Current Affairs - July 25, 2019 Current Affairs

Lotus, the beautiful flower comes from the family of Nelumbo nucifera, has been selected by the government of Haryana, an Indian state as state flower.

The theme of the 2019 GII is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal released Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019 in New Delhi on July 24, 2019. India gained five ranks benefit to get 52nd rank, earlier in 2018 India was at 57th position. It ranked the innovation performance of 129 countries and economies around the world.

Boris Johnson elected as the leader of Britain's governing Conservative Party. He is declared as country's next Prime Minister. Johnson will formally take over as Prime Minister. He succeeds Theresa May. She got stepped down over her failure to get parliament to ratify her Brexit deal. Johnson served as UK foreign minister and London's Mayor.

India's largest Central Armed Police Force, CRPF( Central Reserve Police Force) unveiled the country's first prototype of a body protector for women personnel. It has been jointly developed after over two years of research by CRPF and Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), which functions under the DRDO(Defence Research and Development Organisation). The multi-design black coloured "gender-specific protective gear" weighs 6 kg cost around Rs 9000 would protect an individual from the neck to the toe with chest, hand, legs, shin and thigh guards. 8,000 women personnel in CRPF will be benefited by the protective gear & help them during riot-control duties and regulation of public protests.

3rd Edition of the CSR Journal Excellence Awards honoured 6 firms for the best practices in Corporate Social Responsibility. ReNew Power won in the category "Women Empowerment & Child Welfare". The theme of the event was 'India First'.

Researchers discover Dracaena cambodiana, a dragon tree species in the Dongka Sarpo area of West Karbi Anglong dist in Assam. This is for the first time that a dragon tree species has been reported from India. Dragon tree species whose sap turns bright red after coming in contact with air.

The Centre For Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) received a state-of-the-art facility for its genomic studies division which was inaugurated by Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan on july 20. The minister also laid the foundation stone for a new skill training and lecture hall complex on the occasion. The NGS Facility promises to sequence up to 30 human genomes in a day and help researchers to individually tag genomes of up to 80,000 cells in eight minutes. NGS would include technology for high genome sequencing and also diagnostic sequencing of clinical samples.It is 4th such facility in the country. It is a state-of-the-art genome sequencing facility that can sequence 18,000 samples inIt is acquired at a cost of Rs.8 crore. It can sequence 30 human genomes a day ,It would costs around ₹1 lakh to sequence one genome using this facility.

3rd Edition of the CSR Journal Excellence Awards honoured 6 firms for the best practices in Corporate Social Responsibility. YES Bank Ltd. won in the category "Health & Sanitation", where Tata Power won in the category "Education & Skill Training", Mahindra & Mahindra won in the category "Environment", Hindustan Zinc won in the category "Agriculture & Rural Development", Aditya Birla Capital Ltd. won in the category "Sports" and ReNew Power won in the category "Women Empowerment & Child Welfare".

Nigeria set to host 2020 FIFA women U-20 World cup. It is an international association football tournament.It is organized by FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbered years.It was first conducted in 2002 in Canada. France hosted the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup (9th edition).

South Africa's recently introduced carbon tax will ensure zero waste to landfill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well boost investments for low carbon alternatives. The carbon tax aims to reduce 34 per cent carbon emissions by 2020 and 42 per cent emissions by 2025.

Priti Patel has been appointed as Britain's Home Secretary in the newly-unveiled Boris Johnson Cabinet. She has become the Britain's first Indian-origin Home Secretary.

As of 2018, India alone has 36 world heritage sites, the sixth most of any country.

China congratulated India after successful launch of the Chandrayaan-2. China has also shared its desires to work with India for upcoming outer space programmes. China has launched its five lunar explorations missions to the Moon till date.

