Daily Current Affairs and GK | 10 November 2019

1. SC Verdict: disputed land is given for construction of Ram Temple

• The five-judge constitutional bench has unanimously given the verdict regarding Ayodhya-Babri Masjid land Dispute case.
• Over 2.77 acres of disputed land will be handed over to trust (to be constituted) for the construction of Ram Temple.
• While 5 acres of land at a suitable place in Ayodhya will be given to the Sunni Waqf Board for mosque construction.
• The bench has also directed the Centre to form a trust within 3 months that will build the temple at the disputed site.

2. Sanskrit Bharati Vishwa Sammelan

• Sanskrit Bharati Vishwa Sammelan has begun in New Delhi from yesterday and will continue till the 11^th of this month.
• It is a three-day mega-event that is being attended by more than 1000 representatives from 17 countries.
• While addressing the gathering, Minister of State External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said that Sanskrit words are found in most of the Indian languages.

3. Mauritius Prime Minister declares his victory in recent elections

• Mauritius PM Pravind Kumar Jagnauth declared his victory in the recent elections held in the country.
• Indian PM has congratulated his Mauritius counterpart and the two sides reiterated their commitment to further strengthen the bilateral relations.
• Mauritius
  • It is an island nation located in the Indian ocean.
  • Its capital is Port Louis, and its currency is Mauritian rupee.

4. One-day national workshop on ODF Plus held in New Delhi

• A one-day national workshop on Open Defecation Free (ODF) Plus was organized in New Delhi by the Ministry of Jal Shakti.
• Various key state-level officials from 12 states were present in the workshop.
• ODF Plus consists of two main tracks- ODF Sustainability (ODF-S) and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM).
• ODF-S includes the continuation of behaviour change for safe sanitation, addressing gaps, building community toilets, etc.
• SLWM includes biodegradable waste management, plastic waste management, greywater management, etc.
• As of October 2019, 5.99 lakh villages, 699 districts and 35 States and UTs have declared themselves ODF under Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

5. Indian Air quality Interactive Repository- IndAIR

• Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) has launched India’s first web repository called IndAIR.
• The repository has documented all the studies related to air quality in the last 60 years.
• The repository consists of 262 studies concerning Delhi-NCR, which makes it one of the few facilities across the world with such number of studies.
• The web facility revealed that air pollution was recognized as a subject in India in 1905 during a study of the Bengal Smoking Nuisance Act.
• CSIR-NEERI
  • It is a research institute that was established in 1958 in Nagpur.
  • It comes under the Ministry of Science and Technology, GoI.

6. Regional Level Search and Rescue Workshop and Exercise-2019 (ReSAREX-2019)

• Indian Coast Guard has conducted the Regional Level Search and Rescue Workshop and Exercise -2019 (ReSAREX-2019).
• Coast Guard District Headquarters-11 (Goa) organized this two-day event, which included the search and rescue workshop, tabletop exercise, and search and rescue exercise at sea.
• The exercise tested the operational efficiency of various SAR agencies in Goa.

7. India Justice Report 2019

• Tata Trusts in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, TISS, and others recently released India Justice Report 2019.
• A first of its kind initiative rank Indian states based on the ‘four’ pillars of justice- police, prisons, legal aid and the judiciary in each state.
• The report has divided the states into two parts- Large-medium states (Population>=1 crore) and small states and UTs (Population < 1 crore).
• Maharashtra has topped the list among large-medium states while Goa has topped among the smaller states.

8. ‘Samudra Shakti’: India-Indonesia joint naval exercise

• A joint naval exercise ‘Samudra Shakti’ has been conducted in the Bay of Bengal between the naval forces of India and Indonesia.
• INS Kamorta (Indian warship) and KRI Usman Harun (Indonesian warship) participated in this bilateral exercise.
• The aim of the exercise is to enhance bilateral relations, increase maritime cooperation, and interoperability between the two forces. 

9. NCRB released data on accidental and suicidal deaths in India

• National Crime Records Bureau has recently released the ‘Accidental Death and Suicide Report’ for 2016.
• The report shows that the number of farmer suicides has come down to around 21%, but those by farm labourers has increased by 10%.
• Maharashtra still registers the maximum cases of farmer suicide followed by Karnataka.
• The report also revealed that around 4 lakh people died accidentally in 2016. Out of all accidental and suicidal deaths, the majority of deaths occurred due to traffic accidents.
• National Crime Records Bureau
  • It is an agency of Govt. of India that collects and analyze crime statistics and acts as a repository of information on crime and criminals.
  • It was established in 1986 and is headquartered in New Delhi.
  • It works under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

10. H D Sarma appointed as the new coordinator of NRC in Assam

• A 1989 batch Assamese Civil Service officer Hitesh Dev Sarma has been appointed as the NRC coordinator in Assam.
• National Register of Citizen (NRC)
  • It is a register containing names of all Indian citizens of Assam. It was first prepared in 1951, and only after the SC directions in 2013 updating process has been started in Assam.

Multiple Choice Questions:

1. Who has recently been appointed as State Co-ordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC)?

a. Hitesh Dev Sharma

b. Satish Chandra Pal

c. Vishweshar Sharma

d. Prahlad Singh

Correct answer: a

2. According to the India Justice Report 2019, which Indian state comes 1^st in providing justice to its citizens?

a. Madhya Pradesh

b. Rajasthan

c. Maharashtra

d. Kerala

Correct answer: c

3. Recently, where did the Sanskrit Bharati Vishwa Sammelan 2019 take place?

a. New Delhi

b. Rajgir

c. Lucknow

d. Jaipur

Correct answer: a

4. Samudra Shakti is the naval exercise between which two countries?

a. India and US

b. India and China

c. India and Canada

d. India and Indonesia

Correct answer: d

5. Recently, Praveen Kumar Jaganath has been announced as the winner for the Prime Minister’s election of which country?

a. Nepal

b. Mauritius

c. Bhutan

d. Sri Lanka

Correct answer: b