Current Affairs July 15, 2019

In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of July 15, 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. In Tennis, Serbian Novak Djokovic won his fifth Wimbledon title after defeating Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 in a match that lasted for more than 4 hours. The match had to be decided in the fifth set, as both Federer and Djokovic won two sets each in the longest ever final to be played so far. This is Djokovic's 16th Grand Slam and 5th Wimbledon title. He is now level with Bjorn Borg as a five-time Wimbledon winner.

2. The captain of the New Zealand, Kane Williamson has been adjudged player of the tournament at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup for his excellent returns with the bat and inspiring leadership. On 14th July 2019, England lifted their first-ever ICC World Cup cricket trophy after defeating New Zealand in a nerve-wracking final that was decided via a dramatic Super Over in London. Opting to bat, New Zealand put up a modest 241 for eight. In reply, England ended at the same score leading to the one-over eliminator at the Lord's. In the Super Over, England batted first and the duo of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler made 15, and New Zealand also ended at the same score but for the loss of one wicket, paving the way for an English victory on boundary count. England's Ben Stokes is named player of the match for a heroic knock of 84 not out off 92 balls.

3. Pardeep Singh from Punjab has created a new Commonwealth record in the clean and jerk category on the way to gold in the 109kg category by lifting 202 kgs at the 2019 Commonwealth Championships (CWC) in Apia (Samoa). Two-time Commonwealth Games medallist Vikas Thakur clinched the silver in the men's 96 kg event. Vikas lifted a total of 338 kg (153kg185kg). India ended their campaign with a rich tally of 35 medals in the youth, junior and senior categories, breaking numerous national, Commonwealth, world and Asian records.

4. Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat has won gold in the 53kg category at Yasar Dogu International in Istanbul. Phogat beat her Russian opponent Ekaterina Poleshchuk 9-5 in the final match to bag the gold medal. It was third gold in the women's competition for India after Seema (50kg) and Manju (59kg) triumphed in their respective categories.

5. Meghalaya has become the first state in India to approve a draft water policy to address water issues, conservation, and protection of water sources in the state. The draft policy was approved by the State Cabinet in a meeting chaired by state Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma. The purpose of the policy is to recognize water resources as a common pool resource, to provide safe and hygienic water for drinking, domestic and sanitation and livelihood development to all residents of the state. It seeks to protect and improve management of water resources while actively involving the community. It also aims at ensuring protection and conservation of catchment areas of all water sources to prevent degradation of the quantity and quality of water sources.

6. The critically acclaimed Bengali movie, Nagarkirtan has won the Best Feature Film award at the 9th edition of SAARC film festival 2019 in Colombo. The movie, which was directed by Kaushik Ganguly, has also won the 'Best Director', 'Best Actor' and 'Best Original Score' awards. It’s a love story of a transwoman and a flautist. Two other Indian films have won awards at the fest. 'Na Bole Wo Haram', a 20-minute film by debutant director Nitish Patankar, bagged the 'Best Short Film' award, while 'Walking With the Wind' by Praveen Morchhale received the Special Jury award for direction and story.

7. The West Bengal government has observed the first-ever Save Water Day on 12th July 2019 across the state to spread the message of water conservation. From now onwards, the day will be observed in the state every year to create awareness among people to check misuse of water. The state government also organized the Padayatra in Kolkata to save the natural resource as water scarcity has become a major issue in the world.

8. Kalraj Mishra, the former Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), has been appointed the new Governor of Himachal Pradesh. He replaced Acharya Devvrat, who has been transferred and appointed as the Governor of Gujarat. Mr. Mishra (78) had resigned from the Narendra Modi-led government as Minister for MSME in 2017 after he crossed the age of 75, the BJP’s unofficial age limit for holding an elected post.

9. Hussain Muhammad Ershad (89), the former military dictator of Bangladesh, has passed away in Dhaka on July 14, 2019. He was the Jatiya Party chief and also the leader of the opposition in Parliament. He was born in 1930 in Coochbehar district of West Bengal state in the then British India. His parents migrated to present-day Bangladesh, which was then a part of Pakistan, in 1948, after the end of British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent. In 1982, Ershad took over the state power in a bloodless coup and subsequently ran the country for 8 years until he was forced to quit in a pro-democracy mass upsurge in 1990. Despite being imprisoned subsequently on several charges, Ershad emerged as one of the most powerful political leaders in the 1990s after his Jatiya Party became the country’s third biggest political outfit. His rule was marked by a controversial move to make Islam the state religion of the officially secular Bangladesh.

10. The Spektr-RG space telescope is a joint venture of Russia & Germany that will map X-rays across the entire sky in unprecedented detail. It has been successfully launched into the space from the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 13th July 2019. The Spektr-RG is a space observatory intended to replace the Spektr-R (Known as the “Russian Hubble”). The hope is Spektr-RG can provide fresh insights on the accelerating behaviour of cosmic expansion. It should also identify a staggering number of new X-ray sources, such as the colossal black holes that reside at the centre of galaxies.


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