Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Ram Shankar Katheria, a BJP MP from Agra, has been appointed as the new chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) for a period of three years. The post has been lying vacant since the retirement of the previous chairman PL Poonia in 2016. Beside this, L. Murugan has appointed as Vice-Chairman of the NCSC and K. Ramulu, Dr. Yogendra Paswan and Dr. Swaraj Vidwan as its Members. The commission is a constitutional body to safeguard interests of the dalits.

Notes:
Recently, Gurdeep Singh from India created three new senior national records in +105 Kilogram weight category in the just-concluded IWF World Weightlifting Championships at Anaheim in USA. Singh finished 13th overall with a total lift of 388kg (172 + 216) but created national records in snatch, clean and jerk, and the total lift. In snatch, he bettered his own earlier national record of 171kg by one kilogramme. In the total lift also, Gurdeep bettered the earlier national record of 384kg.

Notes:
Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) is a voluntary initiative that helps countries manage chemicals to reduce their harmful impact on human health and the environment. The goal of SAICM is to ensure that by 2020, chemicals are produced and used in ways that minimize significant adverse impacts on the environment and human health.
SAICM is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The development of SAICM was endorsed by Heads of State and Government at their summits in Johannesburg in 2002 and in New York in 2005.

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According to Mercer’s 20th annual Quality of Living survey 2018, Vienna has topped the ranking among 231 cities for the 9th consecutive year. It is followed by Switzerland’s Zurich, while New Zealand’s Auckland and Germany’s Munich tied for third place. In the 2018 survey, Hyderabad and Pune have been jointly ranked at 142, making the best Indian cities to live in. They were closely followed by Bengaluru (149), Chennai (151), Mumbai, (154), Kolkata (160), with New Delhi (162) taking the last spot as it continues to battle rising traffic congestion and air pollution. The quality of living survey is conducted to help governments and major companies place employees on international assignments. The survey also identifies those cities with the highest personal safety ranking based upon internal stability, crime, effectiveness of law enforcement and relationships with other countries.

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NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which successfully entered the orbit of Jupiter on July 4, 2016, has revealed several secrets of the Planet Jupiter. The Great Red Spot is a giant, spinning and persistent storm in Jupiter’s atmosphere, like a hurricane on Earth, and is almost twice the size of our planet earth. It has been discovered in southern hemisphere of Jupiter and is observed since 400 years. Similarly, String of Pearls are massive counter clockwise rotating storms that appear as white ovals in Jupiter’s southern hemisphere.

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As per the Indian State of Forest Report 2017, the total carbon stock is estimated to be 7083 million tonnes. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) is the largest pool of carbon followed by Above Ground Biomass (AGB), Below Ground Biomass (BGB), Litter and dead wood The report shows that the per hectare carbon stock of different states/UTs as Andaman & Nicobar Islands (170.68 tonnes) with highest carbon stock per hectare, followed by Arunachal Pradesh (148.52 tonnes), Sikkim (145.14 tonnes) and Karnataka (126.52 tonnes).

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In Budget 2018, the finance minister announced for two defence industrial corridors. Recently, the defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the path for first of the two. The first defence industrial corridor will connect Chennai and Bengaluru and will pass through Coimbatore and several other industrial clusters.

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Recently, India and Russia have signed an agreement to set up integrated irradiation centres in India to reduce agricultural losses. The irradiation centres are recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the first phase, seven centres are proposed to be set up in Maharashtra.

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Operation Resolute Support is a NATO-led counter-terror mission in Islamic Republic of Afghanistan which began on January 1, 2015. The mission aims to assist the Afghan security forces and institutions as well as counter-terror and combat.