Surat Municipal Corporation was chosen for the ‘Best City Bus Services Award’ by the Union Ministry of Housing

and Urban Affairs for succeeding in attracting 87% of the private vehicle and auto rickshaw users to use city

buses. Mysuru’s Public Bicycle Sharing won the ‘Best Non-Motorised Transport’ Award while Kochi (Kerala) was

chosen for the ‘Best Urban Transport Initiative’ Award for completing its Metro Rail Project in a quick time besides

integrating the metro with other modes of transport.

Dr Anil K. Tripathi, scientist at Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, has been honoured with the prestigious

“Bharat Gaurav Award” – 2017 in Science and Technology stream.

K Satchidanandan, noted Malayalam Poet and literary critic, was selected for the prestigious 2017 Ezhuthachan

Puraskaram, the highest literary award of the Government of Kerala.

Apollo Munich Health Insurance Company won the 2017 General Insurance Company of the Year award at the

21st Asia Insurance Industry Awards. The Health Insurance Company is a joint venture between Apollo Hospitals

Group and the Munich Re Group.

Krishna Sobti , a renowned Hindi Litterateur, was chosen for the 53rd Jnanpith Award for the year 2017 for her

contribution to Indian literature.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was named as the recipient of the Mother Teresa

Memorial Award for Social Justice, 2017 as an acknowledgement of its exceptional work worldwide. The

UNHCR provides humanitarian aid to innumerable people internally displaced by conflicts and helping stateless

people all over the world.

Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Adviser for Department of Biotechnology (DBT), was awarded with National

Entrepreneurship Award, 2017 under Mentor (Government) category in the Recognition Track at the National

Entrepreneurship Award Ceremony, 2017 in New Delhi.

Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher was honoured with the 2017 Pramod Mahajan Smriti Award. The award

was instituted by Pune-based organization ‘Muktachhand’ in memory of Late former Union Minister Pramod

Mahajan.

Veteran actor and playwright Girish Karnad was honoured by Tata Literature Live! Lifetime Achievement

Award 2017 at the literature festival’s annual awards ceremony.

Tamil Nadu’s historic Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Award of Merit

2017 for cultural heritage conservation.

India's Carnatic capital, Chennai was included in the list of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network for its immense

contribution in the field of music. As many as 64 cities from 44 countries were designated as UNESCO Creative

Cities by its Director General Irina Bokova. The UNESCO Creative Cities Network now counts a total of 180 cities in

72 countries. Some of the other cities included along with Chennai are Alba (Italy) for gastronomy, Almaty

(Kazakhstan) and Auckland (New Zealand) for music, according to UNESCO.

AWARDS & HONOURS

1st Nov to 30th Nov

The ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) 2017 was held in Manila, Philippines. The conference

brought attention to business issues, investment opportunities, and directions for growth in Southeast Asia. It also

served as a platform for talks among regional and global stakeholders in the ASEAN Economic Community.

The IDFC Bank entered into a strategic alliance with mobile wallet major MobiKwik to launch a co-branded virtual

Visa prepaid card for customers of MobiKwik.

Broadcaster Turner International India and Gujarat-based Rajgreen Group entered into a brand partnership to

set up India’s first Cartoon Network branded amusement park “Amaazia” in Surat, Gujarat. The park has been

conceptualised and designed by the Sanderson Group, Australia. According to a KPMG report, the Indian theme

park industry grew at 10.25 per cent in 2016 to reach Rs. 2,930 crore, up from Rs. 2,660 crore in 2015.

BUSINESS & CORPORATE

� President Ram Nath Kovind launched, or laid the foundation stones of, various schemes entailing total

expenditure of Rs 3,455 crore in Jharkhand to coincide with the state's 17th Foundation Day. Kovind

launched the Rs 636-crore 'Mukhyamantri Health Insurance Scheme' under which 57 lakh of the 68 lakh

families in the state will benefit. Beneficiaries will get treatment costing Rs 2 lakh under the scheme. The

President also kicked off the Rs 290-crore '108 Ambulance' service in the state. Kovind launched the

World Bank aided JOHAR (Jharkhand's Opportunities for Harnessing Rural Development) schemes

entailing expenditure of Rs 1,500 crore to help tribal and Dalit families double their incomes in four years.

� Vice President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the 2017 AP Ag Tech summit, organized by the

Andhra Pradesh government in Visakhapatnam. The purpose of the 3-day summit was to bring cut edge

technologies in the agriculture and allied sectors to support the small and marginal farmers.

