Current Affairs January 31, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of January 31, 2019 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently announced to launch "Jiban Sampark" project in partnership with UNICEF India to generate awareness about the development and welfare initiatives of state government among the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) of the state. The announcement was made at the annual tribal fair popularly known as "Adivasi Mela" on 70th Republic Day 2019. The focus areas of the Project will include skill development, empowering communities, cooperation and innovation among the groups. Of 75 tribal communities in the country, 13 PVTGs reside in remote and far-off areas of 12 districts in Odisha.
2. As per latest report of the World Steel Association (WSA), China is the largest producer of crude steel accounting for more than 51% of production. While, India has replaced Japan as world’s second largest steel producing country. The crude steel production of India in 2018 was at 106.5 MT. It went up by 4.9% from 101.5 MT in 2017. Japan produced 104.3 MT in 2018, down 0.3% compared to 2017. Global crude steel production reached 1,808.6 MT for the year 2018 from 1,729.8 MT in 2017, a rise of 4.6%. The WSA is the international trade body for the iron and steel industry. Its members represent around 85% of the world’s steel production, including over 160 steel producers with 9 of the 10 largest steel companies, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes.
3. The International Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed every year on 27th of January to commemorate the tragedy of the Holocaust that occurred during the Second World War. It commemorates the genocide that resulted in the death of an estimated 6 million Jews and others by the Nazi regime.
4. On 29th January, the 8-member Lokpal search panel hold its first meeting to select members of anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal. The committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Prakash Desai, is understood to have discussed modalities related to the appointments of the chief and members of Lokpal. The meeting comes days after the Supreme Court set up a February-end deadline for the search committee to send a panel of names who could be considered for the appointment as chairman and members of Lokpal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led selection committee. The Lokpal Act, which envisages establishment of the anti-graft body Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.
5. The 3rd International Stock Taking Conference on Tiger Conservation was held in New Delhi on January 28, 2019. The 2-day conference was hosted by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in close collaboration with the Global Tiger Forum (GTA) which is an International, Intergovernmental Organization for conserving tigers in the world. In it, the 13 tiger range countries discussed on the status of the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) besides deliberations on combating wildlife trafficking. This is the second stock taking conference held in India after 2012. The major outcome of the Conference is expected to be course correction in strategies envisaged in Global and National Tiger Recovery Programs (GTRP/NTRP) which shall take tiger conservation forward to the intended goal as outlined in St. Petersburg, Russia.
6. The Delhi government has decided to provide the Capital’s farmers a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crops based on the recommendations of the M.S. Swaminathan Committee’s report. In its 2006 report, the National Commission on Farmers' chairman Prof. M S Swaminathan suggested the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) to fix MSP at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production.
7. On 26th January 2019, Nepalese batsman Rohit Paudel created history by becoming the youngest player in men’s international cricket to hit a half-century surpassing the likes of batting legends Sachin Tendulkar (in Tests) and Shahid Afridi (in ODIs). He accomplished the feat in the 2nd ODI against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai at the age of 16 years and 146 days. Hence, Paudel overtook the long-standing record held by Tendulkar, who achieved the feat in a Test against Pakistan at the age of 16 years and 213 days. In ODI cricket, the record was held by Shahid Afridi who creamed a maiden 50-over century aged 16 years and 217 days in his maiden international innings against Sri Lanka. Though, the overall record for the youngest player to hit a half-century in international cricket is held by South African female player Johmari Logtenburg who recorded Test and ODI half-centuries at the age of 14.
8. India received the Award of Excellence for ‘Best in Show’ at the recently concluded New York Times Travel Show (NYTTS-2019). It is the largest travel show in North America which is held from 25th – 27th January at the Jacob K Javits Centre in New York, United States. The Ministry of Tourism (Government of India) participated as the ‘ Presenting Partner’ in the NYTTS 2019 with a view to scale up its tourism promotional efforts in the US, enhance India’s visibility and to increase its share of US Outbound travel market. A high-level delegation led by Tourism Ministry Secretary Yogendra Tripathi and a number of stakeholders from India's tourism industry participated in the Show.
9. The Maharashtra government has launched a special scheme to curb infant deaths. The scheme is applicable only for the first child and will benefit around four lakh women across the state, Women. Each kit contains a blanket, a small mattress, a towel, a thermometer, baby oil, shampoo, toys, nail-cutter, gloves, socks, among other things. The cost of the kit is around Rs 2,000. For this cause, Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde distributed baby-care kits to the children born in primary health centres and government hospitals.
10. First time in the history of Kumbh, UP State government's cabinet meeting was held at Prayagraj Kumbh on 29th of January 2019. It is also 2nd time in the history of UP that cabinet meeting held outside the state capital. Here, the State cabinet decided to construct 600 km long Ganga Expressway from Meerut to Prayagraj with a cost of Rs. 36000 crores to provide better connectivity from Western districts to Prayagraj. The expressway is being touted as the world's longest highway. It will be built on a stretch of 6,556 hectares of land. The proposed Ganga Expressway will weave through Meerut-Amroha-Bulandshahr-Budaun-Shahjahanpur-Kannauj-Unnao-Rae Bareli-Pratapgarh and end at Prayagraj, earlier known as Allahabad. Yogi Adityanath-led cabinet also approved proposal of Gorakhpur link road project connecting Azamgarh and Ambedkarnagar with Purvanchal expressway. UP Cabinet has also decided to set up statue of Nishadraj at Sringverpur at Prayagraj and develop Ashram of Maharshi Valmiki at Chitrakoot. The Cabinet has also decided to exempt film URI from State GST as film is based on patriotism and sacrifice of soldiers. The first meeting of the Uttar Pradesh cabinet away from Lucknow was held in 1962 in Nainital when Govind Vallabh Pant was the Chief Minister.
