. NEWS BULLETIN―21 Week-1, June 2019
NATIONAL
The Modi Government announced the portfolios of the
Union Council of Ministers.
―BJP national president Amit Shah has been allotted Home
Ministry ―Former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar has been allotted
External Affairs Minister.
―Former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been
allotted Finance Ministry.
―Former Home Minister Rajnath Singh will take over as the
Defence Minister.
―Nitin Gadkari will continue as the Minister of Road
Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises.
―Ravi Shankar Prasad will continue as the Law Minister,
with additional responsibility of Information Technology and
Telecommunications.
―Piyush Goyal will continue as the Railways Minister with
the addition of Commerce Ministry.
―Dharmendra Pradhan will continue as the Petroleum
Minister along with additional responsibility of Steel ministry.
―Smriti Irani, will continue as the Textiles Minister, along
with Women and Child Development.
―Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been allotted newly created
Jal Shakti ministry.
―Narendra Singh Tomar has been allotted agriculture
ministry along with Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
―Thawarchand Gehlot has been allotted the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment.
―Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda has been
allotted the new Tribal Affairs Ministry.
―Ramesh Pokhriyal has been allotted Human Resources
Ministry.
―Prakash Javadekar has been allotted the Environment and
Forests Ministry and Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
―Pralhad Joshi has been allotted Ministry of Coal along with
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
―Kiren Rijiju is the new Sports Minister.
―R.K. Singh will continue as the power and renewable energy
minister,
―Hardeep Puri has been allotted Civil Aviation ministry.
―Prime Minister Modi will himself hold the portfolios of
Department of Personnel and Training, Atomic Energy and
Space.
―The other important portfolios are as follow:
―D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Minister for Chemicals and
Fertilizers.
―Ram Vilas Paswan: Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food
and Public Distribution.
―Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Minister for Food Processing
Industries.
―Dr. Harsh Vardhan: Minister for Health and Family
Welfare; Minister for Science and Technology; and Minister
for Earth Sciences.
―Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minister for Minority Affairs.
―Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey: Minister for Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship.
―Arvind Sawant: Minister for Heavy Industries and Public
Enterprise.
―Giriraj Singh: Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy and
Fisheries.
78 Members of the 17th Lok Sabha are women.
―This has also taken the total number of women Lok Sabha
members to the all-time high of 14 percent.
―11 percent of the 16th Lok Sabha members were women.
Whereas 5 percent of the 1st Lok Sabha members were women.
―Both Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have sent 11 women
members each to the 17th Lok Sabha. This is the highest number
of female MPs that a state has sent.
―Uttar Pradesh has sent more women MPs because there is a
larger number of Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
―West Bengal sent more women MPs because 41 percent of
all the Trinamool Congress contestants were women.
―One third of all the elected MPs from Odisha are women.
This is due to the fact that 33 percent of all the BJD candidates
were women.
―Neither NDA nor UPA was able to clear the Bill for reserving
33 percent of the Parliament seats for women.
―Approximately 8,000 individuals contested in the 17th Lok
Sabha elections. Less than 800 of these were women. One-third
of these 800 contested as independent candidates.
―Both BJP and Congress did not give tickets to more than 12
percent women candidates each.
―Globally on an average 24 percent of the National
Legislation members are females.
―In South Asia 18 percent of the National Legislation
members are female.
―European Union and Latin America & Caribbean countries
have as much as one third women in the national legislatures.
―There are many countries which have better women
representation than India. For example, Rwanda (61 per cent)
Cuba and Bolivia (both 53 per cent), Mexico (48 per cent) and
Sweden (47 per cent).
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Cabinet Ministers of India 2019
―India’s women representation in the Parliament is even
worse than that of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Nepal.
India invited the leaders of all BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation) countries for Modi’s searing in ceremony.
―BIMSTEC includes all countries in the Bay of Bengal
region: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and
Bhutan.
―In addition, leaders from the Kyrgyz Republic (who is chair
of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and Mauritius (who
was the chief guest at Pravasi Bhartiya Divas) were also
invited.
―Few Tamil cinema stars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan
were also invited for the ceremony.
―All the SAARC leaders - including the Prime Minister of
Pakistan - were invited for PM Modi’s oath-taking ceremony in
2014.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that we would not
take a ministerial position in the 17th Lok Sabha.
―He made this announcement citing health issues.
―Arun Jaitley said that he had undergone serious health
challenges during the last 18 months and as such he would like
to take time for treatment and recuperation.
―As a Finance Minister of the country Jaitley was
instrumental in clearing multiple legislations including the
legislation for Goods and Services Tax.
The Left parties’ performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha
elections was their worst performance till date.
―In the aftermath of the performance CPI has once again given
a call for reunification of the Communist parties.
―CPI is arguing that the Left parties in India are facing an
unprecedented challenge in its history.
―CPI has also admitted that it might lose the national party
status.
―This is not the first time that CPI has called for reunification.
It has been doing that time and again.
Rahul Gandhi announced his decision for stepping down
as the Congress President, and asked the party to look for a
successor. Rahul Gandhi clarified that he would continue in the
current position until a successor is found. The decision to
resign was taken by Rahul Gandhi after the party suffered its
second-worst defeat in history under his leadership.
―In the aftermath of the defeat many state Congress presidents
resigned and many others offered to resign. Post defeat,
Congress leaders in Rajasthan started rumbling and there were
tensions emerging in the JD(S)-Congress government in
Karnataka.
―Many different Congress leaders and opposition leaders of
other parties had already approached Rahul for reconsidering
his decision. But till now he has remained un-waivered.
―Congress will not get Leader of the Opposition status
because it has less than 55 MP or less than ten percent of the
total MPs in the House.
The Government has granted the Justice Rohini
Commission an extension till July 31, 2019.
―The Rohini Commission under the leadership of the Justice G
Rohini (retired) was constituted under Article 340 of the Indian
Constitution for examining the sub-categorisations of the Other
Backward Classes (OBC). Constituted on October 2, 2017, the
commission was originally supposed to give report within a
period of three months. This is the sixth time that the
commission has been granted an extension.
―These extensions have been given in the light of the
“voluminous data involved and time required for analysis to
prepare a comprehensive report”.
LAW The Centre Government has told the Supreme Court that it
neither supports registration of FIR nor CBI investigation into
Rafale fighter jets deal due its sensitive nature.
―The Centre Government is seeking dismissal of the petition
seeking review of the Supreme Court’s December 14 verdict
providing clean chit to the government in Rafale deal.
―The three-judge bench of the SC on May 10 reserved its
verdict on the pleas seeking review of the December 14
judgement in the Rafale case.
The Brazil Supreme Court has ruled to make homophobia
and transphobia a crime equivalent to crimes like racism.
―The Supreme Federal Tribunal of Brazil has 11 judges. Six of
them have favoured the ruling.
―In 1989, Brazil made racism a crime punishable with a
sentence of up to five years.
―The Supreme Court ruled that homophobia should be treated
at par with racism until the nation’s legislature enacts a specific
legislation for LGBT group.
Supreme Court has refused to grant arrest protection to
newly elected BSP MP from Uttar Pradesh; Atul Rai.
―Atul is accused of raping a college student. The vacation
bench of the Supreme Court said that it was not interested in
providing relief to Rai. In the past the Supreme Court had
refused to provide interim arrest protection to Rai.
―An FIR was registered against Rai on the complaint of a
student that he sexually assaulted her.
The Gujarat local court sentenced two cattle owners to
imprisonment. The accused were charged with leaving their
bovines on the public road in Vadodara in 2017. The
Vadodara Municipal Corporation had pressed charges
against them for negligence.
―The complaint by VMC was filed under section 308 of the
Indian Penal Code. The section deals with the attempting to
culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The case was part
of the VMC drive to deal with cattle menace on the streets.
―The accused Alpesh Rabari and Hitesh Rabari, also have to
pay a fine of Rs 5000 each.
Rajasthan High Court has directed the State Government to
cancel the licences of all illiterate drivers i.e. drivers who are
unable to read and write. The Rajasthan High Court while
passing the order termed the illiterate drivers as a menace for
pedestrians.
― The Court said that illiterate individuals are unable to
understand the road signs and caution warnings on highways
and city roads. The High Court also directed the State transport
Authorities to issue appropriate instructions in this regard.
The Court also said that the action should be taken in cases
where the licences are issued to individuals without the
capability of reading and writing.
STATES
Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig
(Retd) B D Mishra has invited the BJP
leader and Chief Minister designate
Prem Khandu for forming the
government in the state.
―Post poll the 41 BJP party legislators
unanimously elected Khandu as their
leader. ―This is the first time that Arunachal
will see full-fledged BJP government. Arunachal Pradesh CM-
Shri Prem Khandu
―BJP in Arunachal Pradesh achieved a landslide victory in the
Assembly polls under Khandu;s leadership.
―Khandu helped the BJP to increase its share from seven
assembly seats in 2014 to 41 seats in 2019.
―The only regional party – the People’s Party of Arunachal
(PPA) –won one assembly seat in the state.
YSR Congress chief Yeduguri
Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy is all
set to become the second Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh post
bifurcation.
―The YSR Congress won 151 of the
175 assembly seats in the state. The YSR Congress also managed to
win 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in
the state.
Naveen Patnaik took oath and
became the Chief Minister of Odisha
for the fifth consecutive term.
―With this achievement Patnaik has
become one of the longest-serving
Chief Minister’s in India.
―Some of the other long serving
Chief Ministers of India include:
―Pawan Kumar Chamling, Sikkim
(24 years, 5 months, 14 days).
―Pawan holds the distinction of being
the longest serving chief minister of
independent India.
―Pawan is the founder and president of the Sikkim
Democratic Front. He has been ruling Sikkim since 1994. He
was defeated in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
―Jyoti Basu, West Bengal (23 years, 4 months, 15 days)
―Jyoti Basu, a member of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from
1977 to 2000.
―Gegong Apang, Arunachal Pradesh (22 years, 8 months, 6
days)
―Gegong Apang is the third longest serving Chief Minister.
Apang has represented both BJP and Congress as Chief
Minister. He is currently the member of Janata Dal (Secular)
―Lal Thanhawla, Mizoram (22 years, 1 month, 25 days)
―Lal Thanwala represents Congress party. He was elected as
CM five times.
―Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Pradesh (21 years, 11 days).
―Virbhadra Singh has served as Himachal Pradesh chief
minister for 21 years (not consecutive terms).
―Virbhadra Singh represents Congress.
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha
(SKM) president Prem Singh
Tamang, popularly known as
P.S. Golay, on May 27, 2019 took
oath as the chief minister of
Sikkim. He was administered the
oath by governor Ganga Prasad at
Paljor Stadium.
―The SKM, founded in 2013,
won a slender majority in the 32-
member Sikkim legislative
assembly by bagging 17 seats
against 15 won by SDF led by P.K. Chamling.
―The Chamling government was ousted by the SKM after over
24 years of rule. After taking charge of the office at Tashiling
state secretariat, Golay announced a five-day working week for
state government employees.
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
American Government has removed India and Singapore
from the list of countries whose currency it monitors.
―The American Government has made this decision in the light
of the recent developments including the steps taken by India.
―The list still includes names of countries like China, Japan,
South Korea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia
and Vietnam.
―India was net purchaser of foreign exchange in 2017. Since
then RBI steadily sold reserves for most of 2018.
―In 2018 the net sales of the foreign currency reached 1.7
percent of the GDP.
―India has kept adequate foreign exchange reserves as per the
IMF metrics.
―America placed India in its currency monitoring list of
countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange
policies in May 2018.
―Five other countries i.e. China, Germany, Japan, South
Korea and Switzerland were also placed on the list with India.
India stopped importing Iranian oil after the expiration of
the American waiver granted for the same.
―In 2018 US had granted waiver to eight countries for six
months for buying Iranian crude. The waiver ended on May 2,
2019.
―With this stopping, India has become the latest country to
comply with US sanctions on Iran.
―Besides India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan and Turkey have stopped
importing crude from Iran.
―India had stopped its imports after USA refused to extend
exemption further.
―Under American pressure, India has stopped crude imports
from both Venezuela and Iran.
―India was meeting 10 percent of its need from Iran crude.
―India is facing another complication as it is developing Iran’s
Chabahar port. US has exempted the development of this port
from the Iranian sanctions as of now; but this can change in the
future.
―Chabahar port is used for supplies and humanitarian
assistance to Afghanistan.
―The current US sanctions were imposed (or reimposed
depending on the perspective) after US pulled out of the 2014
nuclear accord between Iran and six other nuclear powers.
―The American Government is pressurising Iran into entering
nto a new deal that will cover both Iran’s nuclear program and
Iran’s ballistic missile program. ―US target is to reduce Iran crude oil exports to zero.
―American sanctions are having serious affects on the Iranian
economy. The value of its currency has dropped to all time low,
its inflation rate has increased by more than four times.
Foreign investors are moving away from Iran. Iran claims that
the sanctions against it are illegal.
Kerala government has taken a decision of levying 1
percent cess on GST from June 1st. The extra cess is being
levied for dealing with the devastations that the state saw in the
aftermath of 2018 floods.
―With this decision Kerala has become the first Indian state
to levy calamity cess. The extra cess will not be imposed on
daily essential items like wheat, edible oil, pulses etc. The cess
will be imposed for a period of two years.
―The government is expecting to raise Rs 600 crore through
the cess. The cess was announced in the annual budget of state
and approved by the then FM, Shri Arun Jaitley in the GST
Council.
―Last year Kerala experienced the worst floods in more than a
century. The floods were designated as Level 3 calamity event.
