Current Affairs - 2019-20

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The government has recently relaxed the norms for withdrawal of General Provident Fund (GPF) to enable the central government employees receive payments within 15 days. Employees can also withdraw the fund for select purposes after completing 10 years of service, as against 15 years of service earlier. This reform will help around 50 Lakh central government employees.

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INS Arihant is a nuclear-powered submarine built by India. It is first indigenously built nuclear propelled strategic submarine and is the lead ship of the Arihant-class of submarines. It was designed and constructed as part of India’s nuclear weapons program. INS Arihant is India’s first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, and it was designed to carry and launch ballistic missiles. The submarine was launched in 2009 and completed its sea trials in 2016. It is currently in service with the Indian Navy.

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The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority group that are native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. The Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim and are culturally affiliated with Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs have been protesting against the increasing settlements of Han Chinese in the Xinjiang province.  The Chinese government has committed human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities. China’s counterterrorism efforts focus on the mostly Muslim ethnic Uighur population in the western Xinjiang region.  According to the 2020 census, the total population of Xinjiang was 25.85 million. The Han ethnic group numbered 10.92 million, and ethnic minorities numbered 14.93 million.

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The International Tiger Day (ITD) is celebrated every year on July 29 to spread the message to protect these endangered species and assist in maintaining ecological integrity. It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit in Russia with the goal to bring worldwide attention to the dwindling numbers of tigers and their plight. According to World Wildlife Fund and Global Tiger Forum (GTF), the total number of wild tigers has risen to above 3,000 in 2016. The number is expected to increase in the new tiger counting, which started in January 2018. India is home to 70% of tigers in the world.

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has recently given its approval for the development of Advanced Ultra Super Critical (AUSC) technology for thermal power plants. 

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Gyan Sangam is the meet of various banks, financial institutions and insurance companies in order to discuss for enhancing the digitisation of the banking system in India and ways to increase the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and big data analytics in the banking & financial services industry in India.

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'Tulaipanji' and 'Gobindobhog' are varieties of aromatic rice. Recently, the Bengal Government applied in the Office of Geographical Indications, Chennai for GI certification of products.

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The scheme called “Transforming India by 2022”, aspires to rapidly transform backward districts that are lacking on key development indices in health, nutrition, education, agriculture, skill development, financial inclusion and basic infrastructure.

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Aquila is a solar-powered high-altitude unmanned aircraft. It is a part of Facebook’s ambitious Internet.org project, which aims at providing affordable internet access across the globe, especially to those not currently covered by high-capacity networks. Facebook has invested billions of dollars in getting more people online through the not-for-profit internet.org and by building drones.

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As per the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) 2017 report, nearly 45 per cent of the 1263 species of birds available in India are found in Himachal Pradesh. As per recent data, a total of 564 bird species were reported from Himachal Pradesh, out of which a total of 453 bird species were reported from the Kangra district only.