Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

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19-times world champion Pankaj Advani has won the second leg of Asian Snooker Tour title by delivering a power-packed performance to outclass China’s Ju Reti 6-1 in the final at Jinan, China.With this, Advani has become the first Indian to win an Asian Snooker Tour event. The IBSF World Billiards and Snooker Championships is less than a fortnight away and the Indian star cueist is the defending champion in both sports. The new 10-red format of the Tour was well-received by all players as some fine performances were on display throughout the second leg. Pankaj Advani will now have to immediately switch to Billiards as Myanmar hosts the prestigious world championships from November 12 to 27.

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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.

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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.

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The World Vegan Day (WVD) is observed every year on November 1 to commemorate the holistic benefits of switching to veganism. Veganism is the practice of abstaining from consuming any animal products, including milk, curd, eggs, cheese, honey, and meat amongst other derived products.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recently permitted banks to grant Partial Credit Enhancement (PCE), or a partial guarantee, to bonds issued by systematically important non-deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC-ND-SIs) registered with the Reserve Bank of India and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) registered with National Housing Bank. The move is aimed at enhancing the credit rating of the bonds and enabling these NBFCs to access funds from the bond market on better terms. PCE is expected to help NBFCs and HFCs raise money from insurance and provident or pension funds who invest only in highly-rated instruments. The proceeds from the bonds, whose tenor cannot be less than three years, backed by PCE from banks can only be utilised for refinancing the existing debt. The central bank has restricted the exposure of a bank through PCEs to bonds issued by each such NBFC or HFC to 1% of capital funds of the bank within the current single and group borrower exposure limits.

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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.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has initiated steps to set up a wide-based digital Public Credit Registry (PCR) to capture details of all borrowers, including wilful defaulters and also the pending legal suits in order to check financial delinquencies. The PCR will also include data from entities like market regulator SEBI, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) to enable the banks and financial institutions to get 360 degree profile of existing and prospective borrowers on a real-time basis. The central bank has invited expression of interest for developing the registry from companies with a turnover of over 100 crore rupees in the last three years. The PCR would be the single point of mandatory reporting for all material events for each loan, notwithstanding any threshold in the loan amount or type of borrower. Currently, there are multiple granular credit information repositories in India, with each having somewhat distinct objectives and coverage.

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The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has formed a new industry expert committee to develop and promote an augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) ecosystem in India. The committee is chaired by Namrita Mahindro, Senior General Manager of digital transformation in Mahindra Group and co-chaired by Satyajeet Singh, Head –Strategic Product Partnership, India and South Asia, Facebook. The committee is a step in IAMAI’s efforts to evangelise the nascent technology’s ability to drive economic growth, job creation, and skill development in the country. The agenda of the committee will include nurturing India’s AR/VR technology and talent ecosystem, in particular by driving Skill Development; engaging with business, industry and government to evangelize acceptance of the technology and helping drive training workshops to familarise potential users with technology and build use cases, in key sectors.

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India’s first asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge “Signature Bridge” has recently inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal across the Yamuna River. The bridge connects Outer Ring Road on the western flank of the Yamuna river with the Wazirabad Road on the east. It shortens the travel time between north and northeast Delhi. The 675-metre long bridge, originally conceptualised in 2004, has finally available for public use from November 5. Just like the Eiffel Tower in France, Signature Bridge will also have the facility to transport tourists on top of the main pillar, which is 154 m high, from where distance view of North Delhi can be seen.The pylon of the Signature bridge is tallest structure in Delhi and is double the height of Qutb Minar, which act as selfie points for people.

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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has awarded the Assam Police for “good practices” under the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), an e-governance project. The award was given for citizen centric service delivery, in which the state police has automated passport verification and Permanent Residential Certificate (PRC) services using the online CCTNS. Under the CCTNS, the force has recently launched a mobile application for ease of availability of services to the citizens, besides the existing online system.