Current Affairs - 2019-20

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The Union Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has inaugurated the first-ever Indian Railways Human Resources Round Table Conference in New Delhi on June 10, 2017. The aim of the Conference is to improve the productivity of the human resources through inter-change of ideas with various stakeholders and HR practitioners and academics. There are 3-themes of the conference viz. Stakeholders Expectations from HR, The Future of Work – HR Role and Creativity Within Constraints.

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Uttar Pradesh has become the first State to endorse the Central government’s draft bill that makes instant triple talaq a cognisable and non-bailable offence. The draft law, which provides for three-year imprisonment and a fine to a man trying to divorce his wife by uttering “talaq” three times, got the State government’s approval at a Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow on December 5, 2017.

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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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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 Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 was awarded to David J. Thouless, F. Duncan Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz for the theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.

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The renowned Khasi Mandarin of Meghalaya has a tight and smooth skin. It has been recently issued GI certificate. 

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United Nations declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (IYP). It provides an unprecedented opportunity to raise awareness and to celebrate the role of beans, chickpeas, lentils and other pulses in feeding to health, nutrition and sustainability.

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Recently, the scientists discovered that the skin mucus secreted by a colourful frog species Hydrophylax bahuvistara could be used as an anti-microbial drug to destroy kill bacteria and viruses responsible for the flu. The peptide or chain of amino acids, found in a frog species (Hydrophylax bahuvistara) can destroy many strains of human flu and protect mice against flu infection. The researchers named the newly identified peptide “urumin” after the urumi, a sword with a flexible blade that snaps and bends like a whip.

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Recently, our researchers have discovered a new termite species Glyptotermes chiraharitae from the Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary at Kakkayam in Kerala. The newly discovered species has been named 'chiraharitae', after it was found in the tropical ever-green forest of Western Ghats. Termites are eusocial insects, which are generally of three types- drywood, dampwood and subterranean ones. The new species Glyptotermes chiraharitae is dampwood termites which infest parts of woods with high moisture content.

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The Indian government announced to adopt ‘Swiss Challenge’ method for development of railway stations and national highways in India. "Swiss Challenge" is a model of auctioning infrastructure projects in India.