WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS 2

Current affairs weekly blog 2


1.     "Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS)" is an air quality monitoring system which is installed by Indian Army in Fort Williams, Kolkata as a part of "Go Green" initiative. It monitors air pollution on real time. It was commissioned by Lt Gen M M Naravane, General officer, commanding in chief Eastern Command. CAAQMS can display wind speed, direction, humidity, barometric pressure, ambient temperature, solar radiation and rain gauge. It can be used by the West Bengal pollution control board.

2.       Indian Navy deployed there P-8l long range maritime surveillance aircraft for anti-piracy sorties from Salalah, Oman to patrol the Gulf of Aden. It is expansion of its Mission Based Deployment (MBD) in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It is the second time of P-8l to operate from Salalah for anti-piracy in 2019. It was operating from first of January

3.     The Government of India, Tamil Nadu and World Bank signed a $287 million loan agreement in New Delhi on March 19, 2019. The project aims to improve quality of health care, strengthen management of non-communicable diseases and injuries, and reduce inequities in reproductive and child health services in the state of Tamil Nadu

4.     Sidharth Rawat won his title in the $25,000 ITF men's Futures tennis tournament. Last year he won with Manish Sureshkumar for doubles. He is associated with Coach Gaurav Sharma for nearly 15 years. He improved his current rank of 510 from 430. He defeated Shintaro Imai of Japan and Lost to compatriots Vijay Sundar Prashanth and Sasi Kumar Mukund in the other finals matches.

5.     Ajeya Kalama, Retired IAS officer and Former Andra Pradesh Chief Secretary, was appointed as Principal Advisor to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy. He holds a rank of Cabinet Minister and heads the Chief Minister's Office (CMO). Initially, the term of appointment will be 3 years with a fixed remuneration of Rs 2.5 lakh per month.

6.     A week-long exercise (27 May 2019 to 4 June 2019) between the Indian army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) - Kharga Prahar concluded in Punjab. The exercise was undertaken by various units and formation of Kharga Corps. The key aspects of this exercise is to validate operational aspects and brought out many lessons to the corps.

7.     China launched a space rocket from the sea for the first time on 5 June 2019. With this China will be the third nation to successfully demonstrate the ability to launch satellites into orbit from a floating platform following the U.S. and Russia.

8.     Rajiv Mehrishi, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Indiam has been elected as external auditor of the World Health Organization (WHO) for four years from 2020 to 2023. He was elected at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 2019. This is the second major international audit assignment for the CAG this year following his selection for the post of External Auditor of Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome earlier this year in March 2019. Currently, Mehrishi is also on the Board of Auditors of the United Nations and Vice-Chair of the UN Panel of External Auditors.

9.     Within the framework of regular bilateral exchanges between India and China, the 6th round of India-China Bilateral Dialogue on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation was held in New Delhi at Ministry of External Affairs on 03.06.2019. The Indian delegation was led by Additional Secretary (Disarmament & International Security Affairs), Shri Indra Mani Pandey. The Chinese delegation was led by Ambassador Fu Cong, Director General, and Department of Arms Control of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two sides exchanged views on a variety of issues of mutual interest related to disarmament, non-proliferation and arms control. They decided to continue the dialogue at regular intervals in future. Ambassador Fu Cong invited the Indian delegation to Beijing for the next round of consultations at a mutually convenient time, which was accepted with pleasure, by the Indian side.

10. India ranked 95th out of 129 countries in a new index that measures global gender equality looking at aspects such as poverty, health, education, literacy, political representation and equality at the workplace. The list was topped by Denmark. Chad was placed at bottom most position (129th). The Sustainable Development Goals Gender Index has been developed by UK-based Equal Measures 2030, a joint effort of regional and global organizations.

11. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will attend the two-day meeting of G-20 Finance Ministers and central bank governors in Japan. This will be the first overseas visit of Sitharaman as the Finance Minister. She took charge as the first full-time woman Finance Minister of the country, recently. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is also likely to attend the meeting at Fukuoka in Japan.

12. World Food Safety Day is observed every year on 7th June. The theme for World Food Safety Day 2019 is 'Food Safety, Everyone's Business'. Food safety is the absence of safe, acceptable levels of hazards in food that may harm the health of consumers.

13. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has become the first ever project in the country to receive power generated from a waste-to-energy plant. It has started receiving 2 MW power from a 12 MW capacity waste-to-energy plant set up in Ghazipur. The waste-to-energy plant set up by East Delhi Waste Processing Company Limited (EDWPCL) is based on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) involving the Delhi government and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC), besides the EDWPCL. Currently, DMRC is producing 28 MW of solar power from the various rooftop solar power plants.

14.  The ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India announced that fee for SC/ST candidates who join vocational training under Jan Shikshan Sansthans (JSS) have been waived off.This decision was taken by the Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey at the senior officials meet. The decision intended to strengthen the skill development and benefiting the underprivileged sections of society. The decision follows the recent reforms brought in January 2019 such as decentralization of powers for JSSs- giving more accountability and independence to the district administration, Training of Trainers to develop the capacity through NSTIs (National Skills Training Institutes).

15. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has launched a Fiscal Performance Index (FPI) to assess state and central budgets. The Index incorporates qualitative assessments of revenue expenditure, capital expenditure, revenues, fiscal prudence and the level of public debt arrive at a more holistic picture of fiscal performance than the fiscal deficit to GDP ratio according to the CII.