Andhra Pradesh CM – Shri Jagan Mohan Reddy
Odisha CM – Shri Naveen Patnaik
Sikkim CM - Shri P.S. Golay
In Nissan Motor case, the Permanent Court of Arbitration
in Singapore has rejected India’s argument that the Court does
not have jurisdiction for handling the case. ―Indian government will most likely file an appeal in the
Singapore’s Supreme Court. The acceptance of India’s
argument would have led to the throwing out of the whole case.
―In 2016 Japan’s Nissan sent a legal notice to the Indian
Government claiming Rs 5,000 (USD 720 million) crores. This
claim included Rs 2,900 crore in unpaid incentives and Rs
2,100 crore in damages (interest, costs etc). Nissan claimed that
this amount was due to it as incentives as part of the 2008
agreement for setting up a car manufacturing facility in Tamil
Nadu. The Tamil Nadu government promised number of
incentives including tax breaks to Nissan and France’s
Renault when they agreed to set up manufacturing facility in
the state. These incentives included tax benefits.
―Consequently, Nissan and Renault invested to the tune of Rs
6,100 crore in the factory. The factory can manufacture around
4,80,000 vehicles annually.
―The factory also provides job to more than 40,000
individuals. Tamil Nadu government has been trying to settle
the matter with Nissan but till now an acceptable agreement
has remained a distant dream.
―In case of a settlement, Nissan will have an option of
withdrawing its arbitration case against India.
―Nissan took India to Court for alleged violation of the
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
between India and Japan. CEPA provides certain protections to
Japanese firms investing in India and vice versa.
―In 2017, India filed a plea claiming that the arbitration court
in Singapore does not have authority to deal with the issue for
multiple reasons including tax related issues which are not
covered by the CEPA.
DEFENCE & SECURITY
For the first time in the history, an all-women crew of the
Indian Air Force flew a medium lift helicopter (Mi-17 V5).
―The crew flew the Mi-17 V5 helicopter as part of IAF’s Battle
Inoculation Training. ―Parul Bharadwaj – the crew leader – has become the first
woman pilot of IAF to fly Mi-17 V5.
―Co-pilot Flying Officer Aman Nidhi is the first woman
Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot from Jharkhand.
―The third crew Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal is the first
woman flight engineer of the Indian Air Force.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested a locally developed 500 kg
class guided bomb.
―The 500 kg class Inertial Guided Bomb was dropped from
Su 30 MKI combat jet at Pokhran in Rajasthan.
―The tested bomb is capable of carrying different warheads.
―Last week Indian Air Force had successfully test fired the
BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands.
Indian Air Force transport aircraft AN-32 has been certified
to fly on blended aviation fuel containing up to 10 per cent of
indigenous bio-jet fuel.
―The certificate was granted by aero-engine test facilities at
Chandigarh.
―The certificate was granted after one year of evaluation tests
and trails using the blended aviation fuel.
―These tests and trials followed the international aviation
standards.
―The indigenous bio-jet fuel was produced by the CSIR-IIP
lab at Dehradun in 2013.
―Till now the fuel was not tested or certified for commercial
use due to the lack of testing facilities in civil aviation sector,
―In 2018, the Indian Air Force permitted the use of its
resources for testing, evaluating and certifying the bio-jet fuel.
―Since 2018, Indian Air Force engineers and flight test crew
have been evaluating the fuel against international standards.
―In a statement IAF has announced this as a step in promoting
the ‘Make in India’ mission as this bio-fuel would be produced
from Tree Borne Oils (TBOs) sourced from tribal areas and
farmers, augmenting their income substantially.
SPORTS
On the eve of ICC men’s World
Cup, ICC launched the criiio
campaign for celebrating diversity
of cricket.
―Under the campaign the fans of
cricket have been asked to share
pictures and videos of how and
where they play cricket.
―The videos and pictures have to be
shared by using the newly launched
criiio and visiting the site criiio.com.
―ICC has planned a series of
programs for the next 12 months; this is first of these programs. ―Different individuals across the world play cricket
differently. Criiio is a celebration of all of these ways.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 has started.
―The opening ceremony of the games took place at the Mall
located opposite the Buckingham Palace in London (United
Kingdom).
―The ceremony was hosted by former England cricketer
Andrew Flintoff, Shibani Dandekar and Comedian Paddy
McGuinness.
―The captains of 10 teams participating in the World Cup met
with the British Royal family at a gala event which took place
before the opening ceremony.
―English singer John Newman performed ‘Feel the love’ at the
start of the event.
―The opening ceremony concluded with the official theme
song of the ICC World Cup 2019; ‘Stand By’.
The seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) will
start from July 20, 2019. The starting time of the matches have
also been changed from 8.00 PM to 7.30 PM.
―Bengaluru Bulls is the defending champion of the seventh
PKL season.
Apurvi Chandela won the
women’s 10m Air Rifle at the
year’s third International
Shooting Sport Federation
(ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol
stage in Munich, Germ any.
―Apurvi defeated the Wang
Luyao of China by attaining a
score of 251 against Wang’s score of 250.8.
―This is Apurvi’s second ISSF World Cup gold medal of
2019. She won the first gold by attaining the world record score
at Delhi. Overall this is Apurvi’s fourth ISSF medal.
INTERNATIONAL
The results of the European Union elections 2019 have been
announced. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party received the highest
number of votes and seats in the European parliament.
Apurvi Chandela
―This is the first time that euro-sceptic party like the Brexit
Party has secured more than 25% of seats (29 out of 73) by
acquiring 31.71% of votes.
―The pro-EU Liberal Democrats attained the second position
by securing 15 seats by acquiring 20% of votes.
―The Labour party attained the third position by securing 10
seats. The fourth position was secured by the pro-European,
environmentalist Greens with seven seats.
―The Green parties in Europe are moving up due to the
growing climate concerns. This is a counterpoint to the far-
right and anti-migrant parties that have been growing in
popularity across Europe in recent years.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
According to media reports Huawei’s in-house operating
system, codenamed ‘HongMeng’ will not be ready till 2020.
―This will create difficulty for the company as the US
government has imposed a global ban on it by adding its name
to the Entity List.
―Consequently, Google cancelled the company’s Android
licence.
―While cancelling the license, Google clarified that the Play
Store and Play Protect services will continue to work on
Huawei phones for now. But there is no certainty over the future
course of action.
―Microsoft also stopped selling Huawei laptops in its online
store. It might also cancel Windows license for the firm.
SUMMIT & ORGANIZTION
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed
gratitude for India’s contribution to the United Nations and its
peacekeeping missions. ―India currently contributes around 6,400 peacekeepers to
various missions across the world. India is the fourth largest
contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping.
―Indian Peacekeepers are currently deployed on the UN peace
operations in Abyei, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, the Middle East, South Sudan and the
Western Sahara.
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
An all-white, albino panda has been reportedly seen at the
Wolong National Nature Reserve in the southwestern
province of Sichuan, China.
―This is the first of its kind documented sighting of fully while
giant panda in the world. White Panda’s get their colour due to
the rare genetically inherited genes that prevents the normal
synthesis of melanin.
BASIC GK ASPECTS
BOOKS & AUTHORS The Good Son―by You Jeong Jeong
The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack―by HM Naqvi
I Have Become The Tide―by Githa Hariharan
The Lost Decade (2008-2018) ―by Puja Mehra
Caste as Social Capital―by R. Vaidyanathan.
APPOINTMENTS Justice A K Mittal has taken oaths as the new Chief Justice
of the Meghalaya High Court
―The oaths of the office were administered by the Governor
Tathagata Roy at the Raj Bhawan of Meghalaya in the presence
of the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, and his cabinet
ministers.
―Justice Mittal is the most senior judge of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court. Justice Mittal is replacing Chief Justice
Mohammad Yaqoob Mir.
Lonnie Bunch has been appointed as the 14th secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution. Bunch is the first African
American to be appointed as a Smithsonian secretary.
―Bunch is replacing David Skorton. David Skorton has been
appointed as the president and CEO of the Association of
American Medical Colleges.
―Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846. Smithsonian
Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and
research complex, with 19 museums and a National Zoological
Park.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Prem Tinsulanonda died on 26th May, 2019 at the age of 98
in Thailand. Prem was an army commander, prime minister and
adviser to the royal palace. Prem was regarded as one of the
most influential political figures of Thailand. Prem was best
known for his long-standing devotion to the monarchy,
especially the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Nobel Prize winner physicist Murray Gell-Mann died on
24th May, 2019 at the age of 89. Murray contributed towards
discovery and classification of subatomic particles. Murray
transformed physics by his eightfold model of classifying
subatomic particles based on electric charge, spin and other
characteristics.
―Murray was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1969 for his
contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of
elementary particles and their interactions.
MUST-KNOW
BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party
TMC: All India Trinamool Congress
BJD: Biju Janata Dal
NOTA: None of The Above
NDA: National Democratic Alliance
UPA: United Progressive Alliance
BIMSTEC: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral
Technical and Economic Cooperation
SCO: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
OBC: Other Backward Classes
LED: Light-Emitting Diode
IMF: International Monetary Fund
GST: Goods and Services Tax
ISSF: International Shooting Sport Federation
ICC: International Cricket Council
DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
28th May every year is celebrated as Menstrual Health Day.
―The day is celebrated for raising awareness about the
importance of proper menstrual hygiene.
―The poor knowledge about menstrual hygiene, coupled with
the presence of taboos and stigma, restricted access to hygiene
menstrual products and poor sanitation infrastructure have
significantly negative impact on the educational opportunities,
health and overall social status of females across the world.
―The Menstrual Health day helps in breaking silence, raising
awareness and changing negative social norms around the issue
of menstrual health.
. NEWS BULLETIN―22 Week-2, June 2019
NATIONAL
The Centre Government has confirmed the unemployment
figures of 6.1 percent during 2017-18. This is the highest
unemployment in the 45 years. The released data shows 7.8
percent of all employable urban youths as unemployed. This
figure is 5.3 percent for the rural youth.
―Participation rate for males and females for the quarter
ending December 2018 was 73.6 percent and 19.5 percent
respectively.
―This data confirms the data in the pre-election leaked report
on unemployment which was being denied by the government.
―This was in top of the poor performance of agriculture and
manufacturing sector in January-March period.
―This is the first time in the last two years that India’s GDP has
registered growth lower than China’s GDP growth.
The Newly elected BJP government has reconstituted eight
key Cabinet Committees.
―The centre government has acknowledged the slowing down
of economy and pressing need for job creation and announced
setting up of two new cabinet committees on Investment and
Growth, and Employment and Skill Development
―The Cabinet Committees and their members are as under:
―Appointments Committee of the Cabinet: Prime Minister
Modi and Amit Shah.
―Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs panel: PM Modi
(Chair), Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, DV
Sadananda Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Nirmala
Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, S
Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan.
―Growth and Cabinet Committee on Employment and
Skill Development: PM Modi (Chair), Amit Shah, Nirmala
Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal, Ramesh
Pokhriyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mahendra Nath Pandey,
Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Hardeep Singh Puri.
―Cabinet Committee on Accommodation: Amit Shah
(chair), Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal.
―Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs: Amit Shah
(chair), Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan, Narendra Singh
Tomar, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash
Javadekar and Prahlad Joshi.
―Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs: PM Modi (chair),
Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas
Paswan, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad,
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Harsh Vardhan, Piyush Goyal, Arvind
Ganpat Sawant, and Prahlad Joshi.
―Cabinet Committee on Security: PM Modi (chair) Amit
Shah, Rajnath Singh, Sitharaman and S Jaishankar.
―Cabinet Committee on Investment: PM Modi (Chair), Amit
Shah, Nirmala Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush
Goyal as members.
A new gender equality index created by Equal Measures
2030 has ranked India 95 among 129 countries.
―India attained a score of 56.2 out of 100 on the gender
parameter of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
―Countries such as Ghana, Rwanda and Bhutan have done
better than India on the index.
―India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been rated very poor in
terms of women education.
―The index covers 14 of the 17 SDGs and ranks countries on
51 parameters ranging from health to climate change and
violence.
―A score of 100 on the index means that the set target for the
indicator has been achieved. For example; 50 percent women
representation in the national legislature or 100 percent girls
completing secondary education.
―129 countries reviewed scored an average of 65.7 out of 100.
―No country emerged as the world’s top or even as one in top
ten performer across all the measured parameters.
―The parameter ranks a score below 59 as a poor score.
―Denmark has received the highest marks in the index.
Finland has received the second highest score. They have been
followed by Sweden, Norway and Netherlands.
―Countries marked by conflict: Niger, Yemen, Congo, Chad
etc. have received the lowest scores in the index.
Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) has re-elected Sonia Gandhi as
its leader.
―Sonia Gandhi has been re-elected to
the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli
constituency in Uttar Pradesh. ―Congress cannot claim the leader of
the opposition status because it only has
52 members in the Lok Sabha. Congress
will need three more members for claiming the post.
―The appointment of Congress Leader of Lok Sabha has not
been done yet.
The Government of India has
merged the ministries of Water
Resources and Drinking Water and
Sanitation to form a new Jal Shakti
Ministry.
―All the water related works will be
merged and made part of this
ministry. ―The scope of the new ministry will
include international and interstate
water disputes, Namami Gange project, clean drinking water
projects etc.
―Forming of the new ministry was one of the polls promises
of the BJP during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
―The newly created ministry will be headed by Cabinet
Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
On 3rd June, 2019 the Indian Air Force aircraft AN-32
went missing over Arunachal Pradesh.
―The aircraft with 13 people onboard took off from the Jorhat
in Assam and was supposed to land at the Mechuka Advanced
Landing Ground in Shi Yomi, Arunachal Pradesh.
