Current Affairs - July 15, 2019 Current Affairs

Multinational motorcycle company headquartered at Chennai, TVS Motor company launched India's first ethanol-based motorcycle TVS Apache RTR 200 Fi E100 to help reduce crude imports and reduce air pollution. It is available in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka at a price of Rs 1.20 lakh& It was first showcased in Auto Expo 2018 in Delhi. This motorcycle equipped with a Twin-Spray-Twin-Port EFI technology has a peak power of 21 ps at 8500 rpm with a torque of 18.1 Nm at7000 rpm. The bike has an ascending top speed of 129 Kmph. The decision comes after the government plans to convert three-wheelers to EVs (Electric vehicles)by 2023 and 2-wheelers below 150cc (Cubic Centimeter) by 2025.

The Bengali translation of "Great Minds on India" authored by Salil Gewali was launched by the Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi, at the Raj Bhavan, Kolkata, on July 7 2019.

The Indian Olympic Association has formed an ad-hoc panel to run the affairs of taekwondo in the country and conduct the federation's election within six months. The five members ad-hoc panel will be headed by IOA joint secretary Namdev Shirgaonkar. The decision to form the ad-hoc committee was taken during the General Assembly of the IOA in December 2018.

India and the European Union (EU) held the fifth high-level dialogue on migration and mobility (HLDMM). They discussed steps aimed at realizing the full potential of further strengthening cooperation in the key areas. Sanjiv Arora, Secretary (Consular, Passport and Visa and Overseas Indian Affairs) and Paraskevi MICHOU, Director General (Migration and Home Affairs), European Commission put out by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The two delegations led by the co-chairs, the dialogue attended by heads of mission. The other representatives of the diplomatic missions of EU Member States in New Delhi. The discussions at the 5th India-EU HLDM were held in a highly friendly and constructive spirit encompassed a wide range of issues of mutual interest in the context of migration and mobility along the India-EU corridor. Both sides reaffirmed that migration and mobility are an important dimension of the strategic partnership between India and the EU.

Indian delegation was led by Prasar Bharati Chairman Surya Prakash to the first Global Conference for Media Freedom 2019 that held in London, UK.

In Wimbledon Tennis, seventh seed Simona Halep has won the women's singles Wimbledon title of 2019. She defeated Serena Williams in the final match. India has secured three Gold Medals in the Yasar Dogu Ranking series wrestling tournament in Turkey. Weightlifter Pardeep Singh created a new Commonwealth record in the clean and jerk category at the Commonwealth Championships in Apia.

Russia launched a space telescope, Spektr-RG, from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 13 July 2019. The Spektr-RG, developed with Germany, is a space observatory intended to replace the Spektr-R, known as the 'Russian Hubble'. Spektr-R was launched in 2011 to observe black holes, neutron stars and magnetic fields.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced that its asteroid-exploring unmanned $270-million spacecraft Hayabusa2, a second touchdown operation, landed on Asteroid Ryugu, 300 mn km (185m miles) from Earth, for the second time for its final sample collection which will could shed light on the evolution of the solar system. For the first time, it was landed in February 2019.

The United States (US) House of Representatives passed a Bill 'Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, 2019 or HR 1044' which removes the present 7% country-cap on issuing Green Cards. A Green Card allows a person to live and work permanently in the US. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the bill increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15% and eliminates the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas. It was passed by the 435-member House by majority of 365-65 votes. It establishes transition rules for employment-based visas from FY 2020-22 by reserving a percentage of EB-2 (workers with advanced degrees or exceptional ability), EB-3 (skilled and other workers) and EB-5 (investors) visas for individuals from other than the two countries that get the largest number of such visas.

The Meghalaya became the first state to approve a draft water policy to address water issues, conservation, and protection of water sources in the state. As per the policy, committees will be formed at the village level and the issue of groundwater will also be catered through this policy. It will also monitor the quality of the water to check if it has a high content of iron or if acidic.

The doctrine of Humanity, India offering to the world since long ago through 'actions'. The six-week-long Artificial Limb Fitment Camp in Tanzania which benefited over 500 differently abled Tanzanians. The camp was jointly organized by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and Jaipur Foot and held at Muhimbilli Orthopedic Institute, Dar es Salaam. The camp provided free of cost artificial limbs to over 500 differently abled Tanzanians by a 7-member technical team from Bhagvan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), Jaipur.

