Daily Current Affairs and GK | 11 November 2019

1. US court allows H-1B Visa as a work permit to spouses

• A three-Judge bench of the US Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has given temporary relief by allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to work in the US.
• Particularly, Indian women will be most benefited from the judgement as it was alleged that the present Trump Administration wants to revoke this rule.
• H-1B Visa: It is a non- immigrant visa that permits US companies to employ foreign workers in specific occupations. This rule was prompted by Ex-US President in the year 2015, which allowed work permit for spouses of those having H-1B work visas waiting for their Green Card.

2. Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) in UAE

• Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is on a 3-day visit to UAE to participate in the Ministerial panel discussion of ADIPEC from 10-12 November, 2019.
• Indian Petroleum Minister and UAE counterpart Minister of Energy and Industry, Suhail Mohamed Faraj Al Mazrouei, will discuss issues of bilateral hydrocarbon engagements as well as traverse the opportunities for steel exports to the Middle-East countries. 

3. 5^th Global Exhibition on Services to be held in Bangalore from 26-28 November 2019

• The Global Exhibition on Services (GES) is an annual event that aims at engaging industries and governments across the world for greater exchange of trade in services between India and the rest of the world.
• India aims to attract more investments and partnerships in strategic areas like aviation and space programme, infrastructure, and telecom projects through GES.

4. Conference called Def-Connect in New Delhi to showcase accomplishments of iDEX

• Ministry of defence is organising a Conference called Def-Connect in New Delhi today to showcase the accomplishments of the Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is the Chief Guest for the event. 
• Def-connect aims to bring closer all stakeholders of the iDEX ecosystem, i.e., Ministry of Defence, Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), Nodal agencies (Indian Army, Navy, Air Force), DRDO, Indian Ordnance Factory, etc.
• This 1-day event includes the launch of iDEX Portal and Defence India Start-up Challenge (DISC)-III.

5. 50^th  annual meet of World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2020

• Along with many political leaders and Bollywood stars, over 100 Indian CEOs will attend 50^th anniversary of WEF in ski resort town of Davos, Switzerland, in January 2020.
• The theme of the meet will be the “cohesive and sustainable development of the world.”
• This annual meet will aim to track progress towards the Paris Agreement and to the Sustainable Development Goals.
• World Economic Forum: It is a non-governmental organization that was founded in 1971. It is headquartered in Cologny, Switzerland.

6. Assamese version of the book titled “Courts of India: Past to Present” released by CJI Ranjan Gogoi

• Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi released the Assamese version of the book titled  “Courts of India: Past to Present”  in Guwahati, Assam.
• Along with CJI, Sarbananda Sonowal (Chief Minister of Assam), Sharad Arvind Bobde (a renowned Judge of Supreme Court) and Ira Joshi (DG of All India Radio News and Publication Division) also attended the event.
• This book is published by Publication Division and is compiled by the Editorial Committee of the Supreme Court.
• The Supreme Court has decided to publish translations of the book in the regional languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of Indian Constitution and the first translation has been done in the Assamese language.

7. India-China Business Forum called-off

• An India-China Business forum meet was postponed due to the non-issuance of visas to the Chinese delegation.
• This meet takes place every year and is going to scheduled this year on 13-14 November in New Delhi.
• Union Minister of MSME Nitin Gadkari was listed as Chief Guest of the meet, and Chief Economic Advisor K Subramanian, along with members of NITI Aayog, were among the speakers.

8. Grace Elizabeth Koshie is the new  Chairperson of Federal Bank

• Grace Elizabeth Koshie is appointed as 1^st women Chairperson of South-based private sector lender Federal Bank.
• Federal bank is the largest private sector lender in Kerala, Tamil Nadu.
• Grace Elizabeth Koshie was also the 1^st women director in the Federal Bank Board.

9. Former chief election commissioner TN Seshan passes away

• The 86-year old former CEC- T N Seshan died yesterday in Chennai due to cardiac arrest.
• He was a 1955 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre.
• Apart from holding strategic posts like Defence Secretary and Cabinet Secretary, he is best remembered as the Election Commissioner of India for the reforms he brought in the electoral process in the year 1990 and the strength he gave to our democratic structure.

10. Japan’s Badminton player Kento Momota and China’s player Chen Yufei won China Open 2019 in Fuzhou, China

• Japanese Badminton player Kento Momota won his 10^th  title by defeating Taiwan’s Badminton player Tien-Chen.
• Also, Chinese player Chen Yufei won women’s title by defeating Japan's Nozomi Okuhara.

Multiple Choice Questions:

1. What does H-1B represent?

a. A type of vaccination for a flu virus

b. A type of Visa

c. A genetically modulated variety of rice

d. A newly discovered gene for HIV

Correct answer: b

2. What does iDEX stand for?

a. Innovations for Defence Excellence

b. Innovative Defence Excellence

c. Innovations in Designing  and Excellence

d. Innovations in Demands and Export

Correct answer: a

3.  Where is the headquarters of the World Economic Forum (WEF) located?

a. Davos, Switzerland

b. Geneva, Switzerland

c. Cologny, Switzerland

d. Zurich, Switzerland

Correct answer: c

4. The book titled “Courts of India: Past to Present” has been released in which of the following languages?

a. Manipuri

b. Bengali

c. Odia

d. Assamese

Correct answer: d

5. Who was T N Seshan?

a. Former Election Commissioner of India

b. Former Cabinet Secretary to Central Government

c. Former Defence Secretary in Ministry of Defence

d. All of the above

Correct answer: d