Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs Today 24th and 25th 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 – 24th and 25th November 2019
IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES
NCC celebrates its 71st Raising Day
- The National Cadet Corps (NCC), the world’s largest uniformed youth organization, is celebrating its 71st Raising Day on 24 November.
- The celebrations began, with Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and DG NCC Lt Gen Rajeev Chopra paying homage to the martyrs, who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation, at the National War Memorial in New Delhi.
- The NCC Raising Day was also celebrated all over the country with the cadets participating in marches, cultural activities and social development programs.
- NCC continues its relentless efforts towards moulding the youth into responsible citizens of the country.
Extra Shots:
- Founded:16 April 1948.
- Headquarters location: New Delhi.
- Founder: Government of the United Kingdom.
- Director-General of NCC: Lt Gen Rajeev Chopra.
International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women observed on 25 November
- The International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed across the world on 25 November annually.
- The theme for this year is “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape”.
- This is an effort to prevent and end violence against women at the global, regional and national levels show that there is widespread impunity on sexual violence and rape.
BANKING CURRENT AFFAIRS
RBI Enhances Scope Of Non-Resident Rupee Accounts
- The RBI expanded the scope of Special Non-Resident Rupee Accounts (SNRR account) by permitting non-residents to open such accounts for rupee-denominated overseas borrowings, trade credit and trade invoicing for popularising cross-border transactions in the domestic currency.
- Any person resident outside India, having a business interest in India, can open a non-interest bearing Special Non-Resident Rupee Account (SNRR account) with a bank for bona fide transactions in rupees.
- The restriction on the tenure of SNRR account, which is currently 7 years, has also been removed.
- RBI has also modified norms regarding re-export of unsold rough diamonds from the special notified zone of Customs without export declaration form (EDF) formality.
Extra Shots:
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
FINANCE AND ECONOMY
Muthoot Finance to acquire IDBI Mutual Fund for Rs 215 crore
- Muthoot Finance Ltd, the largest gold loan non-banking finance company in the country, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire IDBI Asset Management Ltd and IDBI Mutual Fund Trustee Company Ltd.
- Muthoot Finance will purchase 100 per cent equity shares of IDBI Asset Management and IDBI MF Trustee for a total consideration of Rs 215 crore.
- The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of February 2020.
- The deal is subject to receipt of approval from regulators including the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Extra Shots:
IDBI: Industrial Development Bank of India was established in 1964 by an Act to provide credit and other financial facilities for the development of the fledgling Indian industry. Initially it operated as a subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India RBI transferred it to GOI.
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Founded: 1 July 1964
- Parent organization: Life Insurance Corporation
- MD & CEO: Rakesh Sharma
- Tagline: Bank Aisa, Dost Jaisa
Muthoot Finance Ltd. is an Indian financial corporation. It is known as the largest gold financing company in the world.
- Headquarters: Kochi
- Founder: M George Muthoot
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurates the 172nd Defence Pensioners Adalat in Lucknow
- Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 172nd Defence Pensioners Adalat in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow, becoming the first Raksha Mantri to be a part of the event.
- The two-day Defence Pensioners Adalat aims at redressal of related pension grievances of veterans of Armed Forces and their Next of Kin residing in all districts of Uttar Pradesh.
- The union government commitment to timely approval of pension.
- The Government fulfilled the long-standing demand of One Rank One Pension that has benefited lakhs of Defence Pensioners across the country.
Extra Shots:
Uttar Pradesh:
- Capital: Lucknow
- Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
- Governor: Anandiben Patel
- Nation Park: Dudhwa National Park
STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Sangai Festival 2019 begins in Manipur
- Every year the State of Manipur celebrates the “Manipur Sangai Festival” from 21st to 30th November.
- The ‘Festival’ is named after the State animal, Sangai, the brow-antlered deer found only in Manipur.
- It started in the year 2010 and has grown over the years into a big platform for Manipur to showcase its rich tradition and culture to the world.
- The festival is organized by the State Tourism Department and biggest festival held annually to promote tourism.
- The formal inaugural function of the festival was held at Hapta Kangjeibung at Imphal.
- During the festival, cultural programmes, traditional games, folk dance and classical music will be performed by different communities of the State as well as from other States.
Extra Shots:
Manipur
Capital: Imphal.
