Current Affairs Assam – November 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of November 2018 )
November 2018 – Monthly PDF | Monthly Quiz eBook
Go To Assam Current Affairs Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz
November 12
Doyen of Assam language and literature Dr Pramod Chandra Bhattacharya passed away
- Doyen of Assam language and literature, Dr Pramod Chandra Bhattacharya passed away at the age of 93 years, owing to old-age related ailments.
- Dr Bhattacharya is credited with pioneering research work on the Bodo language and is revered as a symbol of Assamese-Bodo solidarity.
- Dr Bhattacharya had immense contribution towards the Bodo language, for which he was awarded with the highest honour of the Bodos, the Upendranath Brahma award.
- He was a recipient of the Lila Gogoi Memorial Award of Asam Sahitya Sabha and the Kamrupa Ratna
- Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Asom Sahitya Sabha, the apex literary body of the State and several organizations condoled the demise of this towering literary figure of the State.
- The Chief Minister has further announced that Dr Bhattacharya will be accorded a state funeral at Navagraha where his last rites will be performed.
Ashok Kumar Gupta is the new Chairperson of CCI
- Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has appointed former Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officer Ashok Kumar Gupta as Chairperson Competition Commission of India (CCI).
- He will be in office till October 25, 2022 i.e. till he attains age of 65 years or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.
FACTFILE – Competition Commission of India (CCI)
- CCI was established in October 2003 and became fully functional in May 2009.
- Set by The Competition Act, 2002, as a quasi-judicial statutory body under under Ministry of Cooperate Affairs.
- CCI shall consist of Chairperson and not less than two and not more than six Members.
- Its seeks to eliminate anti-competitive practices and to promote and sustain competition, protect interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in markets of India.
- It also gives opinion on competition issues on reference received from other statutory authority and undertakes competition advocacy and create public awareness.
ADB to grant EESL $13 million for Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund
- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) would grant $13 million to the government-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) to set up an energy efficiency revolving fund (EERF) under a tie-up.
- Towards supporting investments in new, innovative and scalable business models, EESL and ADB signed an agreement for a Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant of USD 13 million to establish an Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund.
- The fund aims to expand and sustain investments in the energy efficiency market in India, build market diversification, and scale up existing technologies.
- The tie-up was announced at the International Symposium to Promote Innovation and Research in Energy Efficiency 2018.
- During the inaugural session of the three-day event, EESL also announced a partnership with GAIL to develop natural gas based “cogeneration and trigeneration” projects in commercial and industrial sectors in the country.
Indian journalist Swati Chaturvedi wins Press Freedom Award for Courage in UK
- An Indian freelance journalist, who has been the target of online trolling and harassment for her investigative reports, has bagged the 2018 London Press Freedom Award for Courage.
- Swati Chaturvedi, was among four worldwide winners at the awards held at Getty Images Gallery in London.
- The ceremony highlighted the importance of press freedom and safety of journalists, especially in the wake of the killing of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul last month.
November 13
India to launch GSAT-29 communication satellite
- India’s heavy-lift rocket Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-Mk III) is set to put into orbit the communication satellite GSAT-29 tentatively on 14th
- According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), it will be the second developmental flight of GSLV-Mk III rocket with a rated carrying capacity of four tonnes.
- The rocket will carry GSAT-29 weighing 3,423 kg (just over 3.4 tonnes) and sling it into Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO) just over 16 minutes into its flight.
- Then the satellite will be lifted to the final Geo Stationary Orbit (GSO) at a height of 36,000 km from the earth.
- With a design life of 10 years, the GSAT-29 satellite carries Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders intended to meet the communication requirements of users including those in remote areas.
- Several new technologies such as Q/V-band payload, data transmission through optical communication link will be demonstrated. This will help in realising future advanced satellites
FACTFILE – GSAT-29
- It is a high-throughput communication satellite developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- The mission aims at providing high-speed bandwidth to Village Resource Centres (VRC) in rural areas.
- The two Ku and Ka operational payloads will provide communication services to Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast India under Digital India programme.
- GSAT-29 was the heaviest satellite, weighing 3,423 kg that was placed in orbit by an Indian launch vehicle.
- Q band and V band payload: experimental microwave communication payloads
- Optical Communication Technology (OCT) payload: experimental payload for optical communication
- GEO High Resolution Camera (GHRC): for high resolution imaging from geosynchronous orbit.
26 nations to participate at 10th Indian Ocean Naval Symposium
- 26 of the 32 countries that constitute the membership of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) are participating in the 10th edition of the event that would commence at Kochi.
- The two-day seminar aims to discuss maritime issues pertaining to cooperative capacity-building to deal with common security concerns in the region.
- The theme for this year’s seminar is “IONS as a Catalyst for SAGAR”. SAGAR stands for Security and Growth for All in the Region.
- It is in consonance with India’s ‘Act East’ policy and the nation’s diplomatic, economic and military outreach in the region.
- The IONS initiative endeavours to generate a flow of information among naval professionals so as to enable a common understanding of regional maritime issues and in turn facilitate generation of mutually-beneficial maritime security outcomes.
FACTFILE – Indian Ocean Naval Symposium
- The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, commonly known as IONS, are a series of biennial meetings among the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region.
- It provides a forum to increase maritime security cooperation, providing a forum for discussion of regional maritime issues and promote friendly relationships among the member nations.
- The IONS a regional forum of Indian Ocean littoral states, represented by their Navy chiefs, was initiated and launched by India in February 2008.
- IONS is a security construct for the Indian Ocean region which is similar to the Western Pacific Naval Symposium.
- It is a voluntary initiative among the navies and maritime security agencies of the member nations. In addition to the symposiums, numerous other activities like workshops, essay competitions and lectures are also held under the umbrella of the organization.
- Members and observers
- The 35 member nations of the IONS are grouped into four sub-regions of South Asian, West Asian, East African and South East Asian and Australian.
- There are nine states with observer status: China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Netherlands, Russia and Spain.
Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah retain top spots in ICC ODI rankings
- Indian skipper Virat Kohli and pacer Jasprit Bumrah retained their respective top spots in the latest One-Day International (ODI) rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
- Rohit Sharma also remained static at the second spot in the batmen’s list. Kohli has 899 points while Rohit has 871.
- In the bowlers’ chart, top ranked Bumrah has 841 points, spinner Kuldeep Yadav held on to the third place while Yuzvendra Chahal jumped three places to the fifth spot.
- In the team rankings, India with 121 points, remained second behind England (126 points). Rashid Khan of Afghanistan with 353 points is the top-ranked all-rounder.
India emerges as leading seed hub in Asia
- India has emerged as a major seed hub in Asia, with four Indian seed companies featuring in top 10 of the first ever “Access to Seeds Index for South and Southeast Asia”.
- While the list was topped by the Thailand-based East-West Seed, the four Indian companies to lead seed industry on increasing smallholder farmer productivity were Advanta, Acsen HyVeg, Namdhari Seeds and Nuziveedu Seeds.
- Nearly 21 companies sell seeds in India and 18 have invested in breeding and production activities in the country.
- In comparison, only 11 companies invest in breeding activities in Thailand and eight in Indonesia, the two other major regional seed hubs, according to the ASI.
- Namdhari Seeds and Nuziveedu Seeds scored high points due to breeding programmes with a strong focus on the preferences and needs of small-holder farmers.
November 2018 – Monthly PDF | Monthly Quiz eBook
Go To Assam Current Affairs Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz
