CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2019

Awards

The DD News cameraman who has been posthumously awarded the Narad Samman 2019 by the Indraprastha Vishwa Samvad Kendra – Achyutananda Sahu

Defence

The 100th warship of Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE), Kolkata which was commissioned into the Indian Navy is named – IN LCU L-56

The theme of Kargil Vijay Diwas 2019 observed on July 26 to commemorate India’s victory in 1999 – Remember, Rejoice and Renew

The operation launched by the Border Security Force to fortify the ‘anti-infiltration grid’ along the Pakistan border in Punjab and Jammu is named – Sudarshan

The anti-tank missiles to be used with Mi-35S attack helicopters being purchased from Russia – Strum Ataka

Sports

The Indian test cricketer who has been banned for 8 months from playing all forms of cricket for testing positive for doping – Prithvi Shaw

The chess player from Delhi who has become the 64th Grandmaster from India – Prithu Gupta

The Japanese badminton player who has won the women’s singles title at Indonesia Open 2019 defeating Indian player PV Sindhu in the finals – Akane Yamaguchi

The country which has been suspended by the International Cricket Council from participating in ICC events – Zimbabwe

The country which has won the Copa America Cup 2019 defeating Peru in the finals in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil – Brazil

The Indian cricketer who has resigned from all forms of cricket after playing 55 ODIs – Ambati Rayudu

The former Indian wicket-keeper who has been appointed as the interim coach of USA cricket team – Kiran More

Places

The north-eastern state from which the Union Government has commenced the 7th Economic Census of the country – Tripura

The capital city of Rajasthan which has been granted the status of World Heritage Site by UNESCO, becoming the 38th site from India to be so tagged – Jaipur

The venue of the first security exercise of the International Security Alliance named ISALEX 2019 – Abu Dhabhi

Persons

The leader of the Congress party who has been appointed the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee – Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

The former Union Minister and Congress leader who passed away on 28 July 2019 – Shri S Jaipal Reddy

The new Prime Minister of United Kingdom elected to succeed Theresa May who announced her resignation in May 2019 – Boris Johnson

The former MD of State Bank of India who has been appointed the MD and CFO of World Bank – Ms. Anshula Kant

Miscellaneous

The private sector company which has become the highest ranked Indian company in the Fortune Global 500 list – Reliance Industries

The country in which the outbreak of Ebola disease has been declared global health emergency by the World Health Organisation – DR Congo

The three-year road map launched by Reserve Bank of India board to improve regulation and supervision is named – Utkarsh 2022

The rank of India in the Henley Passport Index 2019, topped by Singapore and Japan – 86th

The committee constituted by the Central Govt to work out the modalities & methodology of implementation of next revision of pension under One Rank One Pension (OROP) for armed forces pensioners is headed by – Controller General of Defence Accounts

The stations between which Indian Railways has commissioned the longest electrified tunnel of 6.6 kms length – Cherlopally and Rapuru

The convenor of the high-powered committee of chief ministers constituted by the central govt to transform Indian agriculture and increase farmers’ income – Shri Devendra Fadnavis

The species of butterfly which has been declared as the State Butterfly by Tamil Nadu – Cirrochroa thais (Tamil yeoman)

The drone mission planned to be launched by NASA in 2026 to explore Saturn’s moon Titan is named – Dragonfly

Launch of Chandrayaan-2

Launch date and time: 22 July 2019 1443 hours

Launched from: Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota

Launch vehicle: GSLV MkIII-M1

Points to remember

 Chandrayaan-2 injected into space after 16 minutes 14 seconds after lift-off

 Weight of Chandrayaan-2 is 3840 kg.

 The spacecraft has an elliptical orbit with a perigee (nearest point to Earth) of 169.7 km and an apogee (farthest point to Earth) of 45,475 km.

 Chandrayaan-2 is India’s second mission to the moon. The first was launched in 2008.

 Chandrayaan-2 comprises a fully indigenous Orbiter, Lander (Vikram) and Rover (Pragyan). The Rover Pragyan is housed inside Vikram lander.

 It is expected to soft land in the South polar region of the Moon on September 7, 2019.

 The life of Orbiter is one year, while the Rover will carry out experiments for 1 lunar day (14 earth days).

 India will become the 4th country to make a soft landing on the moon.

ICC Hall of Fame

Cricketers inducted into ICC Hall of Fame in July 2019

1. Sachin Tendulkar (India)
2. Allan Donald (Australia)
3. Cathryn Fitzpatrick (Australia)

Jal Shakti Abhiyan

Launched by: Union Jal Shakti Minister, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

What it is?: A campaign for water conservation and water security.

The campaign will run through citizen participation during the monsoon season, from 1st July, 2019 to 15th September, 2019. An additional Phase 2 will be run from 1st October, 2019 to 30th November, 2019 for States receiving the North East retreating monsoons.

The focus of the campaign will be on water stressed districts and blocks. Teams of officers from the central government will visit and work with district administration in 1592 water stressed blocks in 256 districts.

Campaign to ensure five important water conservation intervention.