Chief Minister: N. Biren Singh.
Governor: Najma Heptulla.
Amaravati included in India map as the capital of Andhra Pradesh
- The Survey of India, India’s central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying has released an updated map of India with Amaravati as the capital of Andhra Pradesh (AP).
- Amaravati had been missing from the previous map released by the Centre On November 2, 2019, which showed Hyderabad as the common capital of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh.
- The state of AP was bifurcated in the year 2014 and while it was initially decided that Hyderabad would serve as the common administrative capital for a period of 10 years.
Extra Shots:
Andhra Pradesh:
- Capital: Amravati
- Chief Minister: Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy
- Governor: Biswabhusan Harichandan
Odisha CM Patnaik sanctions Rs 100 crore for Utkal University
- Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik the Rs 100 crore assistance sanctioned for the infrastructure development of Utkal University.
- The government of Odisha sanctioned Rs 100 crore to Utkal University for opening six Centres of Excellence.
- The university already received Rs 40 crore in the current academic year.
- The Chief Minister’s announcement came after he inaugurated the five-day platinum celebration of Odisha’s premier varsity here.
- He inaugurated the Central Instrumentation Centre and Digital Library Building of the university.
- He laid the foundation stone for the boundary wall project.
Extra Shots:
Odisha:
- Capital: Bhubaneswar
- Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik
- Governor: Ganeshi Lal
- National Park: Bhitarkanika NP, Simlipal NP
INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Ocean Dance Festival 2019 starts in Cox Bazar
- The Ocean Dance Festival 2019 kicked off in Cox Bazar of Bangladesh.
- Ocean Dance Festival is the largest international dance festival of Bangladesh in which more than 200 dancers, choreographers and scholars from 15 countries are participating.
- THEME: ‘Bridging the distance’ or Durotter Shetubandhan.
- The dances performed at the event will show the idea of bridging cultural and economic distances.
- The festival is being organised by the Nrityajog which is the Bangladesh wing of World Dance Alliance (WDA).
- AIM: to expand cultural tourism in Bangladesh. It also features seminars and discussion apart from the dance performances by the artists.
Extra Shots:
Bangladesh (Capital/Currency): Dhaka/Taka
- Prime Minister: Sheikh Hasina
Singapore Signs MOU with South Korea on Cybersecurity Cooperation
- Singapore signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with South Korea to enhance cooperation and information-sharing on cybersecurity, according to a statement from the city-state’s government.
- The MOU signed by David Koh, chief executive of the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, and Kim Seok-hwan, president of the Korea Internet & Security Agency.
Extra Shots:
South Korea (Capital/Currency): Seoul/ South Korean won
- Prime Minister: Lee Nak-yeon
Singapore (Capital/Currency): Singapore City/ Singapore dollar
- President: Halimah Yacob
SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES
India to host SCO forum of Young Scientists and Innovators 2020
- India will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Forum of Young Scientists and Innovators in 2020.
- The 5th Meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States Heads of Ministries and Departments of Science and Technology and Permanent Working Group on S&T Cooperation concluded in Moscow, Russia.
- Eight SCO member states’ heads of delegation signed the Protocol of the 5th Meeting of Ministries and Departments of Science and Technology at the end of the three-day meeting.
- The meeting agreed with India & proposal to host the SCO Forum of Young Scientists and Innovators in 2020.
Extra Shots:
SCO: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), or Shanghai Pact, is a Eurasian political, economic, and security alliance, the creation of which was announced on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
- Headquarters: Beijing, China
- Deputy Secretaries General: Sabyr Imandosov; Wang Kaiwen; Aziz Nosirov; Vladimir Potapenko
- Secretary General: Vladimir Norov
- Founded: 26 April 1996
RANKS AND INDICES
India Ranks 44th In 2019 Nomuras Food Vulnerability Index
- Nomura’s Food Vulnerability Index (NFVI) ranks countries based on their exposure to large swings in food prices.
- India ranked 44 out of 110 countries; a higher rank is worse.
- At 4.6%, India’s retail inflation for October touched a 16-month high because of the jump in food prices.
AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED
All India Institute of Ayurveda Signs MoU with Western Sydney University Australia
- All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Western Sydney University, Australia, in New Delhi.
