Important current affairs of 23 November 2018

This post contains important current affairs (National, International, Business and Sports) of 23 November 2018.

• Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro, has won Forbes India Leadership Awards 2018, Lifetime Achievement. Wipro is India's fourth-biggest software services company by revenue and Ajim Premji is the second richest Indian. The Forbes India Leadership Awards, India's most prestigious honour for the top executives, was held in Mumbai. Forbes India honoured entrepreneurs and company bosses across nine categories, with an emphasis on excellence, innovation, and transformational leadership.
• Renault has appointed its Chief Operating Officer (COO) Thierry Bollore as deputy CEO to ensure day-to-day management of the company. His appointment was made after the arrest of its CEO Carlos Ghosn but he will remain as its CEO. Renault's move to appoint a temporary leader was in line with a demand by the French government, which owns a 15% stake in the automaker.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a grand challenge, in the Startup India Portal platform, for improving the Ease of Doing Business in New Delhi. This iniative will invite innovative ideas based on cutting-edge technology to reform Government processes and better India's Ease of Doing Business rank. This is a step towards PM's vision of achieving the goal of 50th position in the Ease of Doing Business.
• Facebook Inc.-owned messaging service WhatsApp on it has appointed Abhijit Bose as head of WhatsApp India, the local entity that is expected to begin operations next year amid calls to check the spread of fake messages. Bose, who was the co-founder and chief executive officer of enterprise payments solutions firm Ezetap, will be based in Gurugram, and join the messaging app in 2019. The move marks the first step by WhatsApp towards meeting the union government's demand to curb the spread of fake news on the platform.
• Paytm (One 97 Communications Limited) has partnered with the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) to offer online insurance premium payments on its platform. Softbank-backed Paytm will provide premium payment solutions from over 30 insurance companies including LIC, ICICI Prudential Life, Reliance Life, and Max Life Insurance among others.
• The Ujjivan small finance bank a wholly owned subsidiary of Ujjivan Financial Services Limited introduced a new personal loan scheme for salaried individuals. The 14 tier I and tier II locations where the product will be launched are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Surat, Mumbai, Mysore, Ankaleshwar, Coimbatore, Kochi, Chennai and Vadodara. Personal loans starting from Rs 50,000up to Rs 15 lakhs will be offered to salaried professionals who are earning a monthly salary above Rs 15,000.

• Open Forum at International Film Festival of India to begin in Goa. It provides a platform to filmmakers, actors, jury members, senior government officials, an organizers of film festivals from India and abroad to exchange their views in a free and frank manner. The topic for today's Open Forum is the role of film festivals in promoting film culture and the need for spreading film festivals across the country.
• Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore today inaugurated a multi-media digital exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi at the International Film festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, Goa. Titled "Mahatma on Celluloid", the exhibition provides a state-of-the-art digital experience to the viewers who can relive the life and times of Mahatma, and draw inspiration from his ideas and work.
• A National Institute of Inter-Faith Studies to be set up in Punjab to commemorate 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Government. The Yearlong Celebration starting November 23rd this year will include a number of commemorative as well as construction activities will be taken up during the commemoration period. A number of religious activities like kirtan, katha, prabhat pheri, langar and educational activities such as seminars, workshops, lectures etc. will be organized. SGPC, Amritsar will be the knowledge partner of the Government of India. Commemorative coin and postage stamp will also be released.
• Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) has decided to ask evaluators to enter the marks through an online software. The measure is to reduce human error while collecting the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC). Online mark porting software will be used by evaluators to enter the marks after the answer script is evaluated for the SSLC March 2019 examination. The State has made an arrangement for the evaluators. They would be trained in the new process and there would be a helpline dedicated to answering calls. Each evaluator will get a login and password to enter the marks. So far, due to errors, the board would receive several requests for re-totalling, and photocopy of answer scripts. For the exams held in March 2018, the board got 67,895 requests for photocopies and 11,596 requests for re-totalling and re-evaluation.
• The Maharashtra government has appointed Dr Jagannath Dixit as the Brand Ambassador of its anti-obesity campaign. Dr Dixit has been appointed due to his experience and knowledge in the field. Dr Dixit is attached to the Government Medical College, Latur as a Professor.
• National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) approved 10 sewerage projects worth Rs 1573.28 crore to address Yamuna's pollution issues in Agra. The decision was taken by the Executive Committee (EC) of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) for the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh. This includes The project for Rehabilitation / Renovation of Agra Sewerage Scheme (Interception & Diversion Works) at a total cost of Rs. 857.26 crore including O&M cost for 15 years. Sewerage scheme for Zone-II and III of Paonta Town, Himachal Pradesh was approved at a total project cost of Rs.11.57 crore. Interception & Diversion works (I&D) and Sewage Treatment Plant at Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh were approved by EC at a total project cost of Rs.64.76 plus O&M costs for 15 years.
• Centre approved additional assistance of Rs 546.21 crore from National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Karnataka. This decision was taken during a High-Level Committee meeting, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi, to consider the additional Central Assistance to Karnataka affected by floods in 2018. The fund has been approved following a report of an inter-ministerial team that visited areas affected by floods and landslides in Karnataka including Kodagu district, which is India's largest coffee-growing region.

• India and Russia signed a USD 500 million deal for construction of two missile frigates in Goa for the Indian Navy on 20 November 2018. The agreement for manufacturing of the two Talvar-class warships was signed between Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) and Russia's state-run defence major Rosoboronexport. Russia will provide design, technology and key materials to GSL for construction of the ships.
• The second edition of the India-UAE Strategic Conclave will be held in the capital city of Abu Dhabi on 27th of November. The day-long conclave will initiate a dialogue to widen the scope of bilateral investments. Indian Ambassador to the UAE, Navdeep Suri will inaugurate the conclave. It is being organized by the Economic Times, India. Key business leaders and senior government officials will come together to lay the blueprint for greater economic cooperation between the two countries and explore the economic gains through boosting the status of both countries as major trade hubs and key gateways to regional and international markets.
• Expedia Vacation Deprivation Report 2018 was released that stated that India is among the most vacation deprived nation in the world ranking 5th among the 19 surveyed countries. As per data, 53 percent of Indians take fewer vacation days than they get. 35 percent don't take leave as work schedule does not allow for vacation. 68 percent of Indians have ended up canceling their vacation due to work.
• United Nation Environment has awarded Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India with Asia Environment Enforcement Awards, 2018 for excellent work done by the Bureau in combating transboundary environmental crime. WCCB has been conferred this award in the Innovation category. The awards are given to outstanding individuals and/or government organizations/teams that demonstrate excellence and leadership in the enforcement of national laws to combat transboundary environmental crime in one of the eligibility criteria areas: collaboration; impact; innovation; integrity and gender leadership.
• Tanzanian national Joyce Msuya was appointed as acting Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) following the resignation of the executive director Erik Solheim.

• FIG Acrobatic Gymnastics world cup was held at National Gymnastic Arena in Baku for the first time in which India wins two bronze medals in the men's and women's group events. Indian women's trio of Ayushi Ghodeswar, Prachi Parkhi and Mrunmayi Walde scored 18.200 and bagged bronze medal.
• Fielding coach Nic Pothas has been appointed interim head coach of West Indies for the tour of Bangladesh. He replaces Stuart Law. Nic Pothas will be in charge during the tour of Bangladesh. In April 2017, Nic Pothas resigned as the fielding consultant of Sri Lanka.

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