Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
India has been ranked 77th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index 2018 . With this, India has jumped 23 places from 2017 in which it was ranked at 100th. In its annual ‘Doing Business’ 2019 report, World Bank stated that India improved its rank on six out of the 10 parameters relating to starting and doing business in a country.The report also recognises India as one of the top 10 improvers in this year’s assessment, for the 2nd successive time. The Index ranks 190 countries across 10 indicators ranged across the lifecycle of a business from ‘starting a business’ to ‘resolving insolvency’. These parameters include ease of starting a business, construction permits, getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes, trade across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency. New Zealand tops the list, followed by Singapore, Denmark, and Hong Kong.

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:
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:
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:
According to India’s first-ever ‘Ease of Moving Index 2018’ – India Report 2018, Kolkata has topped the index in terms of cleanliness and affordability of public transport, followed by New Delhi and Chennai. The index offers insights on mobility preferences & aspirations of Indian commuters across 20 cities with a population of over 92 million. It was released by Ola Mobility Institute (OMI), the research and outreach arm of Ola ride-hailing platform. The 2018 report, which was released by the Union Minister for Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari, seeks to offer a comprehensive action plan for cities to further strengthen their public transportation systems and improve the overall state of mobility. Over 43,000 respondents from 20 cities across the country were surveyed. Cities were selected on five parameters — scale, character, culture, economy and geography. The report also assessed the accessibility, efficiency and safety of current transportation facilities. More than 95% of denizens prefer sustainable mobility and 80% observed transport ecosystem has improved over the last five years with 60% reporting using public modes of commute.

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:
On November 4, the National Seminar on Entrepreneurship and Business Development in Ayurveda was started at Dr. Ambedkar International centre in New Delhi. The 2-day seminar is being organised by Ministry of AYUSH in association with NITI Aayog with the aim of encouraging entrepreneurs and Ayurveda stakeholders towards businesses opportunities in the sector. The seminar is expected to develop awareness among stakeholders about business opportunities, encouraging young entrepreneurs to use modern technologies and highlight opportunities at global level. Experts in marketing, innovation, policymakers, experts in start-up as well as experienced entrepreneurs in Ayurveda pharmaceuticals and hospital industry will guide and share their experiences with the participants. Nearly 800 participants from across the country are expected to take part in the seminar.

Notes:
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.