Current Affairs - December 5, 2019 Current Affairs

The Mumbai Central station of Railways was conferred with the 'Eat Right Station' certification with four stars rating by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on December 3, as a part of 'Eat Right India' movement launched last year. The Mumbai Central Railway Station is the country's first "Eat Right Station."

On December 2, 2019, the Ministry of Human Resource Development informed Lok Sabha that the "Indian Ranking Society" was approved by the ministry in August 2019. The aim of the society is to develop methodologies and systems to rank higher educational institutions in the country. The proposal was approved in the 127th meeting of the AICTE Executive Council.

India and Sweden on December 3 joined hands to set up a healthcare innovation centre to promote research, broadly in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and help scale-up Indian start-ups in the sector. State Secretary to the Minister for Health and Social Affairs Maja Fjaestad, who is travelling with the Swedish royal couple on its ongoing visit to India, said the cooperation between India and Sweden has "grown in strength" over the decade.

Indian-American Peter Mathews, also a political analyst on CNN television, will be running for Congress. Mr. Mathews, who was born in India and immigrated to the U.S. along with his parents at the age of 10, announced to enter the race for U.S. House of Representatives from 47th Congressional District of California. His father is from Kerala and mother from Tamil Nadu.

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises reported that Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector has contributed over 29% of Gross domestic product (GDP) and over 49% of Indian exports. The report was submitted by the Union MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari. The Indian government has taken many initiatives to enhance the competitiveness of MSMEs.

Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment conferred Uttar Pradesh with the National Award of Excellence for doing a commendable job in the field of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities (Divyangjan). Uttar Pradesh also received the award for the best state in the implementation of Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan. The department's website also received the award as the best portal for being disabled-friendly while Varanasi has been awarded for offering the best rehabilitation services among the districts.

President Ram Nath Kovind paid homage to Dr. Rajendra Prasad on his birth anniversary, 3 December, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also paid tributes to the first President of India on his Jayanti. Dr. Rajendra Prasad: Dr. Rajendra Prasad was born on 3 December 1884 in Bengal Presidency, British India.

The Navy will set up a Tupolev TU-142 aircraft museum in Kolkata on the lines of the naval museum in Visakhapatnam. The TU-142 is a Russian and formerly Soviet Union manufactured maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine aircraft. Commodore De informed that land for the museum has been allocated in New Town and work has already started.

Ursula von der Leyen took charge as the President of the European Commission. She replaced Jean-Claude Juncker. She is the first woman to become the President of the European Commission. Ms. Ursula, the 60-year-old gynecologist, started her political career at her early age of 40. In 1990 she joined Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) and worked for 14 years.

Kerala State government implemented the High Court directives of making helmets mandatory for pillion riders. Transport Commissioner of the State has directed strict checking of vehicles. In the initial phase, the police will warn the pillion riders to wear a helmet before levying the fine. Police of the State will check the vehicles to ensure that the two-wheeler riders are adhering to the new directives.

The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 kilometres, was carried out from a mobile launcher of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur at around 7.50 pm. Prithvi-2 is capable of carrying 500-1,000 kilograms of warheads and is powered by liquid propulsion twin engines.

The government has introduced the Independent Director's Databank. It was launched by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. It has commanded that all the existing independent directors should register themselves in the databank within three months from 1 December 2019.

Exercise HAND-IN-HAND 2019 is to be conducted at Umroi, Meghalaya. The 8th India-China joint training is held under the United Nations mandate. The exercise will be held from 7-20 December 2019. The aim of the Exercise HAND-IN-HAND 2019 is to practice joint planning and conduct of counter-terrorist operations in semi-urban terrain. The theme of the 14-day long training exercise is Counter-terrorism.

New Delhi is to host the National Sikh Games (NSG) 2020. The game will be held from 9-11 January 2020 across various venues in New Delhi. NSG is a modelled replica of Australian Sikh Games. NSG is dedicated to the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev. NSG aims to bring sports to the heart of the Sikh community and tap in a unique sporting talent of Sikh Youths.

World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on 5 December as a means to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources. An international day to celebrate Soil was recommended by the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS) in 2002.

The U.S. House of Representatives on December 3 overwhelmingly approved a bill that would require the Trump administration to toughen its response to China's crackdown on its Muslim minority, demanding sanctions on senior Chinese officials and export bans.

Chinese major Xiaomi on December 3 formally launched its lending platform Mi Credit in India, wherein individuals can avail up to Rs 1 lakh loan, and plans to introduce more financial products. Till now, the company has been operating Mi Credit platform on a pilot basis. Last year, it had announced to offer loans of up to Rs 1 lakh in partnership with KreditBee. The current lending partners for Mi Credit are primarily NBFCs or fintechs such as Aditya Birla Finance Ltd, Money View, EarlySalary, Zestmoney and CreditVidya.

"Bharatiya Poshan Anthem" was launched on December 3 which aims at taking the message of making India malnutrition free to all corners of the country. The anthem has been penned by noted lyricist Prasoon Joshi and sung by Shankar Mahadevan. Poshan Abhiyan was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2018 with an objective to make India malnutrition free by 2022.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities observed on December 3 is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been observed with varying degrees of success around the planet.

For the fifth consecutive year, Tamil Nadu received the Best State Award in cadaveric organ donation from the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Along with this, the State received the best performing hospital award for the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), and an award for plastic surgeon V. Ramadevi for performing a bilateral hand transplant at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.