Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

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:
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:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has recently approved strategic disinvestment of 100% Govt. of India’s equity in Dredging Corporation of India Ltd. (DCIL) to consortium of four ports – Vishakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), Paradeep Port Trust (PPT), Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust (JLNPT) and Kandla Port Trust (KPT). The Govt. of India (GoI) currently holds 73.44% in DCIL. The approval will further facilitate the linkage of dredging activities with the ports, keeping in view the role of the DCIL in expansion of dredging activity in the country as well as potential scope for diversification of ports into third party dredging. The GoI has budgeted to raise Rs 80,000 crore from PSU disinvestment. So far this fiscal, the government has mopped up over Rs 15,000 crore from PSU stake sale.

Notes:
Jawahar Lal Sarin, the president of the Alliance Francaise de Delhi’s governing body, has been bestowed with France’s highest civilian honour “Knight of the Legion of Honour”. The award was presented to Sarin by Ambassador of France Alexandre Ziegler in recognition of his outstanding contribution to enhancing Indo-French cultural cooperation and promoting the French language. The Alliance francaise de Delhi was started as a French association by Francophiles in 1956. The Legion d’Honneur (Legion of Honour) was instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. It is the highest civilian award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the nationality of the recipient.

Notes:
World champion Kento Momota from Japan has won the 23rd edition of Fuzhou China Open Badminton tournament 2018 on November 11. He defeated the 4th seed Chou Tien-chen of Taiwan 21-13, 11-21, 21-16 in 66 minutes. Momota is known for his explosive movements on court and his unpredictable style of play.

Notes:
Ananth Kumar (59), the senior BJP leader , has recently passed away in Bengaluru on November 12th, 2018. He was in charge of two key ministries – serving as Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers since May 2014 and as Minister of Parliamentary Affairs since July 2016 in the Narendra Modi government until his death. He represented the Bengaluru South parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha six times since 1996. Kumar joined the BJP in 1987 and never looked back, as he held posts of state secretary, state president of the Yuva Morcha, general secretary and national secretary.

Notes:
The World Science Day for Peace and Development is observed every year on 10th of November to highlight the significant role of science in society and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in our daily lives. The theme for 2018 is “Science, a Human Right”, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 27), and of the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers. The purpose of the day is to strengthen public awareness on the role of science for peaceful and sustainable societies.

Notes:
The National Legal Services Day (NLSD) is celebrated every year on 9th of November in India to ensure reasonable fair and justice procedure for all citizens. It was first started by Supreme court of India (SCI) in the year 1995 to provide help and support to poor and weaker sections of the society. The Article 39A of Constitution provides free legal assistance to the poor and weaker sections of the society. It directs the State to ensure that the operation of the legal system promotes justice on a basis of equal opportunity and shall, in particular, provide free legal aid by suitable legislation or schemes or in any other way, to ensure that opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of economic or other disabilities. The Right to free legal aid or free legal service is an essential fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. It forms the basis of reasonable, fair and just liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which says, “No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law”.

Notes:
The first-ever bilateral naval exercise ‘Samudra Shakti 2018’ has started between Indian & Indonesian Navy at the port of Surabaya in Indonesia from November 12 to 18. The aim of the exercise is to strengthen bilateral relations, expand maritime co-operation, enhance interoperability and exchange best practices. From Indian side, INS Rana of the Eastern Fleet based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command is participating in the exercise.

Notes:
Twitter India has recently launched a new social initiative #PowerOf18, which aims to encourage youth to contribute in public debates and participate in civic engagement for the 2019 general elections. The #PowerOf18 will serve as a resource for young Indians to find more information about the elections, support social causes they are passionate about and join the public conversation. The initiative was launched by CEO Jack Dorsey and Maya Hari, Vice-President and Managing Director of Asia Pacific, Twitter during a townhall chat with the students of IIT Delhi.