Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
The Government of India (GoI) has appointed UIDAI CEO & GSTN Chairman Ajay Bhushan Pandey as new Secretary of Revenue in place of Hasmukh Adhia, who is set to superannuate on November 30. Pandey, who is 1984 batch Maharashtra-cadre IAS officer will continue to hold additional charge of CEO of UIDAI and also Chairman of GST Network. Interestingly, the government also appointed Sanjay Kumar Mishra, a 1984 batch IRS Officer, as Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) for two years. Similarly, Gujarat cadre IAS Girish Chandra Murmu will be new Secretary of Expenditure and will take over from AN Jha who will superannuate in January 2019.

Notes:
Dr. Saroj Suman Gulati, Director of Blue Bells Group of Schools, has been conferred with the coveted Global Education Leaders Award 2018 for her ‘exemplary contribution to K-12 education & promotion of Art & Culture’ during the 2nd India-UAE Partnership Summit-2018 at The Atlantis, Dubai. Dr. Gulati was among the 9 eminent education leaders from India who were awarded for their exemplary contribution in various spheres of education and social development. Other award winners are: Dr. Atul Chauhan, MME Grace Pinto, Dr. M.K. Madan, Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Dilip Thakore, J.C. Chaudhry, Prateek Bhargava and Prof. Samit Ray. The two day summit was attended by over 400 Delegates from India & UAE comprising of prominent Education Leaders, Chancellor’s & Vice Chancellors, Academicians, Schools Principals, Entrepreneurs and Ed Tech Startups.

Notes:
Jalaj Srivastava, a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed the new chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). Prior to this post, he was working as Additional Secretary in Ministry of Agriculture. He is known for launching the “Shakti Cab” project and “URJA” project for women when he was with the Delhi government as chairman of New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Principal Secretary in Department of VAT. He is also considered as the man behind the start of “Rahagiri” event that takes place every Sunday in the national capital to promote culture and sports. Jalaj is also the writer of a crime thriller novel titled ‘The Perfect Suicide’. The IWAI comes under the Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, currently headed by Nitin Gadkari.

Notes:
Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has been honoured with the 2018 Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement Award in the field of Indian Classical Music at the Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi. He received the award for his “immense contribution to the enrichment and promotion of the Indian classical music”. Born in 1945 in Gwalior, Khan is best known for his clear and fast ‘ekhara taans’. He is sixth in the lineage of a family devoted to Indian classical music’s Senia Bangash Gharana. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan (2001), and is among the tallest Indian classical musicians.

Notes:
Dr. Thanjavur Santhanakrishna Kanaka (86), who was Asia’s first & world’s third female neurosurgeon, has passed away in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on November 14, 2018. She served in the Indian Army as a commissioned officer during the 1962-1963 Sino-Indian War. Beside this, she was the first neurosurgeon in India to perform chronic electrode implants in the brain; having performed deep brain stimulation as early as in 1975. Dr. Kanaka, who retired as professor of Neurosurgery in Madras Medical College (MMC) in 1990, was known to have inspired many women to take to the field of neurosurgery in the country. She used her own funds to establish a hospital, named after her parents as Sri Santhanakrishna Padmavathi Health Care and Research Foundation, which offers free healthcare to the needy.

Notes:
Brigadier (retd) Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (78), who was known for his heroic leadership in the famous Battle of Longewala during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, has passed away in Mohali, Punjab on November 17, 2018. He was decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) for the heroic stand-off that forced the enemy to retreat. The Battle of Longewala (1971) was one of the first major engagements in the western sector during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, fought between assaulting Pakistani forces and Indian defenders at the Indian border post of Longewala in the Thar desert of Rajasthan. The 1997 Bollywood war film ‘Border’ was based on the real life events that happened at the Battle of Longewala, with his role played by Sunny Deol.

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:
Kim Jong Yang, a South Korean police officer, has been elected the new President of Interpol for a two-year term. He succeeded Meng Hongwei of China. The decision was taken at the 87th General Assembly of the Agency in Dubai, UAE. The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) is the international organization that facilitates international police cooperation. Its’ headquarters is located at Lyo, France. Its work focuses primarily on public safety and battling transnational crimes against humanity, child pornography, cybercrime, drug trafficking, environmental crime, genocide, etc.

Notes:
India’s first National Institute of Inter-Faith Studies will be set up by the Government of India (GoI) in Punjab to promote brotherhood and diversity as part of the year-long activities to commemorate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak, for which the state Government will provide land free of cost. PM Narendra Modi has constituted a National Implementation Committee (NIC) under the Chairmanship of Union Home Minister to roll out events including release of commemorative coin & postage stamps. The highlights of year-long celebration are as follows: Sultanpur Lodhi (where Guru Nanak spent much of his life) will be developed as a heritage city, a high powered telescope will be install in India for the devotees to view Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, Publication of Gurbani in different Indian languages will be made by National Book Trust (NBT), etc.

Notes:
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of India and its enforcement officer RS Sharath has won the Asia Environment Enforcement Awards under the organization and individual categories respectively for their outstanding contributions in combating the trans-boundary environmental crimes. This is the 2nd time in a row the awards are being given by UN Environment to India. The WCCB is a statutory multi-disciplinary body established by the Government of India (GoI) under the Environment Ministry to combat organized wildlife crime in the country. The body is mandated to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime activities and to disseminate it to the state and other enforcement agencies for immediate action and establish a centralized wildlife crime data bank among many others. The Bureau has its headquarter in New Delhi.