15 November 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

15 November 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

15 November 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to be the chief guest at Republic Day 2020

  • Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day Parade 2020.
  • Regarding this, he has formally accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation on the sidelines of the 11th BRICS Summit 2019.
  • Both leaders agreed that on this occasion, the two countries can comprehensively enhance our strategic partnership.
Note:
  • The year 2018 was historic when leaders from the 10 ASEAN nations – Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei – were the chief guests at Republic Day celebration.
  • In 2019, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was in attendance as the chief guest. He was the second South African president, after Nelson Mandela, to attend the grand event as its chief guest.
  • On 26th January 2020, India will celebrate its 71st Republic Day. First Republic Day of India was celebrated in 1950.

2. Prakash Javadekar takes charge as Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises

  • On 13th November Prakash Javadekar took charge as the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, two days after Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant resigned from the Union Cabinet.
  • He also holds Information & Broadcasting, and Environment, Forest and Climate Change portfolios.
Source: The Hindu Business Line

3. India gets USD 43 million from Green Climate Fund to boost climate resilience


  • On 13th November India kicked-off a USD 43 million project to boost climate resilience in three coastal states in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
  • The project is funded by the Green Climate Fund, established within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to assist developing countries.
  • The six-year project will build climate-resilient livelihoods for 1.7 million people in three states viz Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.
About the Green Climate Fund:
  • Green Climate Fund was established within the framework of the UNFCCC. It was formed in 2010.
  • The headquarters of Green Climate Fund is in Incheon, South Korea.
  • It is supported by a Secretariat and governed by a board of 24 members.
  • The main objective of the Green Climate Fund is to support programmes, projects, policies, and other activities to develop country Parties using thematic funding windows.
  • The current executive director is Yannick Glemarec.

4. Mangala Mani becomes the first Indian Woman Scientist to live in Antarctica for 403 Days

  • Mangala Mani from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is the first woman scientist to spend 403 days in Antarctica. She has forged history with this achievement.
  • She was part of an expedition team that went to Bharati – India’s research station in Antarctica – in November 2016.
  • She was the only woman in the 23-member-team that went to the freezing continent this time.
Source: The Logical Indian

5. Mihir Shah committee to draft a new National Water Policy

  • The Union Water Resources Ministry has set up a Committee to draft a new National Water Policy (NWP). The Committee will be chaired by Mihir Shah, formerly a member of the Planning Commission of India.
  • The committee has 10 principal members, including Shashi Shekhar, a former secretary of Water Resources, and A.B. Pandya, former chairman of the Central Ground Water Board.
  • The committee is expected to produce a report within six months.
  • In September, Union Water Resources Minister Gajendra Shekhawat said that the Centre was planning to update the NWP and make key changes in water governance structure and regulatory framework.
Note:
  • The NWP currently in force was drafted in 2012 and is the third such policy since 1987.
Source: The Hindu

6. Chief Justice of India's office is a public authority under RTI Act: SC

  • In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court has held that the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is a public authority under the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005.
  • The judgment in this regard was made by a five-judge constitution bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi on November 13, 2019.
  • Other members of the bench apart from Ranjan Gogoi were Justices Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

 Awards and Honours

7. Ravi Prakash awarded with the BRICS Young Innovator Prize

  • An Indian Ph.D. Scholar, Ravi Prakash has won the USD 25,000 BRICS-Young Innovator Prize for inventing an affordable indigenous milk chilling unit for smaller and marginal rural dairy farmers.
  • Prakash, Ph.D. scholar of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Bangalore, was a part of a 21-member delegation sent to Brazil by the Department of Science and Technology for the 4th BRICS-Young Scientist Forum (YSF), 2019.
  • India won 1st prize of #BRICS -Young scientist forum's (YSF) conclave during 6-8 Nov 2019 in Brazil.
  • The theme for the 4th BRICS-YSF was “Cybersecurity and Bio-economy”.
Note:
  • The BRICS Young Innovator Prize aims to recognize and reward the research, development and innovation projects in the science and technology sector of the BRICS countries.
  • It is in special recognition of young talented entrepreneurs and researchers, whose outstanding innovations will make a profound impact on the socio-economic environment and conditions of life in BRICS societies.
  • BRICS is the acronym of the five major emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
  • This year's event is being held in Brasilia from November 13-14 under the theme BRICS: Economic Growth for an Innovative Future.
Source: India Today

International News

8. Sri Lanka becomes 1st South Asian country to call match-fixing a crime

  • Sri Lanka has become the first South Asian nation to criminalize several offenses related to match-fixing.
  • Sri Lanka parliament passed all three readings of a bill labeled "Prevention of Offences Related to Sports".
  • As per the source, if a person is found guilty of committing an offense related to corruption in sports, then he may find himself jailed for a term up to 10 years and he will also be required to pay various fines.
  • Sri Lanka's Sports Minister Harin Fernando presented the bill in the parliament and former skipper Arjuna Ranatunga who is now a cabinet minister supported the new legislation during parliamentary debates.
Source: India Today

9. Karabi Gogoi selected as Assistant Naval Attache in Moscow Embassy

  • The Indian Navy has selected Lt. Commander Karabi Gogoi as assistant naval attache at the Moscow Embassy.
  • She will be the first woman Assistant Naval Attache and second woman defence personnel to be appointed for a diplomatic assignment in Russia.
  • Currently posted as a naval engineer at the Karwar base of the Navy, the officer is also learning Russian and is expected to take up her new assignment in Moscow next month.
  • In September, Wing Commander Anjali Singh became India's first female military diplomat to be posted in any of the Indian missions abroad.

