Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs Today 18th November 2019. These are important for the upcoming Exams. Candidates those who were preparing for the examination can use these current affairs and also you can download the same as PDF.
Current Affairs Today – 18th November2019
IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES
The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims observed on 17 November
- The United Nations observes “World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims” on 17 November every year.
- The day has become an important tool in global efforts to reduce road casualties.
- It offers an opportunity for drawing attention to the scale of emotional and economic devastation caused by road crashes and for giving recognition to the suffering of road crash victims and the work of support and rescue services.
- The theme is based on Pillar 3 of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety – Safer vehicles.
United Nations: It is an International Organization. Its Objective of UN is to not only maintain International Peace and Security but also to develop Friendly relations among nations.
- Founded – 24th October, 1945
- Headquarter- New York,United States
- Secretary General- Antonio Guterres (9th SG OF UN)
- He is from PORTUGAL
- Portugal (Capital/Currency) – Lisbon/ Euro
- United States (Capital/Currency) – Washington, D.C/ US Dollar
BANKING CURRENT AFFAIRS
New rules framed under IBC for rescue of non-bank lenders
- The Government of India has issued fresh rules under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to govern the rescue of non-bank lenders.
- The new rules are likely to help out distressed shadow banks and housing financiers, which have been battling a liquidity crunch for a year.
- These entities will be covered by a special window under the bankruptcy code, which will be notified from time to time.
- Reserve Bank of India has been given the authority to decide which companies will be taken up to a bankruptcy tribunal under these rules.
- The bankruptcy tribunal will appoint an administrator who will be nominated by the regulator, will try to stitch together a turnaround plan.
- In case a turnaround of the financial institution is not possible, the tribunal will gather the views of the regulator before deciding to liquidate it.
RBI: The Reserve Bank of India is India’s central banking institution, which controls the issuance and supply of the Indian rupee.
- Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Governor: Shaktikanta Das
- Deputy Governors: B P Kanungo, M K Jain, N S Vishwanathan
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
India International Cherry Blossom festival 2019 was celebrated in Shillong
- The fourth edition of the India International Cherry Blossom festival, 2019, was celebrated in Shillong, Meghalaya.
- The festival was celebrated from 13-16 November 2019.
- The 2019 festival was jointly celebrated by India and South Korea for the first time.
- The festival witnessed the unique autumn flowering of Himalayan Cherry Blossoms.
- Several events were conducted at the festival.
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Meghalaya
- Capital:Shillong
- Chief Minister: Conrad Kongkal Sangma
- Governor: Tathagata Roy
STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Yogi Adityanath inaugurates North India’s 1st sugar mill which will produce ethanol
- Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has inaugurated North India’s first sugar mill which will produce ethanol direct from sugarcane.
- The mill was inaugurated in Pipraich area of Gorakhpur, which is a unit of Uttar Pradesh Sugar and Sugarcane Development Corporation Limited.
- The mills, which previously produced around 8,000 quintals of sugar, will now produce more than 50,000 quintals of sugar every day.
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Uttar Pradesh:
- Capital: Lucknow
- Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
- Governor: Anandiben Patel
- Nation Park: Dudhwa National Park
Defence Minister inaugurates Sisseri Bridge built by BRO
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated Sisseri Bridge, built by the Border Road Organisation (BRO) on Pasighat-Bomjir Highway, Arunachal Pradesh.
- The 200-metre long bridge between Jonai-Pasighat-Ranaghat-Roing road will provide connectivity between Dibang Valley and Siang to meet the long-pending demand of the people of Arunachal Pradesh.
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BRO: The Border Roads Organisation develops and maintains road networks in India’s border areas and friendly neighboring countries. Officers from the Border Roads Engineering Service and personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force form the parent cadre of the Border Roads Organisation.
- Director-General: Lt. Gen.Harpal Singh
- Headquarters: New Delhi.
- Founder: Jawaharlal Nehru.
KISS to provide free education project in other states
- Founder of Odisha’s Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) Achyuta Samanta announced that the Institute is to provide the free education policies in other States also.
- The Institute initially provided free education to nearly 30,000 tribal students in Odisha.
- The Institute aims to launch similar projects, like free education, in other states to fight social ills of poverty and Naxalism.
- The Institute is to launch ten new centers soon in tribal-dominated areas. The parent institute is located at Bhubaneswar.
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Odisha:
- Capital: Bhubaneswar
- Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik
- Governor: Ganeshi Lal
- National Park: Bhitarkanika NP, Simlipal NP
Uttarakhand government launched Virtual Classroom Project
- The Uttarakhand State government started the Virtual Classroom Project, an online method of teaching, on 16 November.
- It was launched by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
- He also inaugurated the first studio in Dehradun.
- The project was launched under the Information and Communication Technology scheme of Samagra Sikshar Abhiyan in Uttarakhand.
- The project is expected to around 1.90 lakh students from classes 6-12.
- The initial phase will cover 150 schools. It will then be expanded to 500 schools within a month.
