Daily Current affairs - November 21st, 2017 for all competitive exams
On 21st November 1997, the working fishermen and women representing World Forum of Fish Harvesters & Fish Workers from 18 countries met at New Delhi and established the World Fisheries Forum (WFF) advocating for a global mandate of sustainable fishing practices and policies.
- To commemorate this occasion, every year 21st November is celebrated all over the world as World Fisheries Day.
- This year’s theme is “2022 Ka Hai Sapna … Kisan Ki Aay Ho Dugna - Sankalp Se Siddhi”.
- The World Fisheries Day helps in highlighting the critical importance to human lives, of water and the lives it sustains, both in and out of water. Water forms a continuum, whether contained in rivers, lakes, and ocean.
November 21 - World Television Day
United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 November as World Television Day through resolution 51/205 of 17 December 1996.
- On 21 and 22 November 1996 the United Nations held the first World Television Forum, where leading media figures met under the auspices of the United Nations to discuss the growing significance of television in today's changing world and to consider how they might enhance their mutual cooperation.
- That is why the General Assembly decided to proclaim 21 November as World Television Day.
Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill
The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has decided to junk the recommendations of a parliamentary committee report which was the first ever government document to recognize the rights of transgender persons to partnerships and marriage, so that they were no longer criminalized under IPC Section 377, apart from offering other rights.
- The ministry is set to re-introduce its original version of The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, in the next session of Parliament.
- It had also recommended to accord legal recognition and protection from Section 377 to, if not all sexual minorities, at least transgender persons whose welfare comes under the Social Justice Ministry.
- The panel had also asked for reservations, strong provisions against discrimination, penalties on government officials who subject transgender persons to any kind of violence, skill training to wean them off begging, and separate public toilets for them.
- To recognise alternative family structures such as adoptions of transgender children by the the Hijra or Aravani communities, it defined family in the Bill as “a group of people related by blood, marriage or by adoption of a transgender person”.
- The transgender community is one of the most marginalized in the country because they don’t fit into existing gender categories.
- Census 2011 records the population of ‘others (people who do not identify themselves either as male or female)’ at 4.87 lakh while a 2011 survey by NGO Salvation of Oppressed Eunuchs put their number at 19 lakh.
Logistics Sector granted Infrastructure Status
The Logistics Sector has been granted Infrastructure status.
- The need for integrated Logistics sector development has been felt for quite some time in view of the fact that the logistics cost in India is very high compared to developed countries.
- High logistics cost reduces the competitiveness of Indian goods both in domestic as well as export market. Development of logistics would give a boost to both domestic and external demand thereby encouraging manufacturing and 'job creation'. This will in turn be instrumental in improving country's GDP.
Making caste slur on SC/STs over phone an offence, says SC
The Supreme Court has ruled that using casteist remarks over phone in a public place against the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe category amounts to criminal offence, warranting a jail of a maximum five years.
- The apex court refused to stay criminal proceedings and quash an FIR against a person, who allegedly used derogatory casteist remarks over phone to a woman from the the SC/ST category.
- Section 3(1)(s) of SC/ST Act relates to a person, who abuses any member of a SC or ST by caste name in any place “within public view“.
Haryana government’s launches new scheme offers for domestic power connections on EMI
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced a new scheme under which one can pay just Rs. 200 and get a domestic power connection in any rural area of the state.
- At present, one has to pay between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 4,000 to get a power connection.
- Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar says the government would fulfil its promise to provide 24-hour power supply all over the state in the next two years.
World’s biggest toilet pot model unveiled in Haryana’s Trump Village
The world’s biggest toilet pot model was unveiled at Marora, popularly known as the “Trump village”, in Haryana on the World Toilet Day.
- The model is made to create awareness towards sanitation and use of toilets.
- A mega toilet pot made up of iron, fibre, wood and plaster of Paris was unveiled in the hamlet to mark the World Toilet Day.
