Current Affairs November 21, 2018
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of November 21, 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. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), the New Delhi (India)-based independent research and advocacy think tank, has won the prestigious 2018 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. The CSE has been awarded for its pioneering pioneering work over almost four decades on various burning issues from air and water pollution, food safety, waste water management, climate change and so on. The award is conferred by Indira Gandhi Trust each year on the late Prime Minister's birth anniversary. The international jury for the awards was headed by former President Pranab Mukerjee. The CSE was established in 1980 under leadership of the late Anil Agarwal and is presently headed by Sunita Narain.
2. The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) has rolled out its Online Open Learning training platform ‘KOOL’. The platform can be used to train teachers, students and the general public. It is a six week course, which includes many features for learners in the form of animated learning assistants, video tutorials and check lists for practicing the activities. The other features includes creation of word documents, spreadsheet, presentation, image editing, video-audio editing, development of digital resources, Malayalam typing, internet, educational applications. KOOL has been designed in a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) model. It is compulsory for teachers to successfully complete 45 hours of computer course in order to clear their probation. Teachers who successfully complete the course would be awarded certificates.
3. Jalaj Srivastava, a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed the new chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). Prior to this post, he was working as Additional Secretary in Ministry of Agriculture. He is known for launching the "Shakti Cab" project and "URJA" project for women when he was with the Delhi government as chairman of New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Principal Secretary in Department of VAT. He is also considered as the man behind the start of "Rahagiri" event that takes place every Sunday in the national capital to promote culture and sports. Jalaj is also the writer of a crime thriller novel titled 'The Perfect Suicide’. The IWAI comes under the Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, currently headed by Nitin Gadkari.
4. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has been honoured with the 2018 Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of Indian Classical Music at the Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi. He received the award for his “immense contribution to the enrichment and promotion of the Indian classical music”. Born in 1945 in Gwalior, Khan is best known for his clear and fast ‘ekhara taans’. He is sixth in the lineage of a family devoted to Indian classical music’s Senia Bangash Gharana. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2001), and is among the tallest Indian classical musicians.
5. Dr. Thanjavur Santhanakrishna Kanaka (86), who was Asia’s first & world’s third female neurosurgeon, has passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on November 14, 2018. She served in the Indian Army as a commissioned officer during the 1962-1963 Sino-Indian War. Beside this, she was the first neurosurgeon in India to perform chronic electrode implants in the brain; having performed deep brain stimulation as early as in 1975. Dr. Kanaka, who retired as professor of Neurosurgery in Madras Medical College (MMC) in 1990, was known to have inspired many women to take to the field of neurosurgery in the country. She used her own funds to establish a hospital, named after her parents as Sri Santhanakrishna Padmavathi Health Care and Research Foundation, which offers free healthcare to the needy.
6. Brigadier (retd) Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (78), who was known for his heroic leadership in the famous Battle of Longewala during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, has passed away in Mohali, Punjab on November 17, 2018. He was decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) for the heroic stand-off that forced the enemy to retreat. The Battle of Longewala (1971) was one of the first major engagements in the western sector during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, fought between assaulting Pakistani forces and Indian defenders at the Indian border post of Longewala in the Thar desert of Rajasthan. The 1997 Bollywood war film ‘Border’ was based on the real life events that happened at the Battle of Longewala, with his role played by Sunny Deol.
7. In Uttar Pradesh, Nari Sashaktikaran Sankalp Abhiyan (or Women Empowerment campaign) has been launched by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on November 20, 2018. The month-long campaign is aimed to empower women in the state through various programmes. It includes many issues like education, self employment, health, cleanliness, nutrition. During the campaign, women officers and female staff of the state government will go door-to-door in villages of their respective blocks in every district and inform and educate women about the schemes being run by central and state governments for their welfare and security.
8. Tripura will host the 7th edition of International Tourism Mart (ITM-2018) in Agartala from 22nd November to popularise tourist destinations in the northeastern states of the country. The event would be organised with an estimated budget of Rs 2.60 crores, which would be provided by the Ministry of Tourism. In the 3-day long tourism fair, at least 60 tour operators from 18 foreign countries including Bangladesh, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, China, Thailand, South Africa and Russia would attend the fair and engage in dialogue with the state tour operators, attend seminars and visit different tourist spots of the state. Apart from the foreign participants, 70 tour operators would join the tourism mart from the eight NE states. 30 others would participate from other states of the country.
9. The Africa Industrialization Day (AID) is observed every year on November 20 to raise global awareness of the challenges faced by the continent with regard to industrialization. The African continent is the second most-populated continent in the world, home to over 1.2 billion people (or 16% of the world’s population). Despite this, Africa currently only accounts for less than 2% of international trade and global manufacturing. In March 2018, 49 of Africa’s 55 countries signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement meant to create a tariff-free continent that can grow local businesses, boost intra-African trade, rev up industrialization and create jobs.The 2018 theme is “Promoting Regional Value Chains in Africa: A pathway for accelerating Africa’s structural transformation, industrialization and pharmaceutical production”.
10. Lakshya Sen from India has recently won bronze in men’s singles at the Li Ning World Junior Badminton Championship 2018, after suffering a narrow defeat to top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the men’s singles semifinals at Markham in Canada. This was India's fifth boys singles bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Championships. Previously, RMV Gurusaidutt (2008), B Sai Praneeth (2010), HS Prannoy (2010) and Sameer Verma (2011) have won the bronze. Siril Verma (2015) is India's only boys singles silver-medallist at the World Junior Championships. Apart from this, Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to have won a gold in the tournament during the 2008 Pune edition.
