Daily Current Affairs 1 September 2019

Daily Current Affairs

1) Secretary-General INTERPOL calls on Union Home Minister, assures best support of INTERPOL for the fight against terror

• Secretary-General, INTERPOL, Mr. Jürgen Stock, called on Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah, in New Delhi

• The three focus areas of INTERPOL are counter-terrorism, organized & emerging crime and cybercrime. 

• Amit Shah proposed hosting of INTERPOL General Assembly in New Delhi in the year 2022, as part of celebrations of the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence.

• The Home Minister expressed concern about the delay in the publication of Red Notices and an urgent need for proactive pre-publication consultation for ensuring expeditious publication of Red Notices. He conveyed that such cooperation enables India to more intensely pursue high profile, fugitive economic offenders and terrorists.

• What is Red Notices?

• A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
• It contains two main types of information:
• Information to identify the wanted person, such as their name, date of birth, nationality, hair and eye color, photographs and fingerprints if available.
• Information related to the crime they are wanted for, which can typically be murder, rape, child abuse or armed robbery.
• Red Notices are published by INTERPOL at the request of a member country and must comply with INTERPOL’s Constitution and Rules. A Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant.

2) Visit of Indian Naval Ships to Laem Chabang, Thailand

• As part of the Indian Navy's Overseas Deployment to South East Asia and Western Pacific, Indian Navy ships Sahyadri and Kiltan are making a port call at Laem Chabang, Bangkok from 31 Aug – 03 Sep 19. The ships are part of the Indian Navy's Eastern Fleet under the Operational Command of Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, based at Visakhapatnam. The port call is a demonstration of India's warm ties with Thailand.

• About INS Sahyadri and Kitlan
  
• INS Sahyadri and Kiltan are the latest, indigenously designed and built multi-role Guided Missile Stealth Frigate and Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvette respectively. The two ships are equipped with a versatile array of weapons and sensors, can carry multi-role helicopters and represent the ‘coming of age’ of India’s warship building capabilities.

• During the port call, there would be professional interactions between personnel of both the navies, official calls and interaction with dignitaries of the Royal Thai Navy. Besides, social engagements, visits by the local populace and various sports events are also planned during the visit. On completion of the visit, the Indian Navy and Royal Thai Navy ships would be undertaking a Passage Exercise at sea, to further build on the levels of interoperability between the navies to ensure peaceful and secure seas for all. 

3) Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food & PD Shri Ram Vilas Paswan calls National Consultation Meeting of State Ministers of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection on 3rd September in New Delhi

The Fifth National Consultation Meeting of State Ministers of Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection will be held on 3rd September 2019. The event is significant in the context of the New Consumer Protection Act, 2019 notified recently. The CPA, 2019 proposes to establish a Central Consumer Protection Authority to deal with Unfair trade practices besides paving the way for digitalization of Consumer Commissions, enabling e-filing of complaints, Mediation, Product liability law, and much-simplified procedures. The Model Rules approved by the Supreme Court to bring in uniformity in-service conditions of Consumer Commission Presidents and Members shall bring in significant changes in the effective functioning of these Commissions for delivery of consumer justice. 

4) Shri Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurates Illumination of Qutb Minar 

The historic Qutb Minar came alive as it saw the first-ever architectural LED illumination inaugurated by Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (I/C) Shri Prahalad Singh Patel in New Delhi today. With the illumination, the architectural beauty of the 12th-century monument will display its historic majesty after sunset.  

5) Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah and Singapore Home Minister meeting held discussed upon bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.

• The Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah and the Minister for Home Affairs and  Law of Singapore, Mr. K. Shanmugam met in New Delhi

• Union Home Minister Shri. Amit Shah noted that India-Singapore relations are based on shared values and approaches, economic opportunities and convergence of interest on key issues.

• The two leaders also exchanged views and concerns on the challenges posed by terrorism and extremism. They agreed to strengthen the existing bilateral institutional mechanisms on security issues. Both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in dealing with trans-national organized crimes including drug trafficking and economic offenses.

6) Shalija Dhami become India's first female flight commander

Indian Air Force's Wing Commander S Dhami has become the first female officer in the country to become the Flight Commander of a flying unit.

7) New National Cyber Security Strategy is the theme of the twelfth India Security Summit

The theme of this edition of the summit was "Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy". During the summit, many issues were discussed such as protection of critical national infrastructure, emerging cyber threats: incidents, challenges, and response.

8) 1000  'foreign tribunals' have been formed in Assam to complain if names are excluded in NRC list

1,000 Foreign Tribunals have been set up to assist foreigners in Assam with the help of the Central Government.

9) GOI has launched a mobile application "Janaushadhi Sugam".

Union Ministry for Chemicals and Fertilizers has issued it. The application aims to enable people to search for Janaushadhi generic medicines and the stores at the tip of their fingers. It will also help analyze product comparison of Generic vs Branded medicine in form of MRP & overall Savings.

10) Union Government appoints 9 private sector experts as joint secretaries.

The Union government appointed nine private sector specialists in various fields as joint secretaries in various ministries under its lateral recruitment policy. The appointments were cleared by the Appointment Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.The nine joint secretaries from among the private sector experts appointed for three years or till further orders.

11) The UGC has constituted a high-level committee to inquire about the alleged sale of fake degrees by universities.

The UGC has set up a five-member committee to look into the allegations of sale of fake degrees by certain universities. The committee was set up on the orders of the Union HRD Ministry.

12) Indian Bank has opened MSME CPC (centralized processing center) in Chennai

Indian Bank has opened MSME CPC (centralized processing center) in Chennai. The centralized processing center will give a boost to the bank's MSME portfolio and will lead to speedy disposal of micro, small and medium enterprises' loans. The bank has also deployed skilled manpower in the CPC to improve credit quality and shorten transaction processing time.

13) The United States has launched its own Space Command.

US President Donald Trump launched the US Space Command on August 29, 2019. Trump announced the establishment of the space command as the newest US military combatant command in a ceremony at the Rose Garden, White House.

14) Steel Users Federation of India has signed an MoU with the Bombay Stock Exchange to launch trading in steel futures.

The Steel Users Federation of India has signed an MoU with the Bombay Stock Exchange to launch trading in steel futures. BSE and SUFI will work towards enlisting steel futures in both long and flat segments, which will bring stability, risk-aversion besides creating a level-playing field for all players. BSE offers to trade in commodities like gold, silver, crude oil, guar, cotton, and turmeric.

15) Mumbai ranked as the 45th safest city on the Safe Cities Index (SCI).

Delhi got at the 52nd position. The report was released by the Economist Intelligence Unit The cities in the Asia-Pacific (Apac) region made up six of the top-10 safest cities with Tokyo taking the top spot.Tokyo, Apac cities dominated the SCI 2019. Singapore and Osaka got second and third while Sydney and Melbourne made it to the top-10 cities list. Hong Kong dropped out of this group since 2017.