Antananarivo, formerly Tananarive, town and national capital of Madagascar, central Madagascar island.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Ajay Bhadoo as the Joint Secretary to President Ram Nath Kovind for a tenure co-terminus with the President. He is a 1999 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Gujarat. He is serving as the Vadodara Municipal Commissioner since July 2018. He was the recipient of the Best Collector Award twice for outstanding performance in 2008 and 2010.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will observe and celebrate the 159th Income Tax Day on 24th July, 2019. It was on 24th July, 1860. The Income Tax introduced for the first time in India by Sir James Wilson to compensate for the losses incurred by the British regime. This incident took place during the first war of independence against British Rule. The week preceding the AaykarDiwas 2019 marked by various activities undertaken by the regional offices of the department across the country. Several field offices undertook a grievance redressal week to help redress pending grievances of the taxpayers. Some field stations made free legal aid available to taxpayers in conjunction with the local Tax Bar Association. Several field stations holding functions felicitating super senior tax payers for their contribution to nation building, while also recognizing the hard work put in by the officers and officials of the department in various designated areas of work. The department will launch a "Kardaata e-SahyogAbhiyaan".0

Ravinder Kumar Malik, an Indian bodybuilder, has clinched Mr. South Asia title. He has crowned the overall champion at 12th South Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship in Kathmandu.

Acharya Devvrat, 60, sworn in as the new governor of Gujarat on July 22. Gujarat high court's acting chief justice Anant S Dave administered the oath of office at the Raj Bhavan on 22 July.

PM Narendra Modi releases book "Chandra Shekhar - The Last Icon of Ideological Politics" is written by Deputy Chairman in the Rajya Sabha, Harivansh and Ravi Dutt Bajpai in New Delhi. Prime Minister also announced a museum for all former Prime Ministers of India, and invited their families to share aspects of their lives.

The World Bank dropped a loan proposal for Amaravati project continues to support Andhra Pradesh with an over one billion USD program. The program mainly covers the health, agriculture, energy and disaster management sectors. The main aim is to improve the living standards of citizens in tune with the Sustainable Development Goals. This includes a new $328 million support to the state's health sector. The World Bank's statement dropped a 300 million USD loan proposal for the Amaravati Sustainable Infrastructure and Institutional Development Project. The Government of India (GoI) withdrew its request to the World Bank for financing the proposed Amaravati Sustainable Infrastructure and Institutional Development Project.

British competitive swimmer, Adam George Peaty has broken his own world record in the men's 100-meter breaststroke at the World Aquatics Championships 2019 held in Gwangju, South Korea. The 2016 Olympic champion won World Championships semi-final with 56.88sec becomes a 1st man to swim under 57 sec shattered the previous record of 57.10 sec he set at 2018 European Championships. In the final, he finished in 57.14sec beat compatriot James Wilby(UK), with China's Yan Zibei in third.

Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Railways Piyush Goyal will launch the Global Innovation Index (GII) in New Delhi, July 24, 2019. This is the first time that the GII is being launched in an emerging economy.

The Ujh and Basantar bridges were inaugurated by the defence minister in Kathua and Samba districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The bridges are considered highly important as theywill help in smooth movement of security forces in and around the border areas. The Ujh bridge in Kathua is built at a cost of ₹50 crore and the basantar bridge in Samba district is built at a cost of Rs.41.7 crore. The bridges have been built on the project Sampark near the International border. The Ujh bridge in Kathua is the longest constructed by the border Road Organization. The length of the Ujh Bridge is 1000 metre whereas the Basantar Bridge is 617.49 meter.

Andhra Pradesh became the first state to reserve jobs for local youth. The Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/Factories Act, 2019. Industries/Factories Act, 2019 reserves 75% private jobs across all categories in industrial units, factories, joint ventures as well as the project that are in public-private partnership (PPP) mode. It reserves 75 per cent jobs in industrial units, factories, joint ventures and projects set up under public-private partnership mode.The new law states that if a company does not find the necessary skills in locals, then it will need to train them in association with the state government. Around no company will be able to hide behind the excuse of not finding skilled local labourers. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy agreed to provide quota in local jobs during his 'padyatra' in the state.

Bhabha Kavach, called as "India's lightest bullet- proof jacket" was launched at the International Police Expo 2019 in New Delhi. The bullet proof jacket is developed by the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) and metal alloys manufacturer Mishra Dhatu Nigam (MIDHANI) whichis headquartered at Hyderabad. Each Bharat Kavach has four hard armour plates, to protect the wearer from the front, back and either side. The bullet proof jacket blocks bullets from an AK-47 assault rifle and from 5.46mm INSAS rifle. t weighs 9.2kg, which is 300 gm less than the weight of bullet proof jacket prescribed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA). It has a warranty for a period of 5years.

West Bengal government has decided to bring a legislation in the assembly for ensuring the job security of Journalists in the State.