Important current affairs of 19 November 2018

This post contains important current affairs (National, International, Business and Sports) of 19 November 2018.

• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Asia's oldest bourse, is to snap ties with S&P Dow Jones. BSE plans to develop indices through its in-house development team. S&P Dow Jones manages and operates the benchmark Sensex. The two entities had announced a joint venture (JV) named Asia Index in 2013. The JV is to provide an array of indices enabling global and domestic investors to participate in South Asia's vibrant economies.
• Oracle's ex-product chief Thomas Kurian will head Google's cloud division. He will replace Diane Greene. Kurian will join Google Cloud on November 26 and transition into the leadership role in early 2019. Greene, who will remain a director on the Alphabet board, had joined Google in December 2015 to run its cloud business.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet appointed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey as the new revenue secretary. He will succeed current Finance and Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia. Mr Adhia is retiring on November 30. Mr Pandey will continue to hold the charge as the CEO of UIDAI and GSTN Chairman until further orders. Pandey is a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Maharashtra cadre.
• Karnataka Bank has launched a special campaign for opening current account and savings accounts (CASA). The campaign will remain in force for a period of three-and-a-half months from November 15 to February 28. It has been introduced as a new SB scheme 'KBL SB - TASC' a specialized product for Trusts/Associates/Societies/Clubs. Bank intends to open more than 4.18 lakh Current & Savings accounts by the active involvement of its 8000 plus workforce in all the 823 branches across India.

• Dr. TS Kanaka, the continent's first woman neurosurgeon, passed away after a brief illness at the age of 86. She was the third woman neurosurgeon in the whole world. Born on March 31, 1932, and raised in Chennai, she obtained her MBBS degree in December 1954, and Master of Surgery in Neurosurgery in March 1968.
• One of India's greatest sarod masters, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, was presented the 'Sumitra Charat Ram Award for Lifetime Achievement' at the Kamani Auditorium, New Delhi, for his "immense contribution to the enrichment and promotion of the Indian classical music". The award was presented to him by former diplomat Lalit Mansingh. Best known for his clear and fast 'ekhara taans', Khan was born in 1945 in Gwalior. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan (in 2001) and is among the tallest Indian classical musicians.
• The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) has rolled out- KOOL, its Online Open Learning training platform. The platform can be used to train teachers, students and the general public. With the state's schools going Hi-Tech, requiring teachers and students to be trained on different domains simultaneously, it was decided to launch KOOL. KOOL has been designed in a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) model.
• Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) celebrated the first Naturopathy Day throughout India on 18th November 2018. Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy, an autonomous body under AYUSH Ministry, organised health camps, workshops and exhibitions in association with local naturopathy centres and hospitals from 14th to 18th November 2018. AYUSH Minister Shripad Yesso Naik inaugurated the first Naturopathy Day Programme in New Delhi. Over 1,000 Naturopathy specialist doctors from all over India participated in the event organised by International Naturopathy Organisation (INO) along with Ministry of AYUSH.
• Eminent breast cancer surgeon Raghu Ram who is also the director of KIMS Ushalakshmi centre for breast diseases has been elected the President of Association of Surgeons of India (ASI) by defeating Tamonas Chaudhuri from Kolkata. The result was declared at ASI Headquarter in Chennai by Mr. Arvind Kumar who acted as the chief election officer. Raghu Ram is a recipient of Padma Shri award and B.C. Roy National Award. ASI regarded as "Voice of Surgery" in India is the largest surgical Association of Asia Pacific Region.Americal College of Surgeons is the largest surgical association of the world.
• Dr. Saroj Suman Gulati conferred with Global Education Leaders Award 2018. She is the Director of Blue Bells Group of Schools. She was awarded in recognition of her remarkable contribution to 'K-12 education and promotion of Art and Culture'. The award was conferred by His Highness Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, member of the Cabinet and Minister of State for Tolerance, United Arab Emirates.

• The joint military exercise between India and Russia EXERCISE INDRA 2018 on combating insurgency under the aegis of United Nations (UN) was conducted at Babina Military Station in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh. Company sized contingents of the 5th Army of the Russian Federation and a Mechanised Infantry Battalion of India participated in the training exercise. The aim of the exercise is to practice joint planning and conduct to enhance interoperability of the two Armies in the peacekeeping / enforcement environment under the aegis of the UN. This is the tenth series of Exercise INDRA.
• China has built an 'artificial sun' that reaches 100 million °C, 6 times the temperature of Sun's core of 15 million °C. On 13th November 2018, scientists from China's Institute of Plasma Physics announced that plasma in their Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) also called the "artificial sun", reached 100 million °C, the temperature required to perform nuclear fusion on Earth. The EAST reactor has been designed to replicate processes happening at the Sun to turn hydrogen into cost-effective green energy. EAST is 11 metres tall. It has a diameter of 8 metres. It weighs nearly 360 tonnes. The record temperature was achieved through various new techniques in heating and controlling the plasma. But they were able to maintain the state for only about 10 seconds.
• The World Toilet Day is organized around the world on 19th of November. The day is about inspiring action to tackle the global sanitation crisis. The theme for WTD 2018 is 'When Nature Calls'. United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of sanitation and water for all by 2030.
• The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDoR) is observed on the third Sunday of November each year. The slogan for 2018 is 'Roads have Stories'. The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was started by RoadPeace in 1993.
• Stephen Barclay, Junior Health Minister who voted to leave European Union in the 2016 referendum has been appointed as the new Brexit Secretary by British Prime Minister Theresa May. Stephen Barclay replaced Dominic Raab who resigned over Theresa May's draft plan for leaving EU. Barclay will focus on domestic readiness for Brexit.

• India's Lakshya Sen won a bronze medal in the BWF World junior badminton championship at Markham, Canada. He was defeated by Thailand's Vitidsarn. Lakshya Sen, the 17-year-old from Almora, fought hard before going down 22-20, 16-21, 13-21 in a match that went on for an hour and 11 minutes. Earlier this year he clinched the Asian Junior title.
• Mohd. Asab and Ahvar Rizvi defeated Ankur Mittal, the reigning World champion, and won the double trap gold and silver in the 62nd National Shotgun championship held at Jaipur, Rajasthan. Asab shot 134 to beat Ahvar by one point and Ankur shot 128.
• Alexander Zverev has won ATP World Tour finals in London. Alexander Zverev defeated world number one Novak Djokovic in straight sets to claim the season-ending ATP Finals and earn the biggest victory of his career. Zverev also became the first player to beat both Djokovic and Federer in the same ATP Finals. The 21-year-old Zverev became the youngest champion of the season-ending event since Djokovic claimed the first of his five titles a decade ago and the first from Germany since 1995.

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