Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

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:
In New Delhi, the 2nd edition of INSPIRE 2018 (International Symposium to Promote Innovation & Research in Energy Efficiency) has been inagurated by R K Singh, the Union Power Minister. During INSPIRE 2018, EESL and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed pact for a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant of $13 million to establish an Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund (EERF) to support investments in new, innovative and scalable business models in India. The aim of EERF is to expand and sustain investments in the energy efficiency market in India, build market diversification, and scale up existing technologies. INSPIRE 2018 is being organised by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and World Bank. The 3-day symposium will focus on enhancing grid management, e-Mobility, financial instruments and technologies for energy efficiency in India. The Power Minister also gave away awards to four pathbreaking innovations in clean energy and energy efficiency as part of #InnovateToINSPIRE, a first-of-its-kind energy innovation challenge.

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:
Dr. Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, launched the Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP) and Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching (ARPIT) for higher education faculty in New Delhi on November 13. ARPIT is a unique initiative of online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM. For implementing ARPIT, 75 discipline-specific institutions have been identified and notified as National Resource Centres (NRCs) in the first phase. LEAP is a 3 weeks flagship leadership development training programme for second level academic functionaries in public-funded higher education institutions. The main purpose of LEAP is to prepare the second tier academic heads who are potentially likely to assume leadership roles in the future.

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.

Notes:
Young writer-critic Dr Debabhuson Borah has been honoured with the prestigious Munin Barkotoki Literary Award 2018 in Assam for his book on literary criticism titled ‘Nirbochon’ The annual award, which carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000 along with a citation and a plaque, was instituted in the memory of renowned writer, critic and journalist Munin Barkotoki to encourage young and promising authors writing in Assamese. The Awards for the years 2017 and 2018 will be given away at a function to be held here in February 2019. It must be noted that Short-story writer Dalim Das has been selected for the 2017 award for his collection ‘Hari Jadu Madhu’.

Notes:
On November 12, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed MoU with the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) to explore the possibility of storing ADNOC crude oil at Padur Underground Facility in Udupi district of Karnataka, which has a 2.5 million tonne (~17 million barrels) capacity. So far, ADNOC is the only foreign oil & gas company to invest by way of crude oil in India’s strategic petroleum reserves program. ISPRL is an Indian government-owned company mandated to store crude oil for emergency needs and its headquarters is located at Noida. ISPRL has already built 5.33 million tonnes of underground storage capacity at three locations – Visakhapatnam (1.33 million tonnes), Mangalore (1.5 million tonnes) and Padur (2.5 million tonnes), that can meet around 9.5 days of the country’s oil needs as per consumption data of last financial year.

Notes:
The regional meeting of the World Customs Organisation has started in Jaipur, Rajasthan with representatives of 33 member countries of Asia attending it. The meeting is slated to deliberate upon various issues including the steps required for the capacity building and reforms in customs.The participants would also discuss and deliberate upon the amended Kyoto protocol, digital customs, e-commerce among other issues. The meeting is being jointly chaired by WCO Deputy Secretary General Ricardo Travino and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs Chairman S Ramesh.

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:
William Goldman (87), the Oscar-winning screenwriter and novelist, has passed away in New York on November 16, 2018. He was best known for his works such as ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’, ‘All the President’s Men’ and ‘The Princess Bride’.