news bulletin―34 week-1, sep...

. NEWS BULLETIN―34 Week-1, Sep 2019

NATIONAL

The Central Government has started implementation of the

rice distribution Pilot Scheme: Fortification of Rice and its

Distribution under Public Distribution System

―The scheme was originally approved as a centre sponsored

pilot scheme in February 2019 for a period of three years.

―Under this scheme the Central Government will be preparing

a plan for distributing fortified rice across India through Fair

Price Shops.

―The Central Government has already provided instructions to

the Department of Food and Public Distribution for this. In the

first phase, the scheme is operational in 15 districts across India.

―The Government is trying to ensure coverage of one district

per state in the initial implementation phase of the scheme.

―Fortified rice under the scheme are fortified with Iron,

Vitamin B-12 and Folic Acid. The scheme is under the

operational control of the State Government.

The Indian and Nepali

Governments have

together launched a bus

service between

Kathmandu (capital of

Nepal) and Siliguri

(West Bengal). ―This is the first bus

service between these

two cities. The daily bus service will connect the two cities

situated at a distance of 650 kilometres.

―The journey is expected to take 18 hours. The bus service will

use 44-seater air-conditioned buses. This service will increase

connectivity between the two countries

―India and Nepal have approved 13 routes for operating

regular bus services. 10 of these routes were already operational.

This launch has made the 11th route operational.

The Government of India has set a target of restoring 50

lakh hectares of degraded land in the country by 2030.

―The announcement was made by the Union Environment

Minister Prakash Javadekar at curtain raiser event for 14th

meeting of Conference of Parties

to United Nations Convention to

Combat Desertification (UNCCD

COP14).

―Almost 30 percent of the total

geographical area of India is

classified as degraded and needs

restoration.

―The Government is planning to

set up a Centre of excellence to

combat desertification of fertile

land at the Forest Research

Institute (FRI), Dehradun. ―This Centre will act as a resource and training centre and it

will research solutions and technologies for establishing land

degradation neutrality.

―This will be the first UNCCD Conference to be held in India.

―UNCCD COP 14 will be held from September 2 to September

13, 2019 at the India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida.

Approximately 5000 participants (3000 international

participants) from 200 countries are expected in the conference.

―During the conference, India will take over the chairmanship

of the COP 14 from China for a period of two years.

―UNCCD is one of the three Rio Conventions along with

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

―India signed these conventions in October 1994 and ratified

them in December 1996.

―UNCCD came into force in December 1996.

―UNCCD is the only legally binding international agreement

that deals with the issue of land degradation and desertification.

The Indian Government

has announced to celebrate

September 2019 as a month

of nutrition or ‘Poshan

Abhiyaan’ in the country. ―The idea behind the

celebration is to raise

awareness regarding

malnutrition among children

(particularly girl child) and fighting against it.

―The name Poshan Abhiyan is taken from Gujarat

Government’s 2018 pilot project for eradicate malnutrition

among children.

India has made a contribution of USD 1 million to the United

Nation Special Purpose Trust Fund (SPTF) for Resident

Coordinator System. This contribution highlights India’s

support towards the reforms of the UN Development System.

―Resident Coordinators help in coordinating assets at the

country level. The Resident Coordinators programme

encompasses all organizations of UN system that deals with

operational activities for development, irrespective of their

formal presence in country.

―The Resident Coordinators system is aimed at improving

efficiency and effectiveness of operational activities of the

United Nations at the National levels.

―28 countries and 19 entities have till date contributed to the

UN Resident Coordinators programme.

―SPTF is managed by United Nations Secretariat.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has

approved the establishment of 75 additional Government

Medical Colleges by 2021-22.

―These colleges will be attached with existing district/referral

hospitals under Phase-III of the ongoing Centrally Sponsored

scheme. The criteria for establishment of these medical colleges

is as under:

The area or region should not have any medical college.

The District Hospital in the area must have at least 200 beds.

―The Government wants to establish these colleges to increase

the number of MBBS seats in the country by 15,700.

Siliguri-Kathmandu Bus Service

Forest Research Institute, Dehradun

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LAW

The West Bengal Legislative assembly has passed the West

Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019 for criminalising

mob assaults and lynching.

―The Bill was brought in with a purpose of protecting the

constitutional rights of vulnerable people and stopping the

incidents of lynching.

―People involved in injuring and assaulting the victims can be

punished with an imprisonment which can extend to life.

―People involved in the incidents leading to the death of the

victim will be punished with a death sentence or rigorous life

imprisonment and a fine that may extend up to Rs 5 lakh.

―This Bill was passed with the support of opposition parties,

Congress and CPI(M).

―Opposition party BJP neither expressed its support nor

opposition to the passing of this Bill.

The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the Uttarakhand

Government to implement the provisions related to the

prohibition of alcohol in the Excise Act, within six months.

―The High Court has also asked the State Government to

ensure that the alcohol is not provided to persons under 21 years

of age.

―The directions by the High Court were issued on the basis of

PIL claiming that the liquor sold under the government

protection is negatively impacting the lives of people in the

state.

―The State Government claims that it has taken a number of

steps to control the sale of alcohol in the State including banning

it in religious places of the state like Haridwar, Rishikesh,

Chardham, Purnagiri and Piran Kaliyar.

On July 25, the Supreme Court issued directions to set up

special courts in each district in the country having more than

100 pending cases of child abuse and sexual assault.

―In Delhi alone there are 7,277 pending cases under the

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

―Delhi has 19 special courts, and each Court on an average is

considering 383 cases.

―Till June 2019, UP had 44,376 such cases pending trial in 75

special courts.

―Till June 2019 Maharashtra had 19,968 cases pending in 36

special courts.

―Till June 2019 Madhya Pradesh had 9,878 cases pending trial

in 51 special courts.

―The model guidelines under the POSCO Act state that the

victim should receive compensation at the interim stage during

pendency of the case.

―The data shows that out of 1,379 FIRs registered in 2017, only

298 victims received compensation.

―Most of the victims of these crimes come from poor families.

In absence of compensation they find it difficult to continue the

fight and they adopt out of court settlements.

The Supreme Court of India has agreed to look into the

constitutionality of the recently enacted law which makes triple

talaq a punishable offence.

―The Supreme Court Bench looking into the matter has also

issued a notice to the Centre Government for the same.

―Currently there are four petitions before the Supreme Court

asking for the declaration of the Muslim Women (Protection

of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019 as “unconstitutional”.

―The petitioners argue that the Supreme Court of India has

already held pronouncement of the triple talaq to be void, as

such enactment of the separate law for the same serves no

purpose.

―The petitioners also argue that the punishment in the Act for

doing something that is already declared void is excessive.

STATES

Gujarat has attained first rank in the Composite Water

Management Index (CWMI 2.0) report 2017-18.

―Andhra Pradesh has been ranked second,d while Madhya

Pradesh has come third.

―Himachal Pradesh has been ranked first among the North

Eastern and Himalayan States.

―This is the first time that Union Territories have submitted the

data for the Index

―CWMI 2.0 released by NITI Aayog, has ranked 25 states and

2 UTs to assess the annual improvement in water management.

―On an average 80 percent of the States and UTs assessed by

the report have reported improvement in water management.

―NITI Aayog launched the CWMI 2.0 in 2018.

―The idea behind it is to encourage cooperative and

competitive federalism among the states.

―This is the first attempt by the government towards creation

of metrics applicable to the whole of India.

―The Index ranks the States and UTs on the basis of the

following parameters related to:

--Source augmentation and restoration of waterbodies (5%)

Groundwater augmentation (15%)

Major & medium irrigation-supply side management (15%)

Watershed Development-Supply side management (10%)

Participatory Irrigation practices

- Demand Side Management (10%).

Sustainable on-farm water use practices

Rural drinking water (10%).

Urban water supply and sanitation (10%)

Policy and Governance (15%).

The Tamil Nadu

Government has launched an

exclusive education TC

channel Kalvi Tholaikkatchi

(Education TV) for school

children. ―The initiative to start the

channel was taken by the

State’s School Education

Department.

―Students from Class I to Class 12 are expected to benefit from

this channel.

―This channel will telecast programmes between 6 AM and

9:30 PM.

―The programmes on the channel will deal with board exams,

employment news, career guidance etc.

―The Department has taken help from a group of 25 teachers

for preparing the content for the channel.

Uttarakhand Government has decided to establish a Special

Tiger Protection Force (STPF) for Corbett Tiger Reserve

(CTR).

―The Special Tiger Protection Force will help in checking

illegal human entry into the reserve.

―Illegal humans increase poaching activities in the reserves.

―The establishment of STPF is in line with the Centre

Government’s decision to provide three tier protection to

tigers at the Indian reserves.

―These three tiers are as under:

Tier 1: This protection is provided by the regular forest

guards through regular patrols.

Tier 2: This protection is provided by establishing Special

Tiger Protection Forces.

Tier 3: This protection is provided by intelligence gathering

mechanism.

Kalvi Tholaikkatchi (Education Channel) by Tamil Nadu Govt.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

The Central Vigilance

Commission (CVC) in

consultation with the Reserve

Bank of India has constituted

Advisory Board for Banking

Frauds (ABFB). ―ABFB will be responsible for

looking into the cases of bank

fraud involving Rs 50 crore or

more and recommend actions

based on the investigation.

―ABFB will be under the chairmanship of the Former

Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin.

―Madhusudan Prasad (former Urban Development Secretary),

D K Pathak (former Director General of Border Security Force)

and Suresh N Patel (former MD and CEO of Andhra Bank) will

act as the members of the Board.

―ABFB is a reconstitution of the old Advisory Board on Bank,

Commercial and Financial Frauds.

―This reconstitution was done on the recommendations of YM

Malegam Expert committee on Non-Performing Assets

(NPAs) and frauds.

DEFENCE & SECURITY

On Iran’s ‘National Defence Industry Day’ Iran

showcased its new indigenously produced air defence system

BAVAR-373.

―Bavar is a long-range mobile surface to air missile with a

range of more than 200 kilometres.

―Bavar is similar to the Russia’s S-300 and America’s Patriot

missile systems.

―Bavar is being showcased as the first domestically produced

long-range missile defence system of the nation.

―The Bavar is a Farsi word that means ‘believe’.

―Iran started developing the Bavar System when due to

international sanctions its purchase of Russia’s S-300 system

was suspended.

―The President of Iran Hassan Rouhani has ordered adding of

the system to Iran’s missile defence system.

2019 Indo Pacific Chiefs of

Defence (CHOD) Conference will

take place in Bangkok, Thailand.

―Chief of Defence from over 33

countries will participate in the

Conference.

―2019 CHOD Conference is being

held with the theme “Collaboration in

a free and Open Indo – Pacific”. ―The Conference will discuss the

common challenges faced by the

attending countries.

―Chairman Chiefs of Staff

Committee (COSC) and Chief of the

Air Staff―Air Chief Marshal

Birender Singh Dhanoa will represent India at the Conference.

―The Conference will help in improving defence cooperation

with Thailand.

Shaheen VIII, the joint bilateral aerial exercises were

conducted including Pakistan and China in Holton, China.

Shaheen air to air war games are conducted for increasing the

interoperability between the air forces of both the countries.

―Shaheen VIII saw the participation of J-10, J-11 and JF-17

fighter planes. Pakistan and China started conducting Shaheen

exercises in 2011.

Pakistan has successfully conducted testing of hypersonic

surface-to-surface ballistic missile Hatf-III Ghaznavi from

Sonmiani test range in Balochistan.

―Hatf-III is a Scud type short range surface to surface

hypersonic ballistic missile.

―These missiles take their name from the Mahmud of Ghazni

who invaded India in the 11th Century.

―These missiles use single stage solid fuel engine.

―These missiles have a range of up to 290 kms.

―These missiles are capable of carrying both nuclear and

conventional warheads.

―India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation

(DRDO) is developing missiles similar to the Hatf-III Ghaznavi

Missile. These indigenous missiles are known as Shaurya

Missiles.

POLICY AND GOVT. INITIATIVES

The Government of India has launched the National Digital

Library of India project.

―The project is part of the Union Ministry of Human Resource

Development’s (HRD) National Mission on Education

through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT).

―The project developed by Indian Institution of Technology

Kharagpur is aimed at developing a virtual repository of

learning resources which will have a single window search

facility.

―The project is a digital repository containing textbooks,

articles, videos, audio books, lectures, simulations, fiction and

all other kinds of learning media.

―At the time of writing this, there were more than 3 crore

digital resources in over 200 languages at the site.

―More than 50 lakh students have registered at the site and

approximately 20 lakh of these are active users.

―The project have been integrated with the UMANG app.

Amazon India has launched a Military Veterans

Employment programme in India. ―This employment will provide employment opportunities to

the military veterans and their spouses.

―The employment will be

provided in sorting centres,

delivery centres and

fulfilment centres in India.

―This initiative has been

started by Amazon in partnership with the Office of the

Director-General of Resettlement (DGR) and Army Welfare

Placement Organisation (AWPO).

―Amazon employs more than 17,500 military veterans and

their spouses across the world.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between

the Department of Social Justice (DSJE), Ministry of Social

Justice and Empowerment and National AIDS Control

Organization (NACO), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

for enhanced outreach on HIV/AIDS prevention.

―The MoU among other things will involve:

--increase in the groups targeted

--Increase linkage and coordination

--Increase awareness and educate people regarding drugs abuse

--Help in strengthening the service delivery mechanism for drug

addiction treatment

--Develop welfare schemes

--Help in dealing with HIV transmission risks among drug users.

--Reduce incidents of social stigma and discrimination against

victims of drug abuse and people with HIV.

―NACO is the apex government organisation for HIV/AIDS

control in India.

Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa

―NACO was established for implementing India’s National

AIDS Control Programme.

The Union Ministry of Tourism launched the integrated

NOC (No Objection Certificate) Online Application Processing

System for National Monuments Authority (NMA).

―This system will be used for providing construction approvals

around the protected monuments. ―The system covers a total of 517 local bodies in six states of

Madhya Pradesh (378), Andhra Pradesh (110), Haryana (15),

Punjab (10), Jharkhand (3) and Telangana (1).

―The system is integrated with Indian Space Research

Organisation’s ‘SMARAC’ app.

SPORTS

World Anti-Doping

Agency (WADA) has

suspended accreditation of

National Dope Testing

Laboratory (NDTL) for six

months.

―WADA has taken this

decision because NDTL is

falling short of International

Standard for Laboratories

(ISL)

―This is not an on the spur of a movement decision. WADA

has been repeatedly warning (the latest was given in September

2018) NDTL to upgrade and improve its testing methods. ―WADA’s lack of trust on NDTL has been increasing since

2011.