- Apart from inaugurating individual toilets, two books on the use of toilets and sanitation were also released.
Indian Oil opens India’s first electric vehicle charging station in Nagpur
State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) launched nation’s first electric vehicle charging station at a petrol pump in Nagpur.
- IOC, in collaboration with Ola, launched the country’s first electric charging station at one of its petrol-diesel stations in Nagpur.
- Nagpur, being the first city to introduce Electric Public Transportation Model in India, has added one more feather to its cap by adding the first electric charging station at IOC’s petrol pump in Nagpur.
Indian Oil Corporation
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Headquarters
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New Delhi
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Chairman
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Sanjiv Singh
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Yesudas to re-record Lord Ayyappa’s lullaby
The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), which manages the Sabarimala temple, is getting ready to re-record, with changes, a devotional song played every night to put Lord Ayyappa to sleep.
- Harivarasanam , a Sanskritised Malayalam song written in the ‘astakam’ or an eight-stanza metre, is recited at the shrine in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala as an ‘urakku paattu’ (lullaby).
- The TDB wants to bring out the song afresh by adding a word that exists in its original text and missing in the popular version, and by correcting a pronunciation error.
International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) organized by AFMS
The 42nd World Congress of the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) was recently organised by the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
- The event is being organised for the first time in India, and is the largest medical conference ever organised by the AFMS. Around 350-400 foreign delegates from 80 countries are attending the event.
- The theme of this 42nd World Congress is “Military Medicine in Transition: Looking Ahead.”
The ICMM is an international inter-governmental organisation created in 1921 with its secretariat at Brussels in Belgium and currently has 112 nations as members.
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China’s military launches website to report leaks and fake news
China’s military launched a website inviting the public to report leaks and fake news, as well as illegal online activities.
- Beijing has been ramping up measures to secure the internet and maintain strict censorship.
- The process got the nod ahead of the party’s five-yearly National Congress that took place in October.
- The new website is an effort to implement the guiding spirit of the Congress and will help maintain clear internet space surroundings.
Donald Trump declares North Korea state sponsor of terror
President Donald Trump declared North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism on November 20.
- Kim Jong-Un's nuclear-armed pariah regime to a short blacklist of targeted regimes.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister to visit Cuba
North Korea’s Foreign Minister is to visit Cuba on Monday in a trip that comes at a time when both Pyongyang and Havana have strained relations with Washington.
- Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho will meet with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla and participate in other unspecified activities
Scientists discovered Gleadovia konyakianorum
Scientists have discovered a new species of parasitic flowering plant. The species is named Gleadovia konyakianorum, in honour of the Konyak tribe of Nagas.
- The plant is a holoparasite [complete parasite] that derives its entire nutritional requirement from the host plant, which is a Strobilanthes species.
- Though it has no chlorophyll, the plant has a vascular system and extracts its nutrition from the host plant with the help of a haustorium. A haustorium is a specialised structure with which plant parasites attach themselves to the tissue of host plants and derive nutrition.
NASA probe captures image of a storm on Jupiter
- NASA’s Juno spacecraft beamed back a stunning image of a massive, raging storm in Jupiter’s northern hemisphere, captured by the probe during its ninth close flyby of the gas giant planet.
- The image was taken when the spacecraft was about 10,108 kilometres away from the tops of the clouds of Jupiter.
- The colour-enhanced images show a storm rotating counter-clockwise with a wide range of cloud altitudes. The darker clouds are expected to be deeper in the atmosphere than the brightest clouds.
- Within some of the bright “arms” of this storm, smaller clouds and banks of clouds can be seen, some of which are casting shadows.
- The bright clouds and their shadows range from about seven to 12 kilometres in both widths and lengths
NASA
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Headquarters
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Washington, DC
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Administrator
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Robert M. Lightfoot
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NOAA’s JPSS-1 satellite
The Joint Polar Satellite System-1, an advanced U.S. weather satellite designed to improve the accuracy of extended forecasts has been launched into polar orbit from California.
