Current Affairs Questions & Answers - Nov 14, 2017

ANSWER: Telangana

Explanation:
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao in the state assembly recently declared Urdu as the state's second official language.

Now all government offices from the Chief Minister's office to District Collectorate will receive all petitions in Urdu also

Every office in Telangana will have an Urdu-speaking officer

All competitive examinations in the state will also be conducted in Urdu

Article 345 of the constitution speaks about the official language of the state. According to the Article 345 "Official language or languages of a State- subject to the provisions of articles 346 and 347, the legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the Language or Languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State.

Provided that, until the Legislature of the State otherwise provides by law, the English language shall continue to be used for those official purposes within the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of this Constitution.

ANSWER: Nov 12, 2009

Explanation:
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.

Key facts:

• 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.

Pneumonia can be transmitted in a number of ways:

• 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.

Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea:

• 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.

ANSWER: Pankaj Advani

Explanation:
Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani clinched his 17^th world title after he thrashed his arch-rival Mike Russell of England in the IBSF World Billiards Championship at Doha in Nov 2017.

Advani beat Russell 6-2 (0-155, 150-128, 92-151, 151-0, 151-6, 151-0, 150-58, 150-21) to defend the 150-up format title he had won in Bengaluru last year.

Advani, winner of maximum number of world titles in any sport by an Indian, increased his total by one more as he dominated the remainder of the final.

He clinically constructed lethal breaks of 151, 151, 151, 145 and 110 to completely dismantle his longstanding rival.

Earlier in the tournament, Advani had overcome fellow Indian Rupesh Shah in the semi-finals 5-2, while Russell got the better of Singapore's Peter Gilchrist 5-1.

ANSWER: 2017

Explanation:
APEC Vietnam 2017 is the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Vietnam, which will culminate with the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Da Nang to be hosted at InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort.

It marks the second time Vietnam was playing host to the APEC, having hosted the event previously in 2006.

A Round Table Meeting with the theme, "Stronger Joint Action for Apec's Shared Vision", was held in Hanoi in December 17, 2015 by the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss preparation efforts for the 2017 APEC Summit.

The People's Committee of Da Nang, the host city of the Economic Leader's Meeting, has approved a project to upgrade major roads in the city.

The project will cover 34 streets in the city which is estimated to cost around around US $10.9 million.

The Da Nang International Airport is also scheduled to be completed by March 2017.[9]

During the 4th National Committee for APEC 2017 in April 13, 2016 in Hanoi, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Pham Binh Minh directed ministries and agencies to coordinate with other APEC member states especially Peru and Papua New Guinea, the hosts of the 2016 and

This was the first APEC meeting for United States President Donald Trump, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

ANSWER: Hausla 2017

Explanation:
The Ministry of Women and Child Development will celebrate the Child Rights Week (Hausla 2017) from 16^th to 20^th November, 2017.

The country celebrates the Children's Day on 14^th November and the International Child Rights Day is celebrated on 20th November every year.

The period between the two important events will be celebrated as Child Rights Week by WCD Ministry by hosting an Inter CCI Festival for the children who reside in Child Care Institutions (CCIs).

The commemoration of the festival "Hausla 2017" will provide an occasion to showcase the talents of children from CCIs from various child care institutions across the country and provide them with a space to express their dreams and aspiration.

Children will be participating in various events like Bal Sansad, painting competition, athletics meet, football, chess competition and speech writing.

The following events are proposed to be organized:

1. Bal Sansad on 16^th November 2017
2. Painting Competition on 16^th November 2017
3. Athletics Meet, Chess Competition and Football Matches on 19-20^th November 2017
4. Speech Writing

Child Reporters from street children's news magazine "Balaknama" will cover the entire event and publish it in their magazine, with due approval of the content from Ministry.

CIF, CARA and NIPCCD are assisting the Ministry in organising the events. UNICEF will be supporting the Ministry in publishing the compiled speeches in the form of a booklet.

ANSWER: Los Banos, Philippines

Explanation:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Banos, Philippines and inaugurated 'Shri Narendra Modi Resilient Rice Field Laboratory' on 13^th Nov, 2017.

