Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
The world’s highest railway bridge will come up over Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir (J& K), which is expected to be completed in 2019. The bridge will form a crucial link in the 111-km stretch between Katra and Banihal, which is part of the Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramu rail link project. It will be constructed at a cost of around Rs 1,100 crore in hostile terrain, will use over 24,000 tonnes of steel and will rise 359 m above the river bed. It will be designed to withstand wind speeds of upto 260 km per hour, the 1.315 km long engineering marvel” will connect Bakkal (Katra) and Kauri (Srinagar). Once completed, it will surpass the record of the Beipan river Shuibai railway bridge (275 m) in China.

Notes:
General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, has released a book on Paramveer Chakra Awardees – ‘Paramveer Parwane’ on 20 March 2018. The book illustrates the bravery of Paramveer Chakra Awardees from 1947 to 1965 and is written by Dr. Prabhakiran Jain published by Medha Books. The book has 11 short stories, poems and songs highlighting the history of the battles in which the brave soldiers sacrificed their lives and have shown the utmost courage & leadership while facing the enemy during War to protect the motherland. The book is available in paperback & coffee table book format and its second part will be released shortly.

Notes:
Recently, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, has proposed to develop a dedicated 200 acre industrial park for the manufacture of medical devices in his state. The Park will be having a Common Manufacturing Facility Centre to act as a Hub for SME Sector to enable it to flourish as a Cluster. Focus will be on creating an Eco System for High End Medical Device Manufacturing and Import Substitution with an eye for Export Market. Though the Medical Device Park has been proposed to be set up in three states viz. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, but Andhra Pradesh has become the first to implement the programme. The proposed medical devices park will have ‘Centre of Excellence’ in which research for medical device will be conducted.

Notes:
Recently, the Karnataka government approved “Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy 2017”. With this, Karnataka became the first state to roll out an Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy in the country. Important Facts about the Policy

• It aims to bring down pollution levels and push the “Make in Karnataka” initiative.
• This policy would not only help at boosting sales of EVs, but also in setting up charging infra and special manufacturing zones.
• The policy aims to attract investments worth Rs31,000 crore
• Under this policy, the state government has proposed to set up new EV manufacturing zones, charging stations in public and private spaces including airports, railway stations, metro stations and encourage start-ups to develop business models
• The state government estimates that the new policy will help to create employment for 55,000 individuals over the next few years in the state.

Notes:
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.

Notes:
Almost every year, maximum part of the sum of money allotted to the Defence Ministry for capital acquisition lapses and return backs to government. To cope of with the issue, the Defence Ministry sent a proposal to Finance Ministry for creation of “Non-lapsable Capital Fund Account” for capital acquisitions of Indian defence.

Notes:
Recently, the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation (IRIGC-MTC) was held in Moscow. Russia and Indian have signed a military-technical cooperation agreement. The protocol aims at developing bilateral Russian-Indian relations in the military-technical field. India is highly dependent on Russia’s weapon technology and one of the biggest importers of Russian arms and ammunition.

Notes:
“Ayushman Bharat” was recently announced in Budget 2018. This programme has been described by the government as the world’s largest government-funded healthcare programme. It is an umbrella scheme which includes two sub schemes viz. National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) and Health and Wellness Centre for preventive care. Under the National Health Protection Scheme, government aims to provide healthcare protection for over 10 crore “poor and vulnerable” families, or an estimated 50 crore individual beneficiaries — with coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year. Under the Health and Wellness Centre initiative, government aims to establish 1.5 lakh centres for preventive care services.

Notes:
The Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) is an externally-aided project being funded by the World Bank. Nearly 80% of the total cost is being funded by the World Bank as loan/credit and remaining is borne by the States/Central Governments. The Central Dam Safety Organization of Central Water Commission, assisted by Engineering and Management Consultant, is coordinating and supervising the Project implementation. There are 223 dams in seven states being improved under the Phase-I of the project. The phase-I of the project will be implemented till 2020. Recently, the phase-II of the project is proposed to be implemented over the six years (2020-26) at an estimated cost of Rs 7000 crore. Under Phase-II of the project, the safety and operational performance of 700 large dams across 18 states will be improved through repair and rehabilitation work.

Notes:
The Indian government has been thriving hard to get the “Data Secure status” from European Union but has not received it as of now. If the European Union provides India with “Data Protection” status, it will lift restrictions on the flow of outsourcing business to India. This would help Indian IT Industry to a great extent. India is not currently included in the list of countries considered data secure by the EU, thus preventing the flow of sensitive data, especially those related to telemedicine, to reach India.