Current Affairs November 27, 2018
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of November 27, 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. The first-ever India Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue was held at St. Petersburg in Russia on November 25,2018. The Indian side is being led by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, with the Russian delegation headed by Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin. The two-day forum is also expected to bring together key business figures from both countries. The participants will discuss the development of bilateral ties in trade, investment, technology and industry. Some of the key areas of focus are as follows: transport, agriculture and agro-processing, Small and Medium Enterprises, digital transformation and frontier technologies and industrial cooperation.
2. The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has nominated 12 movies for 2018 International Council for Film, Television and Audio-visual Communication (ICFT) UNESCO Gandhi Medal. Of these 12 films, two are from India and the rest are foreign movies. The two Indian movies competing for the honour are Tamil film ‘Baaram’ and Ladakhi movie ‘Walking with the Wind’.
3. The Odisha government has come out with lexicons of 21 rare tribal languages to preserve vanishing native languages in State with largest tribal diversity. The bilingual tribal dictionaries will be used in Multilingual Education (MLE) initiated by the State government at the elementary level in tribal-dominated districts. The bilingual tribal dictionaries for MLE and trilingual tribal language proficiency modules in all the 21 tribal languages have been formulated by the Special Development Council (SDC). Odisha has a unique place on the tribal map of India for having the maximum number of Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities. The State is home to 62 different tribal communities, including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups. These tribes speak 21 languages and 74 dialects. Of the 21 tribal languages, seven have their own scripts. However, Odia is used as the medium of communication in the dictionaries.
4. Bhavani Devi from India has won the gold in the Sabre event in the Senior Commonwealth Fencing Championship 2018 held in Canberra, Australia. She defeated England's Emily Ruaux 15-12 in the final. With this feat, Bhavani became the first Indian to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Championship. Earlier, Bhavani Devi won a silver medal in the Tournoi Satellite Fencing Championship in Iceland.
5. The Australian women's national cricket team has lifted the ICC Women's World Twenty-20 title for the fourth time. In the title clash played at Antigua in West Indies, the Aussies recorded an emphatic 8-wicket win over England. Alyssa Jean Healy of Australia was the leading run-scorer in the competition, with 225 runs, and was named the player of the tournament.
6. The World-class autism township will come up near Kolkata, where children and adults suffering from the developmental disorder can receive training, treatment and boarding facilities. It’s a one-of-its-kind initiative in India and will be built as a joint effort by private firm ‘Ratnabali Group’ & the West Bengal government. The estimated cost for building the township has been pegged at Rs 500 crore. Hence, the India Autism Center (IAC) - a non-profit organization under Section 8 of Companies Act, 2013 - is expected to come up over a 52-acre plot at Sirakol in South 24 Parganas by 2023. The IAC will have housing facilities for 350 residents and daycare centre for over 200 children, adolescents and adults. It will also have an administrative wing and a guest house, where parents of those receiving training at the institute can put up for a few days. The soft launch of the project has been scheduled for January 2019.
7. The Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) and Sashastra Sima Bal (SSB) have joined hands to provide full proof security to Dudhwa forests and its rich wildlife. As per agreement, all security agencies including SSB on the border, central and local intelligence officers, customs and excise officials, Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) and the Dudhwa field staff will strengthen the patrolling in and around Dudhwa to check forest and wildlife crimes. Hence, the joint long route patrolling comprising SSB, STPF and DTR field staff would be held at regular intervals. The DTR is located in the Terai of Uttar Pradesh and covers an area of 490.3 km2, with a buffer zone of 190 km2 (73 sq mi). It is home for tigers, leopards, Asiatic black bears, sloth bears, Swamp deer, rhinoceros, elephants, cheetal, hog deer, barking deer, sambar, wild boar and hispid hare.
8. Sameer Verma has clinched the 2018 Syed Modi International Badminton Championships. In the men's singles final, he defeated China's Guangzu Lu by 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 against China's Guangzu Lu to retain the title. With this win, Verma sealed his spot in the BWF World Tour Finals. However, former champion Saina Nehwal lost in straight games to Han Yue of China in women’s singles summit clash. Men’s doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and women’s doubles players Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy also settled for silver in their respective finals.
9. The Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES) has termed ‘Titli’, the severe cyclonic storm that devastated Odisha in October 2018, as ‘rarest cyclone’. In its latest report, RIMES stated that more than 200 years of cyclone track history in the Odisha coast reveals that the Titli cyclone is the rarest of rare due to the recurvature after its landfall. Titli retained its destructive potential after landfall and made a recurvature away from coastal areas for more than two days. According to RIMES, the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) faced challenges in anticipating and managing Titli's impact due to lack of impact-based actionable early warning information and prior experience not only in India but also elsewhere. The RIMES has recommended that a detailed risk assessment has to be carried out for Odisha to understand the risks in the light of the Titli devastation. Earlier, India Meteorological Department had called the formation of Titli as a ‘rarest of rare’ occurrence. Thailand-based RIMES is a 45-nation international organisation on disaster warning.
10. Russia's state space corporation ‘Roscosmos’ has decided to venture into the Internet of things (IoT) with the launch of a new satellite system named ‘Marathon’. As per reports, the new satellite system will be a part of Russia’s Sphere satellite constellation, alongside GLONASS navigation system, an Earth remote sensing system, a satellite communication system, and a data relay satellite system. The Sphere is expected to be fully established by 2026.