WADA conducted a field visit to the NDTL in May 2019 and

recommended suspension.

―Among other things, WADA was specifically concerned with

the ‘Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry’.

―During the suspension period NDTL will not be allowed to

carry any anti-doping testing activity.

―NDTL will be allowed to collect samples, but the testing of

these samples will have to be done at WADA-accredited labs

outside India.

―The six months suspension has become effective from August

20, 2019.

―WADA is a global NGO started as an initiative of the

International Olympic Committee.

―WADA was established in 1999 under the Declaration of

Lausanne.

―WADA is working towards making anti-doping regulations

in all sports and all countries to an internationally accepted level.

―WADA also coordinates, promotes, monitors and fights drug

use in sports.

Gokulam Kerala FC won Durand

Cup 2019 football tournament by

defeating Mohun Bagan with 2-1. ―Gokulam Kerala FC forward

Marcus Joseph has been awarded the

Golden Ball & Golden Boot Award.

―Gokulam Kerala FC’s goalkeeper

CK Ubaid was honoured with Golden

Glove.

―This was the debut season of the Gokulam Kerala FC. ―This is the second Durand Cup won by

Kerala. The first was won by FC Kochin in 1997.

―Gokulam Kerala FC is the second Keralite club to win the

Cup. Durand Cup is Asia’s oldest and World’s third oldest

football tournament. Durand Cup was started in 1888.

―Durand Cup is co-hosted by Durand Football Tournament

Society (DFTS) and Osians.

PV Sindhu has created history by becoming the 1st Indian to

win a gold medal in the Badminton World Championships. ―PV Sindhu won this

gold by defeating Nozomi

Okuhara of Japan with

21-7, 21-7.

―This is the second

Indian medal in the BWF

World Championships

2019.

―This is P V Sindhu’s 5th medal at World Championships.

―Badminton Association of India has announced a cash

reward of ₹20 lakh for Sindhu.

―Other BWF World Championship Winners are as under

--Men’s Singles: Japan’s Kento Momota

--Men’s Doubles: Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra

Setiawan,

--Women’s Doubles: Japan’s Mayu Matsumoto & Wakana

Nagahara

--Mixed Doubles: China’s Zheng Siwei & Huang Yaqiong.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has extended

Paytm’s association as title sponsor for Indian cricket team for

all cricket matches played in India for a period of five years from

October 2019 to September 2023.

―Paytm has acquired these rights in Rs 326.80 crore which it

will pay to BCCI in instalments till 2023.

―Paytm had submitted the highest bid at Rs 3.80 crore per

match.

―Paytm had won these rights in 2015 by making a bid of Rs

2.42 crore per match.

INTERNATIONAL

The Asia Pacific Group (APG) of the Financial Action

Task Force (FATF) has put Pakistan in Enhanced Expedited

Follow Up List (Blacklist) for its failure to meet the standards

set up FATF.

―Pakistan was found to be non-compliant in 32 of 40

compliance parameters of terror financing and money

laundering. Pakistan has been for some time trying to convince

the APG to upgrade its status on some of these parameters, but

it did not yield any fruit. This decision was taken at the FATF

APG plenary meeting in Canberra, Australia.

Russia has launched its first

life size humanoid robot

FEDOR to the International

Space Station (ISS). ―Russia used an unmanned

Soyuz MS-14 rocket from

Baikonur cosmodrome in

Kazakhstan to launch the robot.

―FEDOR or Final

Experimental Demonstration

Object Research is also known as Skybot F850. FEDOR is a

1.80 metres or 5 foot 11 inches’ tall robot. FEDOR weights

approximately 160 kilograms.

―FEDOR has been designed to mimic or emulate some of the

movements of the human body. It will spend 10 days onboard

the ISS and help the astronauts in tasks that are dangerous for

human beings to conduct.

―The first humanoid robot in space was sent by NASA in 2011.

This robot was called Robonaut 2 or R2

Russia has launched Akademik Lomonosov, the World’s

first floating nuclear reactor.

PV Sindhu-BWF World Champion 2019

FEDOR - first life-size humanoid robot for Space

―The reactor will travel a distance of around 5,000 kilometres

from Murmansk to Pevek in north-eastern Siberia.

―In Pavel, Lomonosov will replace the local nuclear and coal

plants.

―Lomonosov will be primarily used for powering oil rigs in the

Artic Region of Russia. It is expected to become fully

operational by December 2019. It has been constructed by

Russian state nuclear power firm Rosatom.

―Lomonosov has been designed using the technology similar

to nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. It has two modified

nuclear reactors capable of generating energy 35 MW each.

―Lomonosov is 144 meters long and 30 meters wide. It has a

displacement of 21,500 tonnes. It has a crew carrying capacity

of 69. It has been named after Russian scientist Mikhail

Lomonosov Russia claims that Lomonosov is the world’s safest

nuclear installation.

―Critics around the world are not happy with this development.

They are calling Akademik Lomonosov’s as ‘nuclear Titanic’ or

‘Chernobyl on ice’.

Saudi Arabia has made a historical decision of allowing

women above 21 years to travel abroad without the

permission of a male guardian.

―The decision also allows women over 21 years of age to apply

for or renew their passport without permission from the male

guardians. The decision also allows mothers with primary

custody of the children to apply for passports and to provide

travel permissions for such children.

―Until now the women in Saudi Arabia were not allowed to

travel abroad without permission from male guardians.

―This practice had received widespread criticism from the

international community. In recent years many high-profile

Saudi Arabian women have made attempts to allegedly escape

guardianship abuse. The recent decisions taken by Saudi Arabia

for improving the conditions of women include:

Removing ban on women drivers.

Granting women, the right to register childbirth, marriage and

divorce.

Granting women, the right to be recognised as guardian to

minor children.

SUMMITS & ORGANIZATIONS

The 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) of Convention

on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Fauna and Flora (CITES) was held in Geneva, Switzerland

from 17 August to 28 August 2019.

―In the conference, the following two species were moved to

Appendix I

Smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata)

Indian star tortoise The following species were moved to Appendix II

Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko)

―The conference also debated on the proposal to prohibit

commercial international trade in species of otter which are

native to the Indian sub-continent. CITES is a legally binding

international agreement for regulating the trade in wild animals

and plants.

―CITES with more than 183 members came into force in 1975.

―United Nations Environment Program is responsible for

administering CITES. CITES Appendix classify wild animals

and plants into three categories:

Appendix I: It contains species that are facing the threat of

extinction. The trade in these species are permitted only in

exceptional circumstances.

Appendix II: These are the species that are protected, but the

protection provided is less than that of species in Appendix I.

Appendix III: These are the species which are protected in at

least one of the member countries.

ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY A critically endangered species

Peacock Parachute Spider (a

tarantula) has been sighted in the

Pakkamalai Reserve Forest in

Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. ―This is the first time that this

specie has been found outside its

known habitat in Nandyal, Andhra

Pradesh.

―Peacock Parachute Spider is from the Poecilotheria genus and

endemic to India. This spider is also known as Gooty

Tarantula. It was first sighted in 1899. The spider is endangered

as there is huge demand for it from its collectors.

BASIC GK ASPECTS

Books and Authors

Beyond Doubt – A Dossier on Gandhi`s Assassination―by

Teesta Setalvad

Inside Out―by Demi Moore

Me: Elton John Official Autobiography―by Elton John

The Asuras of Antariksh―by Veena Rao

The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of

their Senas―by Dhaval Kulkarni

The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern

World―by Paul Morland

Time and Chance―by V.A. Mohta

Awards and Honours

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has been conferred

King Hamad Order of the Renaissance by Bahrain’s King

Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa in Manama, Bahrain.

―The honour has been bestowed on the Prime Minister for his

efforts towards strengthening the bilateral relationships between

the two countries.

Shashi Shanker, the Chairman and Managing Director

(CMD) of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been

awarded the Distinguished Fellowship of Institute of

Directors (IOD) 2019.

―Shanker was selected for this honour for his contributions in

the society and the business world.

―Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing &

Urban Affairs and M Sumanta Chaudhuri Secretary, Ministry

of Coal were also honoured with fellowships.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was honoured with prestigious

‘Order of Zayed’, United Arab Emirates’ (UAE).

―Order of Zayed is the highest civilian award that can be

awarded by UAE.

―The Prime Minister has been selected for this honour due to

his contributions towards improving relationships between the

two countries.

―UAE is the third largest trade partner of India.

―The annual bilateral trade between India and UAE is worth

approximately USD 60 billion.

―UAE is the fourth largest exporter of crude oil to India.

Prabhakar Singh, Director General, Central Public Works

Department (CPWD) has been honoured with the Engineer

Award for Year 2019 by Institution of Engineers (India).

―Singh received this honour for his contributions to the field of

engineering and technology.

Peacock Parachute Spider

Appointments

A total of five governors were appointed by President Kovind

on September 1, 2019.

―Bandaru Dattatreya has been appointed the new governor

of Himachal Pradesh. He is a former Union Minister.

―Kalraj MIshra has been appointed as the new governor of

Rajasthan. He was earlier the governor of Himachal Pradesh. He

will replace Kalyan Singh as the governor of Rajasthan.

―Arif Mohammed Khan has been appointed as the Kerala

governor in place of P Sathasivam. He quit Rajiv Gandhi

government over Shah Bano case. He support the government’s

370 move.

―Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan has been appointed as the

Governor of Telangana, replacing ESL Narasimhan. Dr

Tamilisai Soundararajan is Tamil Nadu BJP president.

―Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been appointed as the new

Governor of Maharashtra. Koshyari will replace Vidyasagar

Rao.

Bandaru Battatreya (Himachal Pradesh), Kalraj Mishra (Rajashtan), Arif Mohammad Khan (Kerala), Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan (Telangana), and Bhagat Singh Koshyari (Maharashtra)

People in News

Shalija Dhami has become the 1st female in the history to be

appointed as the flight commander of a flying unit of the

Indian Air Force (IAF). ―Wing Commander Dhami has been appointed as second in

command of a Chetak helicopter unit based at Hindon airbase in

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

―Dhami was the 1st woman officer of IAF to receive

permanent commission for long tenure.

―Dhami was the 1st woman qualified flying instructor in the

IAF.

The first Indian woman

Director General of Police (DGP) Kanchan Chaudhary

Bhattacharya passed away

on 26 August 2019 ―Bhattacharya was a 1973

batch IPS officer who was

appointed as the DGP of

Uttarakhand in 2004.

―Bhattacharya was India’s second woman IPS officer.

―Kiran Bedi was the first woman IPS officer of India.

―Bhattacharya was awarded President’s police medal for

distinguished service in 1997.

Places/Events in News

. The first World Youth Conference for Kindness was

recently held in New Delhi from August 20 to 23, 2019. ―The theme of the Conference was ‘Vasudhaiva

Kutumbakam: Gandhi for the Contemporary World:

Celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.’

―The Conference saw participation of more than 1,000 youths

from 27 countries along with prominent artists and Noble

Laureates.

―The World Youth Conference is organised by UNESCO

Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and

Sustainable Development (MGIEP).

―The aim behind holding of the conference was to provide the

youth with new and creative methods

of realising UN Sustainable

Development Goals (SDGs).

The 7th Community Radio

Sammelan was held at Dr. BR

Ambedkar Bhawan, New Delhi from

27th to 29th August, 2019 with the

theme “Community Radio for SDGs”.

―The Sammelan was organised by

the Ministry of Information &

Broadcasting. ―The Sammelan discussed how

community radio can be used for increasing awareness about

Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations.

Important Abbreviations

ABFB: Advisory Board for Banking Frauds

BCCI: Board of Control for Cricket in India

CBD: Convention on Biological Diversity

CCEA: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

CITES: Convention on International Trade in Endangered

Species

CPWD: Central Public Works Department

CVC: Central Vigilance Commission

DSJE: Department of Social Justice

FATF: Financial Action Task Force

FEDOR: Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research

FRI: Forest Research Institution

NDTL: National Dope Testing Laboratory

NMA: National Monuments Authority

SDG: Sustainable Development Goal

SPTF: Special Purpose Trust Fund

STPF: Special Tiger Protection Force

UNCCD: United Nations Convention to Combat

Desertification

WADA: World Anti-Doping Agency

Days/Anniversaries

August 29 is observed as the International Day Against

Nuclear Tests globally. ―This day is observed

to increase awareness

about the consequences

of nuclear explosions.

―The decision to

observe this day was

taken in the United

Nations General

Assembly (UNGA) by unanimous adoption of the Resolution

by 64/35 in December 2009.

―On 29th August 1991, Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test site was

closed.

―This site was the primary site of nuclear weapons test by the

USSR. It is believed that USSR conducted a total of 456 nuclear

tests at the site between 1949 and 1989.

Kanchan Chaudhary Bhattacharya


NATIONAL

According to official data released by Government recently,

the Index of Eight Core Industries dropped to 2.1% in July

2019 compared to expansion of 7.3 percent in July 2018.

―This data has been released short time after the Government

acknowledged that India’s GDP growth rate has touched a 6-

year low of 5% in the first quarter of 2019-20

―India’s GDP growth rate was at 5.8% in the fourth quarter

of 2018-19 compared to 8.2% in first quarter of 2017-18.

―This is a fall of more than 3 percent in less than one year.

―This is also the fourth successive quarter that has seen decline

in the GDP growth.

―Index of Eight Core Industries is a monthly production index

based on eight industries.

―Index of Eight Core Industries

is compiled by the Central

Statistic Organisation (CSO),

Union Ministry of Commerce and

Industry ―The industries included in the index are: steel, electricity,

crude oil, refinery products, coal, cement, natural gas and

fertilizers.

―The Eight Core Industries included in the Index and the

weightage assigned to them:

Petroleum Refinery production: 28.04%,

Electricity generation: 19.85%

Steel production: 17.92%

Coal production: 10.33%

Crude Oil production: 8.98%

Natural Gas production: 6.88%

Cement production: 5.37%

Fertilizers production: 2.63%

―The industries included in the Index of Eight Core Industries

are responsible for nearly 41 percent of the Index of Industrial

Production (IIP).

The Central Government’s has found

itself at the centre of controversy on

social media due to the increased fines

under the new Motor Vehicles Act.

―The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin

Gadkari has defended the new Act

saying that the Government did not

want to increase penalties, but it wanted

to bring road disciplines, reduce

accidents and protect lives.

―The reports on social media and news channel show a two-

wheeler rider in Gurugram being fined Rs 23,000 and a truck

driver being fined Rs 59,000.

―The provisions of the new Motor Vehicles Act related to the

fines became operational on September 1.

―Within a period of one-week Odisha has recovered fines of

Rs 88.9 lakh in 4080 challans and Haryana has recovered Rs

52,32,650 worth of fines through 343 challans.

