Current Affairs July 22, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of July 22, 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 Union Government has proposed light urban rail transit system - 'Metrolite' - in small cities and towns having lower projection of ridership, with each train having three coaches and a restricted speed of 25 kmph. The 'Metrolite' can be developed at a lower cost in comparison with existing metro system & will also act as feeder system to high capacity Metro. The three-coach train will have capacity of carrying 300 passengers. Sources said the government would provide financial assistance to states to implement the light urban rail transit system. It will have a dedicated path separating the road traffic with it. For segregation with road traffic, fencing can be provided on either side of network. The 'Metrolite' system will have shelter platforms. Metrolite platforms will not have AFC gates, platform screen doors, X-ray and baggage scanner. The 'Metrolite' train will comprise three non-separable coaches with low floor height of about 300-350 mm. Unit length should be of minimum 33 m. The car structure material will be stainless steel or aluminium.
2. Arun Kumar Roy (90), the veteran Left leader and chief patron of CITU Jharkhand state committee, has passed away in Dhanbad, Jharkhand on 21st July 2019. He was the former Lok Sabha MP and founder of Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC). Roy won the Dhanbad Lok Sabha seat in 1977, 1980 and 1989. He also represented Sindri in the Bihar Assembly in 1967, 1969 and 1972. Along with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren and former MP, the late Binod Bihari Mahto, Roy began the Jharkhand movement that demanded a separate State from Bihar in 1971. Jharkhand became a separate State on November 15, 2000. Roy was called a ‘political saint’ by his associates and followers, as his bank account always showed a ‘zero’ balance.
3. Four-time Asian medallist Shiva Thapa has become the India's first gold-medallist at the President's Cup boxing tournament after getting a walkover in the finals in Astana, Kazakhstan on July 20, 2019. It was his international debut in the newly-introduced Olympic category of 63kg. Thapa was to fight Kazakhstan's Zakir Safiullin in the summit clash but his opponent had to pull out due to injury. Earlier, this year, Thapa had lost to Safiullin in the 2019 Asian Championship semifinal.
4. The Kerala Government has decided to set up a state-of-the-art Space Systems Park at Knowledge City Thiruvananthapuram to attract global start-ups working in space sector and also develop it as a major manufacturing hub for space-related technology, research and development. The state government has claimed that it will be the India’s first space park. The state government has issued orders to make Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Centre and Space Museum part of the space park and to allot the land required for the facility. This will be an added attraction to the park and the entire investment will be made by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). The government will transfer 20.01 acres as lease to the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd (KSITIL) to develop the space park at Knowledge City within Technocity as an international space technology ecosystem. Of this, 16.07 acres, now having SEZ status, will be denotified by KSITIL. The land belongs to Technopark. The project will be implemented by the Electronics and IT Department, government of Kerala.
5. Indian bodybuilder Ravinder Kumar Malik has clinched Mr. South Asia title. He has crowned the overall champion at 12th South Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Championship in Kathmandu on July 20, 2019. Malik, the winner of 80 kg category, was adjudged best bodybuilder among the winners of nine senior men's weight categories. Afghanistan won team championship by securing a top position with 535 points. Host Nepal finished second with 445 points, while India remained third with 380 points. A total of 91 bodybuilders participated in the championship organised by South Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Federation under the auspices of Nepal Bodybuilding and Fitness Association.
6. The Eleventh biennial edition of DefExpo India - 2020 is scheduled to be held for the first time in Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow from 5th February 2020. The 4-day event will offer an excellent opportunity for the Indian defence industry to showcase its capabilities and promote its export potential. The main theme of the DefExpo India- 2020 will be -- India - the Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub and the focus will be on Digital Transformation of Defence. The exhibition will also highlight the emergence of Uttar Pradesh as an attractive destination for investment in the defence sector and act as a platform for alliances and joint ventures in the defence industry. The DefExpo will provide an opportunity to the major foreign Original Equipment Manufacturers to collaborate with the Indian defence industry and help promote Make in India initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
7. The 17th edition of the Homeless World Cup football tournament will take place in Cardiff in Wales from July 27 to August 3, 2019. The tournament is organised by the Homeless World Cup Foundation, which uses football as a vehicle to help homeless people learn to trust, share, and build relationships and discipline. As per the Homeless World Cup Foundation, players must be at least 16 years old and should not have taken part in a previous edition of the World Cup. Indian men's and women's football squads, led by Amrit Pal Singh and Sujata Rai, would take part in the 2019 football tournament. Singh hails from Bhathinda in Punjab while Sujata Rai is from West Bengal. Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain.
8. In a bid to preserve the drug’s efficacy in humans, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has banned the manufacture, sale and distribution of Colistin and its formulations for food-producing animals, poultry, aqua farming and animal feed supplements. The ban has been imposed under provisions of section 26A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act of 1940 and a notification in this regard has been issued by the Centre. According to a ministry official, the antibiotic is being used as a last resort for treatment of patients suffering from infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. But the drug is highly misused in poultry industry as a growth promoter for prophylactic purpose.
9. The Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) facility has been inaugurated by Union Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), a CSIR lab in Hyderabad. This is the fourth such facility in the country, which can sequence 30 human genomes (or 384 diagnostic samples) in a day. It costs around Rs 1 lakh to sequence one genome using this facility. This opens up multiple avenues in investigating fundamental biology of individual cells in tissues as well as fighting disease like cancer through understanding the heterogeneity in cell populations. By using the facility, scientists hope to find genetic cause of rare diseases and develop kits which can be used to find population at the risk of genetic or other rare diseases. These services would be available to hospitals, industry, and academicians by paying charges.
10. The 2019 edition of India and China joint military exercise titled "Hand-in-Hand" will be held in Umroi near Shillong, Meghalaya in December 2019. It will be a two-week exercise which will be based on counter-terrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations. The exercise aims to build close relations between the armies of the two countries. It comes in the backdrop of situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which has so far remained peaceful. It will be a company-level exercise, where around 120 troops from each side will be participating.
