Current Affairs - 2019-20

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Miroslav Lajcak, the Slovak foreign minister, has been elected as the new President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at UN Headquarters in New York for the upcoming 72nd session. He will succeed Peter Thomson on September 12, 2017. The UNGA is the powerful body of 193 Member States that provides a forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the UN Charter. It meets in regular session intensively from September to December each year, and thereafter as required. The 72nd session of the UNGA will commence from September 12, 2017.

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ISRO has recently established the Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interferometer system at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

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Narendra Modi Government reinstalled plaque with the name and quote of Veer Savarkar at Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The plaque was first installed in 2004 in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government. It was removed soon after UPA government came to power at the Centre.

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Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation launched the National Water Quality Sub Mission on Arsenic and Fluoride to provide safe drinking water to about 28,000 affected habitations in the country by March 2021. With this, Government will also fulfil its goal to provide tap water on a sustained basis in every household by 2030 as per the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal.

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Indian scientists from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore have developed a super critical carbon dioxide Brayton test loop facility that would help generate clean energy from future power plants including solar thermal. Supercritical carbon dioxide-based power generation is said to offer an efficient alternative to conventional steam-based power plants. The technology will help the country in reducing the carbon footprint of power generation significantly.

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“White Stork” is an automated cargo spacecraft launched by Japan. It is a “space junk” collector that has been made with the help of a fishnet company. The spacecraft aims at clearing up tonnes of space clutter including cast-off equipment from old satellites and pieces of rocket.

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The Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) 2017 has been released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the World Bank Group. The BRAP includes 405 recommendations for reforms on regulatory processes, policies, practices and procedures spread across 12 reform areas, that is, labour regulation enablers; contract enforcement; registering property; inspection reform enablers; single window system; land availability and allotment; construction permit enablers; environmental registration enablers; obtaining utility permits; paying taxes; access to information and transparency enablers and sector specific reforms spanning the lifecycle of a typical business. BRAP 2017 includes two new sectors i.e. Healthcare and Hospitality.

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The Pam Rajput committee recently submitted its interim report on “Status of Women in India” to the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD). The committee has strongly supported the passage of Women’s Reservation Bill which has been hanging fire in Lok Sabha after being passed by the Upper House in 2010. However, it has called for 50% reservation instead of the current 33% reservation provided in the bill.

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Mata Prasad Committee has been appointed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission. It has suggested that transmission planning be aligned to meet customer aspirations as opposed to the existing system where transmission is associated with long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

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Artemisinin drug is used in the treatment of Malaria. The drug has been in news due to emergence of resistance to the drug. The drug was introduced when resistance to commonly used chloroquine was making malaria treatment inefficient.