Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

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:
Filmmaker Nandita Das will be honoured with the International Federation of Film Producers Associations( FIAPF) Award 2018 at the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) in Brisbane on the 29th of November. She will be presented the award in recognition of her achievement in film in the Asia Pacific region. Nandita Das who started her career as an actor in films like “1947 Earth”, “Fire” and “Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa” also made her directorial debut with the critically-acclaimed feature “Firaaq”.

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.

Notes:
The Australian women’s national cricket team has lifted the ICC Women’s World Twenty-20 title for the fourth time. In the title clash played at Antigua in West Indies, the Aussies recorded an emphatic 8-wicket win over England. Alyssa Jean Healy of Australia was the leading run-scorer in the competition, with 225 runs, and was named the player of the tournament.

Notes:
The Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) and Sashastra Sima Bal (SSB) have joined hands to provide full proof security to Dudhwa forests and its rich wildlife. As per agreement, all security agencies including SSB on the border, central and local intelligence officers, customs and excise officials, Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) and the Dudhwa field staff will strengthen the patrolling in and around Dudhwa to check forest and wildlife crimes. Hence, the joint long route patrolling comprising SSB, STPF and DTR field staff would be held at regular intervals. The DTR is located in the Terai of Uttar Pradesh and covers an area of 490.3 km2, with a buffer zone of 190 km2 (73 sq mi). It is home for tigers, leopards, Asiatic black bears, sloth bears, Swamp deer, rhinoceros, elephants, cheetal, hog deer, barking deer, sambar, wild boar and hispid hare.

Notes:
Sameer Verma has clinched the 2018 Syed Modi International Badminton Championships. In the men’s singles final, he defeated China’s Guangzu Lu by 16-21, 21-19, 21-14 against China’s Guangzu Lu to retain the title. With this win, Verma sealed his spot in the BWF World Tour Finals. However, former champion Saina Nehwal lost in straight games to Han Yue of China in women’s singles summit clash. Men’s doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty and women’s doubles players Ashwini Ponnappa and Sikki Reddy also settled for silver in their respective finals.

Notes:
The United Nations has officially selected Uttar Pradesh’s Noida and Greater Noida to participate in its Global Sustainable Cities 2025 initiative. The twin-cities in Gautam Buddh Nagar district have been selected in the “University City” category ahead of Mumbai and Bengaluru as the only invitee from India. Overall 25 cities across the world have been selected in five categories by the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) cities initiative. The SDGs, otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.

Notes:
The Karnataka government has launched an initiative ‘DataCity’ in partnership with France-based utility company Suez and a start-up accelerator Numa to foster innovation and solve global challenges. DataCity will be an international open innovation programme to bring city authorities, corporates and start-ups to address cities’ challenges and develop solutions using data and technology. The ‘DataCity’ is a 7-month programme that aims to bring together Bengaluru and corporates to identify relevant innovative start-ups from a pool of applications and to experiment with solutions using data. The areas of opportunity that could be explored during ‘DataCity’ are smart mobility, water and waste management, energy, smart buildings, security and pollution management.

Notes:
The Ministry for Human Resource Development (MHRD) has launched a unique initiative called Bhasha Sangam to introduce school students to all 22 Indian languages of Schedule VIII of the Constitution. The initiative, under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, was launched on 22nd of November and will continue till the 21st of December. The aim of the programme is to enhance linguistic tolerance and respect, and promote national integration. During the Bhasha Sangam programme, the school authorities have to introduce students to five sentences of the language fixed for that particular day/date by reading out the sentences in the morning assembly and asking the students to repeat them. Hnce, Bhasha Sangam is a programme for schools and educational institutions to provide multilingual exposure to students in Indian languages.

Notes:
The 13th edition of G20 summit 2018 will be held at Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina on November 30 under the theme ‘Building Consensus for Fair and Sustainable Development’. The annual meeting is being attended by leaders of the top 20 economies of the world and will cover the entire gamut of economic issues, including the agricultural sector reform, the challenges climate change poses and health-care issues faced by the world. From India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to highlight problems of oil price volatility which has a direct impact on the Indian economy in the G 20 platform. Digital revolution and skill India are also among the issues to be discussed during the summit.