Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
In October 2018, a Time series data released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) showed that the share of direct taxes in total taxes rose every year through the first decade of this century — going from 36.31% in 2000-01 to 60.78% in 2009-10. Thereafter it has fallen mainly because of rise of “service tax” collections in the country. Service Tax is now subsumed in GST.
Indirect taxes are said to be regressive in nature as they do not distinguish between poor and rich, and therefore, higher proportion of indirect taxes in total tax collection is not considered ideal.

Notes:
∠ACB = 180° – 120° = 60°
AB = AC
∴ ∠ABC = ∠ACB = 60°
∴ ∠BAC = 60°
Hence option [B] is the right answer.

Notes:
Let AB = 2x units
=> BD=DC = x units
∴ AB : BD = 2 : 1
Hence option [A] is the right answer.

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:
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 proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka aims at improvement over the existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The agreement seeks to boost cooperation in scientific expertise, technical areas and research amongst institutions between India and Sri Lanka. It also seeks to boost standards of goods and services to compete on global market and improve opportunities for manpower training and human resource development. The ETCA initiative follows unfruitful negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between two countries. Objectives of ETCA: (i) Strengthen and advance the economic, trade, investment and technology cooperation. (ii) Promote further liberalization of trade in goods, trade in services and gradually establish transparent, fair and facilitative trading, investment and investment protection mechanisms (iii) establish a cooperation mechanism and expand areas of economic cooperation.

Notes:
Custard apples are also known as sitaphal. Beed district of Maharashtra is famous for its organically grown custard apples. Beed’s custard apples were recently issued GI certificates.

Notes:
Recently, Madhya Pradesh Government announced to shift its financial year format to January-December from the present April-March cycle. With this, it became the first state in the country to do so.

Notes:
Mandi in Himachal Pradesh and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra have emerged the cleanest districts in India according Gramin Swachh Survekshan. Sindhudurg was judged as the cleanest in the ‘Plains’ category and Mandi in the cleanest district in ‘Hills’ category. The Gramin Swachh Survekshan report was released by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

Notes:
The Hubble space telescope has captured a new image showcasing an incredibly massive galaxy located under 400 million light-years away from the Earth. The galaxy UGC 12591 sits somewhere between a lenticular and a spiral, according to NASA.