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Current Affairs - 14th November 2017

Current Affairs - 14th November 2017

Current Affairs - 14th November 2017

Important Days
The World Pneumonia Day is observed globally every year on November 12 to generate awareness about the disease.
  • The World Pneumonia Day was first observed in 2009 after more than 100 organisations joined together form Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia. At present, global coalition comprises of over 140 NGOs, academic institutions, government agencies and foundations. 
  • Vaccinations are available against several common organisms that are known to cause pneumonia. Besides, antibiotics can also treat pneumonia by controlling the bacterial or fungal infection.
New Appointments: National
The Supreme Court had appointed former football captain Bhaskar Ganguly as ombudsman, says All India Football Federation (AIFF) 
  • A statement from the AIFF stated that the apex court also appointed S Y Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India, who has also served as Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India as the ombudsmen to formulate the AIFF Constitution within eight weeks.
  • Meanwhile, the top court stayed the order of the Delhi High Court allowing all AIFF elected committees to function on a regular basis.
The Telangana government on Friday appointed Hyderabad City Police Commissioner M Mahender Reddy as the new Director-General of Police of the state.
  • Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao signed the orders, an official statement said late last night. 
  • He will assume office on Sunday. Mr Reddy will be the second DGP of Telangana state which is carved out in 2014. He will succeed Mr Anurag Sharma. 
  • Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) V V Srinivasa Rao will be the in-charge Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad. A full-fledged Police Commissioner will be appointed in a few days, official sources said.
Rankings
According to the Germanwatch, an independent Berlin-based development and environmental organisation, in its latest global climate risk index (CRI) has placed India is the sixth most vulnerable country in the world in terms of facing extreme weather events with Haiti, Zimbabwe, Fiji, Sri Lanka and Vietnam taking top five positions in the fresh list of nations facing climate risk.
  • The Germanwatch comes out with the CRI by analysing number of deaths per 1,00,000 inhabitants, extent of financial losses and loss per unit of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of countries.
  • India was at number four in terms of CRI ranking last year. Economic and population data from International Monetary Fund (IMF) was taken into account while arriving at the ranking. The CRI indicates a level of exposure and vulnerability to extreme events.



National Affairs
India will soon have the first Cartoon Network-branded theme park Turner International India, which owns the Cartoon Network brand, has entered into a brand partnership with Gujarat based real estate, entertainment and hospitality group Rajgreen for the launch of a 61,000 square meter property Amaazia 
  • To be launched in the first quarter of 2019 on a budget of Rs 450 crore, the amusement park will be located at Surat, in Gujarat. 
  • “The total project cost is Rs 450 crore, out of which we have already invested Rs 300 crore,“ Sanjay Movaliya, chairman, Rajgreen Group, told ET. 
  • Amaazia will be Cartoon Network's first brand association for an amusement park in India. 
At the 17th Foundation Day of Jharkhand, President Ram Nath Kovind, who will be the Chief Guest at the event, will launch many schemes of the State and distribute tabs and appointment letters to thousands of people on November 15.
  • "The President is set to launch welfare schemes worth Rs 21,000 crore apart from distributing tabs and appointment letters to thousands of people on the occasion," said senior Government officials here on Monday.
  • The state is making elaborate arrangements to make the grand event a great success. Sharing the details of the Foundation Day programme, the principal secretary of Home Department SKG Rahate and Personnel Department principal secretary Nidhi Khare jointly said that the President will inaugurate the Rs 1,500 crore Johar Yojna and also launch the CM Health Insurance Scheme worth Rs 600 crore covering 57 lakh families of the State.
The government of India will start its second and final phase of BharatNet project -- with an outlay of around Rs 34,000 crore -- to provide high-speed broadband in all panchayats by March 2019.
  • Under the project, the government aims to connect 1.5 lakh panchayats through 10 lakh kilometres of additional optical fibre and give bandwidth to telecom players at nearly 75 per cent cheaper price for broadband and wifi services in rural areas.
  • "We will tomorrow launch phase 2 of BharatNet to connect 1.5 lakh gram panchayats with high-speed broadband by March 2019. Phase 1 of the project, under which 1 lakh GPs were to be connected, will be completed by the end of this year. We expect telecom operators to provide at least 2 megabit per second speed to rural households," Sundararajan said on Sunday.