� The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the 37th India International Trade Fair (IITF) –

2017. The fair is a showcase of India on the global stage. The fair is organized by India Trade Promotion

Organization (ITPO), a nodal agency of the Government of India for promoting country's external trade.

The theme of the fair was "Startup India Standup India". Vietnam was the partner country, while

Kyrgyzstan was the focus country for this edition of fair and Jharkhand participated as partner state in the

event.

� The 4th India-Canada Annual Ministerial Dialogue was held in New Delhi. The Indian delegation was led by

the Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu.

� The Union Environment ministry constituted a 7-member committee headed by C.K Mishra, the Secretary

of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, to continuously monitor the short-term and long-

term solutions to air pollution.

� To ensure 'menstrual hygiene' among girls, the Kerala government launched a new scheme for school

students in the state. The 'She Pad' scheme will benefit the girls of classes 6 to 12 in Kerala and will be

implemented in 300 schools in 114 panchayats this year. Free sanitary napkins, storage spaces and

environment friendly incinerators at all government-aided schools in the state are envisaged as part of the

project.

� The 5th meeting of Nepal-India Oversight Mechanism was held at Kathmandu to review of the progress

achieved in the implementation of bilateral projects in last 4 months.

� The Union Power Ministry constituted a 4-member committee headed by PD Siwal, Member of Central

Electricity Authority, to investigate into the causes of the recent accident that occurred at NTPC’s

Unchahar Thermal Power Plant in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli district.

� The Pan India scholarship program for school children “Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana” was launched by

Union Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha to increase the reach of Philately.

� The Assam government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Singapore for skilling over

78,000 rural youths in the state by 2019.

BILLS / ACTS / COMMITTEES / SCHEMES / POLICIES

� The 34th annual conference of the Asian Bankers Association (ABA) was held in Mumbai from November

16-17, 2017, with theme ‘Asia’s turn to transform’.

� 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 came 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 pledged to contribute $100 mn to the India-UN Development Partnership Fund to help the poorest

nations achieve the world organisation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to reduce poverty and

raise the quality of life.

� India signed $119 million of financial agreement with the World Bank (WB) for Odisha Higher Education

Programme for Excellence and Equity (OHEPEE) project to improve higher education system in Odisha.

� Goa ranked at the top on the Gender Vulnerability Index while Bihar was at the lowest as per the report

released by Child Development NGO plan India. The index provides a state wise ranking and calculated

the ranks by analyzing four issues faced by the girl child -- child safety/protection, health, education and

poverty

� The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) increased the maximum age of joining

National Pension Scheme (NPS) Private Sector from the 60 to 65 years of age to increase the pension

coverage in the country.

� India gained 30 places to rank 100th among 190 countries in the latest ease of doing business ranking by

the World Bank (WB), in its Doing Business 2018 report. New Zealand topped the list, followed by

Singapore, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, United States and United Kingdom.

ECONOMY & FINANCE

S Veteran cyclist Ashok Khale, who was recently injured in an accident died at 64. Khale won several medals for

cycle-riding in state and national-level championships. He had represented India in Giro d’Italia event too and was

also called as the King of the Ghats. He was also the recipient of the Shiv Chhatrapati award.

Audrey Azoulay, a former Minister of Culture and Communication of France, was appointed as the new Director-

General (DG) of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Baddam Narasimha Reddy, a former Lok Sabha Member and well known architect, passed away in Hyderabad.

Slovenian President Borut Pahor was re-elected for a second term in a runoff vote, beating his challenger in a

tight race. Although the role of the president is mainly ceremonial, the president leads the army and also

nominates several top officials, including the central bank governor.

Ganga Kumari, a resident of Jalore district of Rajasthan, became the first transgender to be appointed in

Rajasthan Police.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia (a 1981 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre) was designated as the new

Finance Secretary of India.

Kenneth Juster, a top economic expert on India, was appointed as the new US Ambassador to India.

Nepal's three-time Prime Minister Kirti Nidhi Bista passed away at the age of 90. Bista served as Prime Minister

from 1969 to 1970, 1971 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979 during the party-less Panchayat system under two monarchs

-- King Mahendra and King Birendra.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahender Reddy was appointed the new Director General of Police (DGP) of

Telangana State. He will be the second DGP of the state after its formation in 2014.