―The aircraft took off at 12:30 PM and it was supposed to land
at 1:30 PM. The contact with the aircraft was lost at 1:00 PM.
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Sonia Gandhi
Ministry of Jal Shakti
―Indian army, IITB
and state police
personnel are helping
Indian Air Force on
land while Indian Navy
aircraft and ISRO
satellites are helping for
remote search and rescue operation.
―Yomi situated on China border is one of the remotest
locations in Arunachal Pradesh. ―AN-32 is a soviet era, soviet designed aircraft used by Indian
Air Force.
―No signs (including wreckage) of the aircraft were found until
the time of writing this bulletin.
Railway ministry is exploring the possibility of running
Vande Bharat express on Mumbai-Pune and Nasik-Vadodara
lines. Currently Vande Bharat Express is running between New
Delhi and Varanasi. This train reduced the travel time between
the cities by almost 40 per cent.
LAW The Special Session Court in Vadodara, Gujarat has rejected
the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) closure report on Arjun
Vanzara bribery case.
―Arjun Vanjara is an IPS officer DG Vanzara’s son. Arjun
was a mamlatdar in Vadodara at the time of his arrest. Arjun
was caught red handed in 2016 while accepting a bribe of Rs
75,000. ACB filed a closure report under Section 169 of the
Criminal Procedure Code citing lack of evidence in the case.
―ACB also claimed that there was no relationship between the
complainant and Arjun.
―The Session Court has not accepted the closure report and has
asked the police to conduct further investigation into the case.
Delhi High Court has asked the Centre Government to make
its stand on the Uniform Civil Code clear.
―The Delhi High Court has also asked the government to
constitute a High-Level Expert Committee for drafting the
code within a prescribed time.
―In addition, the Delhi High Court also issued notice to the
Law Commission of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs
for the same plea.
―The information is being sought by the Delhi High Court on
a Public Interest Litigation seeking directions for framing a
uniform civil code in the country under Article 44 of the
Constitution of India.
―The petition claimed that existence of personal laws
contradicted the Article 14 (right to equality), Article 15 (right
against discrimination) and Article 21 (right to life and liberty)
of the Constitution of India.
―Uniform civil law will replace the current personal laws.
The existing personal laws are based on ―different scriptures
and customs of different religious communities.
―The uniform civil code will have a common set of rules
applicable to every citizen of India.
Centre Government has approached the Supreme Court
challenging the Madras High Court order quashing the land
acquisition order for the Salem-Chennai green corridor project.
―Salem-Chennai green corridor project is a 273 km, Rs 10,000
crore eight lane green corridor connecting Salem and Chennai
with the Centre Government ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’
scheme. The project will reduce the travel time between the two
cities by 50%. The project will pass through reserved forest and
water bodies.
―The Madras High Court held that the project required
compulsory environment clearance because it negatively
affected the environment.
―The appeal has been accepted by the vacation bank of the
Supreme Court.
―Earlier, the Madras High Court had said that environmental
clearance was mandatory since the project would have an
adverse impact on the environment, including water bodies.
STATES
SP-BSP have announced that they will contest the upcoming
by polls in the Uttar Pradesh separately.
―SP-BSP alliance failed miserably during the recently
concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state.
―Both the parties have clarified that this break is not a
permanent break and that both the parties can come together
in future if needed.
Uttar Pradesh cabinet has taken a decision to increase
penalties for traffic violations by 100 percent.
―The fines for using mobile phone while driving or being on
a two-wheeler without helmet have been increased from Rs
500 to Rs 1,000.
―Similarly, the fine to violators driving without license has
been doubled to Rs 1,000 (earlier Rs 500), driving without
number plate will attract a fine of Rs 500 (earlier Rs 300).
―The UP cabinet has also given permission to proposal
allowing vehicle owners in the state to port the registration
number of their vehicles.
The Midday Meal Schem e for 51 drought-hit tehsils in
Gujarat during summer vacation
in schools has been stopped.
―The decision has been taken
because the Drought
Declaration Certificates of
these tehsils have ended on May
31, and the Revenue
Department has not taken any
steps for renewing them.
―The Revenue Department had
issued certificates declaring
moderate to severe drought in 51 tehsils of Ahmedabad,
Banaskantha, Bhavnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Kutch,
Mehsana, Morbi, Patan, Rajkot and Surendranagar districts.
Odisha Government has held talks with the Centre
Government for looking into the feasibility of implementing the
Ayushman Bharat Yojana in the state.
― According to Indu Bhushan, the CEO Ayushman Bharat,
the main challenge for the state is integration of the state health
assurance scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) with
the national scheme.
―Implementation of the scheme in the state will lead to Centre
bearing a part of the burden of the scheme. This will reduce
budgetary pressure for the state government.
―State government announced various populist schemes
during the run-up to the elections. Reducing budgetary pressures
will help the state in meeting these needs.
―Till now the Odisha Government has been reluctant to
implement the scheme in the state.
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
United States has finally taken India out of the
Generalised System of Preferences Scheme (GSP).
―The benefits under the scheme which included duty free
imports of Indian goods to US worth $6 billion or more will end
on June 5. India has been part of the GSP program since 1975.
India was the largest GSP beneficiary.
Missing IAF plane AN-32
―Withdrawal of GSP benefits is likely to impact the exports of
approximately 1,900 products.
―Approximately 11 percent of the total Indian exports to US
were under GSP. US is one of the largest trading partners of
India. India’s goods trade surplus with US was $21.3 billion in
2018. Indian Government has termed this development as
“unfortunate”.
―United States had announced that India’s access to the
scheme will be removed, but it did not issue notification for the
same due to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in India.
―Tensions between India and USA have been slowly rising in
the past two years due to many actions of the Indian
government. India has cut the maximum retail prices of life
saving cardiac stents and essential knee implants by more than
65 percent.
―India imposes high tariffs on information and technology
products.
―USA is claiming that these actions along with many others do
not provide equitable and reasonable access to Indian
markets.
Director General GST (Pune) has raised a tax demand of
Rs 4,002 crore and 346 crore against Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL)
respectively. ―The tax demand has been raised for alleged non-payment of
excise duty on the ethanol which the companies mixes with
petrol.
―Both IOC and HPCL are contesting this demand claiming
that use of sugarcane extract ethanol for mixing with fuel is
exempt from tax.
―Oil refiners in India add 5 to 10 percent ethanol into petrol
as per the government directive.
―The directive has been issued by the government with the
view of reducing India’s dependence on oil imports.
―IOC is one of the largest tax payers in India. In 2018-19
alone it paid taxes to the tune of Rs 1.93 lakh crore.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has increased the
US’s GDP growth forecast for 2019 to 2.6 percent.
―IMF expects US’s GDP growth in 2020 to fall to 2 percent.
―According to the IMF, US economy will grow slightly faster
in 2019, than it was projected in past, but there are material
risks associated with the economy.
―These material risks include the risk of damage from the
ongoing US-China trade wars, widening inequalities and
rising debt levels.
―IMF also says that the US-China trade war should be sorted
out at the earliest because the war is significantly threatening
the global economy.
―IMF had earlier reduced its estimates of China’s GDP
growth rate to 6.2 percent.
Union Ministry of Mines has decided to invite tenders for
auctioning of 48 operating non-captive iron and manganese
ore mines whose leases will expire in March 2020.
―The distribution of these mines is as following: Odisha (24),
Jharkhand (6), Karnataka (6), Gujarat (5), Andhra Pradesh (3),
Rajasthan (2), Himachal Pradesh (1) and Madhya Pradesh (1).
―These mines cumulatively produce around 45 million tonnes
of iron and manganese ores.
―The lease of 329 merchant mines in total is expiring in March
2020. 281 of these 329 merchant mines are non-working mines.
―The Ministry has also instituted a committee for looking into
the post-auction issues that can emerge. For example, transition
from old to new lessee.
―This invitation for sending tenders is expected to help steel
companies like JSW Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL).
―The tenders will be issued towards the end of July.
DEFENCE & SECURITY
Garuda 2019 is set to start from July 1 in France, and will
continue for two weeks.
―Garuda 2019 will be one of the largest air exercises between
France and India.
―The exercise will involve engagement between Indian
contingent of 30 Sukhoi fighters and French Rafale aircrafts.
―These exercises will also involve use of other supporting
assets like mid-air refuellers.
―These exercises will help Indian Air Force personnel to get
an idea about the Rafale fighters.
―India is purchasing 36 Rafale fighters at the approximate cost
of Rs 58,000 crore. The first of these aircrafts is expected to be
delivered in September.
―Indo-French defence ties have been steadily improving for
some time now.
Indo-French navy exercises Varuna were held in May this
year.
―In 2019 India and France signed an agreement allowing the
use of each other’s military facilities
including opening naval bases to
warships.
―There are Indo-French
discussions on the possibility of
holding tri-services military
exercise between the armed forces
of the two nations.
On 2nd June, 2019, Indian Navy
successfully conducted live mating
exercise between the new Deep
Submergence Rescue Vehicles (DSRVs) with and Indian Navy submarine Sindhudvaj.
―In the exercise personnel from INS Sindhudvaj were
successfully transferred from the submarine to the DSRV.
―DSRVs are equipped with sophisticated radar and a
remotely operated vehicle.
―DSRVs with a crew of 3 personnel can rescue upto 14
personnel from the disabled submarines.
―The maiden trials of the DSRV were conducted on October
15, 2018 and it was inducted into Navy in December 2018.
―The current exercise has ended the training phase of DSRV
on the East Coast.
―This is an historical achievement for the Indian Navy. This
achievement will allow Indian Navy to emerge as Submarine
Rescue Provider in the region.
POLICY AND GOVERNMENT
INITIATIVES
The Governing Council of
the NITI Aayog is set to meet
on June 15.
―This will be the first
meeting of the Governing
Council under the newly
formed Government.
―This will be the fifth council
meeting since the inception
of the Niti Aayog.
―The meeting of the
Governing Council – chaired by PM Modi – will include
discussion on issues like water management, agriculture,
security etc.
―Governing Council of Niti Aayog is made up of all the Chief
Ministers of states, Lieutenant Governors of Union
Territories, relevant Union Ministers and Senior Government
Officers.
Centre Government is considering re-introduction of the
Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill in the Parliament.
―The BJP government was unable to get the bill passed through
the Rajya Sabha during the government’s last term.
―The previous BJP government did not have majority in the
Rajya Sabha. Therefore, the bill passed through Lok Sabha but
it was not able to get it through the Rajya Sabha.
―The opposition parties claimed that the Bill was interfering
with the power of the states and as such was not federal in
nature. The Amendment Bill proposes stricter punishments for
traffic violations, simplification of the vehicle registration
processes and overhauling of the traffic and transport
framework of India.
The Government of India is planning to provide One kg
sugar to approximately 16.3 crore additional families.
―The sugar will be provided at the subsidised rate at the
approximate cost of Rs 4,727 crore.
―The distribution of this additional sugar will be done through
the public distribution system (PDS). The government is also
thinking about reducing its buffer stock of food grains before
the monsoon. At present the Food Corporation of India has
large buffer stocks of wheat and rice. Some of these stocks are
being kept in open space due to lack of storing facility.
―The overflowing of stock was due to procurement of wheat
and rice during last five years coupled with the bumper
production. Food Corporation of India is trying to sell the stock
to bulk customer, but they are not willing to buy at high rates
when cheaper options are available in the open market.
―Currently the government is distributing sugar under the
Antyodaya Anna Yojana at the rate of Rs 13.5 per kg.
Approximately 2.5 crore families benefit from this.
―Currently the government distributes food grain under the
National Food Security Act. Wheat is supplied at Rs 2 per kg
and rice is supplied at Rs 3 per kg. Approximately 80 crore
individuals benefit from this.
Madhya Pradesh Government is bringing a new gun
licensing rule in Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh.
―Individuals seeking gun licence in the region will have to
plant at least 10 tree saplings.
―The saplings can be planted on the earmarked revenue land,
in cases where the individual seeking licence does not own land.
―The individuals seeking license will have to click a selfie with
the planted sapling at the time of planting and after one month
of the planting. Both the selfies will have to be attached with the
licence application.
―In addition, a Patwari will have to confirm the planting of the
saplings. The exemption is available only if the license is sought
because of an immediate threat to the applicant’s life. In such
cases the planting of the saplings will have to be done after
obtaining the licence.
―The Gwalior-Chambal region is known for its infatuation
with firearms.
SPORTS
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has issued a
warning against the use of performance enhancing drugs.
―WFI has made it clear that is has zero tolerance policy
against the use of performance enhancing drug.
―Recently Asian Championship silver medallist Reena failed
to clear the drug test and was put under provisional suspension.
INTERNATIONAL
The United States visa application now requires entering of
data like social media usernames, email addresses and phone
numbers held in past etc.
―These new requirements are part of US Governments drive
to enhance screening of potential immigrants and visitors.
―The revised visa application forms with the additional data
requirement have been approved.
―Approximately 15 million foreigners annually are expected
to be affected by this change.
―In past these additional identifiers were only taken from
people who were shortlisted for additional scrutiny, for
example, people who have travelled to terrorist-controlled
areas.
―Almost all the applicants of immigrants and non-immigrant
visas will have to provide this additional information.
―Certain diplomatic and official visa applicants are exempted
from the new requirements.
―The new changes have been made for strengthening the
process of vetting applicants and confirming their identity.
―The change in the data requirements was first purposed in
March 2018.
Taiwan has been trying to purchase more defence equipment
from USA.
―The new equipment under consideration includes 66 F-16
fighter jets, 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks, 1,240 TOW anti-armor
missiles, 409 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 250 Stinger man-
portable air defence systems.