Obituaries

10. Mathematician Vashisht Narayan Singh, who challenged Einstein theory passed away

  • Famous Indian mathematician Vashishth Narayan Singh, who is said to have challenged Einstein's theory of relativity, passed away on 14th November.
  • The 77-year old had been suffering from Schizophrenia for 40 years.
  • Born in 1942, Vashishth Narayan Singh was famous for his extraordinary skills of calculation.
Education
  • During his days studying at the Patna Science College, Narayan's extraordinary mathematical abilities were revealed to his professors when they took a separate maths exam where he passed with flying colours.
  • Professor John Kelly of the University of California recognized his talents during his time at Patna Science College and Narayan moved to the USA in 1965.
  • He went to the University of California in 1965 and completed his Ph.D. on cycle vector space theory in 1969.
  • He had taught at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.
  • It is believed that before the launch of the Apollo mission when multiple computers went off at the same time, Narayan's calculations in his brains were the same as the computers when they came back up.
Source: India Tv

Summit and Conference

11. The 6th World Congress on Rural and Agricultural Finance was held in New Delhi

  • The 6th World Congress on Rural and Agricultural Finance (WCRAF) was held in New Delhi from November 12-13, 2019.
  • The congress was inaugurated by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
  • It was jointly hosted by the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA), National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India.
  • This 6th version of the congress was attended by 300 delegates across the globe who engaged in interactive discussions to unleash the potential role of rural and agricultural finance.
  • The theme of the event was “Rural and Agricultural Finance: Critical Input to achieve Inclusive and Sustainable Development”.
Note:
  • The World Congress is held at regular intervals of the 3-year period. The first Congress was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2005.
  • It aims at bringing together stakeholders of rural and agricultural finance all over the world. The Congress is an opportunity to strengthen business relations and to promote products and services.
About NABARD:
  • Established in: 1982
  • Chairman: Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanwala
  • Headquarter: Mumbai

 Banking and Economy

12. Moody's cuts India's GDP growth forecast to 5.6 per cent for 2019

  • On November 14, 2019, Moody's Investors Service slashed India's economic growth forecast to 5.6 per cent for FY 2019.
  • Moody’s says that government measures do not address the widespread weakness in consumption demand.
  • Moody's had on October 10 slashed India's economic growth forecast for 2019-20 fiscal to 5.8 per cent from an earlier estimate of 6.2 per cent.
  • Last week, it downgraded India's outlook to negative from stable.
Note:
  • Moody’s Headquarters- New York, United States (US).
    Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Raymond Whitehead McDaniel.
Source: Economic Times

 Defence Excercise

13. India-U.S. tri-services exercise Tiger Triumph begins in Visakhapatnam

  • India-U.S. tri-services amphibious exercise Tiger Triumph begun in Vishakhapatnam.
  • Tiger Triumph will continue for nine-days off the Visakhapatnam and Kakinada coasts.
  • The training events will enhance U.S.-India military-to-military relations and hone individual and small-unit skills in humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
  • The exercise will include staff-planning events as well as field training that simulates moving a humanitarian assistance/disaster relief force from ship to shore.
  • Training like this builds the capacity of both the U.S. and Indian participants while improving their ability to operate together.
  • More than 500 U.S. Marines and sailors and about 1,200 Indian soldiers, sailors and airmen are participating in the exercise.
Source: The Hindu

 State News

14. Nilam Sawhney appointed as the first women Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh

  • Noted IAS (1984 Batch) Nilam Sawhney, has been appointed as the first woman Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh.
  • The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Government of India (GoI) has approved her appointment on November 13, 2019.
  • She will replace Neerabh Kumar, who has been holding additional charge as the CS, following the sudden transfer of LV Subramanyam, a week ago.

Book and Authors

15. Harish Bhat’s new book 'An Extreme Love of Coffee' launched in Mumbai

  • Writer and columnist, Harish Bhat’s new novel 'An Extreme Love of Coffee' was launched in Mumbai.
  • The novel is published by Penguin Random House India with the collaboration of Tata Starbucks.
  • This is his third book but the first fiction and it took Bhat about 8 months to complete.
  • The book is a story about two young people, Rahul, and Neha who follow their passion for coffee.
  • The adventure starts in a Starbucks cafe and from there it goes to the plantations of Coorg and from there the story then goes to the graveyards of Japan and other parts of the world.
  • Harish Bhat also wrote the bestselling book named “Tata log”, and he is a chairman of Tata Coffee Ltd and also the brand custodian of Tata Sons Private Limited.

Sports

16. India to host Kabaddi World Cup 2019 from December 1 to 9

  • India will host the Kabaddi World Cup 2019 and it will be organized by the state of Punjab.
  • The tournament will be held from December 1 to 9 and it will be dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev ji.
  • The inauguration of the event will be held on December 1 at Guru Nanak Stadium, Sultanpur Lodhi and four matches are scheduled for the opening day.
  • Nine teams -- India, USA, Australia, England, Sri Lanka, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Canada -- are expected to take part in the tournament.

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