―Some of the fines under the new Act are:

Unauthorised use of vehicle without licence Rs 5,000

(previously Rs 1,000)

Driving without license Rs 5,000 (previously Rs 500)

Drunk driving up to Rs 15,000 fine and/or upto two years’

imprisonment.

The Indian Enforcement Directorate has issued a show

cause notice worth Rs 52 crore to human rights watchdog

Amnesty International for alleged foreign exchange

violations.

―In 2018 the Enforcement Directorate had registered a case

against Amnesty International (based on actions taken by the

Ministry of Home Affairs) and conducted searches.

―The FCRA licence of Amnesty International was suspended

in 2010 by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

―The Enforcement Directorate is claiming that after the

suspension of licence, the Amnesty International floated a

commercial entity Amnesty international India Pvt Ltd. to

bypass the suspension.

―This entity has received foreign funds of Rs 36 crores till now

(including Rs 10 crores as long term loans)

The Government of

India has set a target of

establishing 12,500 AYUSH

(Ayurveda, Yoga &

Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha

and Homoeopathy) Centres

across India.

―4000 AYUSH centres will be established during 2019. The

rest will be established later.

―The Government of India has also released 12

commemorative postal stamps for honouring the eminent

practitioners, scholars of AYUSH Systems.

―AYUSH centres will serve two purposes:

--promote self care by changing food, lifestyle and social habits.

--promote use of medicinal plants for primary health care

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has

confirmed the reports that nine people in Gujrat have been tested

positive for the Congo fever or Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic

fever (CCHF).

In addition, one sample received from Rajasthan has tested

positive for the fever.

―Gujarat Health Department officials have confirmed four

deaths due to the fever in the state till now.

―CCHF is an infection spread by livestock.

―Congo fever is an infection spread by ticks.

―ICMR has warned that admission of patients with CCHF

admitted to hospital, carries a risk of nosocomial spread of

infection and this has caused serious outbreaks in the past.

The Union Home Ministry have declared number of

individuals as terrorists under the freshly amended Unlawful

Activities Prevention Amendment (UAPA) Act, 1967

―The list of the newly declared terrorists include:

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar

Lashkar-e-Taiba founder (LeT) Hafiz Muhammad Saeed

1993 Mumbai blasts mastermind Dawood Ibrahim

26/11 terror attack accused Zaki-ur-Rehman-Lakhvi





―Azhar has been involved in the following terrorist attacks:

Jammu and Kashmir Assembly complex attack in 2001

Parliament attack in 2001

Pathankot airbase attack in 2016

BSF camp attack in Srinagar in 2017

Pulwama attack on February 14.

―Hafiz Saeed has been associated with the following terror

attacks:

Red Fort attack in 2000

CRPF camp attack in Rampur (Uttar Pradesh) 2008

BSF Convoy attack in Udhampur, J&K in 2015

―Dawood Ibrahim is associated with:

International underworld crime syndicate

promoting religious fundamentalism, terror financing, arms

smuggling, circulation of counterfeit currency etc.

―The recently made amendments to the UAPA Act authorised

the Government of India to declare individuals as terrorists.

―Previously the Government could only designate

organisations as terrorist organisations.

LAW

The Supreme Court has issued a warning to the Delhi

Government saying that it will intervene if public money is

used for providing sops and freebies that negatively affect the

financial health of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

―The Supreme Court said that Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

might go into losses if freebies and sops are announced by the

Delhi Government.

―The warning was issued by the Supreme Court in relation to

the Delhi Government’s plan of introducing free Metro rides for

women.

―While issuing the warning the Supreme Court said that the

Delhi Government will have to bear the operational losses due

to the implementation of the scheme because Metro works

within the State.

―The Delhi Government was arguing that the operational

losses suffered by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation should be borne

by the Central Government.

The Supreme Court of India has issued a notice to the Centre

on a plea challenging recent amendments to the Unlawful

Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

―The recent amendments to the UAPA provides the Central

Government with the authority to designate individuals as

terrorists.

―There are two petitions before the Supreme Court in this case.

One petition has been submitted by Sajal Awasthi and the

another one by the NGO Association for Protection of Civil

Rights.

―These petitions claim that the recent amendments to the

UAPA are unconstitutional because:

they do not contain the grounds on which an individual can

be designated as a terrorist.

the amendment gives unfettered powers to the authorities

without any build in safeguards.

the amendment can be abused to curb free speech.

the amendment did not give an individual an opportunity to

present his case before being declared a terrorist.

the amendment infringes upon the right to reputation and

dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended the names

of Chief Justices for nine High Courts.

These elevations are as under:

Justice J K Maheshwari, senior puisne Judge of Madhya

Pradesh High Court, has been recommended for the post of

the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court

Justice Ajai Lamba, currently in Allahabad High Court,

has been recommended for the post of Chief Justice of

Gauhati High Court.

Justice Ravi Shankar Jha, a senior puisne judge from

Madhya Pradesh High Court, has been recommended for

the post of the Chief Justice for Punjab and Haryana High

Court

Justice L Narayana Swamy of Karnataka High Court has

been recommended for the post of the Chief Justice of

Himachal Pradesh High Court.

Justice S Manikumar of Madras High Court has been

recommended for the post of the Chief Justice of Kerala

High Court.

Justice Indrajit Mahanty of the Bombay high Court has

been recommended for the post of the Chief Justice of

Rajasthan High Court.

Justice Arup Kumar Goswami, the seniormost Judge

from Gauhati High Court has been recommended for the

post of the Chief Justice of Sikkim High Court

Justice Vikram Nath, the senior most Judge from

Allahabad High Court has been recommended for the post

of the Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court.

The Chief Justice Vijaya K Tahilramani of the Madras

High Court has resigned from her post.

―This decision was taken by Justice Vijaya after the Supreme

Court Collegium declined to reconsider her appointment to the

Meghalaya High Court.

―Justice Vijaya have been serving as the Chief Justice of

Madras High Court since August 2018 and she was due to retire

in October 2020.

STATES

Gujrat Government has cleared the air-conditioned

passenger ferry service between Hazira, Surat and Bandra,

Mumbai.

―The purposed ferry service will have 20 rooms and the

carrying capacity for 300 passengers.

―This ferry service is expected to become operational in

November 2019.

―The ferry will run once a week initially; the frequency will be

increased based on traffic.

―Gujarat Government already operates a Roll On Toll Off

passenger and cargo ferry service between Surat and Bhavnagar.

India’s first

‘Garbage Café’ is

scheduled for

opening in

Ambikapur,

Chhattisgarh. ―The ‘Garbage

Café’ will provide

free lunch/dinner in

exchange for one-

kilogram plastic.

―The ‘Garbage

Café’ will provide

breakfast in exchange for half a kilogram of plastic.

―The Café will sell the plastic collected by it to the Solid

Liquid Resources Management Centre which will process it

and use it for constructing roads in the city.

―The idea behind the concept is to make Ambikapur plastic-

free.

―Ambikapur is the first dustbin-free city of Chhattisgarh.

―The all India Swachhata rankings, ranked Ambikapur second

in India in terms of cleanliness.

Garbage Cafe (Launched in Chhattisgarh): Municipal Corporation to provide food to poor and homeless in lieu of plastic waste.

Tamil Nadu has received Geographical

Indication (GI) tag for two products Dindigul

lock and Kandangi saree. ―Dindigul city is know for the quality and

durability of its lock.

―Dindigul locks are available in more than

50 varieties.

―Dindigul locks are hand made locks

and used in companies, shops, homes,

prisons, government warehouses,

hospitals etc.

―Kandangi sarees are produced in

the Karaikudi taluk in Sivaganga,

Tamil Nadu.

―Kandangi sarees are made from cotton.

―With this, 31 products from Tamil Nadu have received GI

tags.

The Maharashtra

Government is looking into

converting some of the forts in

the State into heritage hotels.

―The Government with this

in mind has released a policy

which allows Maharashtra

Tourism Development

Corporation (MTDC) to

lease out state owned forts subject to two conditions: --the forts must not be on the protected monuments lists.

--the forts must not be on the land allocated to the monuments

on the protected monuments lists.

―Private parties will be allowed to lease the property for a

period of 60 to 90 years on a revenue sharing model.

―The parties will not be allowed to make any new permanent

constructions.

―The parties will have to maintain the aesthetic value of the

forts.

―Keeping these conditions in mind MTDC has identified 25

forts in the State which will be offered to the private sector on

lease basis.

―MTDC will shortly invite expression of interest for these

forts.

―There are total of 353 forts and approximately 100 of these

are on protected monuments lists.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has created five-

member special cell for dealing with the different tax related

issues of startups.

―The startups will be free to approach this cell with their

grievances.

―CBDT has taken this decision for dealing with the compliance

issues of startups in a speedy manner.

―Recently, the finance ministry of India took a decision of

exempting startups from the payment of angel tax.

The Union Ministry of

Labour has conducted a

survey of more than

96,000 beneficiaries of

flagship Mudra Scheme

and released its draft

findings. ―According to the findings:

Only 1 in 5 or 20.06 percent beneficiaries took Mudra loan

for starting new businesses.

Almost 80 percent of beneficiaries took the loan for

extending their existing businesses.

The number of additional jobs created in the 33 months of

the scheme were less than 10 percent of the total number of

sanctioned loans.

In the first three years, a total of Rs 5.71 lakh crore Mudra

loans were sanctioned through 12.27 crore loan accounts.

On an average a beneficiary received Rs 46,536 as loan.

42 percent of the loans sanctioned during 2017-18 were for

Rs 50,000 or less (Shishu loans).


more than Rs 50,000 but less than Rs 5 lakhs (Kishore

loans).


more than Rs 5 lakh but less than Rs 10 lakhs (Tarun loans).

Ashok Leyland has

become the first major

commercial vehicle

producer in India to

upgrade its entire range of

heavy-duty trucks to

compliance with BS-VI

emission norms.

―Ashok Leyland cannot

introduce these vehicles

across India as availability of BS VI fuel is restricted to certain

parts of India.

―Ashok Leyland will shortly make its LCV and ICV vehicles

compliant with BS VI standards.

―BS VI emission norms will become applicable in India from

April 1, 2020. ―Ashok Leyland is the flagship company of Hinduja Group.

Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Regime between Switzerland and India has become operational from

September 1, 2019.

―AEOI will allow India to receive information regarding all the

financial accounts held by Indian residents in Switzerland for

2018.

―AEOI allows for information exchange without any official

request.

―The information exchanged under the system is under

Common Reporting Standards (CRS).

―AEOI has been established for fighting the global tax

evasion. Indian and Switzerland agreed on the AEOI in

November 2016.

―Indian Government expects this to help considerably in its

fight against black money.

Indian Government has recently announced an USD 1

billion line of credit for the development of Russia’s Far East.

―This credit line is part of India’s Act East policy.

―Russia’s Far East is a resource-rich region of Russia.

―Different Indian firms have invested in excess of USD 7

billion in Russian oil and gas fields.

―In 2001 ONGC Videsh acquired 20 percent stake in Far East

Russia oil and gas field Sakhalin-1

―Indian Oil Corporation and its partners have picked up 29.9

per cent stake in a Taas-Yuryakh oilfield in East Siberia.

According to various news reports, GST Council is looking

over the measures for stopping fraudulent tax evasions.

―Estimated GST Frauds of Rs 45,682 crores have taken place

since July 1, 2017.

―Total GST frauds of Rs 6,520 crores were reported in April-

June 2019 alone. Till now 9,285 cases of GST fraud have been

reported.

―1,593 cases of GST frauds were reported during April-June

2019 alone. The GST Collections for August touched Rs 98,202

crore. The GST collections for July touched Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

Dindigul Locks (Tamil Nadu)

Kandangi Sarees (Tamil Nadu)

DEFENCE & SECURITY

Japan–India Defence Ministerial Meeting 2019 was held

on 2nd September, 2019 at Tokyo, Japan.

―The Indian delegation was led by the Union Minister of

Defence, Rajnath Singh.

―The Japanese delegation was led by the Defence Minister of

Japan Takeshi lwaya.

―The highlights of the meeting were:

--Discussion on issues of mutual concerns including

strengthening existing bilateral co-operative arrangements.

--Discussions on Special Strategic and Global

Partnership (SSGP) between India and Japan for dealing

with the peace, security and stability of the region.

--Discussions on different security concerns of the region.

―India and Japan have reaffirmed their commitment towards

further strengthening the defence ties between the countries.

The first ASEAN-US Maritime Exercise (AUMX)

between ASEAN (Association of South Asian Nations) and

United States was held from September 2nd to September 7, 2019

in the South Asian international waters.

―These naval exercises started at the Sattahip Naval Base,

Thailand and ended in Singapore.

―These naval exercises saw participation from Thailand,

Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,

Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and US.

―These exercises are being conducted at a time when the

tension between China and USA is at a high.

―China asserts sovereignty over a large part of South China

Sea.

―Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines also claim the

overlapping parts of the South China Sea.

―The importance of South China Sea lies in it being a key

global shipping route.

The Indian Air Force has

formally inducted 8 Apache

AH-64E attack helicopters at

Pathankot Air Force station.

―In a formal induction, a

ceremonial key for the Apache

helicopters was handed over to

the Air Chief Marshal B S

Dhanoa by the Boeing

company. ―India has purchased Apache

helicopters from Boring for

replacing the existing Mi-35

helicopters of the Indian Air

Force. ―Indian Air Force will deploy

these helicopters in the

western regions of India.

―Apache helicopters can be

equipped with hellfire (air to

ground missiles), Hydra (rockets), Stringer (air to air missiles)

etc.

―Apache helicopters delivered to India are equipped with 30

mm chain gun.

―Apache helicopters are day/night all weather helicopters.

Joint military training exercises Yudh Abhyas – 2019 have

started from September 5 at Joint Base Lewis Mc Chord,

Washington.

―These joint exercises between India and United States will

continue till September 18 2019.

―Yudh Abhyas is one of the largest joint exercise between

India and America.

―Yudh Abhyas is part of the ongoing Indo-American defence

cooperation.

―Yudh Abhyas is held alternatively in India and America.

―Yudh Abhyas 2019 is the 15th edition of these joint exercises.

―Yudh Abhyas increases the interoperability between the

armies of both the countries.

―Yudh Abhyas allows the armies of both the countries to share

and learn from each other experiences.


The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has

cleared the proposal for increasing the price of ethanol

purchased by the public sector oil marketing companies

(OMCs).

―The price increases are as under:

Ethanol derived from C heavy molasses from Rs 43.46 a litre

to Rs 43.75 per litre.

Ethanol derived from B heavy molasses from Rs 52.43 to Rs

54.27 per litre per litre.

