GK & Current Affairs Quiz: November 11, 2018

Notes:
The 5th edition of World Buddhist Forum (WBF -2018) was recently held in Putian, the southeast Fujian Province of China. Over 1,000 Buddhists, scholars and representatives from 55 countries and regions attended the forum. The WBF-2018 was jointly hosted by the Buddhist Association of China and the China Religious Culture Communication Association. The aim of the forum is to carry forward the positive Buddhist cultural spirits, promote exchanges between Buddhism and other religions, and make contributions to building a community with a shared future for humanity. The World Buddhist Forum (WBF) was initiated by the Buddhist circles in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao in 2005.

Notes:
The 25th edition of bilateral maritime exercise “SIMBEX-18” has started between the Navies of the Republic of Singapore and India from 10th to 21st November 2018 off Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. The SIMBEX 2018 will be the largest edition since 1994 in terms of scale and complexity. The initial harbour phase will be held at Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands from 10 to 12 November followed by Sea Phase from 12 to 16 November in the Andaman Sea. The second harbour phase from 16 to 19 November will be held at Visakhapatnam – ‘the City of Destiny’. The final sea phase would be held in the Bay of Bengal from 19 to 21 November. The 2018 edition marks the Silver Jubilee of Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercise (SIMBEX). To mark the historical occasion, both navies are undertaking exercises over an extended geography. The 25th edition will witness a diverse range of exercises at sea ranging from live weapon drills including Heavy Weight Torpedo (HWT), advanced Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) exercises, integrated Surface and Anti-Air Warfare (AAW); Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operations and Cross Deck Helicopter flying among others.

Notes:
In New Delhi, the Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities 2018 is organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment during 9-11 November, 2018. India is hosting the event in collaboration with Government of Korea and Rehabilitation International (RI), and their associated partner LG Electronics. The purpose of the 3-day event is to leverage IT skills among youth with disabilities and also to spread awareness about the application of Information and Computer Technology (ICT) in enhancing the quality of life of persons with disabilities especially in Asia-Pacific region. Around 100 youth with disabilities (visual disability, hearing disability, locomotor disability and intellectual disability/developmental disorder) from 18 countries namely, India, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Korea, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, UK and UAE are participating in this event.

Notes:
The first-of-its-kind solutions-focused event “Global Cooling Innovation Summit” will be inaugurated by Union Science & Technology Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan in New Delhi on 12th November 2018. The Summit will bring together leaders from around the world to explore concrete means and pathways to address the climate threat that comes from the growing demand from room air conditioners. The 2-day event is jointly organized by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) along with Rocky Mountain Institute, Alliance for An Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), Conservation X Labs and CEPT University. The summit will also see the launching of Global Cooling Prize— Mission Innovation challenge that aims to spur development of a residential cooling solution that has at least five times (5x) less climate impact than today’s standard.

Notes:
China’s state news agency Xinhua has recently launched the world’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) news anchor at the ongoing 5th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. The anchor resembles a male human anchor with the voice and facial expressions of a real person. “He” learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional human anchor. Two AI news anchors that can read news in English as well as Mandarin were jointly developed by Xinhua and the Chinese search engine “Sogou”. The anchors were developed through Machine Learning (ML) programme to simulate the voice, facial movements, and gestures of real-life broadcasters, to present a “a lifelike image instead of a cold robot”.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has recently approved strategic disinvestment of 100% Govt. of India’s equity in Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. (DCIL) to consortium of four ports – Vishakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Paradeep Port Trust (PPT), Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust (JLNPT) and Kandla Port Trust (KPT). The Govt. of India (GoI) currently holds 73.44% in DCIL. The approval will further facilitate the linkage of dredging activities with the ports, keeping in view the role of the DCIL in expansion of dredging activity in the country as well as potential scope for diversification of ports into third party dredging. The GoI has budgeted to raise Rs 80,000 crore from PSU disinvestment. So far this fiscal, the government has mopped up over Rs 15,000 crore from PSU stake sale.

Notes:
Ashok Kumar Gupta, a 1981 Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer, has been appointed as new chairperson of Competition Commission of India (CCI). His tenure as the CCI Chairman will be till October 25, 2022, i.e. when attains the age of 65 years, or until further orders, whichever is earlier. He will succeed acting chairperson Sudhir Mittal. The CCI is a Quasi-judicial statutory body , established in October 2003 under the Competition Act of 2002, that keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors. It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India.

Notes:
Jawahar Lal Sarin, the president of the Alliance Francaise de Delhi’s governing body, has been bestowed with France’s highest civilian honour “Knight of the Legion of Honour”. The award was presented to Sarin by Ambassador of France Alexandre Ziegler in recognition of his outstanding contribution to enhancing Indo-French cultural cooperation and promoting the French language. The Alliance francaise de Delhi was started as a French association by Francophiles in 1956. The Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) was instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. It is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipient.

Notes:
In India, the National Cancer Awareness Day (NCAD) is observed every year on 7th of November to remove all stops to lower the national cancer burden by generating awareness about early detection and avoiding leading cancer causing lifestyles. The main motto of the special day is to educate people on early detection & cure of cancer. It is estimated that there are about 2.9 million cases of cancer in the country with 1.1 million new cases being reported annually. Two-thirds of cancer cases are diagnosed at the advanced stage.

Notes:
The IIT Madras has recently developed a portable solar-powered cold storage device with a 500 kg capacity for storing vegetables, and fruits, among other items. The device will help farmers store their produce for sufficient time so that it does not get spoilt before it is sold, thereby preventing wastage of agricultural produce.The first unit of the device, which provides storage facility with temperature ranging between 4 to 10 degree celsius, was deployed at a farm in Madurantakam in Kancheepuram district, around 80 km from Chennai, recently. Each unit would cost between Rs 5.5 to Rs 6 lakh and storage capacity could be scaled down based on requirement. The project has been funded by Department of Science and Technology (Ministry of Science and Technology) and IIT-M. A startup called Tan90, initiated by IIT-M students, aims to commercialise the technology and take it to individual farmers with even smaller devices at affordable prices.