Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

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:
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 World Tsunami Awareness Day (WTAD) is observed every year on November 5 to raise awareness about precautionary measures against tsunami and share innovative approaches to risk reduction. Along with risk of large loss of life, the day also highlight the economic losses tsunamis can inflict along vulnerable, densely populated coastlines, shown in red on this map. Tsunamis are rare events, but can be extremely deadly. In the past 100 years, 58 tsunamis have claimed more than 260,000 lives, which is the highest number of deaths than in any other natural hazard. The day was the brainchild of Japan, which due to its repeated, bitter experience has over the years built up major expertise in areas such as tsunami early warning, public action and building back better after a disaster to reduce future impacts.

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:
The Union Cabinet has recently approved Amendment to the Central Universities Act – 2009 for setting up of a Central Tribal University in Andhra Pradesh. A fund of Rs 420 crore has been granted as the first phase expenditure towards the establishment of the University. The ‘Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh’ will be set up in Relli village of Vizianagaram district as provided under the 13th schedule to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.

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:
The new artillery guns and equipment, including K9 Vajra, M777 howitzers, have recently inducted into the Indian Army at the Deolali artillery centre in Nashik district of Maharashtra. Beside this, the third gun system inducted is the ‘Composite Gun Towing Vehicle’ for towing some of the existing guns in service with the country. The K9 VAJRA-T 155mm/ 52 is a tracked self-propelled artillery gun, which has its roots in the K9 Thunder, the mainstay of the South Korean Army. The Vajra offers a high rate of fire at a long range and is compatible with Indian and standard NATO ammunition. The M777 is the 155mm/ 39 Calibre Ultra Light Howitzer (ULH) that have been procured from USA under Government to Government Foreign Military Sales and will be assembled in India by BAE Systems in partnership with Mahindra Defence. The M777s can be easily transported to high altitude areas such as borders with China and Pakistan by helicopters.

Notes:
Arunima Sinha, the Indian mountaineer who became the world’s first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest in 2013, has been recently awarded an honorary doctorate by a prestigious UK university ‘ University of Strathclyde’ at a graduation ceremony in Glasgow for her inspirational achievements in mountaineering. The award also recognises Ms Sinha’s charitable work through the Arunima Foundation, which seeks to empower women, disabled people and generally improve the health and social and economic situation for poorer communities.

Notes:
The 33rd edition of ASEAN summit 2018 has started in the city-state of Singapore on November 11 with theme ‘Resilient and innovative Asean’. The main event is being held at Suntec Singapore Convention Centre, wherein the ten ASEAN members will be discussing key issues on economic, security and cultural cooperation. The summit is being chaired by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Besides the main event, several related meetings like Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), East Asia Summit (EAS) and Fintech Festival are also taking place during the 5-day event. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the East Asia Summit and Associated meetings of ASEAN on 14th and 15th November in Singapore. In the biggest of its kind event more than 400 companies from over 100 countries are taking part as exhibitors.