Ethanol derived from sugar, sugarcane juice, sugar syrup

route to Rs 59.48 per litre.

―These increased prices will be applicable from 1 December

2019 to 30 November 2020.

―The Government of India is notifying ethanol prices since

2014.

―From 2018, the Indian Government is notifying differential

pricing of Ethanol based on the raw material used for its

production.

―The Indian Government has implemented the Ethanol

Blended Petrol (EBP) scheme.

―Under the scheme the petrol sold by the Oil Marketing

Companies can be blended by up to 10 % ethanol.

―From April 2019 onwards the EBP scheme is applicable in

almost all of India.

―The ethanol purchase by Public Sector OMCs has increased

from 38 crore litre in 2013-14 to over 200 crore litre (estimated)

in 2018-19.

Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food and Public

Distribution has announced a blanket ban on all types of single

use plastic products in various departments of Ministry and all

its Public Sector Units (PSUs).

―The ban will become operational from September 15, 2019.

SPORTS

2019 US Open [Date―August 26 to September 8, 2019;

Edition―139th; Prize money―US$57,238,700]

Champions ―Men's Singles: Rafael Nadal

(Spain)

―Women's Singles: Bianca

Andreescu (Canada)

―Men's Doubles: Juan

Sebastián Cabal/Robert Farah

(Columbia)

―Women's Doubles: Elise

Mertens (Belgium) / Aryna

Sabalenka (Belarus) ―Mixed Doubles: Bethanie

Mattek-Sands (US) /Jamie

Murray (UK)

―Boys' Singles: Jonáš

Forejtek (Czech Rep.)

―Girls' Singles: María

Camila Osorio Serrano

(Columbia)

AH-64E Apache Guardian

Mi-35M (Hind) Helicopters

US Open 2019 is Rafael Nadal's 19th grand slam trophy.

Bianca Andreescu is the 1st women's singles champion to

win US Open at her 1st attempt.

Boys' Doubles: Eliot Spizzirri/Tyler Zink (US)

―Girls' Doubles: Kamilla Bartone (Latvia) / Oksana

Selekhmeteva (Russia)

The ISSF World Cup Finals 2019 will see participation of a

record 14 Indian rifle and pistol shooters.

―The World Cup Finals are schedule to be held in Putian, China

from November 17 to 23.

―The World Cup’s Final will have eight rifle/pistol events.

―Anjum Moudgil and Manu Bhaker are the only two Indians

to have qualified for participation in two events.

―The World Cup Final will see participants from 35 countries.

Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan has earned the distinction of

becoming the youngest captain in the Test Cricket History at the

age of 20.

―The previous record was held by Zimbabwe’s Tatenda Taibu

―Rashid Khan had also become the youngest captain in

international cricket at the age of 19.

Rishabh Pant has become the

fastest Indian wicket-keeper to

claim 50 wickets in Test cricket.

―Rishabh Pant has claimed this

honour by taking 50 wickets in 11

test matches. ―The previous record was held

by MS Dhoni with 50 wickets in

15 test matches

Virat Kohli has become the most successful Indian Test

Captain.

―Virat Kohli has won 28 out of 48 Cricket Test matches in

which he was the captain. ―Previous record was held by MS

Dhoni who had won 27 of the 60

matches in which he was the

captain.

―Before MS Dhoni, the record

was held by Sourav Ganguly and

Mohammad Azharuddin with 21

wins in 49 matches as captain and

14 wins in 47 matches as captains

respectively.

INTERNATIONAL

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released its

new report.

According to the report:

Correct investments in nutrition can help in saving 3.7

million lives by 2025.

Nutrition must be one of the components of the essential

health packages.

Iron and folic acid supplements must be provided as part of

antenatal care.

Umbilical cord clamping can be delayed for ensuring

transfer of important nutrients from mother to child at birth.

Breastfeeding should be supported, promoted and

protected.

Intake of sugar and salt should be reduced.

The US Defence Secretary has approved USD 3.6 billion

funding from military construction projects for constructing 175

miles of wall along the Mexican border.

―Approximately USD 1.8 billion will be taken from the

military projects within USA.

―Approximately USD 1.8 billion will be taken from the

military projects outside USA.

―This diversion of fund is expected to affect 127 military

construction projects.

―US lawmakers are now faced with tough choice. Earlier in

2019 they refused USD 6 billion funding for the wall. Now they

have to decide if they will provide funding for the 127 military

construction projects which will be affected or not.

―Earlier in this year’s budget, US Congress approved USD

1.375 billion for wall construction against the demand of USD

5.7 billion by US President Donald Trump.

―Donald Trump declared an emergency and made the

following transfers for building the wall:

USD 600 million from the Treasury Department’s asset

forfeiture fund

USD 2.5 billion from Defense Department counterdrug

activities.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

YouTube has confirmed

that it has removed more

than 1 lakh videos and more

than 17 thousand channels

because they were violating

YouTube’s new hate speech

policies.

―These numbers are approximately five times the number of

removals made by the platform in the previous quarter.

―In additions, YouTube removed almost 500 million

comments due to hate speech. This is at least double the

comment removals during the previous quarter.

―One of the reasons for abnormally higher number of removals

is the removal of older videos, channels and comments which

were earlier allowed on the platform.

―The new and stricter hate speech policy of YouTube is aimed

at removing all videos, channels and comments which depict

supremacist content.

―The new and stricter hate speech policies of YouTube became

operational in June, 2019.

―During April-June 2019, You Tube removed nine million

videos and four million channels in total.

―Approximately 6 million of these removed videos were spam,

misleading or scams related.

―More than 3.6 million of the removed channels were spam,

misleading or scams related.

―YouTube has reaffirmed its commitment for reducing videos

which violates its policy.

―More than 10,000 individuals are working at the YouTube for

detecting, reviewing and removing content that violates its

guidelines.

According to various

media reports, WhatsApp

has approached the Reserve

Bank of India for

permission for WhatsApp

Payments and the proposal

is in final stages of review

for clearance. ―According to the reports, WhatsApp has agreed to data

localisations norms set by RBI for payments related data, and

the audit is going on for the same.

Virat Kohli - the most successful captain of Indian Cricket Team (Test matches)

Rishab Pant

―More than one million users of WhatsApp Beta (including

both iOS and Android users) are testing the WhatsApp

Payments.

―The WhatsApp Payments in India is based on the Unified

Payment Interface or UPI which allows bank-to-bank direct

money transfers.

―The WhatsApp Beta is testing different functions including

sending money to UPI Accounts not using WhatsApp and

making or receiving payments through QR code.

―WhatsApp had originally planned to introduce WhatsApp

Payments in 2018, but the privacy concerns over the data storage

and other concerns delayed the rollout.

―WhatsApp is one of the largest messaging apps in India.

―More than 400 million individuals in India use WhatsApp.

BASIC GK ASPECTS Big Sky―by Kate Atkinson

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters―by Balli

Kaur Jaswal

Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum―by Tilak Devasher

Assam: The Accord, The Discord―by Sangeeta Barooah

Pisharoty

Radical Simplicity―by Ken Allen

The Code―by Margaret O'Mara

The Testaments―by Margaret Atwood Ducks

Newburyport―by Lucy Ellmann

Girl, Woman, Other―by Bernardine Evaristo

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World―by Elif

Shafak

An Orchestra of Minorities―by Chigozie Obioma.

Awards and Honours Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Awards 2018 were

presented to the winners on August 29, 2019 (National Supports

Day) by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind.

The winners of the award are: Land Adventure category: Aparna Kumar, Late Dipankar

Ghosh and Manikandan K.

Water Adventure category: Prabhat Raju Koli

Air Adventure category: Rameshwer Jangra

Life Time Achievement category: Wangchuk Sherpa

―Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award are the highest

national awards for adventure sports in India.

―These awards are conferred in four categories.

―The awards carry a statuette, certificate & cash prize of Rs. 5

lakhs.

―The awards are named after Nepali-Indian Sherpa

mountaineer Tenzing Norgay who along with Edmund Hilary

scaled Mount Everest on 29 May 1953.

People in News Kiran Nagarkar passed away on September 5, 2019 at the

age of 77 due to brain haemorrhage.

―Nagarkar was a renowned novelist and playwright.

―Nagarkar had written eight novels in English and Marathi

during his life. ―Nagarkar’s latest novel Arsonist was published in 2019.

―In addition, Nagarkar had written number of plays and

screenplays.

―Some of the renowned works of Nagarkar include ‘God’s

Little Soldier’ (2006), ‘The Extras’ (2012), ‘Rest in Peace’

(2015), and ‘Bedtime Stories’.

Nagarkar was born in Mumbai in 1942.

―Nagarkar’s first novel ‘Saat Sakkam Trechalis’ (Marathi) was

published in 1974.

Robert Mugabe passed away on

September 6, 2019 at the age of 95. ―Mugabe was first the prime minister and

later president of independent Zimbabwe.

―Mugabe controlled Zimbabwe from 1980 –

the year in which it received independence –

to 2017.

―Mugabe was the world’s oldest head of state before he was

ousted in 2017.

―In November 2017, Mugabe was placed under house arrest

and forced to step down by his political party, ZANU-PF.

―Robert Gabriel Mugabe was born on Feb. 21, 1924.

Ram Jethmalani (95), widely respected as

doyen of criminal law, passed away Sep 8,

2019. Born in 1923, he obtained his law

degree at the age of 17 years and shifted to

Bombay from Shikarpur (a small town, now

in Pakistan).

―He has served as India's Union Law

Minister and as chairman of the Bar Council of India.

―He appeared in many high profiled criminal cases, and is

widely respected as the doyen of criminal law.

―Among many controversial and high profiles cases he

represented were:

Nanavati Case (1959),

Indira Gandhi assassination case,

Harshad Mehta stock scam case,

Ketan Parekh case,

LK Advani’s defence in hawala case,

Jayalalitha’s case for disproportionate assets case,

Kanimozhi’s defence in 2G scam case,

Manu Sharma’s Jessical Lall murder Case,

Lalu Prasad Yadav’s fodder Scam case,

Yeddyyurappa’s mining scam case,

Afzal Guru in Parliament Attach Case,

Subroto Roy’s Sahara-SEBI case,

Baba Ramdev’s Ramlila Ground 2011 incident case etc.

Must Know

AEOI: Automatic Exchange of Information

ASEAN: Association of South Asian Nations

BSF: Border Security Force

CBDT: Central Board of Direct Taxes

CCEA: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

CCHF: Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever

CRPF: Central Reserve Police Force

CRS: Common Reporting Standards

CSO: Central Statistic Organisation

EBP: Ethanol Blended Petrol

ED: Enforcement Directorate

FCRA: Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

GI: Geographical Indication

ICMR: Indian Council of Medical Research

ICV: Immediate Commercial Vehicles

IIP: Index of Industrial Production

ISSF: International Shooting Sport Federation

JeM: Jaish-e-Mohammed

LCV: Light Commercial Vehicles

LeT: Lashkar-e-Taiba

MTDC: Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation

ONGC: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

UPI: Universal Payment Interface

WHO: World Health Organisation

Robert Mugabe

Ram


NATIONAL

The Centre Government recently amended the Motor

Vehicles Act and increased penalties for traffic violations.

―A few of the Indian States have adopted the Act in its entirety

and many of the States have put it on a hold.

―Many states are not comfortable with the extremely high

penalties imposed under the Motor Vehicles Act.

―The reports in various newspapers show instances where the

penalty imposed on two wheelers is more than the cost of the

two wheelers; and the cases in which the penalty imposed is

more than the salary and monthly income of an individuals.

―The Amended Act has come in force from September 3.

―Gujarat is the first State to adopted it by reducing the

penalties under it.

―Uttarakhand is the second State that has adopted the Act by

making cuts to it.

―The current status of the Motor Vehicle Act across India is

as under:

―Uttarakhand: The State Government has adopted the Act after

making cuts in the penalties under it.

―Uttarakhand Government has reduced penalty for as many as

15 violations under the Act.

―The quantum of the fines under it have been slashed by 50%

in most of the cases and by 70% in some of the cases.

―For example

The penalty for unauthorised person driving a vehicle has

been reduced from Rs 5000 to Rs 2,500.

The penalty for driving without licence is reduced from Rs

5,000 to Rs 2,500.

The penalty for using handheld communication device

while driving has been reduced from Rs 5,000 to Rs 1,000.

The penalty for violation of air or noise pollution standards

has been reduced from Rs 10,000 to Rs 2,500 for the first

offence.

―Odisha has delayed the implementation of the Act by three

months

―The decision in Odisha was taken after the spats between

police and public at multiple places in Bhubaneswar.

―Madhya Pradesh Government has stayed the implementation

of the amended Act, citing excessive fines for traffic violations.

―Madhya Pradesh Government has announced that it will study

the implementation of the Act in other States and cut the fines

under the amended Act accordingly before implementing the

Act.

―Chhattisgarh Government has also put the implementation of

the amended Act on hold.

―Punjab Government has also put the implementation of the

amended Act on hold.

―Haryana Government has implemented the Act without

cutting the penalties under the Act.

―Haryana Government has also announced launching of an

awareness campaign on the amended Act.

―Bihar Government has implemented the amended Act without

any cuts.

―Uttar Pradesh Government has not yet made any notification

or announcement regarding the amended Motor Vehicles Act in

the State.

―Assam Government has taken a decision to implement the

amended Act.

Assam Government might add few more points to the amended

Act before implementing it.

―Kerala Government initially implemented the amended act

and started collecting hiked penalties.

―This saw widespread protests by both public and the trade

unions in the State against the hiked penalties.

―Consequently, Kerala Government decided to put the

implementation of the amended Act on hold.

―West Bengal Government has announced that it will not

implement the amended Act and will not put any additional

burden on the people in the State.

―Rajasthan Government has taken a decision to implement the

amended Act partially.

―Tripura Government has taken a decision to implement the

amended Act without making any changes.

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST)

has recommended putting the purposed Union Territory of

Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and

declaring it as a tribal area.

―The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India deals with the

administration of the tribal areas by setting up autonomous

district and regional councils.

―For some time now, the predominantly tribal population of

Ladakh along with the political leaders of the region has been

demanding tribal status for it.

―According to estimates, approximately 90 percent of the

Ladakh population is tribal population.

―The decision to declare areas as tribal areas rest exclusively

with the Union Home Ministry.

The recent information of the Ministry of the Home Affairs

shows that the situation in the State of Jammu and Kashmir is

becoming normalised and the restrictions in it are being relaxed.

―This information comes more than a month after the removal

of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370

of the Constitution of India.

―The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an update. As per

the update:

All the landline connections in the region have been made

operational.

All the schools and the health institutions in the region have

become fully functional.

All the banks and ATMs in the region are fully functional.

