Current Affairs November 30, 2018
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of November 30, 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 Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD) has launched a unique initiative called Bhasha Sangam to introduce school students to all 22 Indian languages of Schedule VIII of the Constitution. The initiative, under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, was launched on 22nd of November and will continue till the 21st of December. The aim of the programme is to enhance linguistic tolerance and respect, and promote national integration. During the Bhasha Sangam programme, the school authorities have to introduce students to five sentences of the language fixed for that particular day/date by reading out the sentences in the morning assembly and asking the students to repeat them. Hnce, Bhasha Sangam is a programme for schools and educational institutions to provide multilingual exposure to students in Indian languages.
2. The Indian Organ Donation Day (IODD) is observed every year on 27th of November to motivate normal human beings to pledge to donate organs after death, and to spread awareness about the importance of organ donation. Organ Donation is donating a donor's organs like heart, liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs, and pancreas, after the donor dies, for the purpose of transplanting them into another person who is in need of an organ. In 2018, the 9th IODD was organised by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) in Delhi.
3. On 27th of November, Tamil Nadu has been adjudged the Best State in Organ Donation at the 9th Indian Organ Donation Day (IODD-2018) in New Delhi by the Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare. It’s fourth time in a row, the state has received the best-performing state award for organ donation. Tamil Nadu is also the first State in India to have initiated mandatory certification of brain stem death, streamlining organ distribution and setting up green corridors. Apart from this, the State of Maharashtra received an award for being the best State for promoting awareness on organ donations. Dr Subramania Iyer K, AIMS, Kochi was felicitated for conducting first hand transplant in the country and Dr Shailesh Puntambekar, Pune, received the award for conducting 1st Uterine Transplant in India.
4. As per Article 316 of the Constitution, President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Arvind Saxena as new Chairman of Union Public Service Commission, UPSC. The term of his appointment will be till 7th of August, 2020 when he attains 65 years. In 2015, he joined UPSC as a member. Prior to joining UPSC as Member, Saxena was working as Director of the Aviation Research Centre (ARC). He was also awarded meritorious services (2005) and distinguished services (2012), conferred by the Prime Minister of India.
5. Ukrainian film ‘Donbass’, directed by Sergei Loznitsa, has won the coveted Golden Peacock Award at the 49th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2018) in Goa on November 28. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 40 lakhs, a trophy and a citation. Donbass tells the story of a hybrid war taking place in a region of Eastern Ukraine, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies perpetrated on a mass scale by separatist gangs. In Donbass, war is called peace and propaganda is uttered as truth. A journey through Donbass unfolds as a series of curious adventures. This is not just a tale of one region or a political system; it is about a world lost in post-truth and fake identities. Donbass is the official submission of Ukraine for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category at the 91st Academy Awards in 2019.
6. Lijo Jose Pellissery has been conferred the Best Director Award for his 2018 film ‘Ee.Ma.Yau’. The film is a stunning satire on death and how it affects human lives. The Best Director gets the Silver Peacock Award and a cash prize of Rs 1.5 million (Rs 15 lakhs). Beside this, the Best Actor (Male) Award has gone to Chemban Vinod for his portrayal in Ee.Ma.Yau of ‘Eeshi’, a son who tries to arrange a worthy funeral for his father but is met with unpredictable obstacles and reactions from different quarters. Similarly, the Best Actor (Female) Award has gone to Anastasiia Pustovit for her portrayal of a ‘Larysa’, a teenage girl in the Ukrainian film ‘When the Trees Fall’. Both Best Actor (Male) and Best Actor (Female) are honoured with the Silver Peacock Trophy and a cash prize of Rs 1 million (Rs 10 lakhs) each.
7. 'Walking with the Wind', directed by Praveen Morchhale, has won the 2018 ICFT –UNESCO Gandhi Medal. The award is instituted by the International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT), Paris and UNESCO. The criteria for the Gandhi Medal reflect UNESCO’s fundamental mandate of building peace in the mind of men and women, particularly human rights, intercultural dialogue, promotion and safeguard of diversity of cultural expressions. ’Walking with the Wind’ tells the story of a 10 year old boy in Himalayan Terrain, who mistakenly breaks his friend’s school chair. His daily 7 km long journey to school in mountainous terrain on a donkey, turns mammoth and challenging when he decides to bring the chair to his village.
8. Himachal Pradesh has become the first Indian state to launch a pan-India single emergency number '112' where all kinds of immediate help can be sought in urgent matters. Under this project, an Emergency Response Centre (ERC) has been established in Shimla along with 12 District Command Centres (DCCs), covering the entire state. The ERC has been integrated with police (100), fire (101), health (108) and women (1090) helpline numbers to provide emergency services through the emergency number '112'. The service is part of the Emergency Response Support System (ERSS) which includes a '112 India' mobile app integrated with panic button of smartphones and ERSS state website for ease of citizen in availing immediate assistance. To ensure safety of women, 'SHOUT' feature has been introduced in '112 India' mobile app to seek immediate assistance from registered volunteers in the vicinity, apart from immediate assistance from ERC. Soon, the single number for various emergency services will be gradually rolled out across the country.
9. The 13th edition of G20 summit 2018 will be held at Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina on November 30 under the theme ‘Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable Development’. The annual meeting is being attended by leaders of the top 20 economies of the world and will cover the entire gamut of economic issues, including the agricultural sector reform, the challenges climate change poses and health-care issues faced by the world. From India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to highlight problems of oil price volatility which has a direct impact on the Indian economy in the G 20 platform. Digital revolution and skill India are also among the issues to be discussed during the summit.
10. On November 29, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully launched its earth observation satellite ‘ Hyper Spectral Imaging Satellite (HysIS) into orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. Beside HysIS, The rocket ‘PSLV-C43’ successfully injected 30 small satellites of 8 nations into their designated orbits. With this launch, India will have an eye in the sky to capture the images of the earth surface in high definition. The satellite HysIS can send pictures and data in multiple frequencies with high resolution. Its data will be useful in many fields including agriculture, forestry, soil survey, geology, coastal zone studies, inland water studies, environmental monitoring and pollution detection from industries. The primary mission of the HysIS, whose mission life is five years, is to study the earth’s surface in visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. In simple words, HysIS is the India’s first hyperspectral imaging satellite for advanced Earth observation and ISRO's first full-scale working satellite with this capability.
