Current Affairs July 20-21, 2019

In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of July 20-21, 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. On 18th July 2019, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar inaugurated the 10th Jagran Film festival (JFF) at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi. The JFF is an initiative by the Jagran Prakashan Group (JPG) towards creating a culture of cinema appreciation and an honest and sincere attempt create a platform that connects great content with audiences across the country. Last year, with over 18 towns, 400 screenings, 18 cinema appreciation workshops, the festival directly touched over an audience of over 55 thousand people and the media coverage of Jagran puts the reach of JFF well beyond 50 million people across India.

2. The Andhra Bank has partnered with Floatbot to offer an Artificial Intelligence-powered virtual assistant for online banking users. The AI chatbot named “ABHi” - made by Floatbot - is integrated with Core Banking Servers (CBS) of Andhra Bank and will automate customer support for 5 crore Andhra Bank account holders. This AI chatbot solution can resolve customer queries and provide banking services in English, Hindi and Hinglish. With ABHi, customers will be able to get the information instantaneously 24x7, anytime they want. Customers can connect and know details from ABHi through website www.andhrabank.in over Mobile/Desktop browser, Facebook Messenger and over voice using Google Assistant. Customer can ask details on digital banking, loans, banking services, govt. schemes, insurance, senior citizen, RuPay Offers, Aadhaar services, payment mode, deposit/EMI Calculator, lodge a customer complaint, know nearest Branch / ATM on Google map, recharge prepaid mobile etc., on chat anytime and on move.

3. India’s track and field legend PT Usha has been nominated for the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) ‘Veteran Pin’ for her outstanding service to the sport. She is often called the “queen of track and field”. The IAAF CEO Jon Ridgeon has also extended an invitation to PT Usha to attend the award ceremony during the opening of the 52nd IAAF Congress in Qatar in September 2019. She won five gold medals -- 100 metres(m), 200m, 400m, 400 m hurdles and the 4x400 m relay -- besides a bronze in the Asian Games which were held at Jakarta in 1985 . Usha’s most memorable performance came in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics where she became the first Indian to reach the finals of the 400m hurdles, but lost the bronze by one-hundredth of a second.

4. The 5th International Police Expo 2019 was held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi with theme 'Challenges to strengthen peace and security’ from July 19 to 20. The exhibition is an interactive platform where police representatives of different nations can meet policing security equipment and technology suppliers. Over 25 countries showcased advanced firearms, combat or armoured vehicles and a plethora of disruptive technologies in cyber security, drones, homeland security, and safety and rescue at the International Police Expo. More than 100 companies from Singapore, Israel, South Korea, Taiwan, China, UK, the US, Malaysia, Germany, Australia, Poland and other nations displayed the best and advanced technologies at the expo organised by Nexgen Exhibitions. The police to people ratio at the all-India level is about 117 policemen for every 100,000 people.

5. 15-year-old Prithu Gupta from Delhi has become the India’s 64th Grandmaster as he crossed the 2500-mark. He beat IM Lev Yankelevich in the fifth round of the Portuguese League 2019 to cross the Elo threshold. Gupta has joined an elite list, 31 years after Viswanathan Anand became India’s first Grandmaster.

6. In 21st Commonwealth Table Tennis Championship 2019 held in Cuttack on 18th July, India made a record by winning gold in both men’s and women’s category at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The Indian women team won the gold for the first time in the history in the commonwealth games. The women's team defeated Singapore 3-0 to dethrone the previous champions whereas men's team outclassed England 3-2. As a result of this win, the men's team has extended their reign for the second successive time. The Indian men had won their first crown in Kuala Lumpur in 2004.

7. The 2019 Durand Cup will be the 129th edition of the Durand Cup, which will be held at Kolkata in West Bengal from August 2 to 23. This will be for the first time that the tournament will be played outside New Delhi, its traditional venue. The matches will be played across three locations in West Bengal – Kolkata, Siliguri and Kalyani in 5 different stadiums namely East Bengal Ground, Mohun Bagan Ground, Kalyani Stadium, Siliguri Stadium and Salt Lake Stadium from 2nd August 2019. Army Green is the defending champion, who won its first title beating NEROCA FC on penalties in the last edition in 2016. The Durand Cup is the Asia’s oldest football tournament and third oldest football tournament in the world.

8. The scientists from Technion — Israel Institute of Technology (IIT) have developed a concept & have named Ramanujan Machine, after the Indian mathematician. It is not really a machine but an algorithm that automatically generates conjectures for fundamental constants. The Conjectures are mathematical statements which are proposed as true statements. In other words, they are mathematical statements that are, as yet, unproven. Typically, people provide the input and the algorithm (hopefully) finds the solution. The Ramanujan Machine reverses the process. So, if a constant such as π is fed into the machine, it will generate a series whose value would lead towards π. The researchers hope that their creation will inspire younger mathematicians. If a user develops a new proof or algorithm, it will be named after him. The algorithm reflects the way Srinivasa Ramanujan worked during his brief life (1887-1920). Throughout his life, Ramanujan came up with novel equations and identities —including equations leading to the value of pi — and it was usually left to formally trained mathematicians to prove these.

9. The Union environment ministry has recently declared Rhesus Macaque monkeys as vermin in Himachal Pradesh for a period of one year & allow the state forest department to cull them for preventing crop depredation, conflict with humans and loss of property. Though Rhesus Macaque monkeys are protected species under Schedule II of the Wildilfe Protection Act of 1972, the law allows for it to be hunted by declaring it ‘vermin’ for a specific period if it poses a danger to human life or property. The section 62 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972 empowers the states to send a list of wild animals to the Centre requesting it to declare them vermin for selective slaughter.

10. Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has recently launched the All India Football Federation (AIFF)'s Golden Baby Leagues handbook 2019-20 on the sidelines of the Intercontinental Cup in Ahemadabad. The launch marked the renaming of the ‘AIFF Baby Leagues’ to ‘AIFF Golden Baby Leagues’, with emphasis being laid for ages under 6 to under 12 both for girls and boys. The handbook is a guide to help the stakeholder to organise the Golden Baby League. The Leagues aim to provide access to football in localities irrespective of gender, religion, economic background, or ethnic origin. The league can be organised by anyone, as long as the Handbook guidelines are met.


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