1.5 MW Biaras Small Hydro Power Plant in Biaras Drass, Kargil (J&K) becomes first project to be commissioned under Prime Minister's Ladakh Renewable Energy Initiative
  • The Biaras Small Hydro Power Project (SHP) of 1.5 MW capacity, in Biaras Drass, Kargil Jammu & Kashmir, was commissioned on 4th November 2017. The total cost of the project, fully funded by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, is Rs. 17 crores and this is the first project to be commissioned under the Prime Minister's Ladakh Renewable Energy Initiative (LREI).
  • The plant will power the Drass town in Kargil, which is one of the coldest places in India. Power from Biaras SHP would be sufficient to meet normal power requirement of about 1000 families, which would make them comfortable in the extreme winter season. The project has been developed by Kargil Renewable Energy Development Agency (KREDA) under Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.
India's star gymnast Dipa Karmakar has been conferred a D.Litt. degree from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Agartala.
  • Expressing happiness on being honoured with the degree, Karmakar said she wanted to achieve such a degree once and that it would further add to her responsibility towards the people of the country.
  • The 24-year-old Tripura girl is the first Indian woman gymnast to have qualified for the Olympics. She finished fourth in the final round of the women's vault event at the Rio Olympics Games in Brazil last year.
India's first Military Literature Festival (MLF) will be held from December 7 to 9 December as a tribute to the armed forces, whose contributions to the nation remain etched in history as iconic events.
  • Sidhu told media here that Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, himself a military historian and author, was pioneering this initiative, which is being jointly promoted by the Punjab government and the Chandigarh Administration with the objective of spreading awareness about the subject among people.
  • Top thinkers, authors, historians, curators and experts related to defence matters will participate in the event, he said.
Schemes / Programme
The governments of Odisha and neighbouring West Bengal will soon organize a joint security exercise named as 'Sagar Kavach' to further tighten the existing coastal security mechanism along the 630 km long coastline.
  • This was informed by Odisha's additional chief secretary, home department, Asit Tripathy after attending a meeting here.
  • "Sagar Kavach security exercise is a realistic drill to check the efficacy of the security parameters and preparedness of various security forces like the Indian Navy, Marine police force, Indian Coast Guard (ICG), Forest Department, Fisheries and district administration," Tripathy told reporters.
National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) aims to provide every rural person with adequate safe water for drinking, cooking and other basic domestic needs on a sustainable basis, with a minimum water quality standard, which should be conveniently accessible at all times and in all situations. Achieving this aim and objective is a continuous process. 
  • In the 12th Five Year Plan period, under the NRDWP, the Ministry is giving special emphasis on piped water supply in rural habitations. States are being asked to plan for coverage of habitations with piped water supply through stand posts or household connections. 
  • In addition to the fact that this shall reduce the drudgery and time taken in the collection of water, it shall also facilitate in tackling the problem of drinking water quality in the habitations affected with water issues. 
  • In addition, to accelerate the setting up piped water supply systems in rural areas in States where such coverage is low, the Ministry has proposed a project with World Bank support in parts of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh which focuses on setting up piped water supply systems. 
  • At the beginning of Bharat Nirman Phase I, as on 1.4.2005, it was targeted to cover 55,067 uncovered, 3,31,604 slipped back and 2,16,968 quality affected habitations with adequate safe drinking water supply.
Life insurer PNB MetLife has signed a corporate agency agreement with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait B.S.C (BBK). This tie-up will help PNB MetLife distribute its retail and group products to BBK’s customers in India. Managing Director and CEO of PNB MetLife India Insurance: Ashish Srivastava
  • As on date, BBK, which is one of the largest commercial banks in Bahrain, has branches at Mumbai, Hyderabad, Aluva and New Delhi.
  • The bancassurance tie-up forms an important part of PNB MetLife’s growth strategy and the life insurer has already forged many such alliances including PNB, Karnataka Bank and Jammu & Kashmir Bank.
  • Bancassurance is an arrangement by which a bank and an insurance company partner to enable the insurer sell its products to the bank’s client base.
Summit /Conference / Events / Host
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)’ summit was held in Da Nang, Vietnam. Theme: ‘Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future’. Next year’s APEC summit will be held in Papua New Guinea.
  • The summit stressed on collaborative activity, like  promoting sustainable growth and deepening economic integration, provision of support for small businesses.
  • It is regional economic forum of 21 Pacific Rim member economies that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. These 21 member countries collectively account for nearly 50% of world’s trade and about 57% of GDP.