―America is the main defence supplier of Taiwan.
―China regards Taiwan as its territory.
―Clearing of these purchases will create more tension in the
already tense American-Chinese relationship.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The American Government has announced its decision of
significantly reduce the federal spending on medical research
that uses tissues from aborted foetuses.
―The reduction will be achieved by terminating all such
researches within the National Institute of Health.
―This decision placates the anti-abortion groups that have
been lobbying hard for this.
―The scientists are not happy about this and they claim that the
research has helped millions of individuals across the globe.
―While taking this step, the Department of Health and
Human Services said that the current US government’s top
priority includes promotion of dignity of human life from
conception to natural death.
―The Department has clarified that the ongoing 200 research
projects (with NIH grants) that involve foetal tissue will not be
stopped. But their renewal will be considered by the newly
instituted ethics advisory board.
SUMMIT & ORGANIZTION
United Nation’s General
Assembly has elected Tijjani
Muhammad-Bande as its next
president. ―Tijjani will preside over the 47th
session of the General Assembly
scheduled to start in September, 2019
―Tijjani is the Nigeria’s
Ambassador to the UN.
―Tijjani will replace the current
General Assembly President Maria
Fernanda Espinosa. Tijjani wants to hasten the reform process Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
of the United Nations Security Council for making it more
democratic and efficient.
―There are many high-level meetings scheduled during the 74th
session of the General Assembly. These include a high-level
Political Forum, the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit, the
high-level events on Universal Health Coverage, etc.
―Tijjani’s candidature was supported by India.
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
According to the recent India Meteorological Department
(IMD) data, North and South India will receive below normal
monsoon in 2019.
―IMD expects monsoon in these areas to be below normal in
July and normal in August. IMD said that there was a 41 percent
possibility of a normal monsoon.
―The El-Nino will continue during the rainy season and this
can negatively impact the monsoon in India. IMD also clarified
that the El-Nino effect can end towards the end of the monsoon
season. El-Nino phenomena deals with the heating of water in
the Pacific Ocean.
―The Long Period Average rainfall over India as a whole from
1951-2000 is 89 centimeters.
―Rainfall over 110 percent of the Long Period Average is
regarded as excess. Rainfall within 96-104 percent of the Long
Period Average is regarded as normal. Rainfall within 90-96
percent of the Long Period Average is regarded as below
normal.
―Rainfall less than 90 percent of the Long Period Average is
regarded as deficient. According to IMD India is likely to
receive 95 percent and 99 percent of its LPA in July and August
respectively.
―According to IMD the North West India is expected to
receive 94 percent of LPA, central India is expected to receive
100 percent of LPA, southern peninsula is expected to receive
97 percent of the LPA and North East India is expected to
receive 91 percent of LPA. There is 8 percent plus or minus
model error chances. The monsoon is expected to hit Kerala
around June 6.
Nepali climbers have completed a cleaning drive on Mount
Everest. The cleaning drive has resulted in removal of four
bodies and almost 11 tonnes of garbage from the area from the
Mount Everest to its approach below the base camp.
―The people returning from the Mount Everest say that its
slopes are littered with human excrement, oxygen bottles, tents,
ropes, ladders, cans, plastic wrappers etc.
―During the clean up drive a team of 20 sherpa climbers
collected five tonnes of garbage from different camp sites
above the base camp and six tonnes of garbage from the area
below the base camp. 2019 season is the deadliest Mount
Everest climbing season since 2015. In May, 2019 nine and two
climbers died on the Nepali and Tibetan side of the Mountain.
―A permit to scale Mount Everest from Nepal side cost
$11,000. This year 381 permits were issued by the Nepali
government.
BASIC GK ASPECTS
BOOKS & AUTHORS The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for Human
Future at the New Frontier of Power―by Shoshana Zuboff
Art Attacks: Violence and Offence-Taking in India―by
Malvika Maheshwari
Global Capitalism and the Great Crisis―by Ernesto
Screpanti
An American Marriage―by Tayari Jones.
AWARDS AND HONOURS Former President of India
Pratibha Patil has been honoured
with Mexico’s “Orden Mexicana
del Aguila Azteca” (Order of the
Aztec Eagle). ―Order of the Aztec Eagle is the
highest Mexico’s civilian award
that can be presented to foreigners.
―The award is given to foreigners
for their contributions in improving
the bilateral ties of Mexico; their
outstanding services to Mexico or their outstanding services to
humanity.
―Pratibha is the first Indian woman President and the second
Indian President to receive the honour.
―S. Radhakrishnan was the first Indian President to receive
the honour.
―Other Indian recipients of the honour include Rajju Shroff,
Amartya Sen, Satish Gujral, Raghupati Singhania etc.
APPOINTMENTS Reserve Bank of India has
approved the appointment of Rakesh
Makhija as the Chairperson of the
Axis Bank.
―Rakesh will sever Axis Bank for a
period of three years as a non-
executive, part time chairperson. ―Rakesh is known for his
contribution to industry and
technology.
―Rakesh has held various
management positions in the SKF Group. He has also acted as
the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Tata
Honeywell Ltd.
Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as the FIFA’s President
unopposed. Gianni is a Swiss-Italian and a law yer by
profession. His new term will be of four years. Gianni has been
the President of FIFA since February 2016.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Jaspal Inder Singh Kalra died in Delhi on June 4, 2019 at
the age of 71.
―Kalra was suffering from a prolonged illness.
―Jiggs Kalra has a number of achievements under his name.
―He was the first Asian to be inducted into the International
Food and Beverage Gourmet Hall of Fame.
―He was regarded as the first to bring lost north-Indian recipes
into limelight.
―Kalra’s book Prashad: Cooking with Indian Masters is
used as a textbook in hospitality schools across India.
Brij Mohan Khaitan passed away on 2nd June, 2019 at the
age of 92.
―Brij Mohan founded one of the world’s largest bulk tea
producer Mcleod Russel.
―Mohan is survived by his younger son Aditya Khaitan and
daughter Divya Jalan.
Harish Kumar passed away on 2nd June, 2019 in an accident.
―He died along with three other folk artists in a car accident
when their SUV collided with a stationary truck.
―They were travelling from Jodhpur in Rajasthan to Ajmer.
―Harish was best known for Rajasthani fold dance forms like
ghoomar, kalbelia,, bhawai etc.
Mrs. Pratibha Patil
Rakesh Makhija
―Harish rose to fame after his appearance on India’s Got
Talent in 2010.
―Kumar is survived by his wife and sons aged 8 and 10.
Rajesh Patnekar has been appointed as the Speaker of the
Goa Legislative Assembly.
―Rakesh is a BJP MLA from Goa.
―The office of the Speaker of the Goa had been lying vacant
since the death of Manohar Parrikar in March, 2019.
―Rajesh was nominated to the post of Speaker after the
officiating Speaker refused to take up the post full time.
Prakash Pant died on June 5, 2019 at the age of 58 in USA
where he was staying for treatment.
―Prakash had been suffering from prolonged illness.
―Prakash was Uttarakhand’s minister for parliamentary
affairs and finance.
―Prakash was a BJP MLA from Pithoragarh.
―Prakash was regarded as one of the most important and
knowledgeable members of the Uttarakhand’s cabinet.
―Prakash was also one of the contenders to the post of the
Chief Minister in 2017.
MUST-KNOW
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
IAF: Indian Air Force
ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation
SP: Samajwadi Party
BSP: Bahujan Samaj Party
GSP: General System of Preferences Scheme
IOCL: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
IMF: International Monetary Fund
DSRV: Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles
PDS: Public Distribution System
WFI: Wrestling Federation of India
UNSC: United Nations Security Council
IMD: Indian Meteorological Department
DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
World No Tobacco Day is celebrated across the world on
May 31st,
―The World No Tobacco Day 2019 focused on tobacco and
lung health.
―Smoking causes direct and indirect deaths of approximately
seven million individuals across the globe annually.
3rd June every year is celebrated as the World Bicycle Day.
―The General Assembly of the United States declared 3rd June
as the World Bicycle day for acknowledging the uniqueness,
longevity and versatility of the bicycle which has been in use
for two centuries now.
―The first World Bicycle Day was celebrated in 2018.
June 5 every year is celebrated across the globe as the World
Environment Day.
―World Environment Day is a United Nation’s initiative for
creating global awareness about the environment and for
encouraging actions for protecting the environment.
―The World Environment Day was first celebrated in 1974.
Today the day is celebrated in more than 100 countries of the
world.
―The World Environment Day is celebrated every year with a
different theme.
―“Air Pollution” is the theme of the World Environment Day,
2019.
―The World Environment Day is hosted by a different
country every year. The idea is to draw attention to the
environment challenges faces by the country and to raise
worldwide support for tackling them.
. NEWS BULLETIN―23 Week-3, June 2019
NATIONAL
International Commission
of Jurists (ICJ) has released
report and recommendations
related to the discrimination
faced by the LGBTQ
community in terms of
housing, employment and
use of common spaces.
―ICJ conducted 65 interviews across six states of India as part
of its study. ―The study found that persons belonging to LGBTQ
community often struggle for getting accommodation. ―They
were regularly denied rentals and they faced regular
harassment and violence from family, neighbours, landlords
etc.
―These individuals found getting jobs difficult. On getting jobs
the gendered working conditions and lack of job security
further complicated the issue.
―The ICJ has recommended enactment of a “comprehensive
anti-discrimination law, based on nationwide consultations
with the aim of prohibiting discrimination on protected
grounds including sexual orientation, gender identity and
gender expression…”.
―The ICJ has also recommended the amendment of the IPC
provisions on “sexual assault, sexual harassment, disrobing,
voyeurism, stalking, rape and gang rape to introduce gender
neutrality for victims in conformity with international law
standards, and the recommendations made by Justice Verma
Committee, in 2013.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has informed
that it is awaiting sanction for prosecuting 123 government
employees for more than four months.
―The current regulation states that the decision on sanctions
have to be made within four months of receiving the request.
―57 of these sanction requests are pending from the
government organisations/ departments.
―The list of government employees includes Bank officers,
IAS officers, CBI personnel, ED officers, Income Tax
Department employees etc.
―As many as 45 names on the list belong to officers of the
public sector banks.
―Eight sanction requests are pending with Minister of
Personnel, five with Ministry of Railways and five with UP
Government.
BJP’s Virendra Kumar has
been appointed as the pro-tem
Speaker for the 17th Lok Sabha. ―Pro-tem Speaker is appointed
for temporarily conducting the
proceedings of the National or
State Legislature in cases
where the results of the legislative elections are over but
elections to the office of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the
Legislatures are pending.
―Virendra is a Dalit leader from Tikamgarh in the state of
Madhya Pradesh. He has been elected to Lok Sabha for his
seventh term.
―In past Varinder served in the Indian Government as the
Minister of State in both Ministry of Minority Affairs and
Ministry of Women and Child Development.
―Varinder served as the convenor of the ABVP is Sagar,
Madhya Pradesh during the period of 1977-79.
―Varinder has a Master’s degree in Economics and a PhD in
Child Labour.
―The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha will be held from June
17 to July 26, 2019.
The wreckage of the missing Indian Air Force AN-32
transport aircraft was located after eight days of extensive search
and rescue operations in Arunachal Pradesh.
―The wreckage was found in a remote location 16 km North
of Lipo, North East of Tato at an approximate elevation of 12000
ft. The area is close to the Indo-Chinese border.
―Tato is the headquarter of Shi Yomi district.
―Shi Yomi borders China to the north and is one of the
remotest locations in the Himalayan state.
―The teams of IAF, Army and Civil administration personnel
had been formed for looking for survivors and other items.
―AN-32 went missing on June 3. It took off from Jorhat base
in Assam around 12:30 PM but it never made it to the Mechuka
Advanced Landing Ground in Shi Yomi district.
―The aircraft with 13 individuals lost contact with the ground
staff at 1 pm.
―The personnel of Army, ITBP, Indian Navy, ISRO, state
police and district administration, had been looking for the
plane since June 3rd.
―In addition, C-130J aircraft, Su-30MKI aircraft, P8i long-
range reconnaissance aircrafts and MI-17 and Cheetah
helicopters were being used for the search and rescue mission.
―The wreckage was spotted by one of the MI-17 helicopters.
Malaysia has clarified that
it has every right to not
extradite Islamic preacher
Zakir Naik to India in case there
is doubt that he will not get
justice. ―Malaysia also said that Zakir
Naik is apprehensive about his
chances of getting a fair trial in India.
―Zakir Naik is a controversial Islamic preacher who is being
probed by both National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the
Enforcement Directorate (ED).
―Zakir’s NGO – Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) – was
declared illegal in 2016. The organisation is being probed for
money laundering to the tune of Rs 18 crore.
―The probe against Zakir is being conducted because his
sermons on Peace TV were cited by Bangladesh to be a reason
for the Dhaka attack in 2016.
―Zakir left India in 2016. He was granted permanent
residency by Malaysia.
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such violation would entail initiation of suitable legal proceedings.
―In 2018 India formally requested extradition of Zakir to India;
through diplomatic channels. Till now Malaysian authorities
have refused to send Zakir back.
LAW The Supreme Court in its recent judgement has reaffirmed
its position that fundamental rights guaranteed in the
Constitution of India and in particular Articles 19 and 21 are
non-negotiable.
―This was done by the Supreme Court while ordering the
immediate release of the freelance journalist Prashant
Kanojia ―Prashant was arrested by the UP Police for allegedly making
objectionable comments against Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath.
―The Supreme Court took a strong stance and said that
Prashant’s arrest was excessive.
―While passing the order Supreme Court judges also clarified
that this order did not approve the social media posts made by
him. The Court said that the UP State was free to proceed
against Prashant in accordance with law.