- The MoU will promote collaboration in research and developing guidelines for integrating Ayurveda principles with modern medicine.
- The memorandum agreed and exchange on the occasion of the event India Australia International Education and Research Workshop at Ambedkar International Center, New Delhi.
Extra Shot:
Australia (Capital/Currency): Canberra/ Australian dollar
- Prime Minister: Scott Morrison
SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS
Lakshya Sen wins Scottish Open title
- India’s Lakshya Sen has won the Scottish Open men’s singles title, defeating Brazilian Ygor Coelho to seal his fourth title in 3 months.
- Entering the tournament as the top seed, the world number 41 registered an 18-21, 21-18, 21-19 win in 56 minutes to claim the title in Glasgow, Scotland.
Extra Shots:
Scotland (Capital/Currency): Edinburgh/Pound sterling.
- Prime Minister: Nicola Sturgeon
Rafael Nadal wins Davis Cup title 2019
- Rafael Nadal has clinched 6th Davis Cup title for Spain after beating Denis Shapovalov of Canada in front of a jubilant home crowd in Madrid.
- Nadal defeated Shapovalov 6-3, 7-6 (9-7) to clinch Spain’s 2-0 win against Canada.
Extra Shots:
Canada (Capital/Currency): Ottawa/ Canadian dollar
- Prime Minister: Justin Trudeau
DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to inaugurate 3rd Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurating the gala event on December 13 at the Lake Club of the City Beautiful.
- The event to be held from December 13 to 15 would present an international level forum to foster and preserve the exchange of knowledge related to military literature and associated works besides acquainting the youth with our glorious military heritage.
AWARDS
Marathon man Kipchoge, hurdle heroine Muhammad win Athlete of the Year
- Eliud Kipchoge, the first man to run a marathon in less than two hours, and 400 metres hurdles world champion Dalilah Muhammad won the World Athlete of the Year awards.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
NVIDIA announces world’s largest GPU-accelerated cloud-based supercomputer
- NVIDIA has announced a new kind of GPU-accelerated supercomputer in the cloud on Microsoft Azure.
- NDv2 supercomputer is designed to handle demanding AI and high-performance computing applications, using up to 800 NVIDIA V100 Tensor Core GPUs interconnected on a single.
- Mellanox InfiniBand backend network, making it the world’s largest GPU-accelerated cloud-based supercomputer.
- It enables customers to rent an AI supercomputer on-demand from their desk, and match the capabilities of large-scale on-premises supercomputers.
Extra Shots:
- Chief Executive Officer (CEO) NVIDIA: Jensen Huang.
- Headquarters: Santa Clara, California, United States (US)
Microsoft rolls out the K12 Education Transformation Framework in India
- Microsoft rolled out its K12 Education Transformation Framework more widely to schools across India at the second edition of the Microsoft Education Days in Gurgaon.
- Microsoft Education Days 2019 brought together more than 700 school leaders, educators, students and Microsoft partners to deliberate on the future of learning.
- Teachers and students from schools across India also demonstrated the innovative ways in which they are digitally transforming education by bringing in AI, gamification, personalization and simplifying STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) learning for students.
Extra Shots:
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company with headquarters in Redmond, Washington. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services.
- Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, United States
- Founders: Bill Gates, Paul Allen
- CEO: Satya Nadella
OBITUARIES
Former WB minister Kshiti Goswami passes away
- The General Secretary of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and former West Bengal Minister Kshiti Goswami passed away.
- Goswami was PWD Minister in Jyoti Basu and Buddhadev Bhattacharjee’s cabinet in the Left Front Government in the State.
West Bengal:
- Capital: Kolkata
- Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee
- Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar
- National Park: Buxa NP, Gorumara NP, Neora Valley NP, Singalila NP, Sunderban NP, JaldaparaNP
Former Madhya Pradesh CM Kailash Joshi passes away
- Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kailash Joshi has passed away.
- He was called as the ‘saint of politics’, served as the state’s chief minister from 1977 to 1978.
- He was MLA for eight terms and also served as a member of both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
Madhya Pradesh:
- Capital: Bhopal
- Chief Minister: Kamal Nath
- Governor: Lalji Tandon
- National Park: Bandhavgarh NP, Fossil NP, Kanha NP, Madhav NP, Panna NP, Pench NP, Sanjay NP, Satpura NP
