Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
Gaddam Dharmendra, a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, has been appointed India’s new Ambassador to Iran. He will succeed Saurabh Kumar, who was appointed India’s ambassador to Myanmar. Dharmendra’s appointment comes at a time when the global focus is on oil imports from Iran as the US has recently imposed “the toughest ever” sanctions aimed at altering the Iranian regime’s “behaviour”.

Notes:
In Bhubaneswar, the Odisha government has recently rolled out the technology-driven and citizen-friendly ‘Mo bus’ service featuring free wi-fi, CCTV surveillance, public information display system and on board announcements in the city. The service was launched as a part of state government-owned Capital Region Urban Transport’s (CRUT) ‘City Bus Modernisation’ programme.It will also provide the Mo Bus mobile app through which passengers can book their tickets and get to know the locations of the vehicle to minimise their waiting time at the Bus Queue Shelters (BQS). The BQS will have advanced features like digital screens to display the bus route numbers and their arrival times for the waiting passengers. The bus service has been launched for the residents of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri.

Notes:
On November 5, the United States imposed the toughest ever sanctions on Iran aimed at altering the Iranian regime’s “behaviour”. The sanctions cover Iran’s banking and energy sectors and reinstate penalties for countries and companies in Europe, Asia and elsewhere that do not halt Iranian oil imports. However, 8 countries – India, China, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey — were temporarily allowed to continue buying Iranian oil as they showed “significant reduction” in oil purchase from the Persian Gulf country. The United States has exempted India from imposition of certain sanctions for the development of the strategically-located Chabahar Port in Iran, along with the construction of the railway line connecting it with Afghanistan. The decision by the Trump administration is being seen as a recognition by Washington of India’s major role in the development of the port on the Gulf of Oman, which is of immense strategic importance for the reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan. The Chabahar Port is considered a gateway to golden opportunities for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with central Asian countries besides ramping up trade among the three countries after Pakistan denied transit access to India.

Notes:
In the 8th Asian Shotgun Championship 2018 in Kuwait, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa has won the men’s skeet gold with a perfect score of 60 — a World record — in the final on November 7. With this, he became the first Indian skeet shooter to win a continental or world level event. Angad shot a perfect 60 out of 60 in the final round to claim top spot ahead of China’s Di Jin who shot 58. UAE’s Saeed Al Maktoum won bronze with a score of 46. In the concurrently held 11th Asian Air Gun championship, Indian team of Elavenil Valarivan and Hriday Hazarika won the mixed air rifle gold with a world junior record of 502.1. The other Indian team of Mehuli Ghosh and Arjun Babuta bagged the bronze.

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:
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:
In New Delhi, the 2nd edition of INSPIRE 2018 (International Symposium to Promote Innovation & Research in Energy Efficiency) has been inagurated by R K Singh, the Union Power Minister. During INSPIRE 2018, EESL and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed pact for a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant of $13 million to establish an Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund (EERF) to support investments in new, innovative and scalable business models in India. The aim of EERF is to expand and sustain investments in the energy efficiency market in India, build market diversification, and scale up existing technologies. INSPIRE 2018 is being organised by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and World Bank. The 3-day symposium will focus on enhancing grid management, e-Mobility, financial instruments and technologies for energy efficiency in India. The Power Minister also gave away awards to four pathbreaking innovations in clean energy and energy efficiency as part of #InnovateToINSPIRE, a first-of-its-kind energy innovation challenge.

Notes:
The Republic of Palau, an archipelago found in the western Pacific Ocean, has become the world’s first nation to ban the use of sunscreens that have been deemed harmful to coral reefs and ocean life. The ban, which will come into force by 2020, has been signed into law by the Palau government. These sunscreens are made from “reef-toxic” chemicals such as oxybenzone, octinoxate and triclosan. These chemicals causes corals to bleach at lower temperatures, and it reduces their resilience to climate change. Palau is home to just 21,000 people but has a booming tourism and fishing industry. It contains approximately 340 islands, forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands in Micronesia, and has an area of 466 square km.

Notes:
The book titled “Notes of a Dream The Authorized Biography of A.R. Rahman” has been authored by Krishna Trilok. It is a magical journey of Oscar-winning musician A.R. Rahman. The book captures Rahman’s extraordinary success story with all the rhythm and melody, the highs and lows, of a terrific soundtrack by the man himself.

Notes:
Dr. Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, launched the Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) and Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching (ARPIT) for higher education faculty in New Delhi on November 13. ARPIT is a unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM. For implementing ARPIT, 75 discipline-specific institutions have been identified and notified as National Resource Centres (NRCs) in the first phase. LEAP is a 3 weeks flagship leadership development training programme for second level academic functionaries in public-funded higher education institutions. The main purpose of LEAP is to prepare the second tier academic heads who are potentially likely to assume leadership roles in the future.