Noted author and Padma Shri awardee Manu Sharma died at 89. Manu Sharma alias Hanuman Prasad Sharma

was nominated as one of the 'navratna' of the Swachha Bharat Abhiyan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during

his visit to Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency in 2014. He was also the recipient of the prestigious Yash Bharti

Award of the Uttar Pradesh government.

Mohan Joshi, a veteran Indian film and television actor, was honoured with the prestigious Vishnudas Bhave

award for his contribution to theatre.

Neelmani N. Raju, a 1983 batch IPS officer, was appointed as Karnataka’s first-ever woman Director General and

Inspector General of Police (DG-IGP).

Shinzo Abe was re-elected as Japan’s 95th Prime Minister after his party won a landslide victory in last month’s

general election.

Yogesh Chander Modi, a 1984 batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, took charge as new Director

General of National Investigation Agency. NIA was set up after an Act was enacted on December 31, 2008 and is

tasked with probing terrorism and terror-financing related cases.

PEOPLE IN NEWS

Aditi Ashok qualified for the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA, becoming the first from

the country to play in the prestigious meet. The 19-year-old prodigy is one of the eight rookies to make it to the

Tour Championships in what is one of the strongest fields in women's golf.

Olympic bronze-medallist Gagan Narang won a silver medal in the men’s 50m rifle prone event of the

Commonwealth Shooting Championships.

H S Prannoy won the men’s singles title at the 82nd Senior National Championship Senior National Badminton

Championships in Nagpur.

The India women’s national field hockey team won the 2017 Women’s Hockey Asia Cup Tournament by defeating

China in the final.

Indian boxer M C Mary Kom won gold medal in 48kg category at Asian women’s Boxing Championships.

Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani clinched his 17th world title in the 2017 IBSF World Billiards Championship at

Doha.

Saina Nehwal won the women’s singles title at the 82nd Senior National Badminton Championships in Nagpur.

Air Force Sportsmen Sergeant Shahzar Rizvi won a gold medal in 10 mtrs Pistol for India at Commonwealth

Shooting Championship held at Gold Coast, Australia.

Shiv Kapur from India won the 2017 Panasonic Open (India) Golf tournament.

SPORTS

World

� China launched the world’s first all-electric ship, which can travel up to 80km with 2000-tonnes cargo

after a two-hour charge.

� The 10th South Asia Economic Summit (SAES-2017) was held in Kathmandu, Nepal with the theme

“Deepening Economic Integration for Inclusive and Sustainable Development in South Asia”.

� The 7th Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

on November 14, 2017 to discuss investment opportunities in war-torn country.

� The World Diabetes Day (WDD) was observed on November 14 with the theme “Women and diabetes –

our right to a healthy future”.

� Twelfth East Asia Summit was held in Pasay, Philippines on November 13–14, 2017. The East Asia Summit

is an annual meeting of national leaders from the East Asian region and adjoining countries. The heads of

state/heads of government of the eighteen countries participated in the summit.

� The 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit was held in Danang, Vietnam with theme

“Creating New Dynamism, Fostering a Shared Future”.

� The 39th session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organisation (UNESCO) was held in Paris, France. India has been re-elected as the member of the

UNESCO’s executive board, its top decision-making body.

� The World Tsunami Awareness Day was observed every on November 5 to spread awareness among

people across the world w.r.t the dangers of tsunami.

� The 2017 World Youth Forum was held at Sharam El Shiekh in Egypt.

� The bi-annual multilateral exercise ‘Blue Flag-17’ was held at Uvda Air Force Base in Israel from November

2 to 16, 2017.

India

� India’s first offshore desalination plant will be set up by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT)

in Tamil Nadu with a capacity of about 10 million litres of water per day.

� 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.

� India’s first Tribal Entrepreneurship Summit was organised by NITI Aayog in partnership with the US

government at Dantewada in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

� The 4-day traditional Lavi Fair was held at Rampur Bushahr in Himachal Pradesh. The 300-year-old Lavi

fair is an important trade event between India and Tibet.

MISCELLANEOUS

� DoT organized a National Conference with the State Governments and Service Providers to brainstorm and

showcase various utilization models leveraging BharatNet infrastructure.

� The Public Service Broadcasting Day was observed every on November 12 to commemorate the first and

last visit of the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi to the studio of All India Radio, Delhi in 1947.

