Current affairs notes on November 18-23

 1. Hurricane Iota has made landfall in Nicaragua in Central America and has developed into a category five storm. Tropical cyclones or hurricanes use warm, moist air as fuel, and therefore form over warm ocean waters near the equator. Storms that form towards the north of the equator rotate counterclockwise, while those that form to the south spin clockwise because of the rotation of the Earth.

2.A Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde has observed that it is “trying to discourage” individuals from filing petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution. Article 32 deals with the ‘Right to Constitutional Remedies’, or affirms the right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred in Part III of the Constitution.

3.Article 363-A was inserted in the Constitution (Twenty-sixth Amendment) Act, 1971. This amendment is best known for abolition of Privy Purse.

4. Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM): It is a short range surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, primarily designed and developed by DRDO to provide a protective shield to moving armoured columns of the Army from enemy aerial attacks.

5. The Jammu and Kashmir administration is in in the process of implementing the Forest Rights Act of 2006 “to grant the rights to forest dwellers.The Forest Rights Act of 2006 provides for granting of rights to forest dwellers across the country. It was not applicable or implemented in J&K till 31st October, 2019.

6. Madhya Pradesh government has decided to set up a ‘Gau Cabinet’ for the protection and promotion of cattle. The Animal Husbandry, Forest, Panchayat and Rural Development, Revenue, Home and Farmers’ Welfare Departments would be part of the Cabinet.

7. Rajasthan Government has launched a maternity benefit scheme for four districts under which mothers will get ₹6,000 for the second child. This Scheme will be called Indira Gandhi Matritva Poshan Yojana. This will supplement the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under which mothers get ₹5,000 for their first child.

8. The first meeting between India and Luxembourg in 20 years was held recently. India also invited Luxembourg to join the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

9. The latest Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was held online this year because of the pandemic. APEC, It is a regional economic forum established in 1989 to leverage the growing interdependence of the Asia-Pacific. APEC’s 21 member economies are Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; Chile; People’s Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; Mexico; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Peru; The Philippines; The Russian Federation; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America; Viet Nam.

10. Global information technology service provider Atos has announced that PARAM Siddhi – AI has been ranked 63 on the TOP500 ranking. This makes it India’s largest and fastest Supercomputer.

11. The Government is preparing for the nationwide launch of the National Digital Health Mission. The scheme was rolled out through a pilot launch in the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Ladakh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. It is a digital health ecosystem under which every Indian citizen will now have unique health IDs, digitised health records with identifiers for doctors and health facilities.

12. scientists have now discovered another deadly virus, known as the Chapare virus, in Bolivia. The Chapare hemorrhagic fever (CHHF) is caused by the same arenavirus family that is responsible for illnesses such as the Ebola virus disease (EVD).

13. Scottish author Douglas Stuart has been awarded the 2020 Booker Prize for his acclaimed debut novel Shuggie Bain, set in his home city of Glasgow. The Booker Prize is the leading literary award in the English speaking world. The Prize is awarded annually for a single book, translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland.

14. World Fisheries Day:Celebrated on 21st November every year to demonstrate solidarity with all fisherfolk, fish farmers and concerned stakeholders throughout the world.

15. India will soon launch an ambitious ‘Deep Ocean Mission’. The mission proposes to explore the deep ocean similar to the space exploration started by ISRO about 35 years ago. The focus of the mission will be on deep-sea mining, ocean climate change advisory services, underwater vehicles and underwater robotics related technologies

16. Kerala Government has introduced Section 118A in the Kerala Police Act, to penalise ‘offensive,’ ‘abusive,’ and ‘threatening’ social media posts. A similar law was repealed by the Supreme Court in 2015 along with Section 66A of the IT Act — Section 118(d) of the Kerala Police Act —  for being a threat to free speech.

17. SITMEX-20:It is a trilateral naval exercise between India, Thailand and Singapore. The latest edition was held in the Andaman sea.

18. To commemorate the launch of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G), which aims to provide “Housing for All” by 2022, it was decided to celebrate 20th November every year as “Awaas Diwas”.