NOV-8th-2015-Current Affairs

>>A second powerful cyclone has hit the Yemeni island of Socotra with hurricane-force winds on Sunday, killing six people, wounding four others, and forcing thousands to flee.

The latest deaths since the cyclone made landfall on Sunday “include two women, while three other people have gone missing and dozens were injured,” said the official who spoke to AFP by telephone from Socotra.

“Most of the victims died when their homes collapsed,” he said, requesting anonymity.

The storm, given the name Megh by meteorologists, comes less than a week after Cyclone Chapala, which resulted in the deaths of at least 10 civilians, and injured and displaced a third of the island’s population.

Chapalla’s fierce winds and torrential rains have triggered flash floods in Socotra - around 380 kilometers south of Yemen’s coast - and the mainland.

>>Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma has been honoured with the Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Shikhar Award for lifetime achievement. 

Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao presented the award to 77-year-old Sharma. 

He also presented the Kala Kiran Awards to Murad Ali Khan (Sarangi), Satyajit Talwalkar (Tabla) and Special Jury Award to Sanjeev and Ashwani Shankar (both Shehnai). 


The Kala Shikhar award was instituted by the Sangit Kala Kendra, headed by Rajashree Birla. 

Noted personalities like Lata Mangeshkar, Pt Bhimsen Joshi, Pt Jasraj, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, Pt Ram Narayan, MF Hussain, Habib Tanvir, Gangubai Hangal and Dr Girija Devi are some of the past recipients of the award. 

The Sangit Kala Kendra was founded by late industrialist Aditya Vikram Birla in 1973 to encourage and nurture the various visual and performing arts. The awards were instituted in 1996.

>>Union HRD Minister Smt Smriti Irani Launches E-Pathshala, Saransh, Shaala Siddhi, Shala Darpan, Swacch Vidyalaya, School GIS, Digital Gender Atlas Portals / Mobile APPS.

The web – portal of the framework will help all schools to assess themselves and the results can be seen by all enabling them to provide feedback. The initiative has already been successfully piloted in four districts of Tamil Nadu. Saransh is a tool which allows the schools to identify areas of improvement in students, teachers and curriculum to facilitate and implement change.

The platform is presently available for classes 9 th to 12 th and provides a comprehensive overview of standard 10 th performance since 2007 and standard 12th performance since 2009 till the current academic session. Presently, results of CBSE are available on this portal/app.

e-Pathshala : The digital India campaigns has promoted extensive use of ICTs in the teaching learning process. The ePathshala, a joint initiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has been developed for showcasing and disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals, and a variety of other print and non-print materials. Students, Teachers, Educators and Parents can access eBooks through multiple technology platform that is mobile phones and tablets (as epub) and from the web through laptops and desktops (as Flipbook). ePathshala also allows user to carry us many books as their device supports. Features of these books allow users to pinch, select, zoom, bookmark, highlight, navigate,share and make notes digitally.

Saransh Portal : Saransh is a tool for comprehensive self-review and analysis for schools and parents. It enables them to analyze students performance in order to take remedial measures. Saransh brings schools, teachers and parents closer, so that they can monitor the progress of students and help them improve their performance.

Shala Darpan :  This initiative is taken by Collector Balaghat (MP) in which a simple android based mobile application is being used to capture inspection details.

>>India successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable strategic ballistic missile Agni-IV, capable of hitting a target at a distance of 4,000 km, from newly named Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.

The missile, which is about 20 metres tall and weighs 17 tons, was flight tested from the launch complex-4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Abdul Kalam Island, formerly known as Wheeler Island.

India already has battery of nuclear capable missile like, the Agni series, Prithvi series and the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile.

"The sophisticated surface-to-surface missile is equipped with modern and compact avionics to provide high level of reliability”.

Agni-IV missile is equipped with 5th generation on board computer and distributed architecture. It has the latest features to correct and guide itself for in-flight disturbances, they said.

The most accurate ring laser gyro-based inertial navigation system (RINS) and supported by highly reliable redundant micro navigation system (MINGS), ensures the vehicle reaches the target within two-digit accuracy.

>> The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup was won by Nigeria.

       The FIFA U-17 world Cup 2017 will be hosted by India.