Current Affairs Update 30 November 2018
Current Affairs is an important part for many exams. Be prepared for this section with ByScoop which brings all the important Current Affairs in one place. 30 November 2018
India to Chair Kimberley Process from 1st January 2019
- The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) Plenary 2018, was held in Brussels, Belgium, from 12-16, November 2018.
- Further, EU handed over the Chairmanship of KPCS to India to take charge from 1, January, 2019.
- Botswana and the Russian Federation will serve as Vice-Chair during the period of 2019-2020.
Uttarakhand adjudged ‘Best State’ at IITF Delhi
- Uttarakhand was adjudged the best state at the 38th India International Trade Fair, New Delhi, which was held from November 14 to 27.
- The award was given for showcasing reconstruction work done at Kedarnath in recent months besides steps taken by the state government to boost tourism and promote local products like organic honey.
- Himachal Pradesh pavilion has been awarded silver medal. This is for the first time that state pavilion has received an award for excellent display in the India International Trade Fair.
First India ASEAN InnoTech Summit 2018 Held in New Delhi
- The first India ASEAN InnoTech Summit 2018, a two-day International Innotech Summit, exhibition, B2B and B2G meetings was held on 29-30 November 2018 in New Delhi.
- The theme of India ASEAN InnoTech Summit was: Accelerating towards innovative development.
- It was organised by FICCI in association with the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and the Ministry of External Affairs to connect local and global research & development community for collaborative engagement.
India-US Air Force to Conduct Joint Exercise Cope India 2019 in West Bengal
- The Indian Air Force and the Air forces of the United States will participate in a 12-day joint exercise ‘Cope India 2018’ from December 3 to 14 in West Bengal. This is the 4th edition.
- The exercise will be held at two air force stations namely Air Station Kalaikunda and Air Station Arjan Singh (Panagarh).
- The Cope India exercise is being held after a gap of eight years, with the last one having taken place in 2010
Nagaland signs MoU with Estonian Academy on e-governance
- The Nagaland government has inked an MoU with e-Governance Academy of Estonia to work together to develop and expand scientific collaboration on setting up e-Governance Academy in Nagaland, and to enlighten the state people on the e-governance models prevailing in the world.
- The agreement was signed during the current edition of the e-Naga Summit in Kohima.
- The e-Naga Summit was held on the theme, “Building IT infrastructure to make the state of Nagaland the next IT hub of South-East Asia”.
BSE to Launch Bidding Platform ‘BSE-Direct’ for Retail Investor in G-secs from Dec 3
- Leading exchange BSE has announced to launch an online bidding platform ‘BSE-Direct’ for retail investors in non-competitive bidding of government securities (G-secs) and Treasury bills (T-bills) from December 03, 2018.
- BSE-Direct platform will offer easy access to participants and act as an efficient mechanism for delivering government securities to retail client.
ECB Launches Real-time Payments System TIPS in challenge to tech giants
- The European Central Bank (ECB) has rolled out the first pan-eurozone instant payment service called TIPS system.
- TARGET instant payment settlement (TIPS) service will allow consumers and businesses across the 19-nation euro area to send and receive money in mere seconds, without the usual lags associated with online and real-world transactions.The service is a direct challenge to the “digital wallets” provided by the likes of Google, Apple, Amazon or China’s Alibaba and Tencent, which offer contactless, super-fast online payments and have exploded in popularity.
- Headquarters: Frankfurt, Germany
4 Indian-origin women in Forbes Top 50 Female US Tech Moguls’ list
- Four Indian-origin women have been named by Forbes among America’s top 50 female technology moguls.
- They include:
- Padmasree Warrior: former chief technology officer (CTO) of Cisco;
- Komal Mangtani, senior director at app-based cab aggregator Uber;
- Neha Narkhede, chief technology officer and co-founder of streaming platform Confluent;
- Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan, CEO and founder of identity-management company Drawbrige;
- The America’s Top 50 Women in Tech 2018 is the inaugural edition of the list by Forbes which identifies three generations of forward-thinking technologists leading more than a dozen tech sectors across the globe.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui wins Award for Best Performance in “MANTO” at APSA 2018
- Nawazuddin Siddiqui has won the 12th Asia Pacific Screen Award (APSA) 2018 for Best Performance by an Actor for his film Manto.
- Nandita Das, the writer-director of the film, also received an award. She was felicitated with FIAPF Award for achievement in films in the Asia Pacific region.
Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin named Telangana Congress Working President
- Congress president Rahul Gandhi has approved the appointment of former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin, ex-MP, as working president of the Telanagana Pradesh Congress Committee.
- The former cricketer, who hails from Hyderabad, is seeking to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Secunderabad constituency in Telangana.
Alok Shrivastava gets additional charge of Secretary, Legal Affairs
- Alok Shrivastava has been given additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs.
- Shrivastava, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, is at present Secretary, Department of Justice.