Current Affairs - June 29, 2019 Current Affairs

A well-known educationist, paediatrician & the author, Dr Gaurav Nigam has been conferred 'Innovative Research Excellence Award 2019' at Asian Leadership Summit (ALS) in Thimphu, Bhutan. Dr. Nigam is the founder of iCare - an organization working in the area of new-age child health care; and Intelligentsia, a research-based play school. Intelligentsia is all about scientific research and delivering early education through STEM approach. He has also authored a book titled 'Devil Inside My Mind'.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to extend the ban on food imports like meats, dairy products, fruits and vegetables from the European Union (EU) till December 31, 2020. In 2014, Russia had imposed an official ban on a wide range of imports from the EU and other countries in retaliation for international sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. This has affected Russian economy by pushing up food prices.

The report on Food & Nutrition Security (FNS) Analysis of India developed by UN (United Nations) World Food Programme Reduction: Stunting in children in India under the age of five has reduced at a rate of about 1% per year in the last decade. India must double its rate of progress to reach the target of 25% by 2022 set by the National Nutrition Mission.stated that 31.4% of Indian children under five years will still be stunted by 2022.

Meenakshi Lekhi, a women politician(MP of Bharatiya Janata Party and spokesperson) has written her debut novel titled 'The New Delhi Conspiracy'. Ms. Lekhi is a Supreme Court lawyer by profession.The book is published by Harper Collins and has been co-written by Krishna Kumar who works with her.The novel talks about undercurrents of Delhi's political landscape and attempts to lay bare what is influencing the course of the nation's political trajectory.

Securities and exchange Board of India (SEBI) was first established in the year 1988 as a non-statutory body for regulating the securities market. It became an autonomous body by The Government of India on 12 May 1992 and given statutory powers in 1992 with SEBI Act 1992 being passed by the Indian Parliament.

The International Day of the Tropics is observed across the world on 29 June with an aim to raise awareness to the specific challenges faced by tropical areas and the far-reaching implications of the issues affecting the world's tropical zone.

Noida Police will issue Red Cards as warnings to men found harassing women in public. While issuing the red cards, the Police will note down the details of the men.

MobiKwik, a mobile payments service provider, partnered with health insurer Max Bupa to launch "shampoo-sachet" concept in the insurance sector. It will offer mini medical insurance products with premiums as low as Rs 20. The partnership enables financial inclusion by making pocket size health insurance solutions available through the Mobikwik platform. Max Bupa and MobiKwik launched a HospiCash plan which has an annual premium of Rs 135. It provides daily cash allowance of Rs 500 for up to 30 days during the hospital stay. There is an inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh. The higher variants with annual premium of Rs 225 and Rs 400 will provide cash allowance of Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 per day respectively.

IIT Kanpur honours India's chief national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand with honorary doctorate on the occasion of their 52nd convocation. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are past recipients of the honour.

Under the flagship Sagarmala Programme, the Union Ministry of Shipping has recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with IIT Kharagpur for setting up the Centre for Inland and Coastal Maritime Technology (CICMT) at IIT Kharagpur. The first-of-its-kind Centre will focus on ship design for coastal/inland waterways, shipbuilding technology and structural design, transport systems & logistics, cryogenic cargo handling, green/renewable energy harvesting from coastal and inland waters and automation and artificial intelligence (AI) for maritime operations. It will provide technological support, research, testing and experimentation facility to agencies involved in inland water transport, shipbuilding, ports. etc. Presently, only Germany, the Netherlands, Russia and Belgium have model testing facilities for ships.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced an annual financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh to "loktantra senanis" or their spouse. Under this, they will be provided treatment at private or government hospitals. The term "emergency victim" on their identity cards would be replaced with "loktantra senani". "Loktantra senanis" are those people who were imprisoned during the 1975-77 Emergency under preventive detention laws.

Jharna Dhara Chowdhury, an Eminent Social Activist and secretary of the Gandhi Ashram Trust in Jayag, Noakhali, Bangladesh passes away in Dhaka. She devoted her whole life to promoting peace, communal harmony and social justice. In recognition of her work, she was honored with Padma Shri in 2013. She was awarded Jamnalal Bajaj award in 1998.

