• National

Centre announces 5 per cent subsidy to boost rice exports

• India, the world’s biggest rice exporter, will give incentives for non-basmati rice shipments to help boost flagging overseas sales.
• The government will give a subsidy of 5 per cent for non-basmati rice exports for the four months to March 25, 2019, the trade ministry said in the order dated Nov. 22.

• International

UN Selects Noida, Greater Noida to Participate In Global Sustainable Cities 2025 Initiative

• The United Nations has selected Uttar Pradesh’s Noida and Greater Noida to participate in its Global Sustainable Cities 2025 initiative.
• According to UN, the twin-cities in Gautam Buddh Nagar district, adjoining the national capital, have been selected in the “University City” category ahead of Mumbai and Bengaluru as the only invitee from India.
• Senior UN Advisor and CEO UN Global Sustainability Index Institute, Roland Schatz stated that that overall 25 cities across the world have been selected in five categories by the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) cities initiative.

• Sports

Artistic Gymnastics World Cup: Dipa claims bronze in Vault event

• Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar on 24 Nov claimed a bronze medal at the vault event on the third day of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Cottbus in Germany.
• The 25-year-old from Tripura, who had an injury-marred campaign at the Asian Games, scored 14.316 to secure the bronze in the tournament, which is also a part of the eight-event qualifying system for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

• Sports

Syed Modi International Championships: Sameer Verma Won Gold, Saina Silver

• Sameer Verma has won the Syed Modi International Badminton Championships, men’s singles final against China’s Guangzu Lu, to retain the title. With this win, Verma sealed his spot in the BWF World Tour Finals.
• However, former champion Saina Nehwal lost to Han Yue of China in women’s singles summit clash and won silver.

• Important Days

Elimination of Violence against Women:25 Nov

• The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is observed on 25 November 2018.
• The aim of the day is to raise public awareness of the fact that women around the world are subject to various forms of violence.
• The theme for 2018 is ‘Orange the World: #HearMeToo’.

• Science and Tech

Scientists mull Stratospheric Aerosol Injection to curb warming

• A stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI) program to cut global warming could be remarkably inexpensive, costing about $1.75 billion a year over a 15-year period, claims a new study by scientists from the Harvard University.

• States

Odisha now has a lexicon for rare tribal languages

• Odisha government has come out with lexicons of 21 vanishing tribal languages.
• The bilingual tribal dictionaries will be used in multilingual education (MLE) initiated by the State government at the elementary level in tribal-dominated districts.

• States

J&K Bank brought under purview of RTI, CVC, State Legislature

• J&K Bank has been brought under the purview of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, Chief Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines and state legislature.
• The State Administrative Council (SAC), which met on 22 Nov under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik, approved the proposal for treating J&K Bank Limited as a public sector undertaking (PSU).
• The SAC approved that the provisions of the J&K Right to Information Act, 2009, shall be applicable to the bank like other PSUs. Besides, the bank shall follow the CVC guidelines.

• Agreements

India, China agree to maintain border tranquillity

• India and China have agreed to maintain peace and tranquillity in border areas.
• National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on 24 Nov met Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi in Chengdu, China for 21st round of Special Representatives talks.