Monthly Current Affairs Quiz - November, 2018

Notes:
The Jammu and Kashmir Bank has been brought under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) act of 2009, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) guidelines and the State Legislature. The State Administrative Council (SAC) under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik approved the proposal for treating the J&K Bank Limited as a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). Now, the J&K Bank Ltd shall be accountable to the State Legislature like other state PSUs. Established in 1938, the J&K Bank Ltd is the only state government promoted bank in the country, with the Jammu and Kashmir government currently holding 59.3% of the shares.

Notes:
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved continuation of the nine sub-schemes of the umbrella scheme “Atmosphere & Climate Research-Modelling Observing Systems & Services (ACROSS)” during 2017-2020 at an estimated cost of Rs. 1450 crore. It will be implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) through its institutes namely India Meteorological Department (IMD), Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service(INCOIS). The scheme will provide improved weather, climate and ocean forecast and services, thereby ensuring transfer of commensurate benefits to the various services like Public weather service, disaster management, Agro-meteorological Services, Aviation services, Environmental monitoring services, Hydro-meteorological services, climate services, tourism, pilgrimage, power generation, water management, Sports & adventure etc.

Notes:
The North Sentinel Island is one of the Andaman Islands, which includes South Sentinel Island, in the Bay of Bengal. It is home to the Sentinelese who, often violently, reject any contact with the outside world, and are among the last uncontacted peoples to remain virtually untouched by modern civilisation. Recently, it is in news because the American national ‘John Allen Chau’ allegedly killed by people belonging to the protected Sentinelese tribe in the North Sentinel Island. It must be noted that North Sentinel Island and its buffer zone is strictly restricted under the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Protection of Aboriginal Tribes) Regulation, 1956 under Indian Forest Act, 1927. In it, it is declared that the traditional areas occupied by the tribes as reserves, and prohibited entry of all persons except those with authorisation. Photographing or filming the tribe members is also an offence. The rules were amended later to enhance penalties. But restricted area permits were relaxed for some islands recently.

Notes:
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) has nominated 12 movies for 2018 International Council for Film, Television and Audio-visual Communication (ICFT) UNESCO Gandhi Medal. Of these 12 films, two are from India and the rest are foreign movies. The two Indian movies competing for the honour are Tamil film ‘Baaram’ and Ladakhi movie ‘Walking with the Wind’.

Notes:
The Odisha government has come out with lexicons of 21 rare tribal languages to preserve vanishing native languages in State with largest tribal diversity. The bilingual tribal dictionaries will be used in Multilingual Education (MLE) initiated by the State government at the elementary level in tribal-dominated districts. The bilingual tribal dictionaries for MLE and trilingual tribal language proficiency modules in all the 21 tribal languages have been formulated by the Special Development Council (SDC). Odisha has a unique place on the tribal map of India for having the maximum number of Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities. The State is home to 62 different tribal communities, including 13 particularly vulnerable tribal groups. These tribes speak 21 languages and 74 dialects. Of the 21 tribal languages, seven have their own scripts. However, Odia is used as the medium of communication in the dictionaries.

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:
Varsha Varman from Madhya Pradesh has won the women’s trap gold at the 62nd National Shotgun championship 2018 in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She shot 38 in the final to get the better of Junior World Cup finalist Soumya Gupta of Delhi, who ended with 37 hits for the silver medal. Defending champion Shagun Chowdhary of ONGC won bronze with a final round effort of 30. Earlier, Varman won the bronze at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games in the women’s double trap team event, along with Shagun Chowdhary and Shreyasi Singh.

Notes:
The National Milk Day (NMD) is celebrated every year on November 26 to mark the birth anniversary of Dr. Verghese Kurien, the father of India’s White Revolution. Dr Kurien was the architect of Operation Flood, the programme which led India from being 50th in the world in terms of milk production to become the largest producer in just a couple of decades.

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.