Current Affairs Quiz- November, 2019

Notes:
The 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit 2019 has started in Bangkok, Thailand on 1st of November with theme ‘Advancing Partnership for sustainability’. During 5-days summit East Asia summit (EAS) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Summit (RCEP) will be also held. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend this summit on 3rd and 4th November. The ASEAN is a group of 10 member countries that encourages political,economic and social co-operation in the region. The summit would  discuss comprehensive and sustainable ASEAN economic development and s on negotiations related to the RCEP including market opening. The RCEP is a proposed Free Trade Agreement ( FTA) between the 10 members state of ASEAN and its partner countries.

Notes:
India’s first-ever Arts Exposition for Artists blessed with Down Syndrome, Autism, Mental Retardation, Seizure Disorder and Dyslexia has started in New Delhi on 3rd November 2019. The “eCAPA 2019 – Art from the Heart” is a unique nationwide platform-cum social venture for such artists to showcase their visual and performing arts.  The aim of this exposition is to create an exclusive platform to showcase the visual and performing art talents of young adults with intellectual challenges. It will also provide Divyang artists with opportunities to find mentors in the visiting artists and eminent masters of different crafts. This exposition will continue till 14th November at STIR Gallery, Chattarpur Farms. 

Notes:
Russia will be the partner country at the Golden Jubilee of International Film Festival of India (IFFI-2019) in Goa. It will be held from November 20 to 28 with close to 250 films from various countries being screened. The fest will honour superstar Rajinikanth with a special ‘Icon of Golden Jubilee’ award presented in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema. The Life Time Achievement (LTA) award for a Foreign Artiste will be conferred on French Actress Isabelle Hupert. During the 50th IFFI, 50 films of women directors will be showcased.

Notes:
The 15-day National Tribal festival (or Aadi Mahotsav ) will be held in New Delhi from 16th of November 2019. The theme of the festival is a celebration of the spirit of tribal culture, craft, cuisine and commerce. The festival will feature exhibition-cum-sale of tribal handicrafts, art, paintings, fabric, jewellery and much more through two hundred stalls. Approx 1000 tribal artisans from 27 states will participate in the event. 

Notes:
In an effort to productively use India’s wastelands, the Union Ministry of Rural development has released with the 5th edition of Wasteland Atlas -2019 that provides State and district wise distribution of different categories of wastelands area in the country and will be helpful in addressing land degradation. This is significant as it also takes into account 12.08 MHa of unmapped area of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) for the first time. The changes in wastelands between 2008-09 and 2015-16 have been presented in the Atlas. The new wastelands mapping exercise was carried out by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC)  using the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRSS) data. It is helpful in rolling back the wastelands for productive use through various land development programmes and schemes. The last edition was published in 2011.

Notes:
The Government of Bangladesh has banned the Islamist outfit ‘Allar Dol’ because it poses threat to public safety and security. It is the 9th Islamist group to be banned for extremism and militancy in Bangladesh.The Allah’r Dol was formed in 1995 with the aim to establish Caliphate through armed struggle. In 2004, it merged with banned militant organisation Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). After arrest of leaders of JMB following serial blasts of 2005, some of its leaders left it to re-organise Allar Dol. 

Notes:
The world’s first multi-targeting and carbohydrate-based drug “GV-971” for Alzheimer’s disease is extracted from brown algae. Recently, China has approved this home-grown seaweed-based  drug to potentially cure disease. The drug is the only Alzheimer’s medicine out of more than 320 developed by pharmaceutical companies around the globe to survive clinical trials. The orally taken drug can treat mild to moderate forms of the disease and improve cognition. The Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible and progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory, thinking ability and the capability to carry out simple tasks.

Notes:
The 10th Asian Conference of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) has recently inaugurated by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi. The aim of the conference is to develop programs and manuals to train citizens in emergency first aid procedures such as Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation as it will help in saving a life while waiting for emergency services. It must be noted that the Government of India (GoI) has made it mandatory for all medical college hospitals to have full-fledged Emergency Departments by 2022 to improve trauma care. 

Notes:
India’s first air pollution web repository –  IndAIR – have been launched by National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) along with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) that documents air quality studies done in the last 60 years. The aim of the project is to make air quality research available to everyone. The Indian Air quality Interactive Repository (IndAIR) has archived approximately 700 scanned materials from pre-Internet era (1950-1999), 1,215 research articles, 170 reports and case studies and 100 cases, to provide the history of air pollution research and legislation. Such a repository on air pollution is one of the first in the world.

Notes:
The Sanskrit Bharati Vishwa Sammelan has started in New Delhi on 9th of November 2019. Thousands of Sanskrit lovers from 17 countries are attending the 3-day mega event.