Current Affairs Quiz- November, 2019

Notes:
The 7th edition of the North East Festival (NEF-2019) was held at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) in New Delhi on 11th November. The aim of the 3-day fest is to showcase and create awareness about India’s North-East, and to promote entrepreneurship and tourism. The festival was an attempt to bring the best of the region under one roof and build bridges.

Notes:
To encourage organ donation, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced an annual award in the name of Suraj Sethi, whose organs were transplanted in six persons following hisdeath in a road accident on October 29.He was a resident of Bhanjanagar in Ganjam district & was working at Surat.

Notes:
E-commerce major Amazon has rolled out ‘Project Zero’ in India that will provide brands with additional tools to identify and remove counterfeits from its platform. The Project Zero features three tools viz. ‘automated protections’, ‘self-service counterfeit removal tool’ and ‘product serialization’. The brands will have to sign up for the initiative to access the tools.

Notes:
The 2019 World Kabaddi Cup is being organized by the Punjab government i.e. scheduled to be held from December 1 to 9. This year’s tournament would be dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Sikh guru – Guru Nanak Dev ji. Nine teams — India, USA, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan and Canada — are expected to take part in the tournament.

Notes:
India will host the 19th Council of Heads of Government (CHG) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) 2020 in New Delhi. This will be first time that India is hosting a such high-level meeting of China-led eight-member economic and security bloc after becoming full member of the organisation in 2017. The latest Summit of heads of government was held in Tashkent in November 2019. The SCO is an influential regional security grouping which is seen as a counterweight to NATO. The aim of the SCO is to maintain peace, stability and security of the region.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and Textiles has decided to launch Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh (BPKK) on 18th November 2019 in New Delhi. The BPKK is the repository of diverse crops across 128 agro-climatic zones in India for better nutritional outcomes.

Notes:
Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, a former Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court, has recently administered oath as the 47th Chief Justice of India (CJI) by President Ram Nath Kovind  at the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan. He will have a tenure of over 17 months as the CJI and is due to retire on April 23, 2021. Justice Bobde has decided several key cases and was part of the recent historic Ayodhya verdict. He also headed a 3-member in-house committee which gave a clean chit to CJI Gogoi on a sexual harassment complaint against him by a former apex court staffer. Hailing from a family of lawyers from Maharashtra, he is the son of eminent senior advocate Arvind Shriniwas Bobde.

Notes:
The Andhra Pradesh government has selected IIM Ahmedabad to help  curb corruption in the state administration. The institute would study the structural issues in the government departments in relation to corruption and come out with measures to tackle them. The focus would be on government departments that have earned alleged notoriety for corruption. Based on the IIM-A report, it was expected that the government may suitably amend the PC Act for a complete crackdown on corruption.

Notes:
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has launched a scheme — Mukhyamantri Septic Tank Safai Yojana – to help people in waste management and to ensure the safety of sanitation workers. The government has plans to achieve three objectives with the scheme viz. a collection of waste from septic tanks in the colonies, ensuring safe disposal of the waste in sewage treatment plants, and deployment of trained staff with safety equipment for cleaning septic tanks.

Notes:
The Assam government has decided to start Arundhati gold scheme by January 2020 for the registered newly married couples. Under the scheme, an amount of 30 thousand rupees will be given to the bride to purchase gold. The purpose of the scheme is to promote marriage registrations and prevent under-age marriages in the state.  To get the benefit, the annual income of the bride and her father should not be more than 5 lakh rupees per year. As per the scheme, the minimum age of the bride and groom to be 18 and 21 years to avail the benefit.