―UP Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee argued
that the petitioner should not have approached the Supreme
Court directly and rather should have first approached the
High Court under Article 32 of the Constitution.
―The Bench of the Supreme Court did not agree with
Banerjee’s argument. The Court clarified that as a matter of self-
imposed discipline and considering the pressure of mounting
cases on SC, it has become the practice of SC to ordinarily
direct that the High Court first be approached even in cases of
violation of fundamental rights. But this was not a requirement
under Article 32 which in itself is a fundamental right.
―The Court further added that in this particular case the
jurisdictional Magistrate had passed an order of remand on
Prashant till 22nd June, 2019. This meant that Prashant was to
remain in jail for about 13/14 days for putting up posts/tweets
on social media. The Court asked if anyone has come across a
11 days remand? The Court further asked if it was a social
media violation or murder charges?
On May 10th the Collegium of the Supreme Court of India
recommended the name of Justice A A Kureshi for the post of
Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh High Court.
―Justice Kureshi is the senior most judge in the parent High
Court of Gujarat. ―The incumbent Chief Justice of Madhya Pradesh Justice
Sanjay Kumar Seth at that time was due for retirement on June
9th.
―On 7th June 2019 the Central Government notified that under
“the powers conferred by Article 223 of the Constitution of
India, the President is pleased to appoint Justice Ravi Shanker
Jha, seniormost judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, to
perform the duties of the office of Chief Justice of that High
Court with effect from 10 June, 2019 consequent upon the
retirement of Justice Sanjay Kumar Seth, Chief Justice,
Madhya Pradesh High Court”.
―The transfer of Justice Kureshi to the Bombay High Court
in November 2018 had also created a stir in the Gujarat High
Court, and many of its members observed a strike protesting
against the transfer.
On 10th June the Supreme Court refused to entertain a
petition for modifying its June 4 order dealing with the post-
graduate medical admissions in Maharashtra.
―The medical admission process in Maharashtra has been
substantially delayed this year due to the Government’s
decision to implement new reservation system for PG medical
colleges.
―The two separate reservation systems involve 10 per cent
reservation for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) and 16
per cent reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward
Caste (SEBC).
―In its June 4 order the SC scrapped the EWS reservation for
this year admissions saying that the reservation could not be
applied retrospectively.
STATES
The Karnataka
Poultry Farmers
and Breeders
Association (KPFBA) has urged
the Government of
India to take back
the recently notified ‘Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (egg-
laying hens) Rules 2019′. ―The newly notified rules will be applicable from 2020. The
poultry farm owners have been granted a period of five years
to switch over to the new system.
―The new rules specify that the cages for poultry should not be
less than 55 square centimetre per bird and a cage should not
contain more than 6-8 birds.
―The new rules restrict the use of antibiotics to therapeutic
needs. The rules further state that all use of antibiotics should
be under the supervision of a veterinarian.
―The new rules also call for regular inspections of poultry
farms by personnel strictly adhering to bio-security protocols.
―The association says that adoption of the notification will
negatively impact the whole industry and will lead to
abandoning of poultry farming by the farmers.
The Chhattisgarh government has halted all work at the
Adani mines in Bailadila and is reviewing various permissions
already given for the project. This step has been taken by the
government after the adivasi’s protest in Dantewada region.
―The adivasis from Dantewada, Sukma and Bijapur
districts of Chhattisgarh gathered together under the banner of
the Sanyukt Panchayat Jan Sangharsh Samiti for protesting
against the mines.
Puducherry Government has informed that it is ready for
tackling Nipah virus if the need arises.
―The government started preparations for tackling the issue
after an individual from Tamil Nadu was admitted with Nipah
virus symptoms.
―The 50 years old patient in question had recently visited
Guruvayoor in Kerala where the cases of Nipah virus were
reported.
―The government has also sent the fluids collected from the
patient to the Virology Research Institute, Pune for testing.
―The Puducherry Government has set up isolation wards in a
specific hospital for restricting the spreading of disease.
―Different hospitals in the region have been directed to report
the cases with Acute Encephalitis syndrome to the government
for further actions.
―Steps have been taken so that the sick travellers from certain
high-risk areas can be identified.
―Help is being taken from volunteers for keeping check of bus
terminals and railway stations.
The Special Court in Pathankot, Punjab have announced
verdict in the Kathua Rape-Murder case.
―Sanji Ram (caretaker of the temple where the rape and
murder were committed) was sentenced to life imprisonment.
―Special Police Officer Deepak Khajuria was sentenced to
life imprisonment,
―Parvesh Kumar, a civilian was also sentenced to life
imprisonment.
―The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on these
three individuals.
―In addition, Sub Inspector Anand Dutta, Head Constable
Tilak Raj and special police officer Surender Verma were
sentenced to five years in imprisonment.
―These three accomplices aided the main accused by
destroying evidence.
―The Court acquitted the seventh accused, Vishal.
―In this specific case an eight years old girl was kidnapped
on 10th January, 2018.
―She was allegedly kept in a sedated condition in a village
temple in Kathua district for a period of four days.
―She was raped and then bludgeoned to death.
―This rape case led to an outrage across India. Some groups
also came in support of the accused.
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Adani Group has
received final regulatory
clearance for starting work
on the Carmichael coal
mine project in Australia. ―The relevant authority has
approved Adani group’s
groundwater management
plan.
―The Adani Group had
been struggling to get clearance for its billion dollars mega coal
project for some time.
―The Adani Group was helped by the fact that in recent
Australian elections pro-coal coalition has come into power.
―Adani Group will start construction at the site in a few days.
―Adani Carmichael mine will be the largest coal mine in
Australia and one of the biggest coal mines in the world.
―Adani Group has received clearance for extracting up to 60
million tonnes of coal annually and 2.3 billion tonnes over the
life of the mine.
Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive Co. have
been asked to pay $10 million in damages to a woman suing
them.
―The woman claims that she contacted a rare form of cancer
due to her usage of the company’s talc based products.
―This is the 11th case that J&J has lost over the cancer claims
linked to its talc based powder. The company was sued for the
first time on the issue in 2016.
―The jury in the current case has ruled that the use of J&J’s
body powder caused the applicant to develop mesothelioma, a
cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
―While awarding the claim, punitive damages were denied
because the jury did not find evidence of malice and fraud on
the part of the companies.
The Goods and Services
Tax Council is going to get the
capability of real-time
capturing of relevant
transactions of large B2B
businesses. ―The implementation will be
done in phases. The first phase will involve relatively large
companies involved in the B2B businesses.
―The move is expected to reduce cases of tax evasions by
making inflating of input tax credits almost impossible.
―The Central Government is concerned about the lower GST
collections.
―The actual GST collection in 2018-19 was approximately Rs
60,000 crore less than the revised estimates which were in turn
Rs 1 lakh crore lower than the original budgeted estimates.
―The GST collection in April-May 2019 was Rs 1.06 lakh
crore against the target of Rs 1.14 lakh crore.
―The invoice matching system is an important anti-evasion
tool but it allows for fraud detections only at the end of the
monthly payment cycle. This leaves room for habitual
evaders and fly-by-night operators to escape.
―The e-invoicing system allows real time reporting that helps
in dealing with habitual evaders and fly-by-night operators.
―e-invoicing system is also expected to eventually replace the
e-way bill generation system that is being currently used.
―e-invoicing system is used by many countries using GST.
―Indian government is planning to introduce the e-invoicing
system used by South Korea.
―Two committees have been formed to help with the adoption
of this system.
―The first committee will deal with the policy and legal
aspects of the e-invoicing system.
―The second committee will deal with the technical aspects
of the e-invoicing system.
―Nationwide invoice matching system is expected to take
more time.
Different state governments are asking for GST rate cuts
for various products (including two wheelers and cement)
falling the 28% tax category.
―The proponents of the rate cut are arguing that neither two-
wheelers nor cement can be regarded as the luxury item in any
sense.
―They are further saying that the rate cut in these essential
items will encourage consumption and boost economic growth.
―The Centre Government agrees to the demand but is
concerned about the revenue implications of the move.
―The rate cut to 18% on two-wheelers and cement alone will
reduce annual GST collection by Rs 8,400 crore and 12,000
crore respectively.
―The GST rate cuts do not have significant effect on state
revenues. The GST Act assures 14% year on year growth in
revenues for the first five years.
―The Centre Government on the other hand has to bear the
impact of lower GST collection.
―The current GST collections are not matching the
government targets. Last year collections were significantly
lower than the originally budgeted estimates.
―The GST rationalisation since November 2017 has already
caused an estimated loss of Rs 80,000 crore annually.
Indian Government is
considering phasing out of the
Merchandise Exports from
India Scheme (MEIS) over
the period of two to three
years. MEIS scheme currently
costs Indian tax payers around
Rs 30,810 crore annually.
―MEIS scheme was started in 2015 by merging five existing
schemes.
―The existing system will be replaced with a WTO compliant
export subsidy scheme with provisions for offsetting of both
state and central input taxes. ―Centre Government has already implemented a similar
scheme for garments export. The scheme will be expanded to
include the other key sectors as well.
―The export subsidy program is being challenged by multiple
countries (including USA) at the World Trade Organisation
(WTO)
Gautam Adani, Chairman Adani Group
―USA is claiming that India uses illegal export subsidies
through which Indian companies are benefitting to the tune of
USD 7 billion annually.
―The special and differential provisions in the WTO’s
Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures uses
the per capita gross national income (GNI) as the yardstick for
allowing export subsidies.
―The yardstick states that the country who attains the per capita
GNI of USD 1,000 or more (based on the 1990 exchange rate)
for three consecutive years will have to withdraw export
subsidies.
―India crossed the limit of USD 1000 from 2013 to 2015.
―Some of the other countries were provided an eight years
window for removing the export subsidies. India is arguing for
the same.
United Nation has released United
Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) World
Investment Report 2019. According
to the report: ―The FDI inflows into South Asia
touched USD 54 billion in 2018. This
is an increase of 3.5 percent over 2017.
―India accounted for 77% of the total FDI inflow into South
Asia in 2018.
―During 2018, total foreign direct investments (FDI) into India
touched USD 42 billion. This is a 6 percent increase over 2017.
―Manufacturing, communication and financial services
received a lion’s share of FDI inflows into India.
―The FDI inflows into South Asia is more or less determined
by the performance of India economy,
―The cross-border mergers and acquisitions in India touched
USD 33 billion in 2018. This figure was USD 23 billion in 2017.
―The major cross border mergers and acquisition during 2018
included the purchase of Flipkart by Walmart and the deal
between Vodafone UK and American Tower (US).
―The FDI inflows into Bangladesh and Sri Lanka touched
USD 3.6 and USD 1.6 billion respectively. These are the highest
FDIs inflows into the countries.
―The FDI inflows into Pakistan declined to USD 2.4 billion.
This is a 27 percent decline over the 2017 figures.
―The total FDI into Asia rose by 3.9 percent to touch USD 512
billion in 2018.
―There are more than 5,400 Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
situated across the globe.
―4,000 of the 5,400 SEZs are located in Asia. China alone has
2,543 SEZs followed by Philippines (528), India (373) Turkey
(102), Thailand (74) Korea (47) and Malaysia (45).
―The number of SEZs in South Asia are expected to see
substantial growth in the coming years.
―The number of upcoming SEZs include 60 in Bangladesh, 39
in Pakistan and 12 in Nepal.
―India, Korea, Philippines and Turkey are projecting
themselves as information and technology zones.
―West Asia and South East Asia is focusing on
manufacturing.
DEFENCE & SECURITY
Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO)
has achieved a new milestone towards
creating hypersonic cruise missile
systems. ―DRDO successfully tested an
indigenously developed Hypersonic
Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) at supersonic
flight speeds on 12th June, 2019.
―The HSTDV demonstrated the use of scramjet technology
for achieving hypersonic speeds for approximate period of 20
seconds.
―The test was conducted at Dr. Abdul kalam Island in the Bay
of Bengal.
Indian Government has decided to fast-track integration
of Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles with Sukhoi fighters.
―40 Sukhoi fighter jets have been shortlisted for the closely
guarded project.
―The Sukhoi Brahmos integration project was announced in
2016 and actual work started towards the end of 2017, but the
process is extremally slow.
―The decision of fast tracking the integration was taken after
the Balakot air strikes.
―Deadline of December, 2020 has been set for completing the
project.
―The air version of Brahmos has a top speed of Mach 2.8 and
effective range of 290 km which can be extended to 400 km.
―At 2.5 ton, Brahmos is the heaviest missile to be deployed on
Sukhoi 30 fighters.
―The implementation of the project is being done by the
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and the BrahMos Aerospace
Pvt Ltd (BAPL).
―BAPL is an Indo-Russia joint venture.
―HAL is a public sector unit.
USA has stopped training Turkish pilots of F-35 fighter jets.
―This step has been taken on account of Turkey’s purchase of
Russian S-400 defence system.
―United States says that S-400 air defence system are a threat
for Lockheed Martin Corp’s F-35 stealthy fighters.
―Turkey had entered into an agreement for purchasing F-35
fighters from USA. USA is saying that Turkey can have either
F-35s or S-400 air defence system but not both.
―The removal of Turkey from the F-35 program will be the
one of the most significant negative events in the recent
America Turkey relationship.
POLICY AND GOVERNMENT
INITIATIVES
The Government of India has taken a decision to restrict the
term of Private Secretary (PS) and Officer on Special Duty
(OSD) with a specific Union minister to five years.
―The Prime Minister Office has been turning down requests
for approvals to continue with their PS and OSD from the
previous Government.