1. Water conservation and rainwater harvesting,
2. Renovation of traditional and other water bodies/tanks.
3. Reuse
4. Bore well recharge structures
5. Watershed development and intensive afforestation

New Governors

Shri Kalraj Mishra: Himachal Pradesh

Shri Acharya Devvrat: Gujarat

Shri Biswabhushan Harichandan: Andhra Pradesh

Smt Anusaiya Uikey: Chhattisgarh

Smt Anandiben Patel: Uttar Pradesh

Shri Fagu Chauhan: Bihar

Shri Lalji Tandon: Madhya Pradesh

AIFF Awards 2018-19

AIFF Men’s Footballer of the Year: Sunil Chhetri

AIFF Women’s Footballer of the Year: Ashalata Devi

AIFF Emerging Men’s Footballer of the Year: Abdul Sahal from Kerala

AIFF Emerging Women’s Footballer of the Year: Dangmei Grace from Manipur

Best Grassroots Development Programme: Jammu & Kashmir Football Association

Wimbledon 2019

STRIDE Scheme by UGC

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved a new scheme – ‘Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy’ (STRIDE). Broadly, STRIDE will provide support to research projects that are socially relevant, locally need-based, nationally important and globally significant.

STRIDE Objectives:

1. To identify young talent, strengthen research culture, build capacity, promote innovation and support trans-disciplinary research for India’s developing economy and national development.
2. To fund multi institutional network high-impact research projects in humanities and human sciences.

STRIDE components:

Component-1 will endeavour to identify the motivated young talents with research and innovation aptitude in universities and colleges. This component is open to all disciplines for grant upto 1 crore.

Component-2 will be mainly to enhance problem solving skills with help of social innovation and action research to improve wellbeing of people and contribute for India’s developing economy. Collaborations between universities, government, voluntary organizations and industries is encouraged under this scheme. This component is open to all disciplines for grant upto 50 lakh – 1 crore.

Component-3 will fund high impact research projects in the identified thrust areas inhumanities and human sciences through national network of eminent scientists from leading institutions. Disciplines eligible for funding under this component include: Philosophy, History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Psychology, Liberal Arts, Linguistics, Indian Languages and Culture, Indian Knowledge Systems, Law, Education, Journalism, Mass Communication, Commerce, Management, Environment and Sustainable Development. Grant available for this component is upto 1 crore for one HEI and upto 5 crores for multi institutional network.

An advisory Committee has been set up by the UGC under the chairmanship of Prof Bhushan Patwardhan, Vice Chairman to oversee the entire scheme.

Important Days of July

Tiger Census 2018

Total number of tigers in India: 2967

Top 3 states : Madhya Pradesh (526), Karnataka (524) and Uttarakhand (442)

States covered: 20

Tiger reserves where no tigers were sighted : Buxa, Palamu and Dampa

Global Innovation Index 2019

Theme: Creating Healthy Lives — The Future of Medical Innovation

Rank Country

1. – Switzerland
2. – Sweden
3. – USA
4. – Netherlands
5. – China
6. – India

Smt Sheila Dikshit

31 March 1938 to 20 July 2019

CM of Delhi: 1998 to 2013 (Longest serving Chief Minister of Delhi as well as longest serving female Chief Minister of any Indian State)

Governor of Kerala: 2014 (6 months)

Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs : 1984 to 1989

Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2018

The following eminent persons have been chosen for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2018

Akademi Ratna

1. Shri Zakir Hussain
2. Smt Sonal Mansingh
3. Shri Jatin Goswami
4. Shri K. Kalyanasundaram Pillai

Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Music

Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Dance

Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Theatre

Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre and Puppetry

Diwan Singh Bajeli (Scholar) and Puru Dadhich (Overall Contribution) have been selected for the Akademi Award 2018 in the field of Overall Contribution/Scholarship in the Performing Arts.

RTI Amendment Bill 2019

Important amendments to Right to Information Act, 2005

Term of the Information Commissioners: The term of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners at the Central and State level was 5 years as per the act. After the amendment, the Central Govt will notify the term of the office for CIC and IC.

Salary: The salary of the Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners at the Central and State level was equivalent to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. After the amendment, the Central Govt will determine the salaries, allowances and other terms and conditions of service of CIC and IC.

NIA Amendment Bill 2019

Important amendments to National Investigation Agency Act, 2008

Jurisdiction of the Agency: The NIA can now investigate Scheduled Offence beyond India against the Indian citizens or affecting the interest of India, subject to international treaties and domestic laws of other countries.

Scheduled Offences: Offences under Atomic Energy Act, 1962, Sections 370, 370A (related to human trafficking) of Indian Penal Code, Arms Act 1959 and Section 66F of Information Technology Act, 200 have been included in the schedule.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2019

Host: England

Winner: England

Runner-up: New Zealand

Golden Bat (Top scorer): Rohit Sharma (648 runs)

Golden Ball (Top wicket taker): Michael Stark (Australia) (27 wickets)

Man of the Tournament: Kane Williamson (New Zealand)

Total number of teams: 10

Number of matches played: 48

FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019

Host: France

Winner: United States of America

Runner-up: Netherlands

Golden Boot (Top scorer): Megan Rapinoe (USA)

Golden Ball (Best overall scorer): Megan Rapinoe (USA)

Golden Glove (Best Goalkeeper): Sari van Veenendaal (Netherlands)

Abbreviations in News

PMMSY – Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana

Books in News

A Prime Minister to Remember – Admiral Sushil Kumar (Retd)

Whispers of Time – Dr. Krishan Saksena

Quichotte – Salman Rushdie