� The Ministry of Women and Child Development celebrated the Child Rights Week (Hausla 2017) from 16th

to 20th November, 2017.

� Haryana became India’s first state to treat Hepatitis-C patients of all categories through oral medicine.

� K Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister of Telangana, declared Urdu as the state’s second official

language.

� Across all the states and union territories of India, National Legal Services Day (NLSD) was observed on

November 9. The NLSD was initiated by the Supreme Court in the year 1995 all across the India to offer

help and support to the weaker and poor group of sections of people which may be women, disabled

persons, Scheduled Tribes, children, Scheduled Castes, human trafficking victims as well as natural

calamities victims.

� NITI Aayog along with Proffer, a blockchain startup founded by graduates of MIT and Harvard, organised a

Blockchain summit and hackathon at IIT Delhi.

� The Maharashtra government announced to set up village climate resilient committees for adopting

different agricultural practices in over 5,000 villages of 15 districts in the state.

� The 2nd edition of India International Cherry Blossom festival, which is the World’s only autumn cherry

blossom festival, has started on November 8, 2017 was celebrate in Shillong, Meghalaya.

� The 19th edition of Organic World Congress was held at India Expo Centre in Greater Noida.

� The 13 day Indo-Bangladesh joint military exercise “Sampriti-7” was organized in northeastern states of

Meghalaya and Mizoram.

� Himachal Pradesh was the first state to use EVMs with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines

on all booths during assembly elections on November 9, 2017.

� The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted a flight test of its

indigenously designed and developed long-range sub-sonic cruise missile ‘Nirbhay’, which can carry

warheads of up to 300 kg.

� The 20th International Children’s Film Festival of India (ICFFI) was held in Hyderabad with New India- as

the main theme.

� Government ordered a probe into the cases of Paradise Papers by the Multi-Agency Group (MAG) which is

also probing the Panama Papers leak. The reconstituted MAG, headed by the Chairman of Central Board of

Direct Taxes (CBDT), will have representatives from the Enforcement Directorate, RBI and Financial

Intelligence Unit.

� The Punjab government announced to start a campaign to organise village level sports tournaments

across the state in order to wipe out the menace of drugs.

� The annual ‘Bali Jatra’ festival was held in the city of Cuttack, Odisha. The festival is celebrated to mark

the day when ancient traders of Odisha would set sail to distant lands of Bali, as well as Java, Sumatra,

Borneo (Indonesia), and Sri Lanka for trade and cultural expansion.

� India’s first-ever conservation reserve for black buck will come up on over 126 hectares in the trans-

Yamuna region of Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.

� The 14-day joint training exercise “PRABAL DOSTYK – 2017” was organized between the Indian Army and

the Kazakhstan Army at Bakloh, Himachal Pradesh.

� The 21st World Congress of Mental Health was held in New Delhi with theme “Partnerships for Mental

Health”.

� Haryana government announced lifetime monthly pension of Rs 10,000 for ‘Hindi Satyagrahis’ and those

from the state who were jailed during the Emergency.

Rajkummar Rao won the best actor award for his movie “Newton” at the prestigious 11th Asia Pacific Screen

Awards (APSA-2017). Newton is India’s official entry for the foreign language film category at the Academy

Awards 2018.

Noted Bengali writer Nabaneeta Dev Sen was declared winner of the 2017 Big Little Book Award in the “Author

in Bengali Language” category for her contribution to the children’s literature.

Nicaraguan author and former politician, Sergio Ramirez Mercado, won the 2017 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-

speaking world's highest literary honor.

Raj Shah, who holds a key position in the White House, briefed (gaggled) reporters on board presidential Air Force

One , becoming the first Indian-American to enjoy the privilege. Shah, 33, did so in the capacity of Principal

Deputy Press Secretary, a position to which he was promoted by US President Donald Trump in September.

Hiroshi Marui, a Japanese professor, received the third ICCR Distinguished Indologist Award for making

significant contribution to Indology or academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of

India.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and

Development this year for his leadership of the country between 2004 and 2014 and for enhancing India's

stature globally.

Acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the

International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

Manushi Chillar was crowned as Miss World 2017 at a grand event held in Sanya in China. The 20-year-old

medical student from Haryana had won Femina Miss India World 2017 in May this year.

Superstars Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth were chosen by the Andhra Pradesh government for the prestigious

NTR National Film Award for the years 2014 and 2016 respectively.