―The approvals are only being granted for allowing the PS
and OSD to serve for the balance period of five years from the
date on which they took charge.
―The Government is also considering to restrict the officer’s
total tenure as personal staff of Union Ministers to 10 years.
This 10 year will even include informal appointments.
―The personal staff of the Prime Minister are exempt from
this requirement.
The Government has announced that it will geo-tag all the
waqf board properties in India.
―In addition, all the information related to these properties
will be digitalised and the government will provide 100 percent
funding for developing educational institutions and hospitals
on such properties for the welfare of society.
―The funding will be provided under the Pradhanmantri Jan
Vikas Karykram (PMJVK) scheme.
―The Centre government will take this up on war footing. The
idea is to leverage these properties for substantially boosting
the education of the students (especially girls) belonging to the
deprived sections of the society.
SPORTS
International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
has extended the ban against Rusaf (Russia’s athletics
federation).
―IAAF also announced its
decision to look into the
Reuters findings that two
Russian athletics coaches
and one doctor banned for
doping were still involved in training and advising the athletes
in Russia.
―IAAF further clarified that reinstatement of Rusaf cannot be
done when there is an ongoing investigation into whether
Russian athletics federation officials allegedly attempted to
help cover up an anti-doping violation by an athlete or not.
―The Russian athletic federation was originally suspended in
November 2015.
―The suspension was done based on the report commissioned
by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that found
evidence of widespread doping in sports in Russia.
―Russia has denied the presence of a state-sponsored doping
program in Russia. But it has accepted that some of the senior
officers were involved in these doping attempts.
―According to the rules and guidelines of the World Anti-
Doping Agency (WADA), the athletes must not receive training,
strategy, nutritional or medical advice from banned coaches or
medical staff.
―Breaking of the above rule can lead to serious sanctions.
FRENCH OPEN 2019
Winner List Men's Singles― Rafael Nadal
Women's Singles―Ashleigh Barty
Men's Doubles―Kevin Krawietz/Andreas Mies
Women's Doubles―Tímea Babos/Kristina Mladenovic
Mixed Doubles―Latisha Chan/Ivan Dodig
Boys' Singles―Holger Vitus Nødskov Rune
Girls' Singles― Leylah Annie Fernandez
Boys' Doubles―Matheus Pucinelli de Almeida/Thiago Agustín
Tirante
Girls' Doubles―Chloe Beck/Emma Navarro
Legends Under 45 Doubles―Sébastien Grosjean/Michaël Llodra
Women's Legends Doubles―Nathalie Dechy/Amélie Mauresmo
Legends Over 45 Doubles―Sergi Bruguera/Goran Ivanišević
Wheelchair Men's Singles―Gustavo Fernández
Wheelchair Women's Singles―Diede de Groot
Wheelchair Quad Singles―Dylan Alcott
Wheelchair Men's Doubles―Gustavo Fernández/Shingo Kunieda
Wheelchair Women's Doubles―Diede de Groot/Aniek van Koot
Wheelchair Quad Doubles―Dylan Alcott/David Wagner
Spanish Rafel Nadal
defeated Dominic Thiem by
6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1 to win French
Open 2019 Championship. ―This was the 12th French
Open title won by Rafael.
French Open 2019
Women’s double title was
won by Hungary’s Timea
Babos and France’s Kristina
Mladenovic by defeating China’s Duan Yingying and Zheng
Saisai 6-2 6-3 in the final.
―This was the second Grand Slam title won by the duo
together. In 2018, they had won the Australian Open title.
Yuvraj Singh has ended his international cricket career by
announcing his retirement. ―Yuvraj started his 18
years career in 2000
against Kenya in Nairobi.
―In international cricket,
Yuvraj has made total of
11,778 runs. 8,701 of these
were made in 304 One Day
International matches. 1,900 of these were made in 40 test
matches and 1,177 in 58 T20s.
―Yuvraj has also taken 111 wickets in ODIs.
Yuvraj’s Career statistics Test debut India v New Zealand at Mohali, Oct 16-20, 2003
Last Test India v England at Kolkata, Dec 5-9, 2012
ODI debut Kenya v India at Nairobi, Oct 3, 2000
Last ODI West Indies v India at North Sound, Jun 30,
2017
T20I debut India v Scotland at Durban, Sep 13, 2007
Last T20I India v England at Bengaluru, Feb 1, 2017
First-class debut 1996/97
Last First-class Bengal v Punjab at Kolkata, Jan 7-10, 2019
List A debut 1999/00
Last List A Karnataka v Punjab at Bengaluru, Oct 8, 2018
T20s debut Yorkshire v Derbyshire at Leeds, Jun 14, 2003
Last T20s Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings at
Mumbai, Apr 3, 2019
Batting and fielding averages
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 Ct
Tests 40 62 6 1900 169 33.92 3 11 31
ODIs 304 278 40 8701 150 36.55 14 52 94
T20Is 58 51 9 1177 77* 28.02 0 8 12
First-class 139 221 18 8965 260 44.16 26 36 118
List A 423 389 55 1266
3
172 37.91 19 78 132
T20s 231 216 27 4857 83 25.69 0 27 53
Bowling averages
Mat Inns Wkts Best Bowling
in an Inning
Best Bowling
in a Match Ave
Tests 40 35 9 2/9 2/20 60.77
ODIs 304 161 111 5/31 5/31 38.68
T20Is 58 31 28 3/17 3/17 17.82
First-class 139 ― 41 5/94 48.24
List A 423 __― 166 5/31 5/31 36.20
T20s 231 130 80 4/29 4/29 24.86
INTERNATIONAL
Pakistan’s assessment by the Joint Group of Asia Pacific
Group (APG) has found its compliance on 18 of 27 action
plans unsatisfactory.
―The assessment was being done for the action plan against
eight proscribed terror outfits (including Lashkar-e-Tayyaba
and Jaish-e-Muhammad), after it was grey-listed by the
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for terror financing.
―APG is asking for stringent actionable steps against Da’esh,
Al Qaeda, Jamaat-ud Dawa, Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation,
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Haqqani Network,
and persons affiliated with the Taliban.
Yuvraj Singh
Rafael Nadal
―APG is also asking for more concrete outcomes from the law
enforcement agencies in their fight against money laundering
and terror-financing.
―The FATE Action plan will conclude in September 2019.
―Pakistan can be either downgraded to the blacklist or it can
be removed from the grey funding list.
―Blacklisting and grey listing by FATE can have serious
economic consequences for Pakistan.
―Pakistan has been talking with IMF for a USD 6 billion
bailout package for dealing with the low foreign exchange
reserves.
―IMF has made FATE clearance mandatory for Pakistan’s
loan package.
―Pakistan was placed on the FATE’s grey list for terror
financing in June 2018.
―FATE is a global organisation which deals with anti-money
laundering and restricting terror financing initiatives.
United Kingdom has announced its intention to become the
first major economy of the world to reach zero carbon
emissions by 2050.
―United Kingdom in past has already set a 2050 target for
reducing emissions by 80 percent under the Climate Change
Act 2008. The present announcement sets a much stricter goal
for the nation.
―The new law being enacted will make UK the first G7 nation
with legally binding plans for net zero emissions.
―The new zero emission plan will require elimination of
emissions from all the sections of society i.e. residential,
transportation, agriculture and industrial or the offsetting of the
emissions by creating carbon sinks.
―The UK government report on the law says that there was a
50-50 chance of staying below the recommended 1.5 C
temperature rise by 2100 if other countries also followed the
example set by UK.
―A 1.5 degree Celsius rise is considered the threshold
temperature. Most of the scientists think that rise beyond this
number will be irrevocably disastrous for our planet.
―The estimated cost of the goal is 1 trillion pounds.
―It is not clear if the financial cost of achieving zero emission
will be paid by the tax payers, bill payers, fossil fuel firms or a
mixture of all of them.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
India’s moon mission
Chandrayaan 2 is
expected to take off on
July 15 at 2.51 AM. ―Chandrayaan-2 is set to
explore the southern
part of the Moon and
involve use of 13
scientific satellites.
―On successful
completion India will
become the first country
in the world to
successfully explore
southern part of the
moon.
―Chandrayaan-2 will
involve three modules;
the orbiter, the Lander
(Vikram) and Rover
(Pragyan).
―The project will use GSLV MK III as the launch vehicle.
―Chandrayaan-2 is an advanced version of the previous
Chandrayaan-1 mission, which was launched about 10 years
ago.
This is the most complex project in the history of ISRO
(Indian Space and Research Organisation).
BASIC GK ASPECTS
BOOKS & AUTHORS In Beyond the Boulevard―by Aditi Sriram
The Farm―by Joanne Ramos
The Hungryalists: The Poets Who Sparked a
Revolution―by Maitreyee Bhattacharjee Chowdhury
AWARDS AND HONOURS Amitav Ghosh has been honoured
with the 2018’s Jnanpith Award for
his outstanding contribution towards
literature.
―Amitav will receive the award on
June 12 at a function in Delhi. ―Amitav was born in Kolkata, West
Bengal. He spent early part of his life
in three countries of India,
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
―Amitav had studied in Delhi,
Oxford and Alexandria.
―Amitav was earlier honoured with the Sahitya Akademi
Award for his novel The Shadow Lines (1988).
The Maldivian government
has announced its decision to
honour Prime Minister Narendra
Modi with the Order of the
Distinguished Rule of Nishan
Izzuddeen.
―This is the highest Maldivian
honour that can be conferred on
foreign dignitaries. The
prestigious award was presented
to Modi by President Ibrahim
Mohamed Solih during a
ceremony.
APPOINTMENTS Vigilance Commissioner Sharad Kumar has been
appointed as the interim
Chief Vigilance
Commissioner (CVC)
―Sharad will occupy the
position until the new CVC
is selected by a selection
profile headed by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
―Both Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) K V
Chowdary and Vigilance Commissioner T M Bhasin have
completed their tenure at the vigilance commission.
―Shard is a former Director of National Investigation
Agency. Sharad was given charge as Vigilance Commissioner
on 12th June 2018. Sharad will remain in the Central Vigilance
Commission until October 2020; he is due to retire then.
―The Personnel Ministry has started shortlisting candidates
for the position of CVC and Vigilance Commissioner.
―The Central Vigilance Commission is made up of a Central
Vigilance Commissioner and two Vigilance Commissioners.
GSLV-Mk III / Chandrayan-2 Mission
Amitav Ghosh
Maldives confers its highest honour on Indian PM
Narendra Modi
Sharad Kumar - Interim CVC
―CVC and Vigilance Commissioners are selected by a High
Level Committee comprising of the PM, the Home Minister
and the Leader of Opposition or a leader of the single largest
opposition party in Lok Sabha.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Senior Dravida Munnetra
Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former
Chief Minister of Puducherry R V
Janakiraman died on 10th June, 2018
at the age of 79. Janakiraman will be
honoured with a state funeral. His
last rites will be held in Alathur
Tamil Nadu. ―Janakiraman represented the
Nellithope segment for five
consecutive terms from 1985.
Janakiraman was Chief Minister of
Puducherry between 1996 and 2000. Janakiraman had served
in different capacities including that of Leader of the
opposition, whip of the DMK, PWD Minister etc.
Gabriele Grunewald passed
away on 19th June, 2019 at the age of
32. Gabriele was suffering from a
rare metastatic cancer.
She was born on June 25, 1986, in
Perham, Minnesota. ―Gabriel participated in the
Olympic trials in 2012. She was
unable to qualify as she finished
fourth. In 2013 Gabriele achieved
the distinction of being the 11th
fastest 1,500 meters runner in the
American history with timings of 4
minutes, 1.48 seconds. Gabriel won the U.S. indoor national
championship 2014 in the 3,000 meters category.
MUST-KNOW
UIDAI: Unique Identification Authority of India
SBI: State Bank of India
ICJ: International Commission of Jurists
LGBT: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
The World’s first Food Safety Day was celebrated on 7th
June, 2019.
―The decision to adopt World Safety Day was taken in the
United Nations General Assembly in December 2018.
―The celebration of the day is done in collaboration with the
Food and Agriculture Organization.
―The theme for the 2019 was ‘Food safety, everyone’s
business’.
―The day has been adopted by the United Nations for raising
awareness regarding the importance of maintaining safe food
standards and for reducing the burden of deaths due to
foodborne diseases.
―The usage of bad quality or unsafe food predominantly
affects women and children.
World Brain Tumour Day is observed on the June 8 every
year.
―The objective of the World Tumour Day is to create
awareness and educate individuals regarding brain tumours.
―Brain tumours are fatal and most of the individuals
diagnosed with them die within 9 to 12 months of diagnosis.
―Around 40,000 to 50,000 individuals are diagnosed with
brain tumours annually. Around 20 percent of these
individuals are children.
RV Janakiraman
Gabriele Grunewald
. NEWS BULLETIN―24 Week-4, June 2019
NATIONAL
⚫ BJP nominee Om Birla was
unanimously elected as the Speaker of
Lok Sabha on 19th June, 2019. The
motion for electing Birla was moved
by the Prime Minister himself and
seconded by Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh. Pro-tem Speaker
Virendra Kumar allowed eleven
notices for moving motions for
election of Birla.
⚫ India’s Prasar Bharti has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with Bangladesh TV (BTV).
―The agreement will allow telecasting of DD India in
Bangladesh and telecasting of BTV World on the DD Free Dish
(Government owned DTH free-to-air platform).
―Prasar Bharti has also decided to co-produce a feature film on
the life of the founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman directed by Shyam Benegal.
―In addition, Prasar Bharti will also produce a documentary on
Bangladesh Liberation War.
⚫ India’s Parsar Bharti has signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with South Korea that will allow telecasting of
DD India in South Korea and telecasting of South Korea’s KBC
World in India.