He undertook a symbolic ground breaking for a new plot for submergence tolerant rice varieties and unveiled a plaque to mark the inauguration of the 'Shri Narendra Modi Resilient Rice Field Laboratory'.

He also presented two Indian rice seed varieties to the IRRI gene bank.

IRRI is a premier research organisation dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger through rice science; improving the health and welfare of rice farmers and consumers; and protecting the rice growing environment for future generations.

India's ICAR and IRRI have been cooperating for four decades. India is also involved in helping IRRI in strategic planning, helping decide key goals and working to overcome hunger as well as poverty.

The PM also reviewed a photo exhibit showcasing flood tolerant rice varieties; drought tolerant rice varieties; salinity tolerant rice varieties; and Irri's work with women farming cooperatives.

ANSWER: Saksham

Explanation:
The Indian Railways will launch the country's largest time-bound "upskilling" exercise for government employees to upgrade the skillsets of its 13 lakh-strong workforce with a single drive spanning nine months.

Named Project Saksham, the exercise will start in January 2018 and go on till September, putting through training courses and specially designed skill-upgrade modules.

Employees from the rank of a peon to the Railway Board Members and everyone in between will undergo the training.

The launch date of the project has been tentatively scheduled to coincide with the 155^th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, sources said.

The nature of the short-duration training will range from refresher courses, with an eye on evolved global practices in the respective areas, to skills in the existing lining of functioning, sources said.

With growing services, newer benchmarks of service delivery and higher expectations of the clientele, employees need to build skills to rise to the occasion.

Employees can and do deliver only when they have the right skills, knowledge and the mindset to deliver to the new standards of excellence that we hold from them all.

General Managers would identify training modules, divide their workforce into small groups and communicate the entire plan to the ministry by December 31.

Each will be a five-day on-the-job training, or classroom sessions in Railway Training Centres, depending on the nature of the course. According to the directive, the reporting managers of all employees need to be actively involved in the pre-training and post-training process to ensure that the newly learned skills can be easily integrated into the regular jobs.

Groups of railway officers are going to Japan to train in various processes of the Shinkansen bullet train and heavy haul technologies.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge) Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore released the India Youth Development Index and Report 2017.

The objective of constructing the India Youth Development Index (YDI) 2017 is to track the trends in Youth Development across the States.

The Index enables recognizing the high and low performing states, identifies the weak domains and informs the policy makers the priority areas of intervention for youth development in the states.

The Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, an Institute of National Importance has come out with Youth Development Index and Report 2017.

This is a pioneering attempt made by the Institute in 2010 which it followed up with the India Youth Development Index in 2017.

Constructing Youth Development Index for the year 2017 was done using the latest definition of youth as used in National Youth Policy-2014 (India) and World Youth Development Report of Commonwealth (15-29 years) as well as using the Commonwealth Indicators in order to facilitate Global comparison.

India Youth Development Index 2017: Know More

• In the India Youth Development Index 2017, the first five dimensions are retained same as that of Global YDI.
• The indicators and weights have been modified based on the availability of data at sub-national level and the importance of the indicators in explaining Youth Development with the aim of capturing the multidimensional properties that indicate progress in youth development at the sub-national level i.e., state level.
• Global YDI is different from YDI constructed for India in one unique way; YDI for India adds a new domain, social inclusion, to assess the inclusiveness of societal progress as structural inequalities persist in Indian society.
• This construction helps to identify the gaps that require intensification of policy intervention.
• This report is of immense value to enable comparisons across geographical areas and categories, as human development index has done in comparing the development situation across regions, nations and localities.
• The index also measures the achievements made besides serving as an advocacy tool for youth development and facilitates to identify priority areas for development of Policy and Interventions.
• YDI-2017 will enable the policy makers track the national and the regional progress as well setbacks in youth development policies, planning, priority identification and implementation strategies.
• Besides providing insights to suggest alternatives and options, it also aids in judicious allocation of resources.

ANSWER: Both a and d

Explanation:
The 4^th India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment was held in New Delhi on 13^th Nov, 2017.

The Indian Delegation was led by the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Shri Suresh Prabhu while the Canadian side was headed by the Minister for International Trade, Mr. Francois-Philippe Champagne.