ICC partners with UNICEF to deliver 'One Day for Children' at Men's Cricket World Cup 2019. There will be #OneDay4Children activity throughout all 48 matches of the event, peaking with a day of celebration during the England v India game on 30 June at Edgbaston.

The stunting in children under 5years of age is the highest in Bihar (48%), Uttar Pradesh (46%), Jharkhand (45%), and Meghalaya (44%). Only one in five children in Kerala and Goa (20% each) are stunted. The report on Food & Nutrition Security (FNS) Analysis of India developed by UN (United Nations) World Food Programme in partnership with Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) stated that 31.4% of Indian children under five years will still be stunted by 2022.

India has signed a loan agreement worth 400 million dollar with the World Bank to help treat and eliminate Tuberculosis from the country. The World Bank supported program will cover nine States and it will support the government's National Strategic Plan to end TB in India by 2025. Under the program, GoI provide Direct Benefit Transfers to patients for acquiring the critical nutrition needed during treatment.

One Nation One Ration Card' scheme, which will allow portability of food security benefits, will be available across the country from July 1, 2020. This means poor migrant workers will be able to buy subsidised rice and wheat from any ration shop in the country, so long as their ration cards are linked to Aadhaar.

The Swiss franc (CHF) is the only official currency in Switzerland (and in Liechtenstein). The franc is the only currency accepted everywhere.

The 7th Foreign Office Consultations between India and Brunei Darussalam was held in New Delhi. The Indian side was led by Vijay Thakur Singh, Secretary(East) and Brunei side was led by Hajah Siti Norishan Haji Abdul Ghafor, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brunei Government. They reviewed bilateral relations between the 2 countries, including political, trade and investment, defence, cultural & people to people contact and exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues. They agreed to explore cooperation in energy, health and pharmaceuticals, higher education and agricultural sectors. The next round of Consultations will be held in Brunei on mutually agreed dates.

The new railway zone Southern Coast Railway is headquartered in Visakhapatnam.

Electronics and Information Technology Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad announced that around 2.22 crore villagers were given Digital Education under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA). The government has enrolled 636 training partners. The target of the government is to make one lakh digital villages. In order to fulfill it, it has collaborated with Railways to lay the Optical fibre network at the gram level. It has prepared a draft 100-days action plan which includes National Policy on Electronics 2019 - new schemes to the Cabinet; National Policy on Software Products 2019 - launch of Registry; Digital India Infoway (National Government Network and National Knowledge Network 2.0).

Hero MotoCorp announced the appointment of Yerry Mina, the popular Colombian professional footballer, as its new Brand Ambassador.

Beekeeping Development Committee (BDC) under the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) headed by Professor Bibek Debroy submitted its report to the Prime Minister on June 26, 2019. It was framed with the objective to identify ways of advancing beekeeping in India.

Standing Group of Secretaries (GoS) has been constituted for ensuring inter-ministerial coordination on resolving issues related to e-commerce.Chairman: The committee formed under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ramesh Abhishek.Draft national e-commerce policy: It has been drafted and placed in public domain. The 42-page draft addresses six broad issues of the e-commerce ecosystem such as data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating domestic digital economy and export promotion through e-commerce.

Junko Tabei was the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and the first woman to ascend all Seven Summits by climbing the highest peak on every continent.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, aged 39, will retire from international cricket after the home Test series against India in August-September 2019. He was the captain of the team in the past and has won 2 T20 World Cup titles with the Windies. He is the second-highest run-scorer in ODIs (One Day Internationals) for West Indies. He is the first batsman to hit 200 in a World Cup 2015 and the only batsman to hit a triple century in Tests, a double-century in ODIs and centuries in T20 Internationals.

The program will cover nine States of India. It will also support the government's National Strategic Plan to end TB in India by 2025.

Sharad Kumar Saraf will be the new President of Federation of Indian Export Organisations and will take charge from June 28.