Veteran mountaineers Manik Banerjee and Lt col RS Jamwal were presented with Nain Singh-Kishen Singh Life

Time Achievement Award and the IMF Gold Medal respectively, by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF).

Banerjee was presented the Life Time Achievement award in recognition of his achievements in mountaineering

over a period of four decades and invaluable contribution in promotion of mountaineering. Lt. Col Jamwal has the

distinction of reaching the top of Mt. Everest thrice (in 2013, 2016 and 2017) beside climbing many other peaks in

Indian Himalaya.

Gopinath R., the noted Child Care activist from Bengaluru, was chosen for Prof. Yashwantrao Kelkar Youth

Award 2017 in appreciation of his work for “Child care, protection and development.

AWARDS & HONOURS

Senior IAS officer Pradeep Singh Kharola was appointed as the new CMD of disinvestment- bound Air India.

Kharola would take over as the chairman and managing director of the flagship carrier from Rajiv Bansal. A 1985-

batch Karnataka cadre officer, Kharola would be steering the national airline at a time when the government has

started the process for its strategic disinvestment. Under a turnaround plan approved by the previous UPA regime,

Air India is to receive up to Rs 30,231 crore from the government subject to meeting certain performance

thresholds. The ten-year bailout package began from 2012. So far, the embattled carrier has received around Rs

26,000 crore under the package.

Sethurathnam Ravi, a noted chartered accountant, was appointed as the new Chairman of the Bombay Stock

Exchange.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President’s adviser Ivanka Trump jointly inaugurated the 8th edition of the

Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES-2017) in Hyderabad.

IKEA, the Swedish furnishing retailer, opened its first experiential centre Ikea Hej (Hello) Home close to the IT

hub of Hyderabad and their upcoming first store in the country. The Hej Home provides some insight into Ikea

products and solutions which its future customers can actually buy when the store opens in India at Hyderabad

early next year.

Yoga guru Ramdev-led Patanjali group signed an MoU with the Telangana government for setting up a "large"

food park in the state.

� The Odisha government introduced a new scheme ‘Fish Pond Yojana’ to facilitate the creation of additional

2,200 hectares of freshwater aquaculture farming with 50 percent financial assistance to farmers. The

state plan scheme has been introduced with a budget provision of Rs 96 crore.

� Preeti Sudan, Secretary (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Director of

Indian Council of Medical Research, launched the India Hypertension Management Initiative (IHMI). The

IHMI aims to reduce disability and death related to cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of

death in India, by improving the control of high blood pressure (hypertension), reducing salt consumption

and eliminating artificial trans-fats, leading risk factors for CVD.

� India and Russia signed a comprehensive anti-terror pact agreement for enhancing bilateral cooperation in

tackling all forms of terrorism and countering threat posed by narcotics. Both the countries emphasized on

the need to strengthen relationship between them which has been consolidated in past 70 years in all

areas.

� PM Narendra Modi launched the UMANG app for availing various government services. UMANG or Unified

Mobile Application for New-age Governance app is a platform designed for Indians with an aim to offer

them access to the pan India e-Gov services. It includes the central, state, local bodies, and agencies of

government on app, web, SMS, as well as IVR channels.

� Madhya Pradesh partnered with Nagaland and Manipur under Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat Yojana to

strengthen cultural relations between them.

� The Maharashtra government constituted a 7-member committee headed by Additional Chief Secretary

(Home) Sudhir Shrivastava to recommend ways to stop custodial deaths.

BUSINESS & CORPORATE

BILLS / ACTS / COMMITTEES / SCHEMES / POLICIES

� Propelled by the vision of mainstreaming crypto-currencies, the ‘Coinome’ platform has been launched in

India. Headquartered in Mumbai, Coinome is from Hatio Innovations Pvt. Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary

of BillDesk. Coinome operates a crypto-currency exchange and is the first crypto platform in India to allow

users to be on-boarded simply and quickly via Instant e-KYC. The platform provides a seamless on-

boarding experience and the e-KYC process means that users can start transacting in crypto-currencies

almost immediately on registering. The exchange platform supports instant deposits using payment

gateway and instant withdrawals, thereby allowing transactions even on weekends or business holidays.

As an open order book Crypto-currency exchange, Coinome facilitates transparency and best price

discovery amongst the buyers and sellers. BillDesk is India’s largest payment solutions platform handling

over USD 50 billion consumer digital payments annually.

