Weekly Current Affairs November 2017: Week I

Banking and Financial Awareness

The Reserve Bank of India has fixed the purchase price for the Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme 2017 -18 Series-VI at Rs. 2945 per gram.

State Bank of India (SBI) has cut down the benchmark lending rate or the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 0.05% across maturities.
The maximum age for joining the National Pension System (NPS) is raised from 60 years to 65 years for individuals who are not government employees
According to Forbes' Billionaire's List of 2017, Mukesh Ambani has surpassed China's Hui Ka Yan to become Asia's richest person.
In the recent list of Most Powerful Women by Forbes, CEO of ICICI Bank Chanda Kochhar was named the most powerful woman in India.
To reform the public sector banking space, the government has constituted a panel led by Arun Jaitley to inspect the merger proposals of state-owned banks.
Paytm Payments Bank has roped in ICICI Bank executive Sudhanshu Jain as its Chief Financial Officer.
Bharti AXA Life Insurance has appointed Vikas Seth as chief executive officer (CEO).
AU Small Finance bank received the status of Scheduled Commercial Bank from the RBI.
Yes Bank has signed an agreement with Government to finance Rs.1000 crores for food processing projects.
Yes Bank unveiled BHIM Yes Pay, payment wallet , which is integrated with all APIs and products of National Payment Corporation of India, NPCI.

Nasir Kamal has been appointed as the Additional Director General of Border Security Force.
Y.C. Modi has taken the charge of National Investigation Agency (NIA) as its new Director-General.
Railway officer Vikram Singh has been appointed Private Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind.
Kenneth Juster has been appointed as the next US Ambassador to India.
Neelamani N.Raju has been appointed as the first women Police Chief of Karnataka.

India's renowned actor Anupam Kher was conferred with Pramod Mahajan Smriti Award.
Actor and playwright Girish Karnad will be honoured by Tata Literature Live Lifetime Achievement Award 2017.
Famous Hindi author Krishna Sobti has been chosen Gnanpith Award 2017
India's famous and renowned writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar was honoured with the Hridaynath Mangeshkar Award of the year.
Famous Malayalam writer K Satchidananda is selected for Kerala's highest Literary Honour " Ezhuthachan Puraskaram"

World Bank has released its report on "Ease of Doing Business survey for 2018.India is at the 100th place.
India is at 108th place in World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index.

The United Nations General Assembly has designated the 31st of October as World Cities Day.
31st October is observed as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas every year in India.
International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists is observed on 2nd November

"Dreamnation: Uniting a Country with Handwritten Dreams" a book containing inspiring words of Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was released Mithali Raj. The book is co-authored by Saji Mathew and Jubie John.

Prabal- Dostyk 2017, Joint military exercise between India and Kazakhstan begins.
ONGC gets confirmation for its aquisition of 51.11 % stake in HPCL.
Assam Government signed MoU with Singapore to improve skills of youth of the state.
Indian and Japan Navy forces started anti-submarine warfare exercise.

Minister Dharmendra Pradhan participated in the IEF 7th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable (AMER7) held from 1st to 2nd November in Bangkok.
Four species of vultures were awarded the highest protection by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
India flagged off a shipment of wheat for Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar port.
India will host United Nation's Global wild life conference in 2020.

The Geographical Indication Registry (GIR) has given Geographical Indication (GI) tag traditional Etikoppaka toys from Andhra Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first World Food India event at Vigyan Bhawan New Delhi.
Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha has launched a scholarship program called Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana which aims to increase the reach of Philately.
SPARSH stands for Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has decided to continue Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) till 2019-2020.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for the revision in the price of ethanol under Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme.
The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the Global Clubfoot Conference in New Delhi.
Clubfoot is a birth defect in which one or both feet are rotated inwards and downwards
As per the report, released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) India topped the list of seven nations, accounting for 64 percent of the 10.4 million new tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide in 2016.
The Royal Opera House of Mumbai won UNESCO Asia- Pacific award for Cultural Heritage Conservation.
Global Green Film Fest's 9th edition is to be hosted by New Delhi.

NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission which has lasted for 15 years has come to an end.
An offshore patrol vessel (OPV) named Vikram which is entirely developed in-house by Larsen and Toubro was handed over to the Coast Guard.
The Indian Air Force has successfully tested its first Glide bomb, along with DRDO.

According to the Gender Vulnerability Index published by Women and Child Development Ministry of India, Goa is the safest and Bihar is the most unsafe city for women.
Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh has formed a committee that will frame the strategy to frame sports university in Patiala.
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi inaugurated the first International Consumer Protection Conference in New Delhi.
Border Roads Organisation has built the highest road able to be used by motor vehicles in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Wallmart India has launched its first fulfillment centre in Mumbai.
Uttar Pradesh Government decided to make India's first Black Buck conservation reserve in Allahabad.
Government of Haryana announced Lifetime pension for Hindi Satyagrahis.
Karnataka signed MoU with Microsoft India to empower farmers with technological solutions.

Indian Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth became the first Indian to win Yonex French Open Tournament Title.
England won FIFA Under-17 World Cup 2017 by defeating Spain in the finals of the match.
India captain Mithali Raj has secured first place in the latest ICC ODI rankings for women (batting).
Indian Badminton star Kidambi Srikanth has become the first Indian to lift four Super Series titles in a year and reached his career-best Rank 2.
Indian Shooter Gagan Narang has won the silver medal in Commonwealth Shooting Championships.
Indian shooter Heena Sidhu won Gold medal in Air pisto category in Commonwealth championship.
Famous Tennis Star Martina Hingis announced retirement form Tennis.
Indian cricketer Virat Kohli becomes the fastest batsman in the world to score 9000 runs.