- The satellite is the first of four next-generation spacecraft for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Circling the Earth from pole to pole 14 times a day, JPSS-1 carries a suite of five instruments intended to make global observations that will improve forecasts of severe weather events three to seven days beforehand. The satellite also will contribute to near-term weather forecasts, climate and ocean dynamics research, among many other uses.
- The satellite will improve weather forecasting, such as predicting a hurricane’s track, and will help agencies involved with post-storm recovery by visualizing storm damage and the geographic extent of power outages. JPSS-1 data will also improve recognition of climate patterns that influence the weather, such as El Nino and La Nina.
Google India hits billion-dollar sales mark.
The Indian unit of Google crossed the billion-dollar sales milestone in the year 2017.
But its rival Facebook nearly doubled its revenues in the country indicating increasing preference by marketers to advertise on other social media platform.
- Google India Pvt Ltd, posted a turnover of Rs 7,208.9 crore in the year through March 2017.
- Facebook posted a 93% increase in India turnover to Rs 341.8 crore, even as net profit rose nearly 31% to Rs 40.6 crore from Rs 31 crore.
Reserve bank of India to launch multimedia campaign
The Reserve Bank is planning to launch a full-fledged multimedia and multilingual campaign to create general awareness among citizens of its regulations and initiatives.
- The RBI’s communication department has sought applications from advertising agencies for designing the creatives for the pan-India awareness campaign.
- “The campaign will be in 14 languages — Hindi, Assamese, Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, and English — with focus on regional languages,”
- The media mix will include traditional ones such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television channels and cinema halls and new ones that include digital.
UIDAI relaxes rules for banks
The UIDAI has provided some “relaxation” to banks in procurement of enrolment machines and hiring private data entry operators for their Aadhaar centres, and hopes that banks will offer such services at stipulated 10% of the branches “at the earliest.
- The Aadhaar-issuing body, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has allowed banks to hire private data entry operators and enrolment machines and expects the relaxation to speed up the opening of Aadhaar enrolment and updation centres at bank premises.
UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey
UIDAI Chairman - Shri J Satyanarayana
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International Seminar on Indian Space Programme: ‘Trends and Opportunities for Industry’ inaugurated in New Delhi
The International Seminar on Indian Space Programme: ‘Trends and Opportunities for Industry’ was inaugurated here today. The seminar is being organised by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Antrix Corporation Limited (the commercial arm of ISRO), in coordination with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
- The objective of this two-day conference is to deliberate on the best practices, pursue the ongoing discussion process to support further work of India's Space Sector and facilitate arriving at coherent framework, where in India's Space Sector can start expanding the domestic and global opportunities through enhanced partnerships and collaborations.
- The seminar is aimed to highlight the achievements and major milestones of Indian Space Sector in recent past, and the future programs and plans.
Gautam Bambawale takes charge as new Indian envoy to China
India’s new ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale arrived in Beijing to take up his position.
- Bambawale, a seasoned diplomat who till recently served as high commissioner to Pakistan and earlier as envoy to Bhutan, will take charge today.
- A 1984-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, Bambawale succeeded Vijay Gokhale who took over as a secretary at the ministry of external affairs.
Girish Karnad conferred with Tata Literature Live Lifetime Achievement Award
Actor-playwright Girish Karnad conferred with Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution in the field of theatre at the Tata Literature Live in Mumbai.
- He has been writing plays, has had his works translated into various Indian languages and helmed by directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B V Karanth and Alyque Padamsee among others.
- Tata Trusts’ Big Little Book Awards’, for Author in Bengali Children’s Literature, went to Nabaneeta Dev Sen. This year, in its second edition, ‘BLBA’ recognised champions of Bengali children’s literature.
