Current Affairs Quiz- November, 2019

Notes:
The Odisha government has decided to partner with Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) for targeted intervention in a set of social sectors including poorest of the poor through policy formulation and evaluations based on experimental research. The co-founders of J-PAL are Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. The Massachusettes Institute of Technology (MIT)-based J-PAL is known for its experimental research studies or randomized controlled trials. It has worked extensively in Africa as well India and its evaluations have helped improve outcomes of social sector initiatives.  

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:
The Spanish capital city of Madrid will host the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25) from 2nd to 13th December 2019. The decision was taken after Chile withdrew as host for the event due to the ongoing street protests in the South American country. The annual Conference of the Parties (COP) summit is a key event which allows representatives from around 200 nations to monitor and discuss the current situation of the world’s warming climate.   

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:
Internationally acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has been selected for the prestigious Italian Golden Sand Art Award 2019. He will be felicitated during the International Scorrana Sand Nativity in Italy, which is going to held from 13th to 18th Nov.  He will also represent India in this fest.

Notes:
Lakshya Sen from Uttarakhand has won the 2019 SaarLorLux Open badminton tournament at Saarbrücken in Germany. He defeated Sen Weng Hong Yang of China in an exciting final on 3rd November.

Notes:
In Sri Lanka, the biennial Commonwealth Law Ministers’ Conference has recently begun in Colombo under the theme Equal Access to Justice and the Rule of Law. In the 4-day conference participated by Law Ministers and Attorney Generals from Commonwealth countries seeks to address challenges faced by millions of people seeking to resolve legal problems or disputes. Union Minister for Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad isrepresenting India at the conference.

Notes:
Indian-origin researcher, Dr Neeraj Sharma has won the Australian government’s  ‘Early Career Researcher of the Year (Physical Sciences)’ for developing next-generation battery systems such as sodium-ion battery that will leave minimal environmental impact. The awarded research explores inherently safe solid-state batteries, energy-dense lithium-sulfur batteries, dual function solar batteries and methods for recycling. DR. Sharma is researcher at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) of Sydney.

Notes:
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla represented the Indian parliamentary delegation at the 6th Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit of the G20 Countries in Tokyo, Japan. The purpose of the summit is to strengthen the role of legislatures in global affairs. The Parliamentary summit is unofficially called P20, which is jointly organized by House of Councillors of National Diet of Japan and Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Notes:
On the first day of India International Science Festival (IISF- 2019), the Guinness World Records for the largest astrophysics lesson (45 minutes) and assembly of spectroscopes was successfully achieved at the Science City in Kolkata with the participation of over 1,598 students. A small personal model of advanced spectroscopes can easily be made by anyone using a box made of cardboard that has a very narrow window used to channel light into the spectroscope. A piece of a Compact Disc (CD) is used to split the light by a process called diffraction. This attempt is dedicated to Meghnad Saha and Sir C V Raman. The astronomers use spectroscopes to know details like temperature, chemical composition, etc. of celestial objects hundreds or millions of light years away from us.