⚫ The National
Human Rights
Commission (NHRC)
has issued notice to the
Centre Government
regarding the
deplorable health
infrastructure in India. ―The notice has expressed serious concern over the recent loss
of lives in different parts of the country due to inadequate health
infrastructure.
―NHRC has also decided to send fact finding teams to the
hospitals in the vulnerable states.
―NHRC fact finding teams will include both doctors and
officers. These teams will investigate Bihar, Uttar Pradesh,
Punjab and Haryana in the first phase.
―NHRC has also taken suo motu cognizance of media reports
on the rising number of deaths of children due to Acute
Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar.
―Based on this, NHRC has sent notices to the Union Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare, and the Chief Secretary of Bihar,
asking for detailed report on the incident.
NHRC has also asked for the status of implementation of the
National Programme for Prevention and Control of Japanese
Encephalitis Virus/Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (NPPCJA).
The death toll due to AES has touched 114 in Muzaffarpur
district alone.
⚫ On June 20, 2019 the Indian Air Force recovered six bodies
and seven mortal remains from the crash site of AN 32. Indian
Air Force’s An-32 aircraft crashed over Arunachal Pradesh on
3rd June, 2019.
―The Russian Origin aircraft took off from Jorhat is Assam but
it never reached its destination Mechukla, Arunachal Pradesh.
―The wreckage of the aircraft was spotted by an IAF chopper
near Gatte village on the border of Siang and Shi-Yomi districts
of Arunachal Pradesh. The black box of the aircraft was
recovered from the crash site almost a week ago.
―Indian Air Force has ordered a court of inquiry into the
accident that is being termed as the worst air force aircraft
accidents in recent times.
―The deceased include Wing Commander GM Charles,
Squadron Leader H Vinod, Flight Lieutenant MK Garg, Flight
Lieutenant S Mohanty, Flight Lieutenant A Tanwar, Flight
Lieutenant R Thapa, Warrant Officer KK Mishra, Sergeant
Anoop Kumar, Corporal Sherin, Leading Aircraftman SK Singh
and Leading Aircraftman Pankaj.
―Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Civilian officers are
carrying out the rescue operations.
⚫ Jagat Prakash Nadda has been appointed as the working
president of the BJP.
―The appointment was made by the BJP Parliamentary Board.
―Prakash is a senior party leader and a former Union Minister
for Health and Family Affairs.
―Prakash enjoys good relationships with Amit Shah, PM Modi
and the RSS.
―Parkash has also worked as the secretary of the BJP
Parliamentary Board.
―Parkash has been part of the ABVP from his student’s days in
Patna.
―Prakash was the national general secretary of the ABVP from
1985 to 1989.
―Prakash was the national president of the Bharatiya Janta
Yuva Manch from 1991 to 1993.
―Prakash is a low profile leader who is known for his silent
style of working.
―Prakash contributed significantly in BJP’s 2014 General
Election victory.
―This is the first time that a BJP working president will lead
the party during both internal elections and assembly polls (three
state).
―The office of BJP’s national president will remain with Amit
Shah.
⚫ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been elected as the Leader of
Congress in Lok Sabha.
―Ranjan was selected at the meeting of Congress Parliamentary
Core Committee.
―Chowdhury has been the Chief of Congress in the West
Bengal and in past he has also occupied the office of the Union
Minister of State for Railways from 2012 to 2014.
―Chowdhury has been representing Berhampore constituency
since 1999.
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such violation would entail initiation of suitable legal proceedings.
Om Birla- 17th Speaker of the Lok Sabha
―Congress with 51 Lok Sabha MPS has failed to secure the
post of the Leader of the Opposition.
⚫ The Southern Railways, has issued an order stating that all
official communication between the Divisional Control Office
and the Station Masters should be either in Hindi or English
―The order also states that the use of regional languages should
be avoided. Railways is saying that this order was issued to
discourage misunderstandings.
LAW
⚫ IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt and police officer Pravinsinh Zala
have been found guilty of murder in the 1990 custodial death
case by the Jamnagar District and Session Courts.
―The Court has sentenced both of them to life imprisonment
under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
―The other accused in the case were found guilty of under
section 323 and 506 of IPC for custodial torture.
―In 1990 Sanjiv Bhatt was posted as the additional
Superintendent of Police in Jamnagar.
―L. K Advani’s Rath Yatra during his posting caused
communal riot and Sanjiv detained more than 150 individuals
in this connection.
―Prabhudas Vaishnani was one of the detained individuals.
He died at the hospital post release allegedly due to torture.
―The brother of the deceased made a custodial death
complaint against eight police officers.
―In April 2019, the Gujarat High Court ordered a speedy trial
in the case and ordered daily hearings.
⚫ Special Court has rejected plea of the BJP MLA Pragya
Singh Thakur seeking exemption from appearance in the
Malegaon 2008 blast case.
―Pragya had been asking for the exemption based on multiple
grounds including distance between her base Bhopal and
Mumbai where the Court is, difficulty in travelling due to
different ailments, restriction on physical movements, public
inconvenience due to the security arrangements for her travel,
the problems with strict schedule of self-imposed sadhna etc.
―The Court has clarified that the blanket exemption cannot be
granted to Pragya.
―In its May order the Special Court asked each of the accused
to present itself before the court at least once a week.
⚫ Jammu and Kashmir Government has made two requests to
the Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal looking into the
three-day hearing related to the ban on the Jammat-e-Islami:
First is an in-camera proceedings and the second is redaction of
witnesses.
―Both of the requests were requested by the Unlawful
Activities Prevention Tribunal.
―The Unlawful Activities Prevention Tribunal has also issued
a notification saying that anyone from the public can come and
depose before the Tribunal.
―Delhi High Court judge Justice Chander Shekhar is
presiding over the Tribunal.
―Jammat-e-Islami was declared unlawful by the Ministry of
Home Affairs under section 3 of the Unlawful Activities
Prevention Act (UAPA).
―The ban was imposed for its close relationships with the
militant outfits and for being involved in anti-national and
subversive activities.
⚫ Supreme Court has agreed to hear the writ petition related to
the death of children in Muzzafarpur district of Bihar due to
outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).
―The PIL filed by advocate Manohar Pratap seeks
constitution of a team of medical experts for treating the children
affected by AES in Bihar.
―The plea also asks the Centre to provide all the necessary
equipment required for the effective treatment of children.
―The plea also states that the deaths of children (from AES) are
a direct result of negligence and inaction on the part of the
respective state governments of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Union
of India in handling the epidemic situation which arises every
year due to the outbreak of AES.
―The petitioners have requested a compensation of Rs 10 lakh
to families of victims who lost their lives due to “negligence of
the state machinery”.
―The Bihar Government on the other hand had declared that
the medical facilities were adequate for dealing with the
situation. AES is a group of diseases that attack young children.
These diseases can be caused by viruses, bacteria or fungi.
STATES
⚫ Black tiger
shrimps are making a
comeback in the
Kerala’s aquaculture
farms after a gap of
more than a decade.
Black tiger shrimps
are endemic to southeast Asia. ―The Marine Products Export Development Authority
(MPEDA), that functions under the Union Ministry of
Commerce and Industry, has started a project for providing
special black tiger shrimp seeds to farmers.
―The seeds produced at the new nine-acre multispecies
aquaculture complex (MAC) at Vallarpadam near Kochi are of
disease-free variety.
―The initial feedback from the farmers is positive.
―MAC complex started working in December, 2018. MAC
complex was developed by MPEDA at the cost of Rs 7.26 crore.
―The hatchery at the MAC complex has the capacity to produce
20 million black tiger shrimps annually. The complex also
contains nurseries for four different fish types of fin-fish.
⚫ The deaths due to the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)
have reached 114 in Muzaffarpur, Uttar Pradesh.
―The Government has ordered a socio-economic survey of
more than 450 parents whose children are affected by or are dead
due to AES.
―The last massive outbreak of AES took place in 2014 that left
more than 355 dead in the region. Between 2011 and 2014 the
region reported total of 970 AES related deaths.
―NHRC has sent notice to the central and state governments
over the increasing number of AES related deaths in the region.
―The recent spurt in the cases of AES in the region are due to
extreme summer heat, lack of proper nutrition, lack of proper
awareness campaigns and lack of proper health care facilities.
―Experts fear that this regular outbreak of AES in the region
will continue unless something can be done for addressing the
reasons behind these outbreaks.
―The excessive heat in the region along with lack of rain have
contributed to the recent AES outbreak in Muzaffarpur.
⚫ Uttar Pradesh Government has taken a decision to issue
press releases and important speeches of Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath in Sanskrit in addition
to the current Hindi, English and
Urdu. ―The decision has been taken to
promote Sanskrit. UP
government is taking help from
the Lucknow-based Rashtriya
Sanskrit Sansthan in translating
chief minister’s speeches for public release.
Yogi Adityanath
⚫ The heatwave in Bihar has claimed more than 79 lives till
now. Gaya district administration has issued prohibitory orders
from 11 am to 4 pm.
―The order prohibits construction work, cultural events, public
gathering, MNREGA work etc. during the period. Similar orders
have been issues in Nalanda district of Bihar.
―The administration, while issuing the order, has stated that the
heatwave has already claimed multiple lives and that there is an
apprehension that the same may create law and order problems.
―The health care centres in the affected areas are on high alert
and the volunteers have been engaged for distribution of ORS
packets.
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
⚫ The Centre Government has once again clarified that it will
not allow foreign companies to enter the multi-brand segment.
―The Government has also clarified that it will not allow
individuals or companies to engage in predatory pricing.
―This was announced by the Commerce and Industry Minister
Piyush Goyal.
―The clarification has been made at the time when the
government is in the process of finalising the draft e-commerce
policy.
―The Government has also clarified that the actual policy will
only get released after the scrutinizing of every suggestion
received by the Department for Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade (DPIIT).
―India allows FDI in the multi brand retail sector as long as
their ownership is restricted to 51 percent.
⚫ India has offered a grant of USD 15 million to Niger for
helping in the organisation of the African Union Summit in July,
2019.
―The grant was provided against the specific request made by
Niger for the same. This is the first time that Niger is hosting the
AU summit. The Summit will be held in Niger’s capital Niamey.
―2019 African Union Summit will be a historical summit in the
sense that it will see the launch of African Continental Free trade
Area initiative ((AfCFTA) of African Union.
―India’s mission in Niamey was inaugurated in 2009. Since
then India has provided Niger with Lines of Credit (LOC) worth
approximately USD 97 million for different civilian projects.
―Niger occupies a strategic position as it allows formal and
informal exports of uranium. Indian aid to Africa follows the
Banjul formula. Banjul formula changed India’s status from the
aid receiver to the aid giver.
―Until now India has provided 180 Lines of Credit to 40
African countries. The total amount of these LOCs is USD 11
billion.
―India had held more than 25 high level bilateral meetings
between India and Africa in last five years alone.
―India will host the India-Africa Forum Summit 2019.
⚫ In the Financial Year 2019, United States has replaced
China as India’s top goods trade partner.
―Indo-American trade during FY 2019 was nearly USD 88
billion.
―India is the largest buyer of American Almonds and was
responsible for more than 50% of the total American almond
exports in 2018. India is the second largest buyer of American
Apples. India has recently raised tariffs on 28 items imported
from USA. This was done in retaliation of America’s
withdrawal of India’s preferential status.
―In Financial Year 2018 China was India’s largest trade
partner. In FY 19 India’s trade deficit with China reduced by
USD 10 billion to touch USD 53 billion.
―UAE, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany,
Republic of Korea and Indonesia are other important trading
partners of India.
―Government of India is planning to more than double the
number of petrol pumps in India.
―The three public sector oil marketing firms – Indian Oil Corp
(IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan
Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) – in November 2018 advertised for
the opening of 78,493 more petrol pumps in the country.
―There are total of 64,624 petrol pumps outlets operating in the
country currently.
These new petrol pumps will be in addition to the plans of
Reliance Industries and Nayara Energy of adding 2,000 petrol
pumps each in the next three years.
―Royal Dutch Shell Plc is also planning to add approximately
150 to 200 petrol pumps.
―CRISIL Research has in its recent report said that this plan is
not economically sensible as it will lead to cutting of each other
sales and making some of them unprofitable.
―CRISIL in its report states that India has at most a capacity
for 30,000 more petrol pumps if the current throughput levels
are to be maintained. ―CRISIL mentioned that even industrial nations like USA have
approximately 1.5 lakh petrol pumps. This was a decline from
approximately 2 lakh pumps in 1994. The reduction in fuel
demand and uneconomical status led to consolidation of petrol
pumps for achieving higher overall throughput.
―The government is also planning to substitute petrol/diesel
with compressed natural gas in the coming years. This
substitution will further restrict the growth in fuel demand. The
government is also pushing for electric vehicle adoptions.
―All of these developments will make it almost impossible for
all the additional petrol pumps to break even. Many of them will
be forced to close down due to economic pressure or they might
resort to unethical behaviour for remaining competitive.
⚫ The Banking lenders of the Jet Airways led by SBI have
decided to take the airlines to the National Company Law
Tribunal for initiating proceedings under the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy code.
―The group of 26 lenders have gone to the tribunal for speedy
recovery of the dues of over Rs 8,500 crore. The shares of Jet
Airways fell more than 29 percent post announcement due to
heavy shelling. The shares of Jet Airways have fallen by nearly
81 percent. Jet Airways was started by Naresh Goyal
approximately 25 years ago. Jet Airways stopped its operation
on April 17 this year.
―Both BSE and NSE has stopped options and future trading in
the script.