Mobile postpaid services have been restored in Kupwara

region.





The region has adequate stocks of petroleum products and

various food grains.

―The update by the Ministry has been issued after India made

a statement at the United Nations Human Rights Councils

saying that the steps taken by the Government are Constitutional

and that India would ensure that the progressive measures would

be fully applicable in J&K and Ladakh.

―The Government also told the United Nations Human Rights

Council that the civil administration of the Jammu and Kashmir

region was ensuring functioning of basis services, supplying of

essential commodities, normal functioning of various

institutions etc.

―The United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights

Michelle Bachelet recently expressed

“deep concern” at the communication

shutdown and the arrests of political

leadership in the Jammu and Kashmir.

―The Commissioner had urged the

Indian Government to ensure the

protection of human rights in the region.

―The communication blackout and

security lockdown were imposed on the

region on August 5, 2019, following the

Government’s decision to remove special status of Jammu and

Kashmir and the decision to bifurcate it into two union

territories. Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and the Prime Minister of Nepal KP

Sharma Oli recently jointly

inaugurated South Asia’s first cross-

border petroleum products pipeline.

―The pipeline will run from

Motihari, Bihar, India to

Amlekhgunj, Nepal.

―The pipeline project was

completed within 15 months against

the deadline of 30 months set for the

completion of the project.

―The pipeline is a 69 kilometres pipeline with the capacity of

supplying 2 million metric ton (MMT) of petroleum products

annually.

―The pipeline will provide the people of Nepal with the access

to affordable and clean petroleum products.

―During the first phase, the pipeline will be used for supplying

diesel.

―The pipeline has been built by the Indian Oil Corporation

Limited (IOCL) in collaboration with the Nepal Oil

Corporation Limited (NOCL) at a cost of Rs 324 crores.

―NOCL is expected to save more than Rs 2 billion annually in

freighting cost of petroleum products.

―NOCL is expected to save millions of rupees by reducing

leakage of petroleum products.

―The Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline project was first

proposed in 1996. But it was not taken up seriously.

―In 2014, the project was taken up under the bilateral talks and

the Government of India and Nepal included it in the

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by them.

―Currently, petroleum products are transported from India to

Nepal through tankers and trucks at 13 pick-up points (7

products and 6 LPG).

―The Indian and Nepali Government are also working on

building additional storage facility at Amlekhgunj Depot in

Nepal.

The training of first batch of officers for the Indian Skill

Development Services (ISDS) has started.

―The Indian Skill Development Services are the latest Central

Government Services.

―The first batch of Civil Servants are being trained at the

Administrative Training Institute (ATI), Mysuru, Karnataka.

―The first batch of the officers has been selected for the ISDS

cadre from the Indian Engineering Services (IES) examination

conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

―ISDS will operate under the Union Ministry of Skill

Development and Entrepreneurship.

―ISDS is expected to help the Central Government’s skilling

initiative by improving its efficiency and implementation.

―ISDS will have 263 all India posts initially.

―ISDS is a Group ‘A’ service and the cadre will be as under:

3 posts at Senior Administrative Grade

28 posts at Junior Administrative Grade

120 posts at Senior Time Scale

112 posts at Junior Time Scale

Law Supreme Court has come down very hard on VVIP chopper

scam accused Gautam Khaitan in a case related to the black

money law.

―A furious Supreme Court said that Justice cannot be

purchased like this.

―Supreme Court was angry with Khaitan for seeking four

weeks’ time for making his stand clear.

―Supreme Court was not happy with the Khaitan’s counsel

request for more time. The Court saw it as a delaying tactic

for avoiding the bench.

―The Court said that “What is your effort, we understand that.

We are averse to it. Do not speak. We are furious. This is not the

way. You want to avoid the bench. Justice cannot be delayed

like this,”

―The Supreme Court made this observation while the Court

was considering if the 2016 black money law can be operated

retrospectively from July 2015.

―The Supreme Court in May 2018 had stayed the High Court’s

May 16 order saying that the order appears to be improper.

―The High Court in May 2019 had restrained the Income Tax

(I-T) department from taking any action against the Khaitan

against whom a black money case was filed.

―The High Court had also stayed the Centre’s notification to

make operational the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign

Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, with effect

from July 1, 2015.

―The Supreme Court has said that the Parliament itself has

enacted the Law with specific date on which it will come from

force (April 1, 2016) and as such it cannot be made

retrospectively by way of a notification.

―Khaitan is one of the accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP

chopper scam.

The Supreme Court made an observation that it was not

against interfaith or inter-caste marriages or even live in

relationships but it was also concerned about the woman and had

a duty to protect her.

―The observation was made when parents of a Chhattisgarh

women alleged that her daughter was fraudulently lured into

interfaith marriage.

―The Supreme Court also asked the husband of the woman to

file an affidavit stating his bona fides.

―The Supreme Court also asked him to be a great lover and a

loyal husband.

―The father of the woman claimed that his elder daughter was

under medication for mental health issues and had in the past

expressed desire to be with her parents.

Michelle Bachelet

KP Sharma Oli - Prime Minister of Nepal

―Justice Mishra in the case said, “We are not against interfaith

or inter-caste marriages…. But what if the husband leaves the

girl after some time? We just want to know his bona fides. We

have a duty. (The) rest is her destiny.”

STATES

Telangana Government’s first food park was recently

inaugurated at Lakkampally village in Nandipet Mandal of

Nizamabad district.

―This food park is being set up at a cost of Rs 109 crore under

the Centre Government’s Food Park Scheme and is being

promoted by Smart Agro Food Park.

―The food park will occupy a total area of 78 acres.

―The food park is expected to create 50,000 jobs (including

both direct and indirect employment opportunities).

―Approximately 1,00,000 farmers are expected to be benefited

from the park.

―The food park will generate additional investment of Rs 250

crore for establishing 22 food processing units.

―The food park is expected to generate an annual turnover of

Rs 14,000 crore.

―The food park is being set up under the ‘Pradhan Mantri

Kisan SAMPADA Yojana’.

―The idea behind the scheme is to boost food processing sector

by value addition and wastage reduction at each stage of the

supply chain.

―The Central Government provides financial assistance of up

to Rs 50 crores per Mega Food Project under the scheme.

The Central Government has constituted a 3 members

committee for overseeing the bifurcation of Jammu and

Kashmir (J&K) into two union territories of Jammu and

Kashmir and Ladakh.

―The committee will also look into the distribution of assets

and liabilities between the two new union territories.

―The three members committee will be headed by Former

Defence Secretary of India Sanjay Mitra.

―Mitra will be assisted by retired Indian Administrative

Services officer Arun Goyal and retired Indian Civil Accounts

Services officer Giriraj Prasad Gupta.

―This committee has been constituted under the provisions of

the Section 84 and Section 85 of Jammu and Kashmir

Reorganisation Act, 2019.

―The two Union Territories are expected to come into

existence on October 31, 2019.

―The decision to remove the special status of Jammu and

Kashmir under the Article 370 of the Constitution of India and

the decision to bifurcate the State into two new Union Territories

was taken on August 5, 2019.

The Madhya Pradesh Government has launched an online

cow adoption service under the Government’s Project

Gaushala.

―Individuals can use this service to adopt cows and provide

them sheds at cow shelters (gaushalas) across the state.

―Cows can be adopted for a minimum period of 15 days. There

is no maximum period.

―The adoption costs have been calculated on the basis of the

daily diet of cow of half a kilo (0.5 kg) of grain, 5 kilos of green

feed and 10 kilos of wheat chaff a day, in case of a non-lactating,

non-pregnant cow.

―The adoption costs have been calculated as under:

Rs 1,100 for adoption for 15 days.

Rs 11.100 for adoption for six months.

Rs 3,00,000 for adoption for 10 years

―The name of the adopters will be displayed on the website of

the Animal Husbandry Department.

―Each adopter will be provided with a certificate.

―In the first phase, the donors will not be allowed to pick

specific cows for adoption.

―In the later phases, (depending on the response) the

government is planning of posting details of cows along with

photos so that the adopters can choose the cows which they want

to adopt.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Chinese Taipei has invoked WTO’s disputer settlement

mechanism against India over the imposition of import duties on

some ICT products.

―Chinese Taipei is claiming that India has imposed duties on

11 categories of ICT products that are in excess of India’s bond

duty rates for the goods.

―India hiked duty on certain communication items by as much

as 20 percent in October 2018.

―These duty hikes were undertaken to curb imports and to

check the widening current account deficits.

―The European Union has also filed similar complaints

against India in the WTO.

―The first stage of the dispute resolution involves consultations

between the parties for finding acceptable solutions.

―In case, the consultations (within 60 days) are unable to

resolve the dispute than the complainant can request

adjudication of the dispute by a panel.

The automobile industry has been asking for across the

board rate cut from the GST slab of 28% to 18% in the Goods

and Services Tax

―The GST Council will look into these requests to make the

tax cuts in the Goods and Services Tax Council in its meet on

September 20.

―The major concern before the revenue authorities is the

potential revenue loss to the centre and state governments due

to this tax reduction.

―The change in the rate slab will lead to across the board

revenue loss of more than 10 percent because GST

Compensation Act doesn’t allow cesses on products that are not

placed on the highest slab.

―Currently there is a cess between 1% to 3% applicable on the

automobiles.

―The Government officials are expecting a GST revenue loss

due to this pegged at Rs 30,000 crore.

―This loss is expected to neutralise after considering the

increase in revenue from the increase in sales volumes of the

automobile sector.

―A report by Kotak Institutional Equities estimates the

revenue loss due to the 10 percent across the board GST cut on

automobiles will be around Rs 45,000 crores.

―Different states are expected to be against the demand of rate

cuts.

―Automobile GST has great significance for the states which

are guaranteed 14% year on year GST revenue increase till

2022.

―The demand for lowering of GST is coming from the

automobile industry due to the reduction in sales volumes.

―The auto sales fell 20 percent year on year in August 2019.

―This is the highest monthly decline in nearly two decades.

―The sales of passenger vehicles declined by 34% year on year

in August 2019.

―The sales of passenger vehicles say a year on year decline of

40% in August 2019.

―The sales of passenger vehicles have shown decline in 13 out

of the last 14 months.

―Some of the experts are not convinced that the reduction in

GST rates will be enough to boost sales of the automobile sector.

―To deal with the slowdown, automobile manufacturers like

Maruti, Hyundai and Honda are offering all time high discounts

on passenger vehicles.

―All of these automobile manufacturers are concerned about

reducing their stock which have been piling up due to decrease

in sales.

―The Centre Government has budgeted the GST revenue for

the current fiscal at Rs 11.89 lakh. This comes to Rs 99,000 crore

per month.

―The GST Council has recently reduced the GST rate for

electric vehicles from 12% to 5%.

DEFENCE & SECURITY

Indian and Pakistani armies are expected to participate

together in the TSENTR 2019.

―TSENTR 2019 is expected to be conducted in Russia from

September 9, 2019 to September 23, 2019.

―Russia annually holds military exercises at one of its four

military commands of Vostok (East), Zapad (West), TSENTR

(Centre) and Kavkas (South).

―The selection of the command is done by rotation.

―TSENTR 2019 will be part of an extensive large-scale annual

training cycle of the Russian Armed Forces.

―TSENTR 2019 will be conducted by the Central Military

Commission of Russia at Donguz training ranges, Orenburg,

Russia.

―TSENTR 2019 will see participation from militaries of

Russia, India, China, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan,

Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

―TSENTR 2019 is aimed at trainings for dealing with

international terrorism and for ensuring security in the Central

Asia Region. ―TSENTR 2019 will compromise on two modules:

The first module will deal with counter terror operations.

This will cover different areas like counter terror

operations, repelling of air strikes, reconnaissance

operations etc.

The second module will deal with offensive capabilities.

―This is the first time when India and Pakistan forces will

participate together in multilateral exercises since the Balakot

strike in February 2019.

―The defence forces of India and Pakistan met together as part

of the military exercises conducted by the Shanghai Cooperation

Organisation (SCO) in 2018.

―Incidentally 2018 exercises were also conducted in Russia.

Bilateral maritime exercises between India and Sri Lanka

SLINEX 2019 were conducted from 7 September, 2019 to 14th

September, 2019.

―Sri Lankan Contingent for the exercises included two of its

offshore patrol vessels SLNS Sindurala and SLNS Suranimala

and 323 navy personnel.

―SLINEX exercises were started in 2005 to increase

cooperation, strengthen mutual trust and interoperability

between the armies of the two countries.

―SLINEX exercises increase the capability of both the navies

to handle challenges and concerns in the Indian Ocean Region.

Man Portable

Antitank Guided

Missile (MPATGM)

were test fired in

ranges of Kurnool in

Andhra Pradesh (AP).

―The missile was

launched using a man

portable Tripod

launcher.

―The test was

successful and all the mission objectives were achieved.

―These were the third series of testing of the MPATGM. All of

these tests have been successful.

―MPATGM is a third-generation fire and forget anti-tank

guided missile.

―MPATGM has been indigenously developed and based on

indigenously ―developed NAG ATGM. Specifications of the MPATGM are as under:

Equipped with Infrared Imaging Seeker

Equipped with Advanced Avionics

Weight of 14.5 kg

Length of 1,300 mm.

High explosive anti-tank warhead.

Operational range of 2.5 kilometres

―MPATGM has been developed by the Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO) in partnership with VEM

Technologies Private Limited.

The first Conference on

Military Medicine for Shanghai

Co-operation Organisation (SCO) Member States was held at

New Delhi on 12th and 13th

September, 2019. ―Senior military medical

practitioners from the SCO

member countries participated in

the conference.

―In the conference, the member

states of SCO shared the best

practices regarding military medicines and discussed capacity

building and challenges in the field of military medicines.

―Some of the Highlights of the Conference were:

Demonstration by the Indian Rapid Action Medical Teams.

Visit to the Army Research and Referral Hospital.

Discussions on rendering of combat medical support, on

measures for improving patient safety and on humanitarian

assistance during disasters.

―The conference was conducted by the Indian Armed Forces

under the aegis of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff

(HQ IDS).

MPATGM - Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile

SCO - Shanghai Cooperation Organization


The Government of India launched the Kisan Maan Dhan

Yojana (KMDY) on 12th September, 2019 at Ranchi,

Jharkhand.

―The KMDY is a pension scheme for small and marginal

families.

―KMDY is expected to provide benefit to more than 5 crore

farmers.

―All small and marginal famers between the age of 18 and 40

can enrol themselves for KMDY scheme.

―Farmer’s monthly contribution to the scheme can be made

from the instalments of PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan

Samman Nidhi Yojana) or through Common Service Centres

(CSCs).