The talks were held in a friendly and encouraging atmosphere covering a host of trade and investment issues.

Both sides recognized that the current bilateral trade is much below the potential between the two world's robust economies, despite the huge untapped potential for two-way trade and investment.

Both sides noted the progress made during the 10^th Round of the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) held in August, 2017 and expressed their strong commitment for taking forward negotiations for early conclusion.

India also highlighted the importance of Services Component under CEPA.

Both sides also noted the exchange of wish lists on the Services front and the Indian side reiterated that the architecture for Services under CEPA is a vital focus area and response from Canada on positive elements has to be mutually beneficial.

Both sides also took note of the progress made under the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) and expressed their hope for an early conclusion.

Also, both sides deliberated on possible cooperation between the supporting agencies concerned, for mutual benefit as well as finding these agencies contributing directly or indirectly for promoting mutual trade interests.

The other issues such as early institutionalization of the CEO Forum mechanism, issue of extension of derogation of pulses, etc. were also discussed.

ANSWER: Northeast

Explanation:
Northeast is all set to get India's first-ever "Air Dispensary" based in a helicopter and the Union Ministry of Development of Northeast (DONER) has already contributed INR 25 crore as part of the initial funding for this initiative.

DoNER Ministry had been exploring the idea of introducing a helicopter based Dispensary/OPD service in such far flung and remote areas, where no doctor or medical facility was available and the patient, in need, also did not have any access to any medical care.

The proposal put forward by the Ministry of DoNER, he said, has been accepted and is in the final stages of process in the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The Union Ministry of Northeast/DoNER, Dr Jitendra Singh said, is keenly pursuing the proposal so that by the beginning of 2018, this could be the Union Government's gift to the people of Northeast.

Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that even today, nearly 1/3^rd of India's population did not have access to proper hospital bed care, as a result of which, poor patients living in remote areas remained deprived of crucial medical care.

The experiment being introduced in the Northeast, at the behest of the Ministry of Northeast/DoNER, can also be emulated in other hill states having difficult topography like Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, he added.

Air Dispensary in North East

• As per the envisaged plan, to begin with, helicopter will be based at two locations, namely Imphal in Manipur and Meghalaya in Shillong.
• Both of these cities have premier postgraduate medical institutes from where specialist doctors, along with the necessary equipment and paramedical staff, would be able to move into the helicopter and hold a dispensary/OPD in different locations across the eight States of North Eastern Region.
• On its way back, he said, the same helicopter can also transport a sick patient, requiring admission, to a city hospital.
• Giving an account of other new helicopter service plans for Northeast, three twin-engine helicopters are planned to be placed for initial operation on six routes in the region around Imphal, Guwahati and Dibrugarh.

ANSWER: India

Explanation:
The National Achievement Survey (NAS) is the largest ever national assessment survey in the country and is amongst the largest in the world, was conducted throughout the country on 13^th Nov, 2017.

Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar said that the NAS is a transparent and credible exercise done under third party verification.

It was conducted for the Classes 3, 5 and 8 in government and government aided schools. The survey tools used multiple test booklets with 45 questions in Classes III and V related to language, mathematics and 60 questions in Class VIII in Mathematics, Language, Sciences and Social Sciences.

The competency based test questions developed reflected the Learning Outcomes developed by the NCERT which were recently incorporated in the Right to Education Act (RTE) by the Government of India.

Along with the test items, questionnaires pertaining to students, teachers and schools were also used.

The learning levels of more than 25 lakhs students from 1,10,000 across 700 districts in all 36 States/UTs were assessed.

More than 1.75 lakhs trained Field Investigators from outside the government education system were engaged to conduct the learning assessment in the country.

To ensure the fairness of the survey, a monitoring team was constituted which consisted of observers from inter-ministerial departments drawn from the State Governments, National and State Observers from Education Departments and multi-lateral organizations.

The district wise learning report cards will be prepared based on a software especially designed for this. Subsequently, analytical reports will be prepared.

The inferences will be used to design Classroom interventions percolated to all the schools in the districts for implementation.

The findings of the survey, will also help in understanding the efficiency of the education system.

NAS results will help guide education policy, planning and implementation at national, state, district and classroom levels for improving learning levels of children and bringing about qualitative improvements.