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Uttarakhand
- Capital: Dehradun
- Chief Minister: Trivendra Singh Rawat
- Governor: Baby Rani Maurya
INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Gotabaya Rajapaksa wins Sri Lanka Presidential election
- Sri Lanka’s former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has won the Presidential election.
- Gotabaya got 52.25 per cent of the total valid votes.
- Gotabaya served as the Defence Secretary during the end of the LTTE War.
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Sri Lanka(Capitals/Currency): Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte/Sri Lankan rupee.
- Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe
Bhutanese Foreign Minister reaches New Delhi on week-long visit
- Bhutanese Foreign Minister Lyonpo Tandi Dorji reached New Delhi today on a week-long visit.
- Mr Dorji will hold bilateral discussions with his Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and review the entire gamut of India-Bhutan relations.
- He will also pay a visit to Bodhgaya and Rajgir in Bihar and Kolkata.
- During the visit, the two sides will hold discussions on various aspects of bilateral relations, including economic cooperation, development partnership and hydro-power cooperation.
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Bhutan (Capital/Currency): Thimphu/ Bhutanese ngultrum, Indian rupee
- President: Lotay Tshering
SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES
8th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics to be held in India
- The Ministry of Agriculture will organize the 8th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS-VIII) in New Delhi.
- The Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar will inaugurated the conference and Bill Gates will be the Chief Guest at the Conference.
- The conference will be held with the theme of ‘Statistics for Transformation of Agriculture to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’.
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Delhi:
- Chief Minister: Arvind Kejriwal
- Governor: Anil Baijal
Rajnath Singh participates in the 6th ADMM Plus in Thailand
- The 6th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) was held in Bangkok, Thailand.
- Rajnath Singh held bilateral meetings with US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, General Prawit Wongsuwan, Defence Minister of Japan Taro Kono, Defence Minister of Australia Linda Reynolds and Defence Minister of New Zealand Ron Mark on the sidelines of the meeting.
- He also reviewed the entire area of bilateral defence relations with the respective leaders.
- He also discussed ways to improve the ties further.
- Defence Ministers from 17 countries of the ADMM-Plus group are participating in the meeting.
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Thailand (Capital/Currency): Bangkok/ Thai baht
- Prime Minister: Prayut Chan-o-cha
50th International Film Festival of India opens on November 20 in Goa
- The 50th International Film Festival of India opens on Wednesday, 20th November in Goa.
- The festival caters to over twelve thousand delegates.
- The theme of the Open Air Screenings in the Golden Jubilee year is ‘The Joy of Cinema’. 14 films including classics as well as comedies along with the movies from the related genres will be screened in this section.
- Kishore Kumar’s all-time hit, Padosan along with Chalti ka Naam Gaadi, lead the pack of movies.
Yediyurappa inaugurates three-day Bengaluru Tech Summit
- Karnataka Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa inaugurated the three-day Bengaluru Tech Summit at the Bengaluru Palace on Monday.
- The tech summit is being organized for the last two decades to showcase the prowess and skill in the field of information technology.
- The summit will see more than 250 exhibitors, 3,500 delegates, 200 speakers, 34-panel discussions and 12,000 visitors.
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Karnataka:
- Capital: Bengaluru
- Chief Minister: B. S. Yediyurappa
- Governor: Vajubhai Vala
- National Park: Anshi NP, Bandipur NP, Bannerghatta NP, Kudremukh NP, Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole) NP.
APPOINTMENT
Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi sworn in as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court
- Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi was sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the High Court of Tripura.
- Justice Kureshi was serving as a judge of the Bombay High Court before his transfer to Tripura.
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Tripura
- Capital: Agartala
- Chief Minister: Biplab Kumar Deb
- Governor: Ramesh Bais
Justice SA Bobde takes oath as 47th Chief Justice of India
- Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde took oath as the 47th Chief Justice of India on Monday.
- President Ram Nath Kovind administered him the oath of office at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
- Justice Bobde succeeds Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who retired on Sunday.
- Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP Veteran L K Advani were present on the occasion among others.
- Justice Bobde will have a tenure of around 18 months till his retirement on April 23, 2021. Justice Bobde was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013.
- He was part of the five-judge constitution bench which delivered the landmark Ayodhya verdict.
Chairman Anil Ambani, four directors resign from Reliance Communications
- Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani along with four directors have resigned from the company, which is going through the insolvency process.
- According to a regulatory filing, Manikantan V, the chief financial officer of the debt-ridden company has also resigned.
- The development comes a day after RCom posted a consolidated loss of Rs 30,142 crore for July-September 2019 due to provisioning for liabilities after the Supreme Court ruling on statutory dues.
- This was the second-highest loss posted by any Indian corporate till date.
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Reliance Communications Limited was an Indian mobile network provider headquartered in Navi Mumbai that offered voice and 2G and 3G data services. In February 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy as it was unable to sell assets to repay its debt.
- CEO: Bill Barney
- Founder: Dhirubhai Ambani
SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS
Sarita Devi elected as member of AIBA athletes commission
- Laishram Sarita Devi (Manipur) is among the 6 boxers from 5 continents who were elected as members of AIBA Athletes Commission.
