Top Current Affairs 17 November 2021

Top Current Affairs 17 November 2021

Top Current Affairs 17 November 2021: This post contains the current affairs for 17 November 2021 that are important for competitive exams like IBPS PO and Clerk, SBI PO and Clerk, RBI Assistant and Grade B, other Insurance exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.

National

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates Purvanchal Expressway at KarwalKheri in Sultanpur district of UP

• Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Purvanchal Expressway at KarwalKheri in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on November 16, 2021. It will connect Lucknow with Ghazipur.
• The 341-km long Purvanchal Express has been constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 22,500 crore.
• The Expressway starts from village Chaudsarai, located on Lucknow-Sultanpur road (NH-731) and ends at village Hydaria located on National Highway No. 31, 18 km east of UP-Bihar border. 
• A 3.2-km long airstrip has also been constructed on the expressway to enable landing and take-off of Indian Air Force fighter planes in case of emergency. 

‘Kaiser-i-Hind’ declared as Arunachal Pradesh’s State Butterfly

• Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has approved the declaration of large and brightly coloured Kaiser-i-Hind butterfly as the State butterfly. 
• The Kaiser-i-Hind butterfly is scientifically known as Teinopalpus imperialis.
• The Kaiser-i-Hind literally means Emperor of India.
• This species of butterfly has a 90-120 mm wingspan.
• They are found in six Indian States along the Eastern Himalayas at elevations from 6,000-10,000 feet in well-wooded terrain. These are Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Assam, Sikkim and Manipur.
• Apart from this, the butterfly are also found in Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and southern China.

Banking & Economy

RBI introduces Internal Ombudsman mechanism for select NBFCs

• The Reserve Bank of India has announced to introduce the Internal Ombudsman mechanism for following two types of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs):
  1. Deposit-taking NBFCs (NBFCs-D) with 10 or more branches and
  2. Non-Deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND) with asset size of Rs.5,000 crore and above having public customer interface
• Consequently, these two categories of NBFCs will have to appoint Internal Ombudsman (IO). The internal Ombudsman will be responsible for handling the public grievance at the entity level before the grievance is escalated to Ombudsman at RBI.
• RBI has given a timeline of six months to the NBFCs for the appointment of the Internal Ombudsman.

Total corpus of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) reaches Rs 614 crore

• The total corpus of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) of RBI has reached Rs 614 crore.
• The PIDF scheme was launched by RBI in January 2021, to subsidize deployment of payment acceptance infrastructure (PoS) in Tier-3 to Tier-6 centres with a special focus on the North-Eastern States of the country.
• At that time it was decided that, RBI will make an initial contribution of Rs. 250 crores to the PIDF covering half the fund and the remaining contribution will be from card-issuing banks and card networks operating in the country.
• Initially when the scheme was launched the corpus of PIDF was Rs. 345 crore (Rs. 250 crores contributed by RBI and Rs. 95 crores by the major authorized card networks in the country).
• Now various other Authorised Card Networks (Rs. 153.72) and Card Issuing Banks (Rs. 210.17 crores) have increased their contribution to the PIDF Scheme hence taking the total corpus to Rs. 613.89 crore (approx Rs 614 crore).

HDFC Bank launches the 2nd edition of “Mooh Band Rakho” campaign

• HDFC Bank Ltd has launched the second edition of its “Mooh Band Rakho” campaign to raise awareness on fraud prevention in support of International Fraud Awareness Week 2021 (November 14-20, 2021).
• HFC Bank aims to increase awareness of its customers on all types of frauds and the importance of keeping your mouth shut to ensure their prevention and taking a pledge and not share confidential banking information with anyone.
• HDFC Bank will organise 2,000 workshops in the next four months under this campaign.

Business

Indian Oil and NTPC collaborate on renewable energy

• State-owned Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and NTPC Ltd have inked an MoU for the generation and storage of renewable energy or other cleaner forms of energy, including gas-based power.
• The energy generated will primarily be used to cater for IndianOil Refineries or other installations.
• The collaboration is a first-of-its-kind initiative by two leading public sector energy majors of India.
• The partnership will help to support country’s commitment to achieve renewable energy targets and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Award

Malayalam writer M. Mukundan’s ‘Delhi: A soliloquy’ wins 2021 JCB Prize for Literature

• The novel titled “Delhi: A Soliloquy”written by Malayalam writer M Mukundan has won the 2021 JCB Prize for literature.
• The book originally written in Malayalam has been translated into English by Fathima E.V. and Nandakumar
• The JCB Prize for Literature was established in 2018. It is the most expensive Indian award for writing.
• The prize carries a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh for author and Rs 10 lakh for translator.
• It honours distinguished work of fiction by an Indian writer working in English or translated fiction by an Indian writer.

Sports

VVS Laxman named as new head of National Cricket Academy (NCA)

• Former Indian international cricketer VVS Laxman has been named as the next head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
• He is expected to assume the new role before the BCCI’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), scheduled to be held in Kolkata on December 4 2021.
• Laxman will replace Rahul Dravid, who has been appointed as Team India’s national men’s head coach.

Obituary

Eminent Hindi writer Mannu Bhandari passes away at 90

• Renowned Hindi author Mannu Bhandari has passed away. She was 90 years old.
• Bhandari was the wife of illustrious Hindi fiction writer late Rajendra Yadav, often credited to be the pioneer of the Hindi literary movement ‘Nayi Kahani’ along with Bhandari.
• Some of the well known works of Bhandari are Aapka Bunty, Mahabhoj, and Yahi Sach Hai.
• Her novel Yahi Sach Hai was adapted into a movie titled ‘Rajnigandha’ in 1974.

World Famous Legendary Author Wilbur Smith Passes Away at 88

• Internationally acclaimed Zambia-born South African author Wilbur Smith has passed away. He was 88.
• The global bestselling author has authored 49 novels and sold over 140 million copies worldwide in more than 30 languages.
• He rose to fame in 1964 with his debut novel “When the Lion Feeds” which turned in movie with 15 sequels.
• Smith published his autobiography “On Leopard Rock” in 2018.

Days

World COPD Day 2021: 17 November (Third Wednesday of November)

• World COPD Day is observed on Third Wednesday of November every year to raise awareness about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and improve COPD care throughout the world.
• The World COPD Day 2021 falls on November 17, 2021.
• The 2021 theme is Healthy Lungs – Never More Important.
• The day is organized by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) in collaboration with health care professionals and COPD patient groups throughout the world.
• The first World COPD Day was held in 2002.
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a lung disease that block airflow and make it difficult to breathe.

National Epilepsy Day : 17 November

• In India, November 17 is observed every year as National Epilepsy Day by the Epilepsy Foundation, to create awareness about epilepsy.
• Epilepsy is a chronic disorder of brain characterized by recurrent ‘seizures’ or ‘fits’.
• The month of November is observed as ‘National Epilepsy Awareness Month’.