Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
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.

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:
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.

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:
India has been elected as a member of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Council for another four-year term from 2019 to 2022. The elections to the Council were held during the ongoing ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 at Dubai. India secured 165 votes and ranked third among the 13 countries elected to the council from the Asia-Australasia region, and 8th among the 48 countries elected to the council globally. The ITU has 193 member states who elect representatives to the Council. India has been a regular member of the ITU Council since 1952, and has played an important role in harmonising the contributions of member states from the region, always respecting the principles of equality and consensus-building.

Notes:
The tenure of the Lok Sabha Secretary General, Snehlata Shrivastava, has been extended by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for one year. Snehlata, who is 1982-batch retired IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, was appointed last year in rank and status of a Cabinet Secretary. She was scheduled to retire on the 30th of this month. Her extension will be effective from the 1st of December 2018 to the 30th of November 2019. She is the first woman Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.

Notes:
China’s state news agency Xinhua has recently launched the world’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) news anchor at the ongoing 5th World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. The anchor resembles a male human anchor with the voice and facial expressions of a real person. “He” learns from live broadcasting videos by himself and can read texts as naturally as a professional human anchor. Two AI news anchors that can read news in English as well as Mandarin were jointly developed by Xinhua and the Chinese search engine “Sogou”. The anchors were developed through Machine Learning (ML) programme to simulate the voice, facial movements, and gestures of real-life broadcasters, to present a “a lifelike image instead of a cold robot”.

Notes:
The IIT Madras has recently developed a portable solar-powered cold storage device with a 500 kg capacity for storing vegetables, and fruits, among other items. The device will help farmers store their produce for sufficient time so that it does not get spoilt before it is sold, thereby preventing wastage of agricultural produce.The first unit of the device, which provides storage facility with temperature ranging between 4 to 10 degree celsius, was deployed at a farm in Madurantakam in Kancheepuram district, around 80 km from Chennai, recently. Each unit would cost between Rs 5.5 to Rs 6 lakh and storage capacity could be scaled down based on requirement. The project has been funded by Department of Science and Technology (Ministry of Science and Technology) and IIT-M. A startup called Tan90, initiated by IIT-M students, aims to commercialise the technology and take it to individual farmers with even smaller devices at affordable prices.

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.