DEFENCE & SECURITY
⚫ India and Myanmar
armies have conducted a
coordinated military
operation – Operation
Sunshine 2 – against
Northeast based militant
camps inside the Myanmar
territories.
―This was a follow up of the
Operation Sunshine 1 that
was conducted between February 22 and 26 for dealing with the
Arakanese rebel camps inside India. ―The Myanmar army destroyed the camps in its territory and
Indian army caught the militants fleeing into India.
―Approximately 75 militants apprehended by the army have
been handed over to the local police forces for further actions.
―The coordinated actions took place between May and June 8
and are expected to act as serious deterrent for the future
insurgencies.
―Battalions of Indian Army, Special Forces, Assam Riffles and
Ghatakes participated in the operation from Indian side.
―Four brigades of Myanmar Army participated from Myanmar
side.
⚫ United States have announced its intension of helping
India’s defence forces with the latest technology and equipment.
―United States also clarified that India’s purchase of Russian
S-400 missile defence system will limit the scope of these helps.
―This statement has been released after a similar warning was
issued from the State Department that India’s purchase of S-400
missile system will have significant effect on India-American
defence ties.
―S-400 is Russia’s most advanced long-range surface to air
missile defence system. In 2014, China became the first foreign
country to procure the S-400 system from Russia.
―India agreed to purchase the S-400 air defence system at the
cost of USD 5 billion in October, 2018. Currently, USA engages
in more defence exercises with India than it does with any other
country in the world.
―Historically, India has had a serious dependence on Russia for
its defence needs. Indo-American defence ties have significantly
improved during the last decade. In the last ten years, India has
increased Indo-American defence trade from USD 0 to USD 18
billion.
―India and USA have taken a strategic step for improving their
defence ties by signing the COMCASA agreement. USA is not
providing any blanket waiver or country waiver to countries
purchasing S-400 system.
POLICY AND GOVERNMENT
INITIATIVES
⚫ The Centre Government has taken a strong stance against
corruption by dismissing 15 senior tax officers who are facing
probes in relation to corruption cases.
―This move comes a week after the June 11 decision of
dismissing 12 senior Indian Revenue Services officers due to
charges of corruption, extortion and professional misconduct
against them.
―The suspended officers include Ashok Agarwal (IRS 1985
batch), Joint Commissioner Income Tax, S K Srivastava (IRS
1989 batch), Commissioner (Appeal), Noida, Homi Rajvansh
(IRS 1985 batch), B B Rajendra Prasad, Ajoy Kumar Singh
(CIT) and B Arulappa (CIT).
―Transparency International’s global corruption index 2018
ranked India at 78 out of 180 countries,
⚫ Madhya Pradesh government is in talks with a foreign firm to
build 300 “smart gaushalas” (cow sheds) to house abandoned
cattle. The five years project will involve construction of 60
smart cow sheds per year.
―These smart cow sheds will be equipped with all modern
facilities including air conditioning.
―The Government is approaching NRIs for funding these
cowsheds.
―In addition to these 300, the government will also set up an
additional 1000 cow sheds on its own.
―Building of these cow sheds was one of the promises made by
the Congress government during the 2018 Assembly polls.
⚫ Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has
proposed banning of junk food advertisements in and around
school premises.
―FSSAI expects the move to promote healthy good eating
among school children. FSSAI has sent the draft proposal to the
Health Ministry for approval. The draft proposal will ban all
advertisements of unhealthy food in the 50 meters surrounding
of the school premises.
―In addition, the draft also defines healthy food based on
certain parameters. Delhi High Court had in past asked the
FSSAI to make regulations for promoting healthy food for
school children. This draft proposal is a step in this direction.
―The draft also proposes placing restrictions on the sale of
noodles, chips, carbonated drinks, confectionery etc. in and
around schools. The objective is to restrict or limit the
consumption and availability of junk food to the school children.
SPORTS
⚫ Virat Kohli has broken the previous
records set by Sachin Tendulkar to
become the fastest batsman in the
world to reach 11,000 runs in one day
international matches. ―Virat Kohli made 11,000 runs in
222 innings, this is followed by
Sachin Tendulkar who took 276
innings; Ricky Pointor who took 286
innings and Sourav Ganguly who
took 288 innings to reach 11,000 runs.
⚫ The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has lifted the
restrictions on India with regard to hosting of international sport
events.
―The restrictions have been lifter after the assurance from the
Indian Government that it will not deny visa to eligible athlete
on political grounds.
―The decision to suspend all discussions with India regarding
the hosting of global sports events was taken by IOC after
India’s refusal to provide visa to Pakistani shooters for the
Shooting World Cup in Delhi in February, 2019.
―The World Wrestling Body had shifted junior Asian
Wrestling championship venue from India due to this ban.
Operation Sunshine 2
Virat Kohli
―The hosting rights for junior Davis Cup and Fed Cup was also
undertaken due to the same reasons.
―Last year, India did not give visas to boxers from Kosovo for
the world women’s championships in Delhi. India does not have
diplomatic ties with Kosovo as of now.
⚫ Hashim Amla has become the second fastest player to make
8000 ODI runs. Amla made these runs in 176 innings.
―Amla is the fastest player in the world to make 2000, 3000,
4000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 ODI runs. Virat Kohli holds the
record for making the fastest 8,000 ODI runs in 175 innings.
INTERNATIONAL
⚫ London Court will hear Julian
Assange’s extradition to US hearing in
February 2020. ―Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is
wanted by the United States in cases of
conspiring with the former Army
intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning
to access classified information on
computers of the US Department of
Defence in 2010.
―Assange is serving a 50-week
sentence in London’s Belmarsh Prison for skipping bail by
fleeing to the Ecuadorean embassy for avoiding extradition to
Sweden.
SUMMITS & ORGANIZATIONS
⚫ United Nations has
recently released a report
titled ‘The World
Population Prospects
2019’. According to the
report:
―India’s and China’s
estimated population in
2019 is 1.37 billion and
1.43 billion respectively. ―India will overtake
China to become the
world’s most populous
country by 2027.
―By 2050 India’s
population will increase
by 273 million.
―The global population will touch 9.7 billion by 2050. This will
be an approximate increase of 2 billion people over the current
estimated global population of 7.7 billion.
―By 2100 the global population is expected to touch 11 billion.
―Between 2010 and 2019, 27 countries have reported
population shrinkage of one percent or more.
―Between 2019 and 2050, 55 countries are expected to see
population shrinkage of one percent or more.
―China is the biggest country in the list of these 55 countries.
Its population is expected to shrink by 2.2 during the period.
―Low fertility level and high rate of emigration are two major
reasons for the negative population growth in these countries.
―Nine countries are expected to contribute jointly for more
than 50 percent of the population growth between 2019 and
2050, India is one of these countries.
―The top 5 most populous countries of the world in 2050 will
be India, China, Nigeria, United States and Pakistan with the
respective population of 1.6 billion, 1.4. billion, 401 million,
339 million and 339 million. These five countries are also the
five most populous countries of the world; but their order is
different.
―There will be a major change in the demographic structure of
the world by 2050. Currently one in 11 individuals on the planet
is aged 65 or above. This is set to increase to 1 in 6 by 2050.
―The report has been published by the Population Division of
the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.
⚫ Members of the World Trade Organisation have raised
serious questions regarding the agriculture plans of United
States and India in the quarterly WTO Agriculture Committee.
World Trade Organisation has strict rules regarding the amount
and the nature of agriculture subsidies. Member states monitor
these closely and immediately report compliance issues.
―Both India and America have made agriculture sector the
priority sector for the coming years. America is claiming that it
is trying to balance the damage due to trade war with China.
―India is trying to deal with the slowdown of its agriculture-
dominated economy.
―European Union has raised questions regarding the Rs 25
trillion agriculture and rural development plan which wants to
double the farmer’s income by 2022. EU is asking how this will
be done in the context of global prices and established measures
for preventing excess production.
―United States on the other hand is questioning 5% export
subsidy for non-Basmati rice and the purchase of wheat at
increased MSP in the context of record harvests which are
expected to lead to record stockpiles of wheat.
―Australia and US also raised questions regarding the new
“transport and marketing assistance” for agriculture, they want
this to be eliminated as they regard this as an export subsidy.
―Australia, Canada, China, EU, Ukraine, New Zealand and
India have raised questions on America’s USD 16 billion
“market facilitation package”.
BASIC GK ASPECTS
BOOKS & AUTHORS Strawberry Thief―by Joanne Harris
The Library Book―by Susan Orlean
Arabia: A Journey Through the Heart of the Middle
East―by Levison Wood
The Blessed Girl―by Angela Makholwa.
The Last House Guest- by Megan Miranda.
Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love- Edited by Elsie
Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond.
Roughhouse Friday: A Memoir- by Jaed Coffin
Empress of Forever – by Max Gladstone.
AWARDS AND HONOURS ⚫ Suman Rao from Rajasthan won the Femina Miss India World
2019 beauty pageant. Suman received her crown from the Miss
India 2018 Anukreethy Vas (Tamil Nadu).
Julian Assange
―Femina Miss Grand India 2019 title was won by Shivani
Jadav (Chhattisgarh). Femina Miss India United Continents
2019 title was won by Shreya Shanker (Bihar).
―Suman Rao will represent India in the Miss World 2019
competition in Thailand. Suman is a 20 years old college
student.
APPOINTMENTS ⚫ Lt General Faiz Hameed has been
appointed as the new director
general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI).
―ISI is Pakistan’s spy agency
which is controlled by military and
which has a significant say in
Pakistan’s national and foreign
policy. ―ISI is regarded as one of the
world’s most significant intelligence
agencies. The DG ISI is only
answerable to the Chief of Pakistani
Army. He is the defector number two in the Pakistani Army. Lt.
Gen Hameed will replace Lt. Gen Asim. Lt. Gen Asim’s 8-
months tenure was one of the shortest stints as the head of ISI.
―Hameed was leading the counter-intelligence wing of the ISI.
He is best known for brokering the deal that ended the siege on
Islamabad by protesters of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik, in November
2017. Pakistan is facing serious problems with the Financial
Action Task Force which is asking Pakistan to take steps against
terror groups and their financing.
―Pakistan is also facing problems in the northwest region with
Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement. The movement has been declared
as a terrorist and anti-national movement allegedly under the
influence of Indian intelligence agencies.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
⚫ Renowned Indian Origin author and educationist Ahmed
Essop died on 9th June, 2019 at the age of 88.
―Ahmed was born in India in 1931. He emigrated to South
Africa as a child. Ahmed published 13 works on the role on
Indian community in the South African society.
―In 1979 his work ‘The Hajji and Other Stories’ won the Olive
Schreiner Prize from the English Academy of Southern Africa.
This book was later turned into a motion picture. In 2018, Essop
received the Lifetime Achievement Literary Award at the annual
South Africa Literary Awards.
⚫ Gloria Vanderbilt died on 17th June, 2019 at the age of 95.
Gloria was the great-great granddaughter of the 19th-century
railroad and steamship magnate Commodore Cornelius
Vanderbilt. Gloria was trust fund child. In her infancy she was
owner of a $2.5 million trust fund, equivalent to $37 million.
Gloria was not allowed to touch her trust fund until she
reached 21.
⚫ Egypt’s former President Mohammed
Morsi died on June 17, 2019 at the age of
67. Morsi collapsed during a court session
on his trial related to espionage charges
against him. ―Morsi had complete support from now
outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim
Brotherhood is Egypt’s largest Islamic
group. Morsi was elected as the President in the Egypt’s first
free elections in 2012.
―Morsi was ousted as President in 2013 after massive protests
and military actions that cracked down on the Muslim
Brotherhood.
⚫ Yashovardhan Birla has been declared as wilful defaulter for
non-payment of the amount due to the Public Sector Bank UCO.
―UCO Bank has started the process of recovering the amount
from the defaulter.
―On getting declared as a wilful defaulter the individuals stop
getting additional credit facilities from the banks or financial
institutions.
MUST-KNOW
ISI: Inter-Services Intelligence
NHRC: National Human Rights Commission
MPEDA: Marine Products Export Development Authority
AES: Acute Encephalitis Syndrome
AfCFTA: African Continental Free Trade Area
IOC: International Olympic Committee
COMCASA Agreement: Communications Compatibility and
Security Agreement
DPIIT: Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade
BSE: Bombay Stock Exchange
NSE: National Stock Exchange
IOC: Indian Oil Corporation
BPCL: Bharat Petroleum Corporation
HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation
MAC: Multispecies Aquaculture Complex
LOC: Line of Credit
FSSAI: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
⚫ Father’s Day is celebrated every year in the third week of
June. Father’s Day was celebrated on June 16, 2019. Father’s
Day celebrates the role of father in the life o fa child. Europeans
countries celebrate Father’s Day on St Joseph’s Day to
recognise the special role of the male parent in a child’s life.
⚫ June 18 is celebrated as the International Sushi Day
across the globe.
Celebration of the International Sushi Day was started in 2009
to encourage people to love and eat Sushi.
World Sickle Cell Day is celebrated on June 19th every year
across the globe.
June 19 was adopted as the World Sickle Cell Day by the United
Nations General Assembly on 22nd December, 2008.
The World Sickle Cell Day is held to create awareness about the
world’s foremost genetic disease.
Sickle Cell disorders are group of disorders affecting the red
blood cells.
This is a genetic condition i.e. this condition is inherited from
parents.
Sickle Cell disorders are chronic, painful and they often lead to
mortality.
India has the second largest population of individuals suffering
from sickle cell disorder.
Sickle Cell disorder cases are predominantly found in Central
India and Jammu and Kashmir Valley.
Faiz Hameed
Mohammed Morsi