- She was inspired by Muhammad Ali’s achievements and turned professional in boxing in the year 2000.
- She is DSP in Manipur Police.
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AIBA: The International Boxing Association or AIBA, originally the Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur, is a sport organization that sanctions amateur boxing matches and awards world and subordinate championships.
- President: Gafur Rakhimov
- Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland
- Founded: 1946
Harmeet Desai claims Indonesia Open TT Championship
- Indian paddler Harmeet Desai won wins men’s singles title at International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Challenge Indonesia Open 2019 Table Tennis tournament held at Batam, Indonesia.
- Harmeet had defeated compatriot Amalraj Anthony by 11-9, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 10-12, 11-9 score.
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Indonesia (Capital/Currency): Jakarta/ Indonesian rupiah
- President: Joko Widodo
IAAF officially changes its name to “World Athletics”
- The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) has officially changed its name and will now be known as “World Athletics”.
- The name has been changed in a bid to make the sport more accessible.
- The IAAF was founded in 1912 as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and changed its name to the “International Association of Athletics Federations” in 2001.
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IAAF/World Athletics: World Athletics, previously known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, covering track and field, cross country running, road running, racewalking, mountain running and ultrarunning.
- Headquarters: Monaco
- President: Sebastian Coe
- Founded: 17 July 1912, Stockholm, Sweden
Spain’s striker David Villa retires from football
- Spain’s striker David Villa has announced his retirement from football.
- He represented Spain in three World Cups and was also a member of the Spanish side that lifted the trophy in 2010, and won the European Championships in 2008.
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Spain (Capital/Currency): Madrid/Euro
- Prime Minister: Pedro Sánchez
Korea’s Kim Joo Hyung wins Panasonic Open
- South Korea’s Kim Joo Hyung has won the Panasonic Open held at the Classic Golf and Country Club in Gurugram, India.
- India’s Shiv Kapur finished tied runner-up with S. Chikkarangappa.
- The victory has made Hyung the second-youngest winner behind Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadugsil on the Tour at 17 years and 149 days.
DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
First night trial of Agni II missile conducted successfully
- India has successfully conducted the first night trial of Agni-II, its versatile surface-to-surface medium-range nuclear-capable missile from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast.
Agni-II:
- Agni-II is a versatile surface-to-surface medium-range nuclear-capable missile
- Agni-II is an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with two solid-fuel stages, and a Post Boost Vehicle (PBV) integrated into the missile’s Re-entry Vehicle (RV).
- The strike range of the missile is 2,000 to 3,500 km
- Agni-II has been already inducted into the armed forces
- The two-stage missile is equipped with advanced high accuracy navigation system.
- It was guided by a new method of command and control system
- Agni-II missile was developed by Advanced Systems Laboratory along with DRDO laboratories. The missile was integrated by Bharat Dynamics Limited, Hyderabad.
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DRDO: The Defence Research and Development Organisation is an agency of the Government of India, charged with the military’s research and development, headquartered in New Delhi, India.
- Headquarters location: New Delhi
- Motto: बलस्य मूलं विज्ञानम्; “Strength’s Origin is in Science” (Sanskrit)
- Founded: 1958
- Minister responsible: Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence
- Chairman: Dr G. Satheesh Reddy
Odisha:
- Capital: Bhubaneswar
- Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik
- Governor: Ganeshi Lal
- National Park: Bhitarkanika NP, Simlipal NP
AWARDS
Rezwana Choudhury Bannya gets ICCR Alumni award in Dhaka
- Renowned Rabindra Sangeet exponent from Bangladesh Rezwana Choudhury Bannya has conferred the ICCR distinguished alumni award in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
- The award was given away by the High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das in a musical function organised by the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre (IGCC).
- Rezwana Choudhury Bannya is widely recognised as a great exponent of Rabindra Sangeet.
- She is known for her distinctive style of singing.
- She has established a musical school ‘Shurer Dhara’ in Bangladesh to carry forward the Guru-Shishya tradition as practised in Shantiniketan.
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Bangladesh (Capital/Currency): Dhaka/Taka
- Prime Minister: Sheikh Hasina
Veteran actors Sridevi and Rekha conferred with ANR National Award
- The veteran actors Sridevi and Rekha were conferred with the Akkineni Nageswara Rao National Award for 2018 and 2019 respectively.
- The award was presented by renowned Telugu actor Chiranjeevi.
- The award is instituted by the Akkineni International Foundation and honours those who have made a lasting impact on Indian cinema.
Bajrang Punia conferred the Indian Personality of the Year Award
- Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia has been conferred the Indian Personality of the Year Award (Sports) at the Indo Arab Leaders Summit & Awards 2019 in Dubai.
- Also, World powerlifting champion Mahant Gaurav Sharma was honoured with the Visionary Leaders of the Year (Sports) award.
- Indo Arab Leaders Summit and Awards ceremony was held on 15th November 2019 at Marriott Hotel Al Jaddaf, Dubai.
- The award aims to provide recognition for companies and individuals implementing outstanding initiatives across Asia.
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UAE (Capital/Currency): Abu Dhabi/Dirham
- President: Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
