Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
The International Tiger Day (ITD) is observed every year on July 29 to raise awareness for tiger conservation. The day is also known as Global Tiger Day (GTD). The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has stated that only 3,890 tigers are left in the world. Of them, India has the highest number. Till July 2016, there were 2,500 tigers in the country.

Notes:
Tianwen-1 is China’s first independent interplanetary mission to Mars. The mission was launched on July 23, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mission consists of six spacecraft:

• An orbiter
• Two deployable cameras
• A lander
• A remote camera
• The Zhurong rover

Tianwen-1 reached Mars in February 2021. The Zhurong rover landed on May 14, 2021. China became the third country to land on Mars, after the US and the Soviet Union.

The mission has attracted the participation of institutions and organizations from around the world, including the European Space Agency, the French National Center for Space Studies, and Argentina’s National Space Activities Commission.

Notes:
Mulberry silk is the most popular variety of silk in India, accounting for around 79% of the country’s silk production. In 2022, India produced nearly 26,000 metric tons of mulberry silk. The other varieties of silk produced in India are:

• Tasar, which accounted for 8.02% of the total raw silk production
• Eri, which accounted for 20.55% of the total raw silk production
• Muga, which accounted for 0.71% of the total raw silk production

India is the second largest producer of silk in the world. The five states that produce the most silk are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Notes:
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS), 2017 with financial outlay of Rs.3000 crores upto March, 2020. Government will provide necessary allocations for remaining period of scheme after assessment before March 2020. NEIDS is a combination of the incentives covered under the earlier two schemes with a much larger outlay. In order to promote employment in the North East States, Government is incentivising primarily the MSME Sector through this scheme and is also providing specific incentive through it to generate employment. The newly introduced scheme will promote industrialization in the States of the North Eastern Region and will boost employment and income generation. All eligible industrial units which are getting benefits of one or more components of other schemes of the government will also be considered for benefits of other components of this scheme. The overall cap for benefits under all components of incentives will be of Rs 200 crores per unit.

Notes:
NTPC Ltd. is on course to implementing the country's largest 1 GW solar park at Kadiri in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. Phase-I of the project has been completed by Tata Solar (100 MW), Sterling and Wilson (50 MW), BHEL (50MW) and Lanco (50 MW) and is generating power upto 250 MW. The balance 750 MW is expected to be completed over the course next fiscal by year 2018.

Notes:
Bonus shares are gifts to existing shareholders as the company issues additional shares to them at no cost. Issuing of bonus shares further attaracts new investors to company.

Notes:
The 5/20 rule is a norm of the Indian Aviation Ministry according to which under which national carriers are required to have five years of operational experience and a fleet of minimum 20 aircraft to fly overseas. Recently, the Cabinet gave its approval for partial abolition of the 5/20 rule, which will enable new carriers like Vistara and Air Asia to start international operations sooner. The government has decided to scrap a requirement that mandated airlines to have five years of domestic operations to be eligible to fly overseas. However, an airline will have to allocate 20 aircraft or 20% of their total fleet of aircraft, whichever is higher, to the domestic sector if they wish to fly overseas. So in place of 5/20 rule, the new proposed options are like 0/10 and 0/20.

Notes:
The Girdhar Malviya Committee was constituted to prepare draft Ganga Act. The committee recently submitted its report to the Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.  

Notes:
India recently became the member of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). India now hopes that its membership will make US to consider its exporting Category 1 UAVs, Reaper and Global Hawk, which have played key role to counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. Till now these drones have been sold to only one country, the UK, though unarmed versions have also been made available to Italy and South Korea. India is still not a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group.

Notes:
On November 14, the fourth edition of Intex South Asia was inaugurated in Colombo by Mr. Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Indian high commissioner to Sri Lanka. It is the largest international textile sourcing show in South Asia. The event has been organized by Worldex India Exhibition and Promotion Pvt. Ltd in partnership with Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL), Retailers Association of India, Clothing Manufacturers Association of India, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) etc. It has participation of over 200 suppliers from around 15 countries showcasing a wide variety of innovative textiles products such as yarns, apparels, denim clothing, accessories etc.