Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
Justice Debasish Kar Gupta has recently been sworn-in as the new chief justice of the Calcutta High Court. It is the oldest High Court in India and has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The seat of the High Court is Kolkata, capital of West Bengal. The High Court building’s design is based on the Cloth Hall, Ypres, in Belgium.

Notes:
On October 31, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the ‘Statue of Unity’ in Narmada district of Gujarat on the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Sardar Patel – who served as the first Home Minister of independent India – is credited with uniting all 562 princely states in pre-independent India to build the Republic of India. That is why it is called the ‘Statue Of Unity’. It is the world’s tallest statue, with a height of 182m. It located around 3.5 km downstream from the Sardar Sarovar Dam, on islet Sadhu Bet on the bed of the river Narmada. The statue was designed by 93-year-old acclaimed sculptor Ram V. Sutar, who is Padma Bhushan awardee. It is built by Larsen & Toubro Ltd at a cost of Rs. 2,989 crore. The Statue of Unity is made up of 70,000 tonnes of cement, 18,500 tonnes of reinforcement steel, 6,000 tonnes of structural steel and 1,700 metric tonnes of bronze, which was used for the outer cladding of the structure. The viewing gallery at the height of 135 metres can accommodate up to 200 people at a time.

Notes:
Recently, China has successfully launched its first geostationary BeiDou-3 satellite ‘G1Q’ into high orbit (about 36,000 km above the Earth) to boost its home-grown BeiDou global satellite navigation system. It was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the southwestern Sichuan Province. In a geostationary orbit, following the Earth’s rotation, it will view the same point on Earth continuously. The satellite is meant to serve countries in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Apart from radio navigation system, the satellite is equipped with an improved radio determination satellite service that can provide short message services to 10 million subscribers each hour. With an advanced satellite-based augmentation system, the satellite can also provide low-cost and reliable navigation services to civil aviation clients at home and abroad. The satellite is carrying hydrogen and rubidium atomic clocks, which will play a key role in positioning and timing accuracy. It will be the fourth global satellite navigation system after the United States (US) Global Position System (GPS), Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s Galileo. By around 2020, when the BeiDou system goes global, it will have more than 30 satellites.

Notes:
India has officially signed a $950 million contract with Russia for the purchase of two upgraded Krivak III-class stealth frigates for the Indian Navy. The two frigates of the Project 11356 class will be bought directly from Russia and a contract to build two more at an Indian yard is likely to be signed at a later stage. The frigates are built by Yantar Shipyard of Russia and will be powered by Ukrainian gas turbine engines. They will be equipped with Indian-built radar, sonar, communication suites and anti-ship BrahMos missile systems. The ships are expected to be delivered by the end of 2022. The procurement of the frigates will involve a rupee-rouble transaction instead of using U.S. dollars to avoid American sanctions on Russian defense companies under CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act). The Project 11356 is a derivative of the Talwar-class frigates that Russia has built for the Indian Navy.

Notes:
The first-ever Indo-Japan joint military exercise “Dharma Guardian- 2018” has started at a jungle warfare school in Mizoram’s Vairengte with a focus on strengthening counter-terror cooperation. The focus of the two-week-long exercise will be to enhance tactical skills against global terrorism and increase inter-operability between the two forces. The Japanese contingent is represented by 32nd Infantry Battalion, while the Indian side by 6/1 Gorkha Rifles. The purpose of the exercise is to build and promote Army to Army relation in addition to exchange skills and experiences of both the armies. The exercise will comprise a balance of indoor classes and outdoor training activities. Both the armies will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered in urban warfare scenario.

Notes:
The United Nations (UN) has designated every 31st of October as World Cities Day (WCD) to promote the international community’s interest in global urbanization, enhance cooperation among countries and cities in meeting opportunities and addressing challenges of urbanization, and contribute to sustainable urban development. This year, the United Nations has selected the 2018 theme ‘Building Sustainable and Resilient Cities’ because cities need support to become resilient and develop their capacity to absorb the impact of hazards, protect and preserve human life and limit damage to and destruction of public and private assets while continuing to provide infrastructure and services after a crisis. The main event was celebrated in Liverpool, UK.

Notes:
Mary Kom, a five-time World Champion, has been named the Brand Ambassador of the 10th edition of theWomen’s World Boxing Championships (WWBC-2018). The World Championships is scheduled to be held at the IG Stadium’s K.D. Jhadav Hall in New Delhi from November 15 and 24. It will see close to 300 pugilists from 70 countries across 10 weight categories, the tournament’s highest-ever participation, including Olympic medalists, World and European Champions.

Notes:
India was partner country at Videocitta 2018 in the Rome Film Festival 2018, which was held from 18th to 28th October. The Indian delegation at the Film Festival was lead by Ashok Kumar Parmar, Joint Secretary of Ministry of I&B. The agenda of the Indian delegation was to showcase Indian films’ heritage, ease of film shooting in India, promoted film shooting locations in India, International Film Festival of India, Indian Cinema from different regions, Audio Visual Co-Production between India and Italy. This year, “Mare Pyare Prime Minister” was the India’s lone entry in Rome Film Festival. The film revolves around four children living in a Mumbai slum. One of them wants to build a toilet for his single mother and makes an appeal to the Prime Minister.

Notes:
Under the provisions of Article 124 of the Constitution, the President has recently appointed four new judges — Justices Hemant Gupta, R Subhash Reddy, M R Shah and Ajay Rastogi – of Supreme Court (SC). Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi administered the oath of office to the four judges. The President’s assent was based on the recommendation of the Supreme Court Collegium consists of CJI Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice Kurian Joseph, Justice A K Sikri and Justice S A Bobde. The apex court has a sanctioned strength of 31. With the elevation of these four new judges, the strength has risen from 24 to 28.

Notes:
V. Rathinam (99), the veteran freedom fighter and member of Indian National Army (INA) led by Nethaji Subash Chandra Bose, has passed away in South Kodikulam, Tamil Nadu on November 4, 2018. Born on 16th August 1919, Rathinam had moved to Burma when he was a bachelor and joined the INA during the Second World War in the early 1940s. After completing the training programme, he was inducted into the INA and fought against the British. Later, he was imprisoned by the British along with others and served jail terms in different prisons before he was set free from a prison in Kolkata.