Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
Recently, Justice Sanjay Kumar Seth has been sworn in as the 24th Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Raj Bhavan. State Governor Anandi Ben Patel administered the oath of office to Justice Seth in a ceremony. He is slated to retire in June 2019. The principal seat of the high court is Jabalpur. It was established on 1 November 1956.The court is housed in an impressive building constructed by Raja Gokul Das in 1899. The building was designed by Henry Irwin in 1886. The court has a sanctioned judge strength of 53.

Notes:
India and United Kingdom (UK) have recently signed a pact on India-UK Cancer Research Initiative for affordable approaches to Cancer. It is a British Pounds 10 million (current value of Rs 93 crore) collaborative research programme that will address issues of affordability, prevention and care of cancer by bringing together Indian and UK experts across clinical research. The five year initiative will be funded by India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and UK’s Cancer Research UK (CRUK) programme. DBT and CRUK will invest equally at UK Pounds 5 million each. The initiative will provide an opportunity to tackle the global epidemic of cancer by opening new pathways for international knowledge exchange and research base. The research outcomes of this initiative will aid cancer prevention, control and management in the long term.

Notes:
Late Dr. Martha Farrell has been honoured with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 6th Indian Social Work Congress in New Delhi. Dr. Farrell is being recognized for her lifelong work towards gender equality, women’s empowerment and prevention of sexual harassment at workplace. She was among 14 people killed in a terrorist attack on a guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 13, 2015. Dr. Farrell had been leading a gender training workshop with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul at the time of the attack. Suheil Tandon, Martha’s son along with the team of Martha Farrell Foundation received the award.

Notes:
On November 14, the United Nations Children’s Fund — India (UNICEF-India) has appointed Asian Games gold-medalist sprinter Hima Das as the country’s first ever youth ambassador as part of 2018 World Children’s Day (WCD) celebration. She will work towards supporting various initiatives by UNICEF. In her role as a Youth Ambassador, Hima will work towards raising awareness about the rights and needs of children and help amplify the voices of children and young people as active participants in decision making, thus contributing to their holistic development. Hailing from Nagaon district of Assam, Das clinched a gold in Women’s 4×400 metre relay event and silver in the 400 meters sprint at the 2018 Asian Games.

Notes:
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa will be chief guest at the 2019 Republic Day parade of India. With this, Ramaphosa would become 2nd leader from his country to attend the event. Former president Nelson Mandela was the chief guest at the 1995 parade. An anti-apatheid activist and a Mahatma Gandhi follower, Ramaphosa became the 5th president of South Africa after the resignation of Jacob Zuma in December 2017. In April 2018, he led around 5,000 people at the annual ‘Gandhi Walk’ event in Lenasia near Johannesburg, to promote community awareness and fitness. Hence, the move to invite Ramaphosa also coincides with Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. South Africa is also a key BRICS association partner for India. Generally, chief guests of the parade are heads of states of countries that are strategically important to India, or heads of neighbouring countries.

Notes:
India is hosting the 2018 Women’s Boxing World Championships in New Delhi from November 15-24. This 10th edition of the tournament is set to be the biggest ever as more than 300 boxers from 72 countries will be taking part. This time, the 10-member Indian team, led by Mary Kom, is a mix of seasoned and young boxers. Earlier, the tournament was held in India in 2006 and remains the best for the country in terms of performance. India had topped the table with four gold, three silver and one silver and three bronze medals.

Notes:
Induslnd Bank has recently launched the India’s first interactive credit card with buttons called the IndusInd Bank Nexxt Credit Card. The card provides customers with the flexibility of 3 payment options at a Point of Sale (POS) terminal – credit, converting transactions into EMIs with 4 tenure options (6, 12, 18 and 24 months) or using accumulated reward points, by simply pushing a button on the card. The card has been created in partnership with Dynamics Inc, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh, USA. It indicates a customer’s desired payment choice using LED lights associated with the three options. With this card, the customer does not need to fill any paperwork, or call their bank, or log in to any banking channel to convert their POS transactions into EMIs, or to redeem their rewards points. It gives customers the freedom to pay the way they want, by giving them payment options like EMI, Rewards and Credit, at the push of a button.

Notes:
The Oxford Dictionaries has been chosen “toxic” as its ‘Word of the Year 2018’. Traditionally, the word “toxic” has been used to describe harmful chemical substances e.g. toxic waste and toxic gas. The dictionary defines “toxic” as “poisonous” with its roots derived from the medieval Latin term “toxicus,” meaning poisoned or imbued with poison. But, it has recently developed wider social meanings in light of the #MeToo movement and the increasingly volatile political landscape fostered by the Brexit vote.

Notes:
Alyque Padamsee (90), the veteran ad film maker and theatre personality, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on November 17, 2018. He was widely called the Brand Father of Indian advertising. During his active years in ad industry, he remained the brain behind several iconic and memorable Indian ad campaigns such as Lalitaji for Surf, Cherry Charlie for Cherry Blossom Shoe Polish, the MRF Muscle Man, the Liril girl in the waterfall, Hamara Bajaj and the TV detective Karamchand. He also created many public service campaigns on topics, including eve-teasing, AIDS and sexual molestation. He served as a social activist for the Citizens for Justice and Peace Committee, the Citizens Action Group, and was also on the advisory council of IIT Bombay. He was also a part of the Prime Minister’s AIDS Task Force. Mr Padamsee was also best known for his role as Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1982 historcial drama “Gandhi”. For his contributions to the creative field, he was honored with Padmashri in 2000 and was named Advertising Man of the Century by The Advertising Club in Mumbai.

Notes:
In New Delhi, the Government of India (GoI) has signed a $300 million loan agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) that provides long-term finance to infrastructure projects. The move is expected to enhance the availability of long-term finance for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, improve operational capacity of IIFCL, and expand the portfolio of infrastructure financing instruments available to the company. The $300 million ADB loan is expected to help catalyze the financial closing of $2.4 billion in investments. In addition, the attached technical assistance will support IIFCL capacity development and will focus on IIFCL’s financial management and social and environmental safeguards.