Current Affairs July 02, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of July 02, 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. The Uttar Pradesh government has launched massive door to door campaign “DASTAK” against Acute Encephellitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephallitis (JE) disease. The campaign, which was launched in association with UNICEF, will run from 1st to 31st July. Under this state-wide campaign teams will go door to door in every village of the 75 districts of the state to create awareness about the communicable diseases as well as JE and AES. In this massive campaign, many departments of the state especially health, rural development, primary education will work together to spread awareness about the diseases through mass media communication and will ensure availability of clean drinking water, initiate sanitation drive, ensure vaccination and early treatment so that disease should be nipped in the bud.
2. The first-ever International Security Alliance (ISA)’s joint security exercise titled ‘ISALEX19’ has kick-started in Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Area Emirates (UAE). The representatives of 50 law enforcement agencies of the ISA are participating in the exercise. The participants include representatives from tactical teams, rapid intervention units, communications, civil defence, and explosive ordnance disposal, teams. The ISA is an international working group to confront organised, transnational and extremist crimes. The alliance now comprises nine countries, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, France, Italy, Spain, Senegal, Singapore, and the Slovak Republic.
3. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has approved a new initiative - Scheme for Trans-disciplinary Research for India’s Developing Economy (STRIDE) to boost research culture in the country. The aim of STRIDE is to identify young talent, strengthen research culture, build capacity, promote innovation and support trans-disciplinary research for India’s developing economy and national development. Broadly, STRIDE will provide support to research projects that are socially relevant, locally need-based, nationally important and globally significant. STRIDE shall support research capacity building as well as basic, applied and transformational action research that can contribute to national priorities with focus on inclusive human development. STRIDE shall support creation, development and integration of new ideas, concepts and practices for public good and strengthening civil society.
4. The International Olympic Day (IOD) is celebrated every year on June 23 to promote participation in different sports throughout the world without any discrimination of the gender, age and athletic ability. The day is not confined to sports activities but a serious international effort to promote fitness and well-being in addition to the Olympic ideals of fair play, solidarity, respect and Sportsmanship across the globe.
5. The first-ever India International Cooperatives Trade Fair (IICTF) will be held in New Delhi between 11th to 13th October. The initiative is a part of the Agriculture Export Policy 2018 which aims at doubling the agriculture export and integrating Indian farmers and agriculture products with global value chains. The Trade Fair is aimed at promoting cooperative to cooperative trade within the country and abroad leading to enhanced rural and farm prosperity. The fair offers a huge opportunity for the industry and business houses from India and abroad to build alliances, product sourcing and interact with the primary producers of a wide range of products and service providers.
6. In Jammu and Kashmir, the district administration of Rajouri has been launched a campaign called “Operation Khumaar” to make 312 panchayats tobacco-free. The programme is run by the district administration to make panchayats free from tobacco and tobacco-based products. Under this programme, even the headmaster of the schools have been authorised to impose a fine on the sale of tobacco within 100 yards of school limits. Block Medical Officers (BMO) have been directed to set up counselling centres at all Community Health Centres (CHCs) to help tobacco consumers to quit this habit. The district officers have been urged upon to work in a mission mode so as to make the society free from the injurious tobacco and tobacco-based products.
7. Santosh Rana (76), the veteran Naxalite leader, has passed away in Kolkata on June 29, 2019. He is one of the foremost leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and a major thinker on caste, class and tribal politics in West Bengal and winner of a top literary award in the State. The CPI-ML (PCC) was one of the very first Naxalite groups to participate in elections. Under his leadership, CPI-ML (PCC) was active in parts of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam. It played a significant role in opposing the CPI-M led government during the Nandigram land agitation, which contributed to the electoral debacle of the Left Front in West Bengal. He argued in his award-winning autobiography, Rajnitir Ek Jibon [A Life in Politics], that the Left in India made a huge mistake as they never analysed and responded to the caste question.
8. The book titled “A Prime Minister to Remember- Memories of a Military Chief” has been authored by former Navy Chief Admiral Sushil Kumar. The book is about the huge impact that the late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had on the armed forces of India. The author called Kargil as the finest hour of Vajpayee . He credits Vajpayee for turning the strategic tactical loss into a massive victory and for which he gave full credit to the Armed Forces. Admiral Kumar was the Navy Chief between 1998 and 2001 and oversaw the Kargil conflict in 1999.
9. The Odisha government has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with state's table tennis body and Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) to host the 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship. The tournament is scheduled to be held at the Jawaharlal Indoor Stadium in Cuttack from July 17-22, 2019. The tournament has received a good entry with 14 associations, consisting India, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, England, Scotland, Wales, Jersey, Australia, Cyprus, South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan.
10. Under the emergency provisions, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has signed an Rs 200 crore defence deal with Russia to acquire 'Strum Ataka' anti-tank missile for its fleet of Mi-35 attack choppers. The Mi-35s are the existing attack choppers of the Indian Air Force and are set to be replaced with the Apache gunships being acquired from the US and slated to be delivered from next month onwards. Earlier, in June 2019, IAF signed Rs 300 crore deal with an Israeli defence firm to procure a batch of 'Spice 2000' guided bombs. These bombs are already present with the IAF and were used in the Balakot air strikes by Dassault’s Mirage 2000 to target Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps across the Line of Control (LoC). With this, the IAF has emerged as the frontrunner in terms of weapon acquisition under the emergency procurement, followed by the Indian Army. Under the emergency powers given to the three services, they can buy the equipment of their choice within three months at a cost of up to Rs 300 crore per case.