Farmers enrolled in the scheme will receive the minimum

pension of Rs 3000 per month on attaining the age of 60.

―The Government has set aside an amount of Rs 10,774 crores

for the scheme during 2019-2022.

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

(DPIIT) launched Plastic Waste Management Campaign on 11th

September, 2019.

―This campaign has been launched under the Swachhta Hi

Sewa 2019.

―The theme of Swachta Hi Sewa initiative is ‘Plastic Waste

Management’ ―DPIIT, under the scheme will:

ensure collection of plastic waste in and around industrial

areas across the country on October 2nd 2019 (the birth

anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi) through shramdaan.

ensure recycling of all the plastic waste collected on 2nd

October in cement kilns before Diwali 2019.

―DPIIT functions under the Union Ministry of Commerce &

Industry.

The India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has rolled out

Aadhaar Enabled Payment System Services (AePS).

―India Post Payments Bank has become the single largest

platform in India to provide interoperable banking services to its

customers.

―Indian Post Payments Bank will use the reach of Indian postal

Network to provide last mile connectivity.

―Adhaar Enabled Payment System Service allows customers

to establish or authenticate identities using Aadhaar

authentication.

―AePS transaction can be completed by using fingerprint scan.

―AePS allows individuals with Aadhaar linked bank accounts

to perform basic services like cash withdrawals and balance

enquiry irrespective of bank they hold their account with.

―With the AePS and IPPB linking, the customers can perform

basic services through Postmen and Gramin Dak Sevaks

(GDS), irrespective of the bank in which they have account.

―IPPB’s services are currently available in over 136,000 Post

Offices and delivered by over 195,000 Postmen and GDSs,

―The linking of AePS with IPPB has increased the last mile

interoperable banking infrastructure by 2.5 times.

―This linking will also give boost to the Central Government’s

efforts to extend the financial services to the unbanked and

underbanked customers.

―The linking will also allow payment of 440 Central Schemes

through the Direct Benefit Transfer Schemes of the

Government.

The Indian Railways has started a

scheme for recharging the phones of

passengers.

―The benefit of the scheme will be

provided to passengers who use the

bottle crushing machines installed at

stations for crushing bottles.

―Indian Railways will be installing

more than 400 new bottle crushing

machines at selected stations across India.

―Passengers will have to approach these machines, enter bottle

for crushing and enter their mobile number.

―The quantum of recharge has not been disclosed as of now.

―The scheme has been launched to give a flip to the Centre

Government’s initiative to stop use of single use plastic.

―The other steps of the Indian Railways to help in the initiative

include: The Indian Railways has banned use of single-use-plastic from

2nd October, 2019.

160 bottle-crushing machines already installed at 128 stations.

Installing plastic bottle shredders at Secunderabad railway

station.

Collection and recycling of all the plastic bottles found at the

railway stations.

Instructions to vendors and railways staff to use reusable bags

to reduce plastic footprint.

The Government of India has taken

a decision to set up a National

Genomic Grid to help cancer

research in the country.

―The National Genomic Grid will

conduct India specific cancer research.

―This Grid will collect samples from

cancer patients in India and study

various genomic factors influencing

cancer and identify the right treatment

modalities for Indian population.

―The Grid will be established in line with the National Cancer

Tissue Biobank (NCTB) set up at the Indian Institute of

Technology (IIT), Madras.

―The NCTB has the capacity of storing 50,000 genomic

samples of cancer patients.

―The National Genomic Grid will have pan-Indian collection

centres and it will bring all cancer treatment institutions on

board.

―The National Genomic Grid will help to make viable cancer

treatment available to various economic classes.

The Centre Government has established a task force for

drawing the roadmap for the ‘National Infrastructure

Pipeline’ (NIP).

―The NIP is expected to cost Rs 100 lakh crores.

―The taskforce headed by the Economic Affairs Secretary will

cover all the greenfield and brownfield projects of Rs 100 crore

or more each.

―The task force will also draw a list of infrastructure projects

to be included in the pipeline for each of the year of the project.

―The task force will also draw a list of financially and

technically viable projects that can be started during the 2019-

20.

―The task force will also look at the financing of projects in the

pipeline through National Investment and Infrastructure Fund

and India Investment Grid etc.

―The task force will have to submit its report for the fiscal year

2019-20 by 31st October.

―The Indian Government has set a target for becoming a USD

5 trillion economy by 2024-25.

―To become a USD 5 trillion economy, the Indian Government

will need to spend USD 1.4 trillion (or Rs 100 lakh crore) in

infrastructure during 2019-2024.

―Between Financial Year 2008 and 2017 India invested around

USD 1.1 trillion in infrastructure.

SPORTS

The Committee of

Administrators (COA) of the BCCI

has announced that the state cricket

associations will have to amend their

Constitution as per the guidelines

issued by the Supreme Court or

else, they will have to leave the

BCCI community.

―The announcement becomes

more significant as the BCCI

elections are due on October 22, 2019.

―Currently there are seven state cricket association whose

Constitution is not according to the guidelines issued by the

Supreme Court.

―These seven association belong to the States of Haryana,

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,

Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

―18 full member units of BCCI have amended their

Constitution and registered themselves with the BCCI.

―10 full member units of BCCI (including Mumbai,

Saurashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bengal, Hyderabad etc.) have yet to

submit their amended constitution to the BCCI.

―The COA does not have any authority to take actions against

the units that refuse to amend their Constitution. At best, the

COA can keep them out of the elections that are due.

―The State Units elect a nominee. This nominee becomes part

of the general body of the BCCI and participates in elections.

The nominees of state units that do not amend their Constitution

will not be part of the BCCI general body.

―The Lodha Committee has suggested that the BCCI

constitution should be amended to bar the bearer of public

officers from becoming office-bearers in the BCCI or the state

units.

―The Supreme Court has issued guidelines based on the

recommendations of the Lodha Committee.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Former England cricket

captains Andrew Strauss

and Geoffrey Boycott have been granted

knighthoods by the United

Kingdom. ―The names of these two

cricket captains were

added to the honours list by

the former Prime Minister

of UK Theresa May.

―The honour list is largely made up of politicians and there are

only two sports persons in it.

―Andrew Strauss played 100 test matches for England between

2004 and 2012.

―Strauss has scored more than 7,000 runs at an average of

40.91.

―After retirement, Strauss has become the Managing director

for the British Cricket Team.

―Strauss is widely regarded as the administrative architect of

the England’s first world cup win in 2019.

―Geoffrey Boycott played 108 test matches for England

between 1964 and 1982.

―Boycott has scored a total of 8,114 runs at the average of

47.72.

―Boycott is the first Cricket player from England to score 8,000

runs in test matches.

―In 1998 Boycott was given a three-month suspended prison

sentence for assaulting his former girlfriend Margaret Moore.

―In 2002, Boycott was diagnosed with throat cancer, but he

made a full recovery.

―In 2017, he was forced to apologise because he made a joke

saying that he will have to black up for being considered for a

knighthood.

The United States has designated the Chief of the banned

Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Noor Wali Mehsud as a

global terrorist. ―This designation will subject Meshud to US sanctions.

―All of Mesud’s properties and interests in properties under the

US jurisdiction will be blocked.

―US citizens are prohibited from engaging in any transaction

with Mesud

―Mehsud took over the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan in June

2018 following the death of Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.

―Since its establishment in 2007, TTP has been involved in

more than 1,400 terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

India has announced an immediate humanitarian assistance

of USD 1 million for the people of Bahamas. ―Bahama is suffering from the effects of Hurricane Dorian,

which has caused large scale destructions in the Bahamas.

―At the time of writing of this report, the official death toll was

pegged at 40.

―Hurricane Dorian was a Category 5 hurricane. Hurricane

Dorian was the first major hurricane of 2019 Atlantic hurricane

season.

―Hurricane Dorian has caused damage to Grand Bahama,

Abaco Island, South Eastern United States and Atlantic Canada.

―Bahama is a country located within the Lucayan or Bahama

Archipelago.

SUMMIT & ORGANIZATIONS

The World Health Organization has urged counties to take

more actions for preventing suicides.

―According to the WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom

Ghebreyesus, one person globally commits suicide every 40

seconds. ―From 2010 to 2016, the global suicide rate fell by nearly 10

to 10.5 per 100,000 people.

―The number of suicide deaths between 2010 and 2016 have

remained stable due to the population growth.

―Western Pacific region has seen suicide rates fell by nearly 20

percent.

―Guyana has the highest suicide rate at 30 per 1,00,000

persons.

―The gap between male and female suicide rates in pronounced

in nearly all the countries of the world.

―There are more male suicides than female suicides.

Anderw Strauss and Geoffery Boycott

―Suicides are the second most leading cause of deaths among

the 15-29 age group.

―Experts associate almost 70 percent of suicides with

depression.

―Depression causes individuals to withdraw from social and

personal relationships

―September 10 every year is observed as a World Suicide

Prevention Day across the globe.

BASIC GK ASPECTS Savarkar: Echos from a forgotten past―by Vikaram

Sampath

Glorious Diaspora: Pride of India―by Indian Diaspora Club

First, They Erased Our Name: A Rohingya Speaks―by

Habiburahman (with Sophie Ansel, a French journalist)

Obama: The Call of History―by Peter Baker

Sridevi: The Eternal Screen Goddess―by Satyarth Nayak

Awards and Honours

Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal has been

honoured with the lifetime achievement award at prestigious

Annual Asian Achievers Awards in London, UK.

―The year 2019 was the 19th edition of the Annual Asian

Achievers Awards. The theme for 2019 was Inclusivity.

―The 2019 candidates for the Annual Asian Achievers Awards

included members of the LGBT community.

―The winners of the 2019 Awards included:

Onkardeep Singh MBE: Achievement in Community Services

Faisal Islam: Achievement in Media, Arts & Culture

Vipul Vadera: Businessperson of the Year

Kush Kanodia: Entrepreneur of the Year

Krishna Omkar: Professional of the Year

Harjit Singh Bhania: Sports Personality of the Year

Neeta Patel: Woman of the Year

―The Asian Annual Awards recognise individuals for their

outstanding work from within Asian Community.

76th Venice International Film Festival was, held at Venice

Lido in Venice, Italy from 28 August to 7 September 2019.

―The Venice International Film Festival was started in 1932

with the aim of promoting international cinema in the sprit of

freedom and dialog.

―A few Winners at the 76th Venice Film Festival Awards

were:

Golden Lion for Best Film―Joker directed (by Todd

Phillips)

Silver Lion- Grand Jury Prize―An Officer and a Spy (by

Roman Polanski)

Silver Lion Award for Best Director―Roy Andersson

(for About Endlessness)

Volpi Cup for Best Actress―Ariane Ascaride in Gloria

Mundi (a French domestic drama)

Volpi Cup for Best Actor―Luca Marinelli (in Martin

Eden)

The winners of the Visitor’s Awards 2019 were recently

announced by President’s Secretariat.

―Recipients of 2019 Visitor’s Awards include:

Professor Sibnath Deb: He is being awarded for his research

in child protection especially in the areas of child abuse and

neglect, student mental health and HIV/AIDS.

Professor Sanjay Puri: He is being awarded for his research

in field of non-equilibrium statistical physics and nonlinear

dynamics.

Professor Asad Ullah Khan: He is being awarded for

identifying Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem in

India: and for identifying the mechanism of spread and

control of AMR.

Dr Partima: She is being awarded for her research on nano

biosensors and nano-bio interactions.

Dr Shaon Ray Chaudhuri: She is being awarded for

developing microbial biofilm reactor for conversion of

dairy wastewater into biofertilizer.

―Visitor’s Awards were instituted in 2014 for promoting

healthy competition among Central Universities and for

motivating them to adopt best global practices in pursuit of

excellence.

Appointments Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved the appointment of P.K. Sinha

as Principal Advisor to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi.

―PK Sinha is a 1977 Batch IAS officer

from Uttar Pradesh (UP) Cadre.

―PK Sinha has served as the Cabinet

Secretary from June 13, 2015 to August 30,

2019.

―PK Sinha is an economics graduate from St. Stephen College,

University of Delhi.

―PK Sinha did his post-graduation from the Delhi School of

Economics.

―PK Sinha has also obtained the Masters Diploma in Public

Administration and an M.Phil in Social Science while in service.

Must Know

ACC: Appointment Committee of Cabinet

AePS: Aadhaar Enabled Payment System Services

ATI: Administrative Training Institution

BCCI: Board of Control for Cricket in India

DPIIT: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal

Trade

DRDO: Defence Research and Development Organisation

GDS: Gramin Dak Sevaks

GST: Goods and Services Tax

IAS: Indian Administrative Services

ICT: Information and Communication Technology

IES: Indian Engineering Services

IOCL: Indian Oil Corporation Limited

IPPB: India Post Payments Bank

ISDS: Indian Skill Development Services

KMDV: Kisan maan Dhan Yojana

MMT: Million Metric Ton

MoU: Memorandum of Understanding

MPATGM: Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile

MVA: Motor Vehicles Act

NCST: National Commission for Scheduled Tribes

NCTB: National Cancer Tissue Biobank

NIP: National Infrastructure Pipeline

NOCL: Nepal Oil Corporation Limited

SCO: Shanghai Co-operation Organisation

UPSC: Union Public Service Commission

WHO: World Health Organisation

WTO: World Trade Organisation

PK Sinha


NATIONAL

⚫ GST Decisions: The 37th GST Council meeting in Goa was

held against the backdrop of demands for GST rate cut in wake

of slowing economy.

—These GST Council in meeting

when the annual economic growth

of India has touched the 25-

quarter low of five percent in the

first quarter of 2019-20. —The GST Council has made

number of announcements for

boosting economy and meeting

the demands of the various

sections of the society.

—These measures include:

✓ The GST rate on the caffeinated

drinks have been increased from

18 percent to 28 percent. They will also attract the cess of 12%

✓ The GST rate on hotel rooms with tariff of Rs 7,500 or more

have been reduced from 28 percent to 18 percent.

✓ The GST rate on hotel rooms with tariff of Rs 1,000 or less

have been removed.

✓ The GST rate on diamonds have been reduced from five

percent to 1.5 percent.

✓ The GST rate on almond milk have been fixed at 18 percent.

✓ The GST rate on all polypropylene and polyethylene (woven

and non-woven, laminated and non-laminated for packing)

have been fixed at 12 percent.

✓ The GST rate on railway wagons and coaches have been

increased from 5 percent to 12 percent.

✓ The GST cess on 10-13 seater passenger vehicles have been

reduced from 3 percent to 1 percent.

✓ The GST rate on supply of machine job has been reduced from

18 percent to 12 percent.

✓ The supply of goods and services to FIFA and other specified

persons for U17 Women’s World Cup in India has been

exempted.

