Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
The World Toilet Day (WTD) is observed every year on 19th of November to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. The 2018 theme is “When Nature Calls”. Hence, this year’s campaign is based on the narrative: When nature calls, we need a toilet. But, billions of people don’t have one. This means human faeces, on a massive scale, are not being captured or treated – contaminating the water and soil that sustain human life. We are turning our environment into an open sewer. We must build toilets and sanitation systems that work in harmony with ecosystems. Therefore, the Nature-based sanitation solutions (NBS) harness the power of ecosystems to help treat human waste before it returns to the environment. Most NBS essentially involve the protection and management of vegetation, soils and/or wetlands, including rivers and lakes.

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:
In Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently laid foundation of India’s first Sri Vishwakarma Skill Development University at village Dudhola in Palwal district via remote control . The University would impart skill training to the youth and encourage them to be self employed. It’s campus would be developed over 82.7 acres at a sum of over Rs 1,000 crore. PM Modi also inaugurated the Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE), which is popularly known as Kundali-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway. The six-lane KMP expressway is expected to reduce traffic congestion and pollution in Delhi. It will act as a ring road around Delhi and also could reduce heavy vehicle traffic by diverting up to 50,000 commercial vehicles away from Delhi. KMP will connect National Highway-1 (towards Panipat), near Kundli, with National Highway -10 (Rohtak Road, near Bahadurgarh), NH-8 (Jaipur expressway at Manesar), and NH-2 (Delhi-Agra highway near Palwal).

Notes:
In Uttar Pradesh, Nari Sashaktikaran Sankalp Abhiyan (or Women Empowerment campaign) has been launched by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on November 20, 2018. The month-long campaign is aimed to empower women in the state through various programmes. It includes many issues like education, self employment, health, cleanliness, nutrition. During the campaign, women officers and female staff of the state government will go door-to-door in villages of their respective blocks in every district and inform and educate women about the schemes being run by central and state governments for their welfare and security.

Notes:
The Africa Industrialization Day (AID) is observed every year on November 20 to raise global awareness of the challenges faced by the continent with regard to industrialization. The African continent is the second most-populated continent in the world, home to over 1.2 billion people (or 16% of the world’s population). Despite this, Africa currently only accounts for less than 2% of international trade and global manufacturing. In March 2018, 49 of Africa’s 55 countries signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement meant to create a tariff-free continent that can grow local businesses, boost intra-African trade, rev up industrialization and create jobs.The 2018 theme is “Promoting Regional Value Chains in Africa: A pathway for accelerating Africa’s structural transformation, industrialization and pharmaceutical production”.

Notes:
Lakshya Sen from India has recently won bronze in men’s singles at the Li Ning World Junior Badminton Championship 2018, after suffering a narrow defeat to top seed Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand in the men’s singles semifinals at Markham in Canada. This was India’s fifth boys singles bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Championships. Previously, RMV Gurusaidutt (2008), B Sai Praneeth (2010), HS Prannoy (2010) and Sameer Verma (2011) have won the bronze. Siril Verma (2015) is India’s only boys singles silver-medallist at the World Junior Championships. Apart from this, Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to have won a gold in the tournament during the 2008 Pune edition.

Notes:
The researchers at IIT Kharagpur have devised a Decision Support System (DSS) to help maximise the number of LPG connections in Below Poverty Level (BPL) households in the ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)’ . A DSS is a computer programme that helps in making sound rational decisions using mathematical programming and operation research techniques. The DSS mathematical model devised at IIT KGP has found the optimum number of total (BPL) connections required in a region and the number of dealerships that need to be commissioned in a region over the policy time frame. This type of mathematical modeling of a policy (LPG) can be used as a reference for mathematical model. The PMUY, launched in May 2016, aimed at providing 5 crore LPG connections by 2019 to BPL families with the support of Rs 1,600 to each family. The Central government has recently revised the target to 8 crore LPG connections by 2020.

Notes:
The 14th edition of International theatre festival for children “Jashne Bachpan 2018” has started in New Delhi from November 17. It is being organised by National School of Drama’s (NSD) Theatre in Education (TIE) Company, which is also known as Sanskar Rang Toli. The 9-day theatre festival for children will see 21 productions from India and three foreign groups including Sri Lanka (non-verbal), Switzerland (English) and Indonesia (Javanese). The plays will be performed in vernacular languages like Bengali, Marathi, Assamese, and Malayalam besides non-verbal, English, Hindi and other foreign languages. The idea behind this initiative is to bring those children to the mainstream and inculcate enthusiasm for art and culture along with entertainment at a global platform like Jashne bachpan.

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:
Professor Shyama Prasad Ganguly from India has been awarded the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest civilian honour given to a foreigner by Mexico. He was decorated with the striking gold-yellow insignia by Mexican Ambassador Melba Pria at a ceremony in the India International Center (IIC) on November 19. The award was in recognition of his “outstanding work in the study and dissemination of the Spanish language and Mexican culture”. Ganguly is a well-known Hispanist who has headed the Centre for Spanish and Latin American Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University five times. He has authored, edited and translated over 25 books in an academic career spanning 40 years.