� State-run Bank of Baroda launched a supply chain finance solution to offer working capital loans to small

and medium enterprise and large corporate clients.

� India will provide USD 2.87 million to Afghanistan for refurbishment of 350 buses that will help in

strengthening the public transport system of Kabul.

� Axis Bank launched instant international payment services using Ripple’s enterprise blockchain technology

solution for retail and corporate customers.

� The State Bank of India (SBI) launched a unified integrated app YONO (You Need Only One) that would

offer all kinds of financial and lifestyle products.

� The Government of India (GoI) signed a $98 million loan agreement and $2 million grant agreement with

World Bank (WB) for “Shared Infrastructure for Solar Parks Project (SISPP)”.

� Andhra Bank launched a new scheme “Pattabhi Sitaramayya — Self Business Group (PS-SBG)” to

encourage entrepreneurship.

� India improved its ranking by three notches to 51 globally in terms of ability to attract, develop and retain

talent, while Switzerland topped the list compiled by leading global business school IMD. Globally, Europe

continued to dominate the rankings, with Switzerland, Denmark, and Belgium being the most competitive

countries. Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg made up the top

10.

� Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") upgraded the Government of India's local and foreign currency

issuer ratings to Baa2 from Baa3 and changed the outlook on the rating to stable from positive.

ECONOMY & FINANCE

The government appointed IAS officer Badri Narain Sharma as the Chairman of the newly constituted National

Anti-Profiteering Authority (NAA) under the GST regime. The authority under the GST regime has been constituted

to ensure that the benefit of lower indirect tax rates are passed on to consumers.

Chakravarthi AVPS, Hyderabad-based packaging professional, was appointed as Ambassador of World Packaging

Organisation (WPO). He is the first Asian to get this honour. The recognition is bestowed on him for his

contribution to the Indian and global packaging industry for over 30 years. Chakravarthi is the CEO and managing

director of Hyderabad-based Ecobliss India.

David Cassidy, the teen and pre-teen idol from US who starred in the 1970s sitcom “The Partridge Family” and

sold millions of records as the musical group's lead singer, died at age 67.

Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters was crowned Miss Universe 2017.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former Vice President, was sworn in as the President of the Zimbabwe after the

resignation of Robert Mugabe following a military intervention.

Jon Hendricks, the legendary jazz singer and lyricist, passed away in New York, United States at 96.

Karen Pierce, the Foreign Office (FCO) political director was appointed UK ambassador to the United Nations, the

first woman to be given the most prestigious post in the British diplomatic service since the UN's formation in

1945.

Eminent Hindi poet and Jnanpith awardee Kunwar Narayan passed away at 90. Kunwar Narayan was known for

his poetry, stories and critiques. The Hindi poet was honoured with Jnanpith Award in 2005 and Padma Bhushan in

2009 among others.

The Minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi launched an intensive training program

for Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) of Panchayati Raj Institutions and Master Trainers, to train

approximately twenty thousand EWRs covering nearly 50 EWRs from each district by March, 2018.

Former Rajya Sabha member and bureaucrat NK Singh was appointed head of the 15th Finance Commission - a

constitutional body that will decide the sharing of taxes between states and Centre for five years beginning April 1,

2020.

Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Defence Minister, was elected as the new President of the Institute for Defence

Studies and Analysis (IDSA)- an autonomous think tank set up in 1965.

Pandit Jagdish Mohan , the renowned Hindustani vocalist of Kirana Gharana, passed away at age 87.

Pandit Narayanrao Bodas, the renowned exponent of the Gwalior gharana of Hindustani classical music, passed

away at 84.

Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, a veteran Congress leader, passed away. He represented a Lok Sabha constituency of

West Bengal and was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He was elected to Lok Sabha five times.

PEOPLE IN NEWS

Quarraisha Abdool Karim, an acclaimed South African Indian-origin AIDS researcher, was appointed as a

UNAIDS Special Ambassador for Adolescents and HIV.

R.K. Singh, Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, launched the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj

Bijli Har Ghar Yojana – ‘Saubhagya’ Web Portal.

Shaktikanta Das, the former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), was appointed as India’s

G20 Sherpa till December 31, 2018 for the Development Track of the G20 summit.

In a historic moment, the Indian Navy inducted Shubhangi Swaroop as its first-ever woman pilot. Shubhangi

was among the 328 midshipmen and cadets who had passed out of the Ezhimala Naval Academy in Kerala.