✓ The filing of annual returns have been made optional for

taxpayers who do not cross the threshold of Rs 2 crore for

FY18 and FY 19.

✓ The GST Council has decided not to accept the demand of the

automobile industry for GST rate cut, but has reduced cess

levied on personal vehicles.

✓ In the last meeting the GST Council has reduced the GST rate

on the electric vehicles from 12 percent to 5 percent and GST

rate on charging stations from 18 percent to 5 percent.

✓ The GST Council has also simplified the GST annual return

form GSTR-9 for simplifying the filing of tax returns.

✓ The last date for filing the annual return form GSTR-9 for the

year 2017-18 have been extended to 30 November from 31

August 2019.

● Corporate Tax decisions: The Government of India has

announced a number of tax related measures for boosting the

slowing Indian Economy. The measures taken by the

government include:

✓ Reducing of the corporate tax to 25.17 percent (including all

cess and surcharges) for domestic companies.

✓ Providing the domestic firms an option to adopt 22 per cent

income tax slab and do away with the requirement of paying

the Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT)

✓ Companies formed on or after October, 1, 2019 and making

investments in manufacturing will have to pay income tax at

the rate of 15 percent.

—This reduction of Indian Corporate Tax rate has made the

Corporate Tax Structure equivalent to the South-East Asian Tax

levels.

—The Government of India expects to suffer a revenue

reduction of Rs 1,45,000 crores due to this tax reduction.

⚫ Howdy Modi: The Indian

Prime Minister Narendra

Modi participated in a rare

rally –Howdy Modi –held for

a foreign leader in Texas,

USA.

—The Howdy Modi rally is

being touted as the largest

ever reception of a foreign

leader in the USA.

—American President Donald Trump greeted PM Modi.

—PM Modi invited the President Trump and his family to India.

Approximately 50,000 individuals attended the rally for what

Mr Trump called a "profoundly historic event" on a Sunday

(Sep-22, 2019) in Houston.

—USA has more than 4 million persons of Indian origin. The

importance of this population as vote bank in USA is increasing.

—According to the 2010 US census shows that Texas is home

to the fourth-largest Indian-American population in the country

after California, New York and New Jersey.

⚫ The Central Government has constituted a committee to

examine the Companies Act, 2013 and Limited Partnership

Act, 2008

―The Committee will examine various provisions and issues

related to the implementations of these Acts and provide

recommendations.

―In addition, the Committee will also look into:

--suggestions for improving the functioning of National

Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)

--removing bottlenecks in the functioning of SFIO, IEPFA,

NFRA etc.

―The Committee will have 11 members.

―Ministry of Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas will

Chair the Committee.

―The Committee will have a tenure of one year from the date

of its first meeting.





Nirmala Sitharaman - Finance Minister of India

Narendra Modi and Donald Trump at the 'Howdy Modi' Event at

Houston, Texas

⚫ The Union Ministry of Human Resource and Development

has prepared a module to introduce study of Artificial

Intelligence (AI) at school level.

―The Government, to boost the study of the Artificial

Intelligence in the country, has introduced the study of AI from

class 8th.

―Different organisations like intel are assisting the HRD

ministry in this initiative. ⚫ India has become a member of the Global Antimicrobial

Resistance Research and Development (R&D) hub.

―India has joined the hub from 2019.

―As a member of the hub,

--India will work with other members to boost the existing

competences.

--India will undertake new research to deal with drug resistant

infections.

―Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of microorganisms to

resist the effect of drugs and medications.

―Antimicrobial resistance makes previously effective drugs

ineffective in dealing with the diseases and other infections.

―The challenge of antimicrobial resistance can only be dealt

with active participation of all the countries of the world.

―The Global AMR R&D hub was established in May 2018.

―The Global AMR R&D hub has 16 member countries along

with European Union, foundations and international observers.

―The Global AMR R&D has its Secretariat in Berlin,

Germany.

⚫ The Central Government has cleared appointment of four

new Supreme Court Judges.

The newly appointed SC judges are-

✓ Haryana High Court Chief Justice Krishna Murari,

✓ Himachal Pradesh High Court Chief Justice V.

Ramasubramanian,

✓ Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice S Ravindra Bhat

✓ Kerala High Court Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy.

―On taking oath, these four new judges will bring the total

strength of Supreme Court to 34.

―This will be the highest ever strength of the Supreme Court in

Indian history.

―The strength of the Supreme Court was increased from 30 to

33 (excluding the Chief Justice of India) by the enactment of the

Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Bill.

Law

⚫ The Supreme Court of India has asked a report from the

Registry about the possibility of conducting live streaming of

the proceedings in the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid case.

―The Supreme Court asked for the report while hearing the plea

for live streaming by former RSS chief KN Govindacharya.

―The Senior Advocate appearing for the petitioner argued that

the social and cultural significance of the case, and the number

of individuals who are unable to attend the daily hearing will

benefit from the live streaming.

―The Senior Advocate also submitted that at the very least, the

Supreme Court should provide the transcription of the

proceedings for release on the future data as per the approval of

the Court.

―The plea also referred to the Supreme Court’s judgement of

2018 which said that the court proceedings must be streamed

live.

⚫ The Supreme Court has recently ruled that Non-Government

Organisations (NGOs) which are substantially financed by the

Government funds are included in the ‘Public Authority’ under

the Right to Information Act, 2005.

―The Supreme Court said that the substantial financing can

be direct (for example in form of aids and support) or indirect

(for example in form of free land or land at the reduced or

discounted rate)

―As per this ruling, these specific NGOs will have to maintain

the records as per the provisions of the RTI Act.

―As per the ruling, every citizen of India will have the right to

get the information from these specific NGOs.

―The Supreme Court delivered this judgement and rejected the

argument being made by some colleges and schools that they

cannot be regarded as Public Authority under the RTI Act.

―The Supreme Court said that substantial meant large portion,

and that it did not necessarily meant major or more than 50%.

―The Supreme Court also clarified that the question of weather

an NGO or body is substantially financed by the government is

a question of fact which has to be determined on facts of each

case.

⚫ The Government of India has issued an ordinance banning

e-cigarettes in India.

―The ordinance bans producing, importing, exporting, selling

and advertising all e-cigarettes in India.

―The violation of the ban has been made a cognisable offence

punishable with fine or punishment or both.

―The first violation will attract a penalty of Rs 1 lakh and/or a

jail term up to 1 year.

―Subsequent violation will attract a penalty of Rs 5 lakh and/or

jail term of up to three years.

―The offence of storing e-cigarettes will attract a jail term of

up to six months and/or a fine up to Rs 50,000

―The ordinance gives power to authorised persons to conducts

searches in premises for this.

―The ordinance gives officers the power to attach properties,

records and stocks of e-cigarettes of the manufacturer, producer,

exporter, transporter, importer, stockist against whom a

complaint has been made in case the search is not possible.

STATES

⚫ Kerala Government is planning to launch an innovative

initiative to run fuelling stations managed by prisoners of central

jails.

―Under the initiative Kerala

Government will open petrol pumps in

the outer campuses of three central jails in

Kerala.

―The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)

will help in setting up the pumps. ―The first of the petrol pumps is

expected to become operational by the

end of this year.

―Jail authorities will select minimum of 15 convicts in each jail

and train them to run the petrol pumps in shifts.

―States like Tamil Nadu and Punjab already have petrol pumps

under the prison department.

―This is the second such initiative of the Kerala Government.

The previous initiative of selling biryani prepared by the

prisoners through Swiggy has been a great success.

⚫ The Rajasthan Government has launched the ‘Jan

Soochna Portal’ as a good governance initiative to increase

transparency and accountability of the government.

―The Government expects the launching of the portal to help

in expanding and strengthening the scope of Right to

Information (RTI) Act.

―This portal will allow general public to access information

regarding 14 department of the government.

―The portal will also be made available on self-service ‘E-

Mitra Plus‘ kiosk.

―With the launch of this service, Rajasthan has become the first

country in the world to provide information related to more than

12 departments on a single platform.

―The portal has been developed by state’s Information and

Technology (IT) department and launched under the Rajasthan

Innovation Vision (RAJIV) campaign.

⚫ The Himachal Pradesh Government has launched the

Mukhya Mantri Seva Sankalp Helpline ‘1100’ (Chief

Minister’s Service Resolution Helpline).

―The helpline has been launched to help speedy and time-

bound redressal of public grievances.

―The Government has linked 56 departments and 6,500

officers to this helpline.

―The helpline will use technology like Geo Mapping and Geo

Tagging to encourage paperless work.

―The helpline will be available from Monday to Saturday from

7 AM to 10 PM.

―The helpline will be able to handle 40 complaints

simultaneously.

―The Government will ensure that the complaints received

through the helpline are solved within a period of 7 to 14 days.

―The Government will also take strict actions if there is delay

in resolving the complaints.

⚫ Telangana Government has declared 2020 as the Year of

Artificial Intelligence.

―Telangana Government will conduct various activities related

to the emerging technology throughout the year.

―Various government agencies will provide data sets and

challenges. Companies will be allowed to run AI algorithms on

them.

―Telangana was the first state in India to partner with NITI

Aayog on AI for ALL document.

―NASSCOM (National Association of Software and

Services Companies) has also planned to establish a Centre of

Excellence in Data Sciences and AI in Hyderabad, Telangana.

―The Centre is expected to become operational in 2020.

― Telangana has also partnered with IIT-Kharagpur to

establish a regional centre in Hyderabad for training of students

in AI.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

⚫ During 2018-19, for the first time in history, India exported

more mobile phones than it imported. ―The total mobile handsets exports during 2018-19 were of Rs

11,200 crore (approximately USD 1.6 billion).

―The total mobile handsets imports during 2018-19 were of Rs

10,000 crore (approximately USD 1.4 billion).

⚫ Government of India has notified amendments to the

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in the single brand

retail.

―Some of the key amendments are as under:

✓ Goods procured from India for global operations of a

company will now be eligible for adjustment against 30

percent local sourcing requirement.

✓ Goods procurement can be through group companies (both

residential and non-residential) or through third parties (for

example contract manufacturers).

✓ Goods procured by a company for both domestic sales and

exports will now be eligible for adjustment against the 30

percent local sourcing requirement.

✓ Single brand retailers can establish online shops before

establishing offline stores.

✓ Single brand retailer entering into India through online

presence will have to set up offline stores within two years of

starting online business.

―The 30 percent local sourcing rule for single brand retail was

restricting many brands from entering India.

―100 percent FDI in single brand retail was allowed by

Government of India in 2012.

―100 percent FDI in single brand retail through automatic rule

was allowed by Government of India in 2018

⚫ With a view of checking malpractices, the Goods and

Services Tax Network (GSTN) has decided to make Aadhaar

authentication or physical verification mandatory for new

dealers from January 2020.

―The option of physical verification is there for individuals

who do not want to adopt for Aadhaar based verification.

―Physical verification will be completed in three days.

―The decision has been taken because in past two years,

number of fly-by-night operators have come up. These operators

issue fake invoices and disappear.

―To deal with the Online GST refunds from 24 September

onwards, the refund will be issued from a single source (either

by Central GST or State GST).

―Goods and Service Network is a non-profit company

registered under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013.

―The restructured GSTN has 100 percent government

ownership. 50 percent of the stake is held by the Central

Government and the other 50 percent is held by State

Governments.

―The GSTN provides IT infrastructure and services related to

GST to the Central and State Governments, tax payers and other

stakeholders.

DEFENCE & SECURITY

⚫ Indian Air Force (IAF) has

inaugurated the resurfaced

runway at the Vijaynagar

Advance Landing Ground

(ALG) in Changlang, Arunachal

Pradesh. ―Changlang is located

near China border. The ALG in

Changlang will re-establish

Military transport aircrafts

connectivity to the eastern most

areas of India.

―The IAF has taken a decision to reactivate 8 ALGs along the

China border to enable aircraft operations in this area.

―The Vijay Nagar ALG was originally activated in 2011-12

and the fixed wing operations at the ALG were suspended in

2016.

―The Vijay Nagar ALG will boost development of the region

and help in passenger movement.

―The Vijay Nagar ALG will help Indian Defence forces to

better manage the border with Myanmar and China.

⚫ India has successfully

conducted testing of the

indigenously made ‘ASTRA’

missile. ―The missile was tested off the

coast of Odisha.

―Su-30 MKI aircraft was used

to launch the missile.

―ASTRA is India’s first indigenously developed air to air

missile developed by Defence Research and Development

Organisation (DRDO).

―ASTRA is a beyond visual range missile with a range of 70

kilometres.

―ASTRA is capable of engaging targets at various ranges and

altitudes.

Vijaynagar ALG at Changlang (Arunachal Pradesh) near

Indo-China Border

ASTRA Missile fired from Su-20 MKI aircraft

⚫ Maitree 2019 will be conducted from 16th September to 29th

September at Foreign Training Node, Umroi, in Meghalaya.

―Maitree is a joint military exercise between India and

Thailand. It will see participation from contingents of both

Indian Army and Royal Thailand Army. Each of the Army will

field 50 soldiers in the exercise.

―Maitree 2019 will involve company-level joint training on

counter-terrorism operations in jungle and urban conditions.

―The first edition of Maitree was held in 2006. The Maitree

exercises are conducted alternatively in Thailand and India.

―The purpose of the Maitree exercises is to share the

experiences gained by the armies of the two countries during

counter terrorism operations. Maitree exercises boost

cooperation between Indian Army and Royal Thailand Army.

―These exercises also boost bilateral relationships between

India and Thailand.

⚫ The Trilateral Naval exercise involving India, Thailand

and Singapore was held at Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar

Islands from 16th September to 20th September, 2019.

―The 2019 edition was the first edition of the Trilateral Naval

exercise.

―2019 edition of the exercise saw the participation from:

✓ Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) Tenacious: Guided

missile stealth frigate

✓ His Majesty’s Thailand Ship (HTMS) Kraburi: Guided-

missile frigate of Thailand Navy

✓ Indian Naval Ship INS Ranvir: Guided-missile destroyer

✓ Indian Navy Ship INS Kora: Missile corvette

✓ Indian Sukanya: Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV)

―The 2019 edition of the exercise was conducted in two phases:

The Harbour Phase and the Sea Phase.

―The aims of the Trilateral exercises are:

✓ to boost maritime relationship among India, Thailand and

Singapore.

✓ to help in increasing the overall maritime security in the

region.

―The Trilateral exercise is expected to increase the

interoperability and development of a common understanding of

procedures among the three navies.

―Malaysia has also showed interest in joining these exercises.

⚫ An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Rustom-2 crashed in

a farm in Chitradurga, Karnataka during trials.

―Rustom-2 was developed by the Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO).

