Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

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:
Lalan Sarang (79), the noted Marathi actor and theatre personality, has passed away recently in Pune, Maharashtra on November 9, 2018. Born on 26th December 1938 in Mumbai, Sarang is known for her roles in path-breaking plays, including “Sakharam Binder”, “Gidhade”, “Rathchakra” and “Kamla”. She received several accolades for these roles. While playing key roles in films such as “Samna”, “Ha Khel Sawalyancha” and “Mahek”, she also worked in several Hindi serials. Recipient of ‘Grahini Sachiv Award’ of Ga Di Ma Pratishthan, Sarang also penned a few books- “Natakanmagil Natya”, “Mi ani Majhya Bhumika” and “Bahardar Kisse”.

Notes:
The 5th edition of World Buddhist Forum (WBF -2018) was recently held in Putian, the southeast Fujian Province of China. Over 1,000 Buddhists, scholars and representatives from 55 countries and regions attended the forum. The WBF-2018 was jointly hosted by the Buddhist Association of China and the China Religious Culture Communication Association. The aim of the forum is to carry forward the positive Buddhist cultural spirits, promote exchanges between Buddhism and other religions, and make contributions to building a community with a shared future for humanity. The World Buddhist Forum (WBF) was initiated by the Buddhist circles in the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao in 2005.

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:
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 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:
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:
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 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:
Stan Lee (95), the legendary comic book writer and former chief of Marvel Comics, has passed away in Los Angeles, United States. Lee created the Fantastic Four for Marvel Comics in 1961 and went on to create titles like Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk. In collaboration with several artists—particularly Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko—he co-created fictional characters including Spider-Man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Black Panther, the X-Men, and—with his brother, co-writer Larry Lieber—the characters Ant-Man, Iron Man, and Thor.