Sudip Datta Bhowmik, a senior journalist was shot dead under mysterious circumstances at a battalion

headquarters of Tripura State Rifles (TSR) near Agartala. He was working for a vernacular daily Syandan Patrika

and was also contributing to local television channel News Vanguard.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj represented India in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

summit in Russia’s Sochi on November 30 and December 1.

Veteran Malayalam film and theatre actor Thodupuzha Vasanthi passed away at 65 years. Vasanthi, who had

been battling cancer for some time, was known for character roles in over 400 popular Malayalam movies in her

four-decade-old acting career.

RBI Governor Urjit Patel was appointed to the Financial Stability Institute Advisory Board or the Bank of

International Settlement (BIS), a global financial organisation owned by major central banks from across the

world. The Financial Stability Institute (FSI) of the BIS assists financial sector authorities worldwide in

strengthening their financial systems.

Scientist Dr Vijay Prasad Dimri was appointed as the president of the 36th International Geological Congress

(IGC), a global platform for the advancement of earth science, to be held in New Delhi in March next year.

Afghanistan U-19 cricket team clinched the 2017 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Under-19 Asia Cup tournament.

Gopi Thonakal from Kerala has become the first Indian man to win Asian Marathon Championship.

Ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth, who won four Super Series titles this year, bagged the Sportsman of the Year

award at the inaugural edition of Indian Sports Honours. Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu was the Sportswoman

of the Year award in the individual sport category. Ravichandran Ashwin, who became the fastest bowler to reach

'Club 300' in Test cricket and women's cricket team skipper Mithali Raj were awarded Sportsman and

Sportswoman of the Year awards, respectively, in the Team Sport category.

France will host the 2023 Rugby World Cup , according to the global governing body “World Rugby”.

India men beat Pakistan in the final of the Asian Kabaddi Championships 2017 in Iran to win the gold medal.

Czech tennis player Jana Novotna, who won the 1998 Wimbledon championship, died at the age of 49. In a

career spanning 14 years that included 24 WTA singles titles and 76 doubles titles, Novotna won her only singles

grand slam at Wimbledon in 1998 after losing in the 1993 and 1997 finals. The 16-time grand-slam doubles

winner was one of the biggest names in the Czech Republic’s tennis history.

Mirabai Chanu from Manipur became the first Indian in over two decades to claim a gold medal at the

International Weightlifting Federation World Weightlifting Championship (IWFWWC) in USA.

Pankaj Advani won the 15-frame IBSF World Snooker Men Championship 2017 in Doha.

India wrestler Ritu Phogat clinched a silver medal in the Under-23 Senior World Wrestling Championship at

Poland. The 23-year-old, who had won the gold medal at the Commonwealth Wrestling Championship last year,

lost against Turkish Wrestler Demirhan in the gold medal bout to settle for a silver.

Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, an Indian table tennis player from Tamil Nadu, won the men’s singles gold medal at

the 2017 ITTF Challenge Spanish Open in Spain.

Two-time Olympic-medalist Sushil Kumar, India's lone woman Olympic medal winner Sakshi Malik and popular

'Dangal girl' Geeta Phogat won gold in their respective weight categories of 2017 National Wrestling

championships.

World no. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei won the women’s singles title at the Hong Kong Super Series

badminton tournament by defeating P V Sindhu in the final.

Valtteri Bottas, a Finnish racing driver, won the 2017 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix tournament.

SPORTS

World

� The Golden Temple in Amritsar was officially declared the most visited place of the world in 2017 by

London-based organization World Book of Records (WBR).

� Scientists from New Zealand have developed the world's first artificial intelligence politician, that can

answer a person's queries regarding local issues such as policies around housing, education, and

immigration.

� The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (IDEVAW) was observed on

November 25 with the theme “Leave no one behind: end violence against women and girls.”

� Basel will become the first city to jointly host the Badminton and Para-Badminton World Championships in

2019. The Badminton World Federation (BWF)confirmed that the two tournaments: Badminton and Para-

Badminton World Championships will be held simultaneously for the first time.

� The Universal Children’s Day (UCD) was observed on November 20 throughout the world with the theme

‘Kids Take Over’.

� The UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) concluded on November 17, 2017 after two weeks of talks in

Boon, Germany. Envoys from nearly 200 countries, including delegates from Washington, negotiated on

implementing the Paris climate change agreement including a rulebook to be adopted next year.

