Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Parvathamma Rajkumar (77), Kannada film producer and the wife of the legendary Kannada superstar Dr Rajkumar, has passed away in Bangalore, Karnataka on May 31, 2017. She was the first woman producer, distributor, exhibitor who only marketed Kannada films. She produced 87 films under her banner Vajreshwari Combines — one of the oldest and most successful banners in Kannada film — and Poornima Enterprises.

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On 25-12-2017, India’s top 10 trade partners are China, USA, UAE, Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, Indonesia and Singapore.

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Before 5 August 2019, Part VI was not applicable to Jammu & Kashmir state. On 6 August 2019, parliament of India declared all the clauses of Article 370 except clause 1 to be inoperative. After this, Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act was passed dividing the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories viz. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

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“Walopi” (Warning Loco Pilots) and “Chemvist” (Check My Vigilance State) are the two technologies, which have been patented by IIT-Kharagpur Professor Aurobinda Routray and his team in the Electrical Engineering department. These technologies will now be developed for Indian Railways. A globally conducted survey reveals that driver drowsiness is a major problem identified as a cause of accidents. To curb the menace in India, the research team of IIT Kharagpur has developed the two technologies. Both the technologies are based on what is globally called PERCLOS (percentage of eyelid closure over the pupil over time), and reflects slow eyelid closures (“droops”) rather than blinks. “Chemvist” uses Electrooculography (EOG) signals, which essentially give the voltage difference between the cornea and retina of the eye. Drivers will have to wear a specially-designed headband to play a “video game” on a screen. The headband will detect if the driver is fatigued or will be alert for the next few hours. “Walopi” on the other hand, checks the on-board level of alertness. It uses a camera with face-detection technology, which assesses if the driver is falling asleep.

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The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) has been developed by Yale University and Columbia University in collaboration with the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Centre. Environmental Performance Index (EPI) is calculated on the basis of data gathered from 24 individual metrics of environmental performance.

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The Economic Survey 2017-18 notes that India could face a “Late Converger Stall” when it comes to economic growth. The survey identified four major factors impeding India’s growth to developed economy viz. climate change-induced agricultural stress; hyper-globalization which reduces India’s exporting opportunities; difficulties of transferring resources from low productivity to higher productivity sectors; & upgrading human capital as per the demands of a technology-intensive workplace.

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The central government proposed setting up of Food Legumes Research Platform (FLRP) at Sehore in Madhya Pradesh with Satellite Hubs in West Bengal (for pulses) and Rajasthan (for Natural Resource Management).

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The Galilee Basin is a large inland geological basin in the western Queensland region of Australia. It was in news when Australian Government approved three mining leases for the India based Adani Group for its Galilee Basin project.

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"Nairobi Package", is a series of six Ministerial Decisions on agriculture, cotton and issues related to least-developed countries (LDCs).It was declared at WTO’s 10th Ministerial Conference, which was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 15 to 19 December 2015.

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The World Rabies Day (WRD) is observed every year on September 28 to raise awareness about rabies prevention and to highlight progress in defeating this horrifying disease. The day also marks the anniversary of Louis Pasteur’s death, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine. The 2018 theme is ” Rabies: Share the message. Save a life! “. Today, safe and efficacious animal and human vaccines are among the important tools that exist to eliminate human deaths from rabies while awareness is the key driver for success of communities to engage in effective rabies prevention.