- Book of the year, non-fiction, went to ‘Age of Anger: A History of the Present’ by Pankaj Mishra, whereas the fiction top honour was bagged by Easterine Kire’s ‘Son of the Thundercloud’.
Mel Tillis American country music legend dies at 85
Country Music Hall of Famer Mel Tillis, known for songs such as “I Ain’t Never” and “Coca-Cola Cowboy,” died.
- In 2012, the President at that time Barack Obama awarded Tillis the National Medal of Arts.
- He was also a member of the Grand Ole Opry a pantheon of country music stars and a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee.
Former I&B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi passed away
Veteran Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi passed away in New Delhi today.
Dasmunsi served as Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary Affairs.
- He was elected to Lok Sabha five times. Dasmunsi was on life support system after he suffered a massive stroke which left him paralysed in 2008.
- He also headed All India Football Federation for a long time. He is survived by his wife former Union Minister Deepa Dasmunsi and son Priyadeep Dasmuni.
Former Wimbledon champion Jana Novotna passes away
Former World Number 2 Jana Novotna died at 49. She had been battling with cancer for a long time.
- The player from Czech Republic won 17 Grand Slam titles through her career – 12 in doubles, four in mixed doubles and her solitary Slam in singles came at Wimbledon in 1998.
- She beat Frenchwoman Nathalie Tauziat in the final and thus became the last Czech player to win a Slam until Petra Kvitova won in 2011.
- Hailed for her prolific and athletic game at the net, Novotna totalled 24 titles through her 14-year career along with 76 titles in doubles.
- She reached the Wimbledon final twice – in 1993 and 1997 – before triumphing in 1998.
Prabhakaran is DSA chief
Former FIFA Development Officer and senior football administrator Shaji Prabhakaran was elected as the new president of the Delhi Soccer Association .
- The new team of office-bearers have been elected for a period of four years at the Annual General Meeting.
Ethiopian athletes clinch Gold medals in both sections in Delhi Half Marathon
Ethiopian athletes clinched the Gold medals in both the Women’s and Men’s sections in Delhi Half Marathon.
- Current woman world athlete of the year Almaz Ayana claimed the honours in the women’s event, while her Ethiopian compatriot Berhanu Legese hogged the limelight by winning the men’s event as thousands of Delhiites turned up despite concerns of air pollution.
- Ayana, who set the 10,000 metre world record while winning the gold in Rio Olympics, emerged champion in her maiden half marathon race clocking one hour, seven minutes and 11 seconds.
- Ethiopians ran away with all three top positions in the elite women’s race with Ababel Yeshaneh coming second and Netsanet Gudeta following in third position covering the 21.097 kilometre distance. Defending champion Worknesh Degefa was fifth.
- In the men’s elite race, 2015 winner Legese bagged the gold in 59 minutes and 46 seconds, while another Ethiopian Anadamlak Belihu was second in 59:51. Leonard Korir of United States was third in 59:52.
Iranian referee Faghani to officiate at 2018 FIFA World Cup
Iranian referee Alireza Faghani will officiate at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
- The world cup will take place in Russia from June 14 to July 15 next year.
- The 39-year-old Iranian is among the six Asian referees, to be chosen to officiate at the international football tournament.
- On July 8, Faghani received the Golden Whistle prize for laudably performing official duties during the 16th edition of the Persian Gulf Pro League, formerly known as Iran Pro League.
Grigor Dimitrov beats David Goffin to win ATP Finals
Grigor Dimitrov beat David Goffin in a gripping title decider at the ATP Finals to become the first debutant to win the season finale since 1998.
- He seals the biggest title of his career on his fifth match point.
- He will climb to third in the rankings behind only Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Coleman confirmed as Sunderland boss
Sunderland conforms Former Wales coach Chris Coleman as a manager.
- Coleman’s move to the Stadium of Light was widely expected after he resigned from the Wales job earlier this week.
- The former Fulham boss has agreed to a two-and-half-year contract with Sunderland.
