Daily GK Updates - 15th November, 2018

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. First Ramayana Express flagged off : First ‘Ramayana Express’ was flagged off from Delhi on 14 November 2018.The Ramayana Express will make its first stop in Ayodhya followed by Hanuman Garhi Ramkot and Kanak Bhawan temple.The trains will make stops at Nandigram, Sitamarhi, Janakpur, Varanasi, Prayag, Shringaverpur, Chitrakoot, Nasik, Hampi and Rameshwaram.

2. Odisha signed MoU with AIFF : A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has signed between the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and the Odisha government.As per the MoU, the Government of Odisha will act as the host of the AIFF national team camps as well as of the home of Indian Arrows.The MoU was signed at the Kalinga Stadium complex in Odisha.

3. Justice Mathur took oath as Allahabad HC CJ : Justice Govind Mathur took oath as the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court on 14 November 2018.The oath was administered by Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik.Justice Mathur was appointed as a judge in the Rajasthan High Court in September 2004.He was transferred to the Allahabad High Court from Rajasthan High Court in November 2017.

4. Delhi Police launched e-learning site ‘NIPUN’ : Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik has launched the e-Learning portal of Delhi Police called ‘NIPUN’ on 14 November 2018.The e-learning portal aims to give online training and information through specialised courses designed by experts in the field.The website will also act as a tool for feedback mechanism and bridge communication gap

5. Sanjay Karol sworn in as CJ of Tripura HC : Justice Sanjay Karol sworn in as the new Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court on 14 November 2018.Tripura Governor, Kaptan Singh Solanki administered the oath of office and secrecy to Justice Karol. Justice Karol was previously a judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.He has become the fourth Chief Justice of Tripura High Court.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. ‘ASEAN-India Breakfast Summit’ held : Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the ‘ASEAN-India Breakfast Summit’ in Singapore on 15 November 2018.He reaffirmed cooperation in maritime domain and centrality of trade and investment towards prosperity of Indo-Pacific.He also held separate bilateral meetings with the premiers of Singapore, Australia and Thailand.

2. ‘India-Singapore Hackathon’ winners awarded : Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitated the six winning teams of the first ‘India-Singapore Hackathon’ on 15 November 2018.‘India-Singapore Hackathon’ is a platform for the youth of the two countries to harness and showcase their innovations.The winning teams from India were IIT Kharagpur, NIT Trichy, and MIT College of Engineering, Pune.

3. PM Modi attended 13th East Asia Summit : Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the 13th East Asia Summit (EAS) in Singapore on 15 November 2018.It was Prime Minister Modi’s 5th East Asia Summit.The members of EAS consists of 10 ASEAN nations (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei and Laos), Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US.

4. ‘World Philosophy Day’ observed on 15 November : ‘World Philosophy Day’ is annually observed on the third Thursday of November to honour the philosophical reflections around the world.The aim of the day is to raise public awareness of the importance of philosophy.It also aims to underline the importance of the universalization of philosophy-teaching for future generations.‘World Philosophy Day’ was introduced in 2002 by UNESCO.

OTHER UPDATES:

BANKING/FINANCE:

1. Yes Bank chairman Ashok Chawla resigned : Ashok Chawla has resigned as the Non-Executive (Independent) Chairman of Yes Bank on 14 November 2018.He has also been serving as the Chairman of National Stock Exchange, a quasi-regulator under the SEBI Act, since 2016.Former finance secretary Ashok Chawla had also worked as the Chairman of CCI or Competition Commission of India.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

1. Massive meteorite impact crater discovered : Scientists have discovered a 31-kilometre wide meteorite impact crater buried beneath the ice-sheet in the northern Greenland.The crater was formed when a kilometre-wide iron meteorite smashed into northern Greenland.The crater was first discovered in July 2015.

2. Super-Earth’ discovered by scientists : An international team of scientists has discovered a cold ‘super-Earth’ exoplanet orbiting around the red dwarf Barnard, the second closest star system to Earth.The new planet has been named ‘Barnard’s star b’ (or GJ 699 b).It orbits its red star every 233 days near the snow-line, a distance where water freezes.Barnard’s star is six light-years away from earth.

3. Ghost galaxy spotted next to Milky Way : Scientists of the European Space Agency (ESA) has discovered a massive and very faint galaxy near the Milky Way.The name of the galaxy is Antlia 2 or Ant 2 and is known as a dwarf galaxy.The Galaxy was discovered with the help of Gaia satellite.Despite its size, the galaxy has very few stars.Ant 2 is 10,000 times fainter, meaning that it has about one 10,000th the number of stars

SPORTS:

1. Hima Das appointed as Youth Ambassador : Hima Das has been appointed as UNICEF India’s Youth Ambassador.She will work towards supporting various initiatives by UNICEF.  She will also work towards raising awareness about the rights and needs of the children.She won the gold medal in Women’s 4 x 400 m Relay event at the 2018 Asian Games.