―DRDO is being helped by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL)

and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL).

―DRDO is developing this UAV for all the three services of

Indian Defence Forces. Rustom is a Medium Altitude Long

Endurance UAV. It is modelled on the predator drones of

United States.

—Rustom, when developed, will help in carrying out

surveillance and reconnaissance missions. It is capable of

carrying different payloads. It has an endurance period of 25

hours.


⚫ The Government of India has launched the Maritime

Communication Services.

―These services will offer broadband services to travellers at

sea.

―These services will provide voice, data and video services

using satellites.

―Sailing vessels, coastal vessels, cruise liners and other ships

in Indian waters will benefit from these services.

―These services will be provided using VSAT (Very Small

Aperture Terminal) technology.

―Nelco Ltd (a Tata Group Company) will provide these

Services. Nelco is the first Indian Company to provide

communication services to the maritime sector in Indian waters.

―Nelco has obtained IFMC (in-flight and maritime

connectivity licence from the Government of India to provide

this service. IFMC program was announced by Government of

India in December 2018.

⚫ The ‘Code for responsible lending’ (CRL) for the micro

lending industry in India has been launched.

―The CRL was launched by Microfinance Institutions

Network (MFIN), Sa-Dhan and Finance Industry

Development Council (FIDC).

―Some of the features of the CRL are:

✓ The CRL is sector specific.

✓ The CRL bars more than three lenders to offer loans to a single

borrower.

✓ The CRL bars total lending of more than Rs 1 lakh to a single

borrower.

―This CRL is expected to boost confidence in the non-banking

lenders. More than 90 entities have adopted CRL.

―All the microfinance entities in India are expected to adopt

CRL. Sa-Dhan is a self-regulatory organisation and industry

association for the microfinance industry.

―Sa-Dhan is recognised by the Reserve Bank of India.

⚫ The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has

signed a number of Memorandum of understandings (MoUs) for

Human Space missions with different labs of Defence

Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

―ISRO’s Human Space mission is designed to demonstrate

India’s spaceflight capability before the 75th anniversary of

Indian Independence (2022).

―These MoUs have been signed with the following labs of

DRDO:

✓ Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment

(ADRDE)

✓ Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL)

✓ Defence Bio-Engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory

(DEBEL)

✓ Defence Laboratory (DL) Jodhpur

✓ Centre for Fire, Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES)

✓ Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS)

✓ Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS)

―The DRDO labs will customise different defence

technologies to meet ISRO’s requirement.

―This customisation process has already been started.

Rustom-2 Drone

SPORTS

● Indian boxing ace Amit Panghal (52kg)

has created history by becoming the first

Indian male boxer to enter the World

Boxing Championships finals. —Panghal gained this distinction by

defeating Kazakhstan’s Saken Bibossinov

3-2. Pangal won the silver at the

Championship by losing to Uzbekistan’s

Shakhobidin Zoirov, the reigning Olympic

champion, in the finals.

—Panghal has recently shifted from 52 kg to 39 kg because the

later has been removed from the Olympic rooster.

—Pangal is the only Indian Boxer to win gold medals at the

Strandja Memorial tournament–one of the Europe’s oldest and

most prestigious tournaments.

—Manish Kaushik (63 kg) has won a bronze medal at the

Championship. This has been the best ever medal haul (one

silver and one bronze) for India in the Male World Boxing

Championship.

—Before this year, India had never

won more than one bronze medal at a

single edition of the World

Championships.

● Deepak Punia reached the World

Championship finals at Astana, but he

was forced to move out of finals due to

ankle injury. Punia has also secured an

Olympic quota in the 86 kg category.

Punia is the fifth Indian wrestler to

enter the World Championship finals

(others being Bishambar Singh in

57kg, 1967; Sushil Kumar in 66 kg,

2010; Amit Dahiya in 55 kg, 2013; and

Bajrang Punia in 65kg, 2018).

—Sushil Kumar is the only Indian to

win the world champion. He had won a

gold in 66kg in 2010 World

Championship in Moscow. Rahul

Aware won a bronze at the games.

—Rahul Aware won the bronze medal

in the 61-kg event.

—Vinesh Phogat (53 kgs), also

became the first Indian women wrestler

to win a quota for Tokyo Olympics.

She clinched the bronze medal.

—Ravi Dahiya (57 kg) and Bajrang

Punia (65 kg)also won bronze medals

in their respective categories.

—India concluded the World

Wrestling Championship 2019 with 5

medals (1 silver and 4 bronze).

—There are two types of wresting

events that are conducted in World

Wresting Championships.

(i) Freestyle Wrestling (men’s and

women’s event), and

(ii) Greco-Roman Wrestling (Men’s

event only).

—Indian wrestlers participated in the

Freestyle Wrestling events.

⚫ Pankaj Advani has won the IBSF

World Billiards Championship 2019. ―Pankaj Advani won this title by

defeating Nay Thway Oo of Myanmar.

―This is Advani’s 22nd title win.

―This is Advani’s 5th title win (in short

format of billiards) in the last six years.

―IBSF World Billiards Championship

was established in 1951 and it received

recognition from the International billiards and Snookers

Federation in 1973.

⚫ Spain has won its second FIBA Basketball World Cup title

by defeating Argentina 95-75 in the gold medal game held at

Wukesong Arena in Beijing, China.

―The Spain’s first Basketball World Cup title was won in 2006

in Japan.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

⚫ Two major oil factories of Saudi Aramco in Abqaiq and

Khurais provinces of Saudi Arabia were targeted by a swarm

of 10 drones.

―These attacks have

reduced Saudi

Arabia’s oil

production by 50%.

These attacks have

reduced Global Oil

production by 5%. Saudi Arabia provides 10% of the global

crude supply.

―Iran backed Yemen Houthi rebels have taken the

responsibility for these attacks. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry

says that Iranian weapons were used in the attacks.

―The recovery in oil production at the Abqaiq processing plant

is expected to take weeks or months. United States has

authorised release of oil from the US Strategic Petroleum

Reserves.

⚫ Saudi Arabia has joined US led International Maritime

Security Construct after the drone attack on Saudi Aramco

facilities.

―International Maritime Security Construct at present have

Australia, Bahrain, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and United

States as members. This coalition will work towards making the

Persian Gulf region secure.

―The Persian Gulf region is home to Strait of Hormuz,

through which 20 percent of the global oil travels.

―Yemen Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the

attack, but both Saudi Arabia and USA accue Iran of the attacks.

―Iran has denied its role in the attacks.

⚫ Sri Lanka has unveiled a 350-metre-tall Lotus Tower being

constructed in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The under-construction

tower has been opened to public.

―Lotus tower is a 356-meter lotus shaped tower. Once

completed, the 17 stories Lotus tower will contain a hotel, a TV

tower, restaurants, a mall, a telecommunications museum, and

an auditorium. Sri Lanka claims it as the tallest tower in the

South Asia.

―The agreement for constructing the Lotus Tower was signed

between China and Sri Lanka in 2012.

―China’s National Electronics Import and Export

Corporation (CEIEC) is the general contractor for the

construction of the tower.

―Lotus tower is being constructed at the cost of USD 100

million.

―Approximately 80 percent of the cost of the tower is being

funded by China under its Belt and Road Initiative.

Amit Panghal

Deepak Punia

Rahul Aware

Ravi Dhaiya

Bajrang Punia

Vinesh Phogat

Pankaj Advani

SUMMIT & ORGANIZATIONS

⚫ The Population Division of the UN Department of

Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) has recently released the

International Migrant Stock 2019 dataset.

―According to this dataset:

✓ India was the largest contributor to international migration in

2018-19.

✓ In 2018-19 there were 17.5 million Indians living abroad.

✓ In 2018-19 the total number of migrants globally reached 272

million.

✓ The top 10 origin countries account for 33 percent of total

international migration.

✓ Mexico has the second largest diaspora of 11.8 million

individuals.

✓ China and Russia have the third and fourth largest diaspora of

10.7 and 10.5 million respectively.

✓ China and Russia are followed by Syria (8.2 million),

Bangladesh (7.8 million), Pakistan (6.3 million), Ukraine (5.9

million), the Philippines (5.4 million) and Afghanistan (5.1

million).

✓ In 2018-19, India was home to 5.1 million international

migrants.

✓ Majority of international migrant community in India is made

up of Nepalis, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.

✓ International migrants in India have remained at a stable 0.4

percent between 2010 and 2019.

✓ In 2018-19, Europe was the home to the largest community of

international migrants (82 million).

✓ In 2018-19, Northern America was the home to the second

largest community of international migrants (59 million).

✓ Approximately 50 percent of all international migrants live in

10 countries of the world.

✓ United States of America is home to the largest population of

international migrants (51 million or 19 percent of total

international migrants in the world).

✓ The forced displacements is increasing across the globe.

✓ Approximately 46 percent of the total global refugees are

hosted by Northern Africa and Western Asia.

―The International Migrant Stock 2019 provides estimates of

international migrants by age, sex and origin.

―The International Migrant Stock 2019 uses data from

population censuses, population registers and or nationally

representative surveys.

ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY

⚫ The National Green Tribunal has constituted a committee

to look at the steps required to check illegal extraction of

groundwater.

―The Committee has been asked:

✓ to design a mechanism stop illegal extraction of groundwater

✓ to monitor the functioning of Central Ground Water

Authority (CGWA)

―The Committee will have as its members the representatives

from:

✓ Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF)

✓ Union Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR)

✓ Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)

✓ National Remote Sensing Centre

✓ National Institute of Hydrology (Roorkee)

✓ Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

―The order for constituting the committee was taken by NGT

when it was hearing a plea by Shailesh Singh over the depleting

groundwater in the country and to prevent its illegal extraction.

―In 1996 the Supreme Court had directed the Central

Government to constitute a body to look into the issue of ground

water depletion.

―In spite of the order, the CGWA is unwilling to take

ownership of the issue. CGWA casims that ●it does not have

required infrastructure to tackle the issue ●the responsibility of

dealing with the issue rests with the states.

―NGT has said that the working of CGWA needs to be

relooked at.

BASIC GK ASPECTS

Books & Authors

Dalal’s Street―by Anurag Tripathi

For the Record―by David Cameron

Know My Name: A Memoir―by Chanel Miller

Mastaan―by Vineet Bajpai

Islam, South Asia and the Cold War―by A. G. Nooran

Lady, You're the Boss―by Apurva Purohit

Girl Power: Indian Women Who Broke the Rules―by Neha

J Hiranandani

The Institute―by Stephen King

Appointments

⚫ Wing Commander Anjali Singh has been appointed as

Deputy Air Attaches in Indian Embassy, Moscow.

―Anjali is the first Indian female defence officer to be posted

as a military diplomat in Indian mission abroad.

―Anjali belongs to the aeronautical engineering branch of the

Indian Air Force (IAF).

―Anjali has more than 17 years of experience.

―As a Defence Attaches, Anjali will assist in defence

cooperation, training and procurements between India and

Russia.

―Among the three defence services, Indian Air Force has the

highest percentage of women (around 13 percent).

⚫ India’s Lieutenant General (Retired) Abhijit Guha has been

appointed as the head of the United Nations (UN) mission in

Hodeidah, Yemen.

―The appointment has been made by the Secretary-General of

United Nations Antonio Guterres

―Guha will succeed Danish Lieutenant General Michael

Lollesgaard,

―Guha will also act as the Chairperson of the Redeployment

Coordination Committee (RCC).

―Guha retired from the Indian Army in 2013. Since 2014. Guha

has been serving in Expert Panel on Technology and Innovation

in UN Peacekeeping (2014) and High-Level Independent Panel

on Peace Operations (2015). Guha has more than 39 years of

national and international experience

People in News ⚫ Indian athlete Hima Das has been appointed as the brand

ambassador for PepsiCo’s sport drink Gatorade.

―PepsiCo has designed a brand campaign with the tag line

‘Nothing Beats Hima. Nothing Beats Gatorade’

⚫ Dr Khem Singh Gill passed away at a Ludhiana (Punjab)

hospital on 17 September 2019 at the age of 89.

—Dr Gill is known for his contributions towards breeding on

new crop varieties, as the pioneers of the Green Revolution in

Punjab. He was the former Punjab Agriculture University

(PAU) vice-chancellor.

―Dr Gill was also a Padma Bhushan awardee.

Places/Events in News

⚫ The 24th World Energy Congress was held in Abu Dhabi,

at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, United Arab

Emirates (UAE) from 9-12 September 2019.

―The 2019 World Energy Congress saw participation of more

than 15,000 individuals from over 150 countries including: ●72

ministers from different countries ●250 speakers ●500

CEOs●1000 media persons.

―Theme of the 2019 World Energy Congress was: Energy for

Prosperity. The World Energy Congress is held to bring

different international energy stakeholders together.

―The first World Energy Congress was held in 1924. The

World Energy Congress is held once in three years.

Must Know

ADRDE: Aerial Delivery Research & Development

Establishment

AI: Artificial Intelligence

ALG: Advance Landing Ground

AMR: Anti-Microbial Resistance

BEL: Bharat Electronics Ltd.

CFEES: Centre for Fire, Explosive & Environment Safety

CGWA: Central Ground Water Authority

CPCB: Central Pollution Control Board

CRL: Code for Responsible Lending

DEBEL: Defence Bio-Engineering & Electro Medical

Laboratory

DESA: Department of Economic and Social Affairs

DFRL: Defence Food Research Laboratory.

DRDO: Defence Research and Development Organisation

FDI: Foreign Direct Investment

FIDC: Finance Industry Development Council

GSTN: Goods and Services Tax Network

HAL: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.

IBSF: International Billiards and Snooker Federation

IEPFA: Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority

IFMC: In-Flight and Maritime Connectivity

INMAS: Institute of Nuclear Medical Medicine & Allied

Science

IOC: Indian Oil Corporation

ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation

MFIN: Microfinance Intuitions Network

MoEF: Ministry of Environment and Forests

MoHRD: Ministry of Human Resource Development

MoWR: Ministry of Water Resources

NCLT: National Company Law Tribunal

NFRA: National Financial Reporting Authority

NGT: National Green Tribunal

RTI: Right to Information

SFIO: Serious Fraud Investigation Office

UAV: Unmanned Ariel Vehicle

VSAT: Very Small Aperture Terminal

Days/Anniversaries

⚫ 14th September is observed as Hindi Divas (or Hindi day) in

India. The first Hindi Divas was observed in 1953. On 14th

September 1949, the Constituent Assembly of India adopted

Hindi written in Devanagari script as the official language of

India. Hindi Divas is observed to celebrate the popularity of

Hindi as an official language of India.

―Hindi is the fourth most used language in the world.

―Almost 45 percent of Indians speak Hindi.

news bulletin―34 week-1, sep...

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