Current Affairs December 10-11, 2018
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of December 10-11, 2018 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. Prof. Rattan Lal , a distinguished university professor of soil science at the Ohio State University, has won the ‘Glinka World Soil Prize 2018’ in a ceremony at the headquarters of UN FAO in Rome for his remarkable contribution to sustainable soil management. The Glinka World Soil Prize, named after the pioneering Russian scientist Konstantin D. Glinka, is considered the highest honour in the soil science profession. Lal was born in Gujranwala in West Punjab, Pakistan, and his family came to India as refugees in 1948. He studied in India and later came to the US to work on his doctorate in soils, which he completed in 1968. He has been listed among the World's Most Influential Scientific Minds (2012) and among the top one per cent of all researchers in agriculture.
2. On October 8, Rookie Madhya Pradesh opener Ajay Rohera has created world record for highest first-class score on debut. He scored 267 not out against Hyderabad in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group-B Cricket in Indore. The record was earlier held by former Mumbai stalwart Amol Muzumdar, who had hit 260 versus Haryana at Faridabad in 1994. Beside this, Rohera also became the highest individual scorer for Madhya Pradesh surpassing JP Yadav’s 265.
3. Kerala has become the first state in India to have four international airports with the inauguration of the Kannur airport on December 9, 2018. The Kannur airport is spread across over 2,000 acres and can handle around 2,000 passengers at a time. The runway is currently 3,050m long and will be extended to 4,000m. The airport, built on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode, may also increase the inter-trade in sectors such as spices and handloom. Mural paintings depicting the heritage of Malabar and Indian dance forms, including Theyyam of north Kerala, Kathakali and Yakshagana, the traditional theatre art form of Karnataka, are among the art works that vie for attention at the airport. The three other international airports are at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode.
4. Prathamesh Maulingkar from India has created history by becoming the first Asian/Indian to win 2018 Mister Supranational title in a competition held in in Krynica-Zdroj, Poland. He defeated 37 contestants from all over the world in the final round to win the coveted title. At the same pageant, Mister Supranational Poland was adjudged first runner-up, Mister Supranational Brazil was adjudged second runner-up and Mister Supranational Thailand was announced as the third runner-up.
5. The Submarine Day is celebrated every year by the Indian Navy on December 8 to commemorate the induction of the first submarine, the erstwhile INS Kalvari, into the Indian Navy on this day in 1967. The Foxtrot class submarine was decommissioned on the 31st May, 1996, after 29 years of service.
6. On December 7, China has launched its first-ever space mission ‘Chang'e-4’ to land a robotic craft on the far side of the Moon. It was launched on a Long March 3B rocket from the southwestern Xichang launch centre, which will explore the Von Karman crater. The mission, which consists of a stationary lander and a rover, will perform a variety of science work and plant a flag for humanity in a region that remains largely unexplored to date. No lander or rover has ever touched the surface there, hence positioning China as the first nation to explore the terrain. The mission will pave the way for the country to deliver samples of Moon rock and soil to Earth. The moon’s far side is also known as the dark side because it faces away from Earth and remains comparatively unknown. If successful, the mission would propel the Chinese space program to a leading position in one of the most important areas of lunar exploration. The name "Chang'e" comes from the Chinese goddess of the moon, and the "4" indicates that this is the 4th robotic mission in China's decade-long lunar exploration program.
7. IIT Kharagpur has won the DSCI Excellence Award 2018 for cyber security education by Data Security Council of India (DSCI), an industry body on data protection set up up by NASSCOM. The institute was awarded for its focused curricula and research work in cryptography, hardware security, cyber security, Internet of Things (IoT) security, and network security. A number of research ventures led by Professor Debdeep Mukhopadhyay at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kharagpur were primarily considered for this award. Some of the ventures include the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-funded projects on developing lightweight protocols for authenticating IoT nodes, IC reverse engineering and trojan detection and the DST-funded ‘Swarnajayanti’ project on secure authentication protocols for smart grids.
8. On December 7, the 2nd edition of Military Literature Festival (MLF) 2018 was held in Chandigarh with an aim to offer an opportunity for the younger generation to get acquainted with India's glorious military heritage. It also brought a host of cultural activities, food cuisines and competitions to the public. Besides, marshal dances, weapons display, medallion gallery, artists' corner, cultural activities and exhibitions, food and cuisine, book fair, children's Saragarhi Samvadh are amongst other activities to reverberate the minds of participants and visitors with tales of India's soldiers during the three-day event. The fest was also dedicated to the valour of over 74,000 Indians who had laid down their lives in World War I. This year also marks the centenary of the Great War of 1914-1918. The fest was a joint initiative of military historian and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh and Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore.
9. On December 8, Shubhankar Sharma has become the fifth and the youngest Indian golfer to clinch the Asian Tour Order of Merit after a groundbreaking year of achievements. With this achievement, He joined the exclusive club of Indians who have achieved the feat in the past - Jyoti Randhawa (2002), Arjun Atwal (2003), Jeev Milkha Singh (2006 and 2008) and Anirban Lahiri (2015).
10. Dr. Rajanish Giri, an assistant professor at IIT Mandi, has been awarded the DBT Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award (IYBA) 2018. Dr. Giri is selected for his proposed innovative idea on Zika virus Capsid Folding and inhibitor discovery. Additionally, he has proven expertise on understanding and solving the fundamental problems of protein folding in various structured and Intrinsically Disordered Proteins. He was selected by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of Ministry of Science and Technology. Additionally, under the supervision of Dr. Giri, a PhD Scholar ‘Nitin Sharma from IIT Mandi’ received ‘Newton Bhabha Doctoral Placement Grant.
