Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
After Maharashtra and Gujarat, Punjab has become the India’s third state to legally ban hookah bars or lounges. The ban was announced through a law after President Ram Nath Kovind gave assent to the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018 recently. The purpose of bringing the law is to check the use of tobacco in various forms and prevent diseases caused by the use of the tobacco products. As per available data, an hour’s average of hookah includes 20-200 puffs, delivering 50 litres of smoke contain, hazardous and carcinogenic chemicals. The smoking of hookah increases health risks includes exposure to toxic chemicals that are not filtered out by the water, and also the risk of infectious disease like tuberculosis resulting from sharing a hookah.

Notes:
The 10th edition of joint military exercise between Indian and Russia “INDRA 2018” on combating insurgency has started at Babina Field Firing Ranges in Babina Military Station, Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh) from 18th November 2018. The purpose of the exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct to enhance interoperability of the two Armies in the peace keeping/ enforcement environment under the aegis of the United Nations (UN). It focuses upon training on enhancing team building, special tactical level operations such as Cordon and Search, house intervention, handling and neutralisation of Improvised Explosive Devices and integrated employment of force multipliers. The primary focus of the tactical field exercise is to share best practices amongst the militaries and hone existing skills of the troops in the backdrop of interoperability between the two Armies in the peace keeping/ enforcement environment.

Notes:
The Sulabh International has launched India’s first sewer cleaning machine to put an end to the unsafe manual scavenging and to reduce sewer deaths. The machine will do away with 99% of manual scavenging in the country. With the help of sewer cleaning machine, a safai karamchari” (manual cleaner) won’t have to enter the sewers. But if the need arises and a person has to go, then the machine is fully equipped with gas checking machine, protective gears and dress to protect the workers from harmful gases. The new machine is ideal for periodic mechanical desilting of manholes and to flush out sewer lines using the powerful jetting pump capable of producing 150 bar operating pressure and a flow of 150 litres per minute. It is electro-hydraulically operated, with personal protective devices and a quick-view pipe inspection camera which extends up to 20 feet. The machine, which costs Rs 43 lakh, was unveiled on the occasion of World Toilet Day (WTD) 2018 by the mayors of all the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi (MCD), in the presence of Sulabh International founder Dr Bindeshwar Pathak.

Notes:
The Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC) hosted the first of its kind business festival “Konnichiwa Pune” in Pune, Maharashtra on 17th November, 2018. The aim of the 2-day fest was to promote exchange of trade, culture and educational ties between India and Japan in a friendly festive manner. It gave a platform to both Japan and India to come together under one umbrella and explore further opportunities in terms of business, culture, education and other areas of interests.

Notes:
The researchers at IIT-Hyderabad have developed a smartphone-based system to detect adulteration in milk. The detector system can measure the level of acidity in milk using an indicator paper. The sensor-chip based method measures pH, which is an indicator of the acidity and the colour of the paper indicates different pH levels. The IIT team, led by Prof. Shiv Govind Singh, used a process called “electrospinning” to produce paper-like material made of nanosized nylon fibre, loaded with a combination of three dyes. The paper is “halochromic” which changes colour in response to changes in acidity. They have also developed a prototype smartphone-based algorithm, in which, the colours of the sensor strips after dipping in milk are captured using the camera of the phone and the data is transformed into pH (acidity) ranges. On being tested, the above method is found to be 99.71% accurate to detect adulteration in milk.

Notes:
India has slipped two positions to rank 53rd among 63 nations at the 5th edition of the IMD World Talent Ranking 2018, which is recently released by IMD Business School, Switzerland. The rankings are based on three factors: Investment and Development, Appeal, and Readiness. These factors include indicators that capture the resources invested in developing local talent, the extent to which a country attracts and retains talent, and the quality of skills available in the talent pool. Switzerland has topped the global ranking for the fifth year in a row, it is followed by Denmark, Norway, Austria and the Netherlands in the top-five. At 6th place, Canada is the only non-European nation in the top-ten, which also includes Finland (7th), Sweden (8th), Luxembourg (9th), and Germany (10th).

Notes:
Emmy-nominated British actress Millie Bobby Brown (14) has been named the youngest-ever UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. The appointment was marked on 2018 World Children’s Day (WCD) at United Nations Headquarters and the Empire State Building in New York on 20th November. She has been tasked by the UN to help raise awareness around children’s rights and issues including poverty, bullying, education and violence. The World Children’s Day (WCD) is a global day of action ‘for children, by children’ to raise awareness and funds for the millions of children that are unschooled, unprotected and uprooted.

Notes:
Ustad Imrat Khan, the noted Indian classical musician, has passed away in US. He dedicated his life to propagating the Sitar and the surbahar worldwide. In 2017, he famously turned down the Padma Shri saying the recognition had come too late and diminished his achievements. Imrat Khan toured the world with his music and performed at the Cannes Film Festival in 1970 for a Merchant-Ivory partnership. He was also a regular at various music festivals in India. He belonged to the illustrious Etawa gharana (or the Imdadkhani Gharana), named after his grandfather Ustad Imdad Khan. The gharana is one of the oldest in India with a musical legacy of over 400 years and traces its roots to Agra.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved continuation of the nine sub-schemes of the umbrella scheme “Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS)” during 2017-2020 at an estimated cost of Rs. 1450 crore. It will be implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) through its institutes namely India Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service(INCOIS). The scheme will provide improved weather, climate and ocean forecast and services, thereby ensuring transfer of commensurate benefits to the various services like Public weather service, disaster management, Agro-meteorological Services, Aviation services, Environmental monitoring services, Hydro-meteorological services, climate services, tourism, pilgrimage, power generation, water management, Sports & adventure etc.

Notes:
Ace Indian pugilist MC Mary Kom from Manipur has won the historic sixth gold medal at the 2018 Women’s World Boxing Championship in New Delhi. In the final, she defeated Hanna Okhota of Ukraine Hanna Okhota in the 48kg category at KD Jadav Indoor Stadium. Mary Kom is now the most successful boxer in the history of the championship and won the gold exactly 16 years after she had won it for the first time in 2002. She had won gold in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions of the Championship.