plaguing the system.
November 16 
The The United Nations’ (UN) International Day for Tolerance is observed on November 16 every year to appreciate the rich variety of world’s cultures, forms of expression and ways of being human. The day recognises the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Tata Consultancy Services 
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has been awarded 2016 Digital Innovator of the Year by GE Digital in the Ecosystem Excellence award category at GE’s Minds + Machines event in San Francisco, California. The award recognizes TCS’ innovation and excellence in developing the TCS Digital Store, an expanding suite of ready-to-use digital solutions that deliver superior customer experience, real time data analytics and organizational agility across multiple industry segments.
Mumbai 
The 2016 Global Citizen India festival has started at MMRDA Grounds in Mumbai, Maharashtra that will bring together popular culture and public policy in one of the largest gatherings for a social cause. Global Citizen India is a social action platform for a generation that wants to solve the world’s biggest challenges. The festival will conclude a two-month long campaign in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It will mark the beginning of a 15-year-long journey to activate and mobilize young Indians to ensure India leads the fight against extreme poverty.
Ruskin Bond 
The book “A Season of Ghosts” has been authored by Ruskin Bond. It is an entertaining book, which have interesting short stories about the mists and mellow magic of Bond’s beloved mountains.
New Delhi 
Recently, the Ministry of AYUSH has decided to set up a central regulatory structure for AYUSH drugs as a part of Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) to enforce the provisions for Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathic drugs in coordination with the State regulatory authorities. The CDSCO is the national regulatory body for Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices and is headquarters is located at New Delhi.
Jammu & Kashmir 
The National Institute of Sowa Rigpa will be established at Leh in Jammu & Kashmir, which is approved by Government of India (GoI). The Tibetan Medicine system is known as Sowa Rigpa (Amchi). The System of Sowa Rigpa is practiced in many parts of India viz. Ladakh, Sikkim, Darjeeling, Mon Tawang and West Kameng regions of Arunachal Pradesh, etc. The medicine has been recognized by Government of India (GoI) by amending the Indian Medicine Central Council (IMCC) Act, 2010.
India 
Dr.Sonam Wangchuk, the famous educationist and social scientist from Ladakh, has been awarded the prestigious 2016 Rolex Awards for Enterprise at Los Angelis for remedying water scarcity in Western Himalayas by building artificial glaciers- Ice Stupas to store water for irrigation purpose and afforestation of desert land. The Rolex Award funds will support his Ice-stupas project and promote ice stupas as a climate-change adaptation and desert-greening technique.
Haryana 
The 2016 Great Indian Film and Literature Festival (GIFLIF) will be held at DLF Cyber Hub in Gurugram, Haryana from December 2 to showcase the vernacular spirit of Indian film and literature. The 3-day-festival will include panel discussions on an array of themes ranging from filmmaking, digital media, advertising, to publishing, literature, script writing and film screenings, besides a play and a music concert.
Telangana 
The Telangana government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Indian unit of Microsoft Corporation for digital Telangana programme. Under the MOU, Microsoft India will work with the state government to support the development of cloud and mobile-based solutions and support the use of machine learning and advanced visualization to help solve challenges in the fields of education, agriculture and healthcare. 
Sunway Taihulight 
Sunway Taihulight has been named as the world’s fastest supercomputer title, as per recently released semiannual Top 500 list of supercomputers. It is developed by the China’s National Research Centre of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology (NRCPC). Taihulight can perform 93 quadrillions calculations per second (petaflop/s). It is intended for use in research and engineering including climate, weather, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and data analytics. The TOP 500 list is considered one of the most authoritative rankings of the world’s supercomputers. It is compiled on the basis of the machines’ performance on the Linpack benchmark by experts from U.S. and Germany.
London 
The 2016 World Travel Market (WTM), the leading global event for the travel industry, has started in London, United Kingdom (UK). The 3-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry will be attended by almost 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India (GoI) has participated as Official Premier Partner at WTM London 2016. 

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