Important daily affairs of 20 November 2018

This post contains important current affairs (National, International, Business and Sports) of 20 November 2018.

• SBICAP Ventures (SVL), an alternative asset manager and a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets, has launched two funds for the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and affordable housing sectors. The SME fund is expecting to raise a corpus of Rs 400 crore, while the affordable housing fund would look at raising Rs 350 crore. Before this, SBICAP Ventures had launched a fund named Neev Fund in 2015 with a focus on the low-income states for small infrastructure projects.
• National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) launched a mobile application and web-based platform for retail investors to buy government securities (G-Secs). The new app - 'NSE goBID', was launched by SEBI chairman Ajay Tyagi. Through this app, retail investors can invest in treasury bills (T-Bills) of 91 days, 182 days and 364 days and various government bonds from one year to almost 40 years. It will allow investors to make payments directly from their bank accounts using the unified payments interface (UPI) and internet banking. RBI conducts auction of G-sec and T-bills on a weekly basis where 5 per cent of the notified amount is allotted for eligible investors under the scheme for non-competitive bidding facility.
• Israel's Cabinet approved Amir Yaron as the next governor of the Bank of Israel for 5 years. He replaced Karnit Flug, who became the first woman to hold the post when she took over in 2013. Prior to this, he was the a finance professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
• Indo-Japan Business Council's Business Festival recently held in Pune. The Indo-Japan Business Council (IJBC), hosted KONNICHI WA PUNE - a first of its kind business festival in Pune. The festival was aimed to boost investment, promote businesses and cultural exchange between India and Jap

• UASG (Universal Acceptance Steering Group) conferred "Universal Acceptance Thought Leader award" on Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for providing Rajmail email service for citizens of Rajasthan in local script. UASG has recognised the work of Vasundhara Raje and IT Department for Rajmail project that offers access to email address to people in Rajasthan in Indic script. The technology for Rajmail was developed by Data XGen Technologies, a Rajasthan based firm.
• The 49th edition of the International Film Festival of India opened with the gala opening ceremony at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium in Goa. The 9-day event will showcase 212 films from 68 countries. While The Aspern Papers is the opening film, Sealed Lips will be the closing movie. Chaitanya Prasad is the Director of Festival. While Israel is the focus country, Jharkhand is the focus state this year. Ten Israeli films including The Other Story will be screened at the IFFI. Veteran Israeli filmmaker Dan Wolman will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award this year.
• In Haryana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently laid foundation of India's first Sri Vishwakarma Skill Development University at village Dudhola in Palwal district via remote control . The University would impart skill training to the youth and encourage them to be self employed. It's campus would be developed over 82.7 acres at a sum of over Rs 1,000 crore
• November 17th is seen annually as National Epilepsy Day to create awareness about epilepsy in India. According to World Health Organization (WHO), about 50 million people have epilepsy across the world, out of which 80 percent people are living in developing countries. Globally, the World Epilepsy Day or better known as Purple Day is observed on March 26th annually.
• Jalaj Srivastava, a 1984 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, has been appointed the chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). The IWAI comes under the Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, currently headed by Nitin Gadkari. Srivastava is presently working as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture.
• President Ram Nath Kovind addresses Vietnam India business forum and Indian Community at Hanoi in Vietnam on Monday. The President urged Vietnamese and Indian businesses to partner each other for trade and investment, and technology collaboration.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation launched AirSewa web portal and mobile app in November 2016 to address Air passengers' issues. Suresh Prabhu and Jayant Sinha also gave away the champion award to Chennai airport which saw 100% timely closure of grievances in one year.
• Chandramukhi Muvvala contesting in the upcoming Assembly Elections. Chandramukhi Muvvala, who filed her nomination against former minister and senior Congress leader Mukesh Goud and controversial BJP leader T Raja Singh in Goshamahal constituency for Bahujana Left Front (BLF) ticket. She announced that her aims to fight for equal rights and against atrocities on transgender persons if she wins.
• Tripura will host the 7th International Tourism Mart from 22nd November 2018 at Agartala. The three day event, which aims at propagate tourism potentials of the northeast states, will have tour operator delegates from 18 countries. The International Tourism Mart is an annual event that is held in the northeastern states. Tripura will be hosting it for the first time this year. The estimated budget of the fair this year is Rs 2.6 crore. This event has been organized in Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur in the past. The previous edition of this event was organized in Guwahati in December 2017.

• The world's standard definition of the kilogram, the ampere, the kelvin and the mole has been changed, after representatives from 60 countries voted to redefine the International System of Units (SI) for weight, current, temperature and amount of chemical substance. The new definition of Kilogram will be replaced by the Planck constant. It will adopted on May 20, which is World Metrology Day. The new definition of kg involves accurate weighing machines called 'Kibble balance'.
• Morocco's first high-speed rail line, the first ever such line in Africa was unveiled. It was inaugurated by French President Emmanuel Macron and Morocco's King Mohammed VI. It is known and LGV and will connect the economic hubs of Tangier and Casablanca in 2 hours 10 minutes. The cost of the project was $2 billion project and was launched in September 2011.
• The 0.7 m GROWTH-India telescope located at Indian Astronomical Observatory in Hanle, Ladakh has made its first observation which is a follow-up study of a nova explosion. The GROWTH-India is a part of multi-country collaborative initiative known as Global Relay of Observatories Watching Transients Happen (GROWTH)to observe transient events in the Universe. Universities and Research Institutes of USA, Japan, India, Germany, Taiwan, UK and Israel are part of this Initiative. GROWTH-India is India's first fully robotic telescope designed to capture cosmic events.
• 2-day Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC)Summit 2018 concluded in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. It was hosted by Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O'Neill. All 21 member countries of APEC participated in the Summit. It is the 1st such summit which in its 25-year history failed to agree on a formal joint statement.

• India's top junior shuttler Lakshya Sen (17 years old) won bronze medal at Li Ning BWF World Junior Badminton Championships 2018 held at Markham, Canada. In singles semi-final match, he lost to top seed and world junior number one Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand. This was Sen's first medal from this prestigious tournament in three attempts.

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