Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Coking coal mines was first nationalized in 1971. In 1973, all non-coking coal mines were nationalized and thus coal India got monopoly over coal mining in the country. 

Notes:
Tapan Ray, the 1982 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer and currently the corporate affairs secretary, has taken additional charge as the new Economic Affairs Secretary. He succeeded Shaktikanta Das, who retired on May 31, 2017 after serving the government for 37 years in various capacities.

Notes:
22nd March is celebrated as the World Water Day. It is celebrated to advocate for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. A theme related to the focus is selected every year by the UN organizations. The theme for 2020 was “Water and Climate Change”.

Notes:
Government has increased quota for disabled people for admission to PG medical courses from 3% to 5%. The move came after the union ministry of health and family welfare approved to amend the regulation for admission to post graduate medical courses in order to expand the scope of persons with disabilities getting the benefit of reservation. Now all 21 benchmark disabilities as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 can register for admission to medical courses.

Notes:
Major General Jose Eladio Alcain of Uruguayan Army has been appointed new Head of Mission and Chief Military Observer for UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). He will succeed Major General Per Gustaf Lodin of Sweden, who will complete his two year assignment in July 2018. In 1948, the UN Security Council (UNSC) established the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate the dispute between India and Pakistan regarding the disputed state of Kashmir. In 1949, UNCIP was absorbed into the UNMOGIP, which supervises the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and to monitor the peace in Kashmir.

Notes:
World’s One of the most powerful X-ray machines called European X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL has officially opened at Hamburg, Germany. It is capable of firing powerful X-rays in bursts in less than seconds: so short that, like strobe lights, they can capture snapshots of jittery molecules frozen in time, and with a wavelength small enough to provide pictures at atomic resolution. The Hamburg machine is one of a few such X-ray lasers worldwide, but boasts a unique rapid-fire feature: it can rattle off 27,000 pulses every second, a firing rate more than 200 times greater than the next-fastest facility.

Notes:
Joint Lenders’ Forum is a group of lenders bank which is formed when an asset (loan) of more Rs 100 crore or more turns out to be a stressed asset. In other words, it can be said a tool by RBI for fighting the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) in the country. Under new norms, any resolution plan agreed to by 60% of creditors by value and 50% creditors by number in a joint lenders’ forum is binding on everyone in the group and no bank board will have the power to overrule the decision.

Notes:
One of the stated objectives of Paris Agreement of 2015 was making finance flows consistent towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resistant development. To achieve the same, recently in May, 2017, 16 countries of International Solar Alliance jointly commissioned to define and structure the Common Risk Mitigation Mechanism for solar power generation projects. The instrument aims to:

• set up a secure environment for private investors to invest in solar projects
• lower the cost of finance for renewable energy and the overall price of electricity enlarge the total size of the renewable energy market by making investments in renewables
• diversify and pool risks on mutualised public resources and unlock significant investments

Notes:
Recently, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in its environment report entitled, “Solid approach to waste: how five cities are beating pollution” has recognised 5 cities in the world for their excellent waste management system. These include Osaka in Japan, Ljubljana in Slovenia, Penang in Malaysia and Cajica in Colombia and Alappuzha in India.

Notes:
India was placed at 91st position in the recently released 2016 Networked Readiness Index (NRI) by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF). The index was released as the part of the WEF’s Global Information Technology Report. It measures countries’ success in creating the necessary conditions for a transition to a digitised economy and society.