1. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister on November 21, 2019. Mahinda Rajapaksa served as the President of Sri Lanka for two terms, from 2005 till 2015. His younger brother and current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa named him as the new Prime Minister.
2. Manu Bhaker created history by winning India’s first gold medal in the women’s 10m Air Pistol event at the 2019 ISS World Cup at Putian, China. She has become the second Indian to win gold at the 10m air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup Final after Heena Sidhu.
3. The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of the National Institute of Sowa Rigpa (NISR) in Leh. The institute is being established to promote the Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine in Leh, to promote Ladakh’s native culture post the formation of Ladakh Union Territory.
4. The World Fisheries Day is celebrated every year on November 21, 2019 to spread awareness about the importance of lives of creatures living in water. On this occasion, Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries conferred the Fisheries Awards upon the fish farmers.
5. Russia is the Country of Focus at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2019. A total eight Russia movies will be showcased at the IFFI this year. Among these, the inaugural feature film was “The Hero”.
6. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella topped the list of Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year 2019. The list comprises names of three Indian-origin people. Besides Nadella, the two others are Master Card CEO Ajay Banga and Jayashree Ullal, Head of Arista.
7. The American Space Research Organization (NASA) has completed the first ‘Global Geological’ mapping of Saturn’s largest moon ‘Titan’. According to the information released by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), it includes sand dunes, lakes, plains, as well as volcanic craters and other inaccessible locations.
8. PETA India named Virat Kohli as person of the year. He was honoured because of his unconditional work towards the safety of animals. Earlier Anushka Sharma and Shashi Tharoor have also received the same award.
9. The Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu has recently launched first Hindi Newspaper of the state ‘Arun Bhoomi’. The newspaper will give a voice to Hindi speaking people of the state.
10. The Madhya Pradesh state government has decided to develop 34 of its cities into world class cities, on the lines of the seven best planned cities across the world.
