Current Affairs - December 6, 2019 Current Affairs

India is the fifth worst country after China, Malaysia, Pakistan and the US in terms of extensive and invasive use of biometric data, according to a new report from Britain-based tech research firm Comparitech on December 4. India shares the fifth position with Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal of the Election Commission to enter into the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Election Commission of Maldives on cooperation in the area of electoral management and administration. The proposal includes the exchange of knowledge and experience in the field of organizational and technical development of the electoral process.

The Union Government of India has launched the fourth round of UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) to enhance the connectivity to regional areas of the country. This phase is to focus on Hilly states, North East Region, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir and Islands.The Viability Gap Funding has been revised. The funding that was provided for Category 2 and 3 aircrafts (> 20 seats) has now been enhanced to all flights in the states of HP, Uttarakhand, J&K, North Eastern states and the islands. Also, the phase will allow operation of helicopter and sea planes.

Exercise Sindhu Sudarshan was conducted by Indian Army's Sudarshan Chakra Corps in the deserts of Rajasthan from November 28 to December 4.The integrated exercise involved the use of Mechanized Forces, Infantry, Artillery and other Force Multipliers such as drones and electronic warfare systems. The Army's indigenous Armed Rudra Advanced Light Helicopters were employed alongside Indian Air Force Helicopters in a fully integrated and synergised manner.

The Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria has participated in the Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium 2019 at the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii in the US. The theme for this year''s symposium is "A Collaborative Approach to Regional Security".The symposium will also entail discourse and discussions on the combined effort required to maintain peace and security within the region.The conference is intended to further strengthen the existing cooperation between the Air Forces of the participating countries and also to pave the way for enhanced interaction in the future.

The International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development celebrated on 5th December, more commonly referred to as International Volunteer Day (IVD), is an international observance mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985. It offers an opportunity for volunteer-involving organizations and individual volunteers to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at local, national and international levels.

Odisha launched a smart learning app called 'Madhu' for the schools' children in the state. The app was named after Utkal Gourab Madhusudan Das and developed by the Ganjan district administration in accordance with the 5T initiative of the Odisha state government.The mobile app is aimed at helping the school students in the state to learn their lessons via videos and tutorials available on the app. The courses have been prepared in a way to make the video lectures more interesting and self-explanatory with the help of high-quality teaching-learning material.

According to the "Business-to-Consumer (B2C) E-commerce Index 2019" released by UNCTAD's (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), India has moved seven places up and ranked 73rd out of 152 countries index that measures an economy's preparedness to support online shopping with the Index score of 57.0. For the 2nd consecutive year in a row, the Netherlands leads the Index with the score of 96.4, followed by Switzerland (2nd with 95.5) and Singapore(3rd with 95.1).

India on December 4 gifted a 'Made in India' Patrol Vessel named "KAAMIYAAB" to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) as part of Delhi's efforts to be net security provider in the region amid China's increasing forays in the Indian Ocean Region.The brand-new vessel will be manned by eight Maldives personnel trained in India and will be an asset for Maldives in enhancing its maritime security, fostering its blue economy and safeguarding its tourism industry. India is a key supplier of defence equipment to Maldives and also trains its military personnel.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to visit Brussels in 2020 for the India-EU Summit 2020. He was invited to participate in the 2020 EU-Summit by the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. India-EU partnership: India-EU partnership is based on shared values such as multilateralism, democracy, respect for rule of law, rules-based trade and international order.The summit is aimed at expanding strategic partnership with Europe.

Bob Willis, the former England cricket captain, has died aged 70on December 4. The pace bowler made 90 Test match appearances for his country and took 325 wickets, placing him fourth in the all-time list of England bowlers.

The Union cabinet on December 4 approved a proposal to extend reservation for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for another 10 years, highly placed sources said.The reservation for these categories in the LS and the assemblies was to expire on January 25, 2020.The government will bring a bill to extend the reservation in this session.While reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the legislature is carried out through constitutional amendments, similar reservation in jobs for these categories is decided by respectivestate governments.

The Himachal Pradesh State Cabinet approved to sign the memorandum of understanding (MoU) to sell the water of River Yamuna from Maharashtra's share at Tajewala corridor. The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. With this decision, the State would earn Rs.21 crore per annum.The Yamuna is the longest tributary in India. It originates from the Yamunotri Glacier. It is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges.

The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned 18 projects under the schemes PRASHAD and Swadesh Darshan. The Ministry has also allocated Rs 1456 crores for the projects.In order to develop the North Eastern region as a tourist destination several projects are being initiated. The Ministry has released television campaigns on private channels in the country and on Doordarshan.

ISRO has planned to launch sharp-eyed surveillance satellite RISAT-2BR1 (Radar Imaging Satellite-2) with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on 11 December 2019. RISAT-2BR1 is a radar imaging satellite.It is dubbed as a spy satellite.It can take pictures of the earth during day and night even under cloudy conditions.The satellites will help 24/7 border surveillance along with checking infiltration.

Google chief executive officer (CEO) Sundar Pichai has been promoted to the role of Alphabet CEO after co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin stepped down. Alphabet is the parent company of Google and several former Google subsidiaries. Sundar Pichai will now replace Larry Page as Alphabet CEO.

Government launched the Operation Clean Art across India. The operation aimed to crackdown illegal trade in the mongoose hair. This is the first time such an operation is happening in India. It was initiated by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB). Mongoose: The mongoose is a small carnivoran found in southern Eurasia and mainland Africa.It is listed in Schedule II (Part II) of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The Union Cabinet assessed and approved the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) between India and Germany. The JDI was aimed at strengthening the cooperation on strategic projects in the field of Railways. The Joint Declaration of Intent was signed in the month of November 2019. Under the agreement, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy of Germany will provide a platform to Indian Railways to interact and share the latest developments and knowledge in the field of Railways.

The government is to establish a National Maritime Heritage Museum, at Lothal, a Harappan site on the Saurashtra coast in Gujarat. The move aims to boost the underwater or marine archaeology. Lothal site is one of the oldest ports in India dating to the Bronze Age. National Maritime The Maritime Museum is being set up with technical help from the Portuguese Maritime Heritage Museum. The government has appointed the first Director-General for the museum.