4th India-Canada Annual Ministerial Dialogue to begin in New Delhi. A high level delegation led by Canadian International Trade minister Francois-Phillip is visiting India to attend the 4th Annual Ministerial Dialogue whereas the Indian delegation will be led by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu.
  • In the current round of the Ministerial Dialogue, India and Canada would be focusing on some of the key commercial drivers to enhance the India-Canada partnership. Efforts would be made to work towards the expeditious conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) for a progressive, balanced, and mutually beneficial agreement covering both goods and services.
  • Both the countries are likely to discuss issues to explore ways of expediting the early conclusion of the CEPA and Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA). They are also expected to explore options for Indian interests in addressing the Temporary Foreign Workers Programme (TWFP) of Canada, which is affecting the movement of Indian professionals seeking short term visas, address equivalence by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for Indian organic product exports and exploring two way investment opportunities.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah inaugurated the sixth China-India Forum meet being jointly hosted by the Government of China, Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), China-India Friendship Association (CIFA), and Podar Enterprise. The following MoUs were signed at the Forum: Semiconductor Alliance of China and Beijing Construction & Highway Development Group presented EoI letters to the Karnataka government.
  • Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries RV Deshpande said Karnataka expected trade and investments between India and China to increase as India sees big opportunities to attract Chinese companies to Make in India, besides attracting investments.
  • “Karnataka is an ideal first choice for investment as one of the most entrepreneurial states in the country. There are huge opportunities for collaboration between Karnataka and China,” Deshpande said.
Ex-servicemen Welfare Board officials have announced that Sainik Sankshema Sabha will be organised in all districts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. 
  • Headquarters Telangana & Andhra Sub Area under the aegis of HQ Dakshin Bharat Area has conducted. Thousands of former armed forces personnel from Ranga Reddy, Medchal, Malkajgiri, Vikarabad and Hyderabad districts including those who had served in World War-II attended the rally.
  • Lt. Gen. Anand said all measures were being taken by the Indian Army to reach ex-servicemen and widows of those who had served in the forces. The similar rally will be held next month in Nizamabad. Earlier, these rallies were held at Adilabad, Mahaboobnagar, Vizianagaram and Ananthpur districts.
Sports: Awards & Honours
Teddy Riner claims gold in the tenth World Judo Championship in Marrakesh
  • The Frenchman is the very definition of a superstar and after a win in his opening bout against Iurii Krakovetskii of Kygyzstan he had a chance to show his metal in only the second round as he faced his biggest challenger Georgia’s Guram Tushishvili.
  • The reigning European champion is seen by many as the only man capable of dethroning Riner, but in Marrakesh it would not be his day.
  • Despite pushing Riner to the limit in Budapest, two waza ari scores against Tushishvili put the challenger in his place as the eagerly anticipated rematch – a pairing that would have made for an incredibly entertaining final -ended in Riner’s favour.
Leander Paes and Purav Raja lift Knoxville Challenger tennis title in the summit showdown of the Knoxville Challenger tennis tournament in Tennessee
  • Leander Paes and Purav Raja lifted the Knoxville Challenger title after clinching a comfortable straight sets win in the finals of the men’s doubles event here last evening.
  • The top-seeded pair swept aside the American-Australian duo of James Cerretani and John Patrick Smith 7-6, 7-6 in the summit showdown of the USD 75,000 hard court event that took place at the indoor hard court of Goodfriend Tennis Center tonight.
  • It is Paes and Raja’s first-ever title after joining forces in August this year
Bharat Khandare Becomes First India-Born Fighter To Sign With Ultimate Fighting Championship  in Shanghai on November 25th.
  • Ultimate Fighting Championship might already have an Indian-origin fighter in Arjan Singh Bhullar, however, history was made on Saturday as Bharat Khandare became the first India-born fighter to be signed by the MMA promotion. The UFC's aim to take MMA to all parts of the world is well and truly underway and now India can to be added to the list. The UFC India on Saturday welcomed Brave Combat Federation bantamweight fighter Bharat Khandare to the organisation
Obituary 
Former Prime Minister of Nepal Kirti Nidhi Bista passed away at Kathmandu on Saturday. 
  • Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba has condoled his death. Bista was born in Kathmandu on 15th January 1927. He first became Prime Minister of Nepal in 1969. Bista served three times as Prime Minister from 1969 to 1970, 1971 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979.
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