Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
Louis Cha Jing-yong (94), a Hong Kong journalist and best-selling Chinese martial arts novelist, has passed away in Happy Valley, Hong Kong on October 30, 2018. Cha’s first novel, “The Book and the Sword,” was published in 1955 and became an instant hit. He went on to write 14 martial arts novels, often under the pen name Jin Yong. His works have the unusual ability to transcend geographical and ideological barriers separating Chinese communities of the world, achieving a greater success than any other contemporary writer. His works have been translated into many languages including English, French, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, Malay and Indonesian. According to ‘The Oxford Guide to Contemporary World Literature’, Jin’s novels are considered to be of very high quality and are able to appeal to both highbrow and lowbrow tastes.

Notes:
Recently, the 19th meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) held under the Chairmanship of the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reviewed the current global and domestic economic situation and financial sector performance. Apart from liquidity in NBFCs (segmental liquidity position and in mutual fund space), the FSDC discussed on various economic issues ranging from oil prices, rupee, inflation to improving cyber security in the financial sector including “progress made towards setting up of a Computer Emergency Response Team in the Financial Sector (CERT-Fin) under a Statutory Framework”. The FSDC is an apex-level body to strengthen and institutionalise the mechanism of maintaining financial stability, financial sector development, inter-regulatory coordination along with monitoring macro-prudential regulation of economy.

Notes:
Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha, has recently launched ‘Soura Jalanidhi’ scheme which aims at increasing use of solar energy for helping farmers in irrigation. ‘Soura Jalanidhi’ is a dug well based solar pump irrigation system in convergence mode. Under the scheme, 5,000 solar pumps will be provided to farmers at a subsidy of 90 per cent to irrigate 2,500 acres of land. The chief minister also launched the web portal of this scheme on the occasion. The event was attended by 1,000 farmers from 30 districts through video conference. In the first phase, the facility will be available for farmers where electicity is not avaialable for operating pump sets. The solar pumps will be given to the beneficiary farmers at a subsidy of 90%. A total of Rs 27 crore will be spent for the programme. Farmers having valid farmer identification, belonging to small and marginal categories having minimum 0.5 acre cultivable land and a dug well will be covered under the programme.

Notes:
The Republic of Seychelles has launched the world’s first sovereign blue bond – a financial instrument designed to support sustainable marine and fisheries projects. The bond developed with the assistance of the World Bank & was placed to 3 investors: Calvert Impact Capital, Nuveen and Prudential. The blue bond has a US$5m guarantee from the World Bank, and is also supported by a US$5m concessional loan from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which will partially cover interest payments.The blue bond demonstrates the potential for countries to harness capital markets for financing the sustainable use of marine resources. It will include support for the expansion of marine protected areas, improved governance of priority fisheries and the development of the Seychelles’ blue economy.

Notes:
Satyajit Ray’s epic masterpiece ‘Pather Panchali’ has been included in BBC’s 100 best foreign language films list of the 21st century. Ray’s film, which was released in 1955 and the first in his ‘Apu’ trilogy, is the only Indian film that find its spot in the BBC list and is placed at number 15. The list is topped by Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai”. It was culled out from a poll where over 200 critics from 43 countries picked their best foreign language film. Some of the notable films that featured in the BBC list are — Kurosawa’s ‘Rashomon ‘, Wong Kar-wai’s ‘In the Mood for Love’, Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘The Mirror’, Asghar Farhadi’s ‘A Separation’, Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal’ and Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Y Tu Mama Tambien’, among others. According to BBC, 27 of the highest-rated films were in French, followed by 12 in Mandarin, and 11 each in Italian and Japanese. The BBC said that only four of the 100 films have been directed by women. However, it said that 45% of the critics who took part in the poll were women.

Notes:
The Maharashtra Cabinet has recently approved the conversion of decommissioned aircraft carrier INS Viraat into a floating museum. It will be India’s first-ever moored maritime museum-cum-marine adventure centre. As per primary estimates, the project worth Rs 852 crore will be implemented through Public-Private-Partnership (PPP). It will be grouted (grounded, sealed to the seabed with concrete and moored) seven nautical miles off the Malvan coast at Nivati rocks in Sindhudurg. This will enable the tourists to see the diverse aquatic life and experience sky-diving, sailing and other thrilling sporting activities. Besides, it will make the new generation familiar with the glorious history of INS Viraat. INS Viraat, which holds a place of pride in Indian defence history, was decommissioned in March 2017 and since then has been laid up at the Naval Dockyard. INS Viraat was commissioned by Navy in 1987 and had taken part in all major military operations such as Operation Jupiter (1988, Sri Lanka peacekeeping mission), Operation Vijay (1999, post-Kargil), and Operation Parakram (2001, after Parliament attack). It was made in 1959 for the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy as ‘HMS Hermes’ and was instrumental in the Falklands War victory. It is 743-foot long and 160-foot wide with a height of 29 feet.

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:
Ntozake Shange (70), the noted African-American Playwright, poet and author, has passed away in Maryland, United States on October 27, 2018. Her most acclaimed theatre piece is the 1975 Tony Award-nominated play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf”, which describe the racism, sexism, violence and rape experienced by seven black women. She also penned several novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo , Liliane, and Betsey Brown.

Notes:
Simone Biles, an American artistic gymnast, has become the first ever gymnast to win 13 world championship gold medals with victory in the individual vault competition in Doha, Qatar on November 2, 2018. She broke the all-time record set by Belarusian male gymnast Vitaly Scherbo in 1996.

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.