� The IV Global Conference on the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour was organized by the Government

of Argentina in Buenos Aires .

� Saudi Arabia officially approved Yoga as a sporting activity under its Ministry of Trade and Industry.

India

� The Regional Level Marine Oil Pollution Response Exercise titled ‘Clean Sea – 2017’, was conducted by the

Indian Coast Guard at sea off Port Blair. The objective of the exercise was to ascertain preparedness of

the Indian Coast Guard, resource agencies and other stakeholders in responding to a major oil spill in line

with the provisions of NOS-DCP (National Oil Spill Disaster Contingency Plan).

� The mangrove forest cover in Odisha's Bhitarkanika National Park registered an impressive rise in

mammal population due to adequate conservation measures and vigil by anti-poaching squad of the forest

department. According to the latest head count report released by the forest department, the

enumerators spotted 7,129 mammals of 14 species in Kendrapara district while the figure stood at 6,122

last year.

� The first edition of the International Symposium to Promote Innovation & Research in Energy Efficiency

(INSPIRE 2017) was kicked off in Jaipur. The five-day symposium was organized by Energy Efficiency

Services Limited (EESL) in partnership with The World Bank, and Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy

(AEEE).

� The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch the India’s first mission to the Sun “Aditya-L1

mission” from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh on the PSLV- XL launch vehicle in 2019.

� The 2017 Constitution Day (or Samvidhan Divas) was celebrated in India on November 26 to

commemorate the adoption of Constitution of India. On this day in 1949, the Constituent Assembly of

India adopted the Constitution of India, and it came into effect on 26 January 1950.

MISCELLANEOUS

� The 2017 International Multilateral Maritime Search and Rescue Exercise (IMMSAREX) was conducted in

Bangladesh. The exercise took place under the aegis of Indian Ocean Naval Symposium.

� The Union Ministry of Human Resources Development launched a Digital Signature campaign on

Constitution Day affirming faith in Indian Constitution and to generate awareness on fundamental duties

enshrined in the Constitution.

� India, for the first time ever, hosted the Global Conference on Cyber Space (GCCS), one of the world’s

largest conferences in the field of Cyber Space and related issues, at Aerocity, New Delhi. Prime Minister

of India Narendra Modi will inaugurated the mega event. Themed on ‘Cyber4All: A Secure and Inclusive

Cyberspace for Sustainable Development’, this was the fifth edition of GCCS wherein international leaders,

policymakers, industry experts, think tanks and cyber experts gathered to deliberate on issues and

challenges for optimally using cyber space.

� Indian railways installed Asia’s largest Solid State Interlocking (SSI) system at Kharagpur in West Bengal,

which will enable station masters to set 800 different routes for trains in a matter of minutes.

� The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the

Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) conducted a multi-State mega mock

exercise on tsunami preparedness in 31 coastal districts across four States – West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra

Pradesh and Tamil Nadu – and Union Territory Puducherry along the entire East Coast.

� The Rajasthan government launched an educational mobile app “Dishari” that will provide free study

material for preparing for competitive examinations.

� The first- ever North East Development Summit 2017 was inaugurated by President of India Ram Nath

Kovind in Imphal, Manipur.

� The world’s biggest toilet pot model was launched at Marora, popularly known as the ‘Trump village’, in

Haryana on the World Toilet Day (WTD) on November 19, 2017.

� The World Fisheries day (WFD) was celebrated on November 21 throughout the world.

� The week-long army warfare exercise by India and Myanmar, the first to be held in the country, was

organized at Umroi near Shillong. The exercise code-named India-Myanmar Bilateral Army Exercise

(IMBAX) was aimed at building and promoting closer relations with armies of the neighbouring countries.

� India and Russia agreed to implement the general declaration for visa free entry of the crew of chartered

and scheduled flights between the two countries. The agreement will facilitate visa free entry, stay and

exit of crew of aircraft of the designated airlines as well as other aircraft companies operating chartered

and special flights in the respective territories on reciprocal basis.

� President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the 2017 Sangai Festival at Manipur.

� The 42nd World Congress of the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) was held in New

Delhi.

� The first-ever Namami Barak festival started in Silchar, Assam. The 3-day river festival is an attempt to

pay tribute to River Barak.

� The National Press Day was celebrated on November 16 as a symbolic of a free and responsible press in

India.