Important Dates & Festivities - Current Affairs for November, 2017

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the International Gita Mahotsav 2017 in Kurukshetra, Haryana. The objective behind Mahotsav is to spread the message of Gita to world. The second edition of the event was organised by Haryana Government. Mauritius was partner country and Uttar Pradesh was partner state of the event. The 11th day of the Shukla Paksha (waxing phase of moon) of Margashirsh month (November - December) as per traditional Lunar calendar i.e. the Shukla Paksha Ekadashi day of the Margashirsha month is when this event is celebrated throughout world by all admirers of this sacred scripture "Bhagvad Gita" The event is celebrated to commemorate the birth of 'Srimad Bhagwat Gita', the sacred scripture containing invaluable advice of Lord Krishna that he proffered to Arjuna, the third Pandava in the battlefield of Kurukshetra on the first day of the famous 18-day battle in the Mahabharata

The World Fisheries Day is celebrated every year on November 21 throughout world by fisherfolk communities to highlight critical importance to human lives, of water and lives it sustains, both in and out of water. Water forms a continuum, whether contained in rivers, lakes, and ocean. Fish forms an important part of diets of people around world, particularly those living near rivers, coasts and other water bodies. A number of traditional societies and communities are rallied around occupation of fishing. World Fisheries Day

• On 21^st 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 21^st November is celebrated all over the world as World Fisheries Day. In India, it is being celebrated for the fourth consecutive year.
• This year the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, is celebrating it on 21^st November 2017 at the National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) Complex, Pusa Road, New Delhi.
• This year’s theme is “2022 Ka Hai Sapna … Kisan Ki Aay Ho Dugna - Sankalp Se Siddhi”.

The World Toilet Day (WTD) is observed every year across the world on 19 November to raise awareness and inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. The theme for year 2017 is Wastewater. World Toilet Day is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. Observance of the day seeks to draw attention of people around world to raise global awareness of the daily struggle for proper sanitation which in fact is a human right along with clean water. It is coordinated by United Nations-Water in collaboration with Governments of member countries and relevant stakeholders.

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate 'Aadi Mahotsav' - a fortnight long Tribal Festival with the theme of 'A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Culture, Cuisine and Commerce' on 16 Nov 2017 at Dilli Haat, INA, New Delhi. Over 750 tribal artisans from over 25 States will be participating in the festival. Aadi Mahotsav is scheduled to be organized at four venues throughout Delhi. The festival will run for a fortnight through 30th November 2017. The theme of the festival is: A Celebration of the Spirit of Tribal Culture, Cuisine and Commerce. The festival will feature exhibition-cum-sale of tribal handicrafts, art, paintings, fabric, jewellery and much more through about 200 stalls. Indian Tribes : Know More About Aadi Mahotsav

• The tribes constitute over 8% of the country's population. This is a very significant number. In real terms it corresponds to over 10 crore Indians.
• The national object of inclusive development (sabka vikas) includes the development of tribes as an important component.
• Our constitution enjoins upon the Government the responsibility of addressing the special needs of the tribals.
• As the name of this event Aadi Mahotsav suggests, it is the 'adi' factor that is important about them.
• The Adivasi way of life is guided by primal truths, eternal values and a natural simplicity. The greatness of the tribes lies in this that they have managed to retain the primal skills, the natural simplicity.
• Their creations issue from the depths of time. This quality gives their arts and crafts a timeless appeal. The crudest tribal handicraft instantly touches a primal instinct in all of us.
• This is particularly true of tribal music and dance.
• The Government has formed the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (Trifed) for achieving this.
• Trifed is doing significant work in this direction and have now embraced e-commerce and digital platforms to take the business forward.
• TRIBES India proudly announces the signing of MOUs with Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart, PayTM and GEM, a Government of India Portal for e-commerce of the tribal products.
• Besides TRIBES India has also has its own e-com portal www.eshop.tribesindia.com.

World Pneumonia Day is celebrated to highlight the seriousness of pneumonia as a public health problem and to encourage more organizations/nations to look at ways of combating the disease. This day was first hosted in 2009 by Global Coalition against Child Pneumonia (GCCP) that was formed to help build public and political support to address this problem. It's marked every year on 12 November to:

• Raise awareness about pneumonia, the world's leading killer of children under the age of five;
• Promote interventions to protect against, prevent and treat pneumonia; and
• Generate action to combat pneumonia.

• Pneumonia is the leading infectious killer of children under five years of age worldwide.
• Pneumonia killed 920136 children under the age of 5 in 2015, accounting for 16% of all deaths of children under five years old.
• Pneumonia is easily preventable and treatable cause of deaths in children and yet a child dies from the infection every 20 seconds.
• Children can be protected from pneumonia; it can be prevented with simple interventions, and treated with low-cost, low-tech medication and care.

• The viruses and bacteria that are commonly found in a child's nose or throat can infect the lungs if they are inhaled.
• Organism may also spread via air-borne droplets from a cough or sneeze.
• Pneumonia may spread through blood, especially during and shortly after birth.

• The Integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD), by WHO and UNICEF aims to accelerate pneumonia control with a combination of interventions to protect, prevent, and treat pneumonia in children.
• The goal is to reduce the deaths from pneumonia to fewer than 3 children in 1000 live births, and from diarrhoea to less than 1 in 1000 by 2025.
• Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India is functioning with other ministries through various national programmes (such as MAA, UIP, ICDS) with the involvement of ASHA/ANM/anganwadi worker at community level to protect, prevent and treat pneumonia.

Shilpostav - 2017 is the annual fair of artisans from across the country, belonging to the weaker sections of the society, which began on 1st November and will continue till 15th November 2017. The progress of any section of the society depends a lot on financial independence of the section. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is working towards empowering marginalized and disadvantaged artisans and in continuance of this, Shilpostav 2017 has been organized every year. There are 118 stalls of the Ministry Social Justice and Empowerment, where in artisans assisted by the Apex corporations i.e. National Backward Classes Finance & Development Corporation (NBCFDC), National Scheduled Caste Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC), National Handicapped Finance & Development Corporation (NHFDC), National Safai Karamchari Finance & Development Corporation (NSKFDC) and National Trust are displaying and selling their products. The range of products in this fair include - silk sarees, durries, readymade garments, terracotta product, jute products, dress material, Kashmiri shawls/stoles, leather, cane & bamboo products, hand embroidery, bead products, pearls, imitation jewellery, lakh products, decorative candles, wood carving, block printing, wooden toys, tie & dye, wood, marble artefacts, handloom etc.

Army Aviation Corps celebrated its Thirty Second Raising Day on 01 Nov 2017. To mark the occasion, a Wreath Laying ceremony was held at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate, New Delhi Wreaths were laid by Lt Gen Kanwal Kumar, the Colonel Commandant and Director General of Army Aviation and other serving officers, soldiers and veterans. Army Aviation Corps is the aerial manoeuvre arm of the Indian Army. Providing critical third dimensional capabilities to the Army, the Army Aviation Corps has played a stellar role by providing vital aviation support to our soldiers safeguarding the borders and providing relief to the common man during times of national calamity.