Film Divisions launch KSHITIJ, a documentary film club in Mumbai. An acclaimed documentary film "Secret Life of Frogs" by Ajay and Vijay Bedi screened as the inaugural film. The Public screenings will begin at 5:30 PM on the second and fourth Friday of every month. The screenings will be held at Films Division Complex. The initiative being launched in association with Indian Documentary Producers Association. They will give movie lovers, an opportunity to watch acclaimed documentary films and also to interact with the film's director.

Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy stated that the Government has proposed to set up the first National Police University in the country which will impart education in policing and internal security. It will conduct undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate academic programmes in specialized subjects. The dedicated universities have been already set up in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkhand for conducting courses in police services and internal security.

PM led-Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved for the launch of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-lll (PMGSY-III). It involves consolidation of through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs) to consolidate 125,000 Km road length in the states. The project will be implemented from 2019-20 to 2024-25. The states will have to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) before launching of PMGSY-III in the respective states. This agreement is for providing adequate funds for maintenance of roads constructed under PMGSY post 5-year construction maintenance period. The estimated cost of Rs.80,250 crore. The funds would be shared in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and state for all states except for eight north eastern and three Himalayan states.

The United States India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) 2nd annual leadership summit was held in Washington DC, US on July 11, 2019. It focussed on defence and energy security. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish, and India's Ambassador to the US, Harsh V Shringla were among the top speakers of the summit. On this occasion, US India Bilateral Trade Report was launched. And it consists of some points; If India grows 7.5% every year, trade between India and the US could reach $238 billion by 2025 from $143 billion at present. By 2025, bilateral trade could range between $283 billion and $327 billion, at an annual average growth rate of 10 to 12.5%, as witnessed in 2017 and 2018. The areas of potential growth in US investments and commerce into India are defence trade, commercial aircraft, oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), coal, machinery and electronics.

Indian Scientists from Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai have developed a new material called 'black gold'. They rearranged size and gaps of gold nanoparticles to develop the new material, It can absorb light and carbon dioxide. It can be used for applications that range from harvesting solar energy to desalinating seawater. It was published in Chemical Science, a scientific journal published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.The team was led by Professor Vivek Polshettiwar and it included Mahak Dhiman, Ayan Maity, Anirban Das, Rajesh Belgamwar, Bhagyashree Chalke and Vivek Polshettiwar (TIFT); Yeonhee Lee, Kyunjong Sim and Jwa-Min Nam (Seoul National University).

IHS Markit, a global information provider, in its report mentioned that India will surpass Japan to be the world's third largest economy in 2025 and it will overtake the United Kingdom (UK) to become the fifth biggest economy in 2019. Indian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is predicted to reach $5.9 trillion in 2025 surpassing Japanese GDP. The size of the Indian consumer market is forecasted to increase from $1.9 trillion in 2019 to $3.6 trillion by 2025. The critical strategy for creating value-added and skilled jobs growth is to accelerate the development of new economy startups and growing new unicorns. India's population growth rate is projected to slow rapidly over the next two decades.

In order to reduce the dependency on carbon-based fuel for electricity generation, the Government of India (GoI) has waived off Basic Customs Duty (BCD) for the products which are imported for nuclear power plants. BCD of 7.5% for all goods for use in the generation of nuclear power & 2.5% for all forms of uranium ores and concentrates for the generation of nuclear power will now have no such duty.

The Kerala State government has decided to form Non Resident Keralites' Affairs (NORKA), an Non-Resident Keralites (NRK) investment company which aims to channel investments from overseas Keralites for major infrastructure development in the state.

Anshula Kant, the managing director(MD) of the State Bank Of India(SBI) has been appointed as managing director (MD)and chief financial officer(CFO) of the World Bank(WB). Since September 2018 she has been a Managing Director and member of the World Bank Board. Kant is from Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. In her role as CFO in SBI, she managed $38 billion worth revenue and total assets of $500 billion. Kant has more than 35 years of expertise in finance, banking will be responsible for financial and risk management of the World Bank Group. She will also have to work closely with the World Bank CEO on the mobilization of the International Development Association (IDA) of WB and other financial resources.