Current Affairs July 29, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of July 29, 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 third edition of Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG-2020) is scheduled to be held in Guwahati, Assam from 18th January 2020. The Games will see participation of more than 10,000 athletes and officials. It will be conducted in partnership with Indian Olympic Association (IOA), School Games Federation of India & Assam as host State. The first edition was held in New Delhi, while Pune hosted the 2nd one in 2019.
2. The Hindu Economic Forum (HEF) has launched its Nepal Chapter. On this occasion, the founder of World Hindu Economic Forum (WHEF) Swami Vigyananand said economic empowerment is very necessary to get due respect and recognition in the modern world. The basic objective of Nepal chapter is to increase economic cooperation between India and Nepal and to connect the Himalayan nation with a global network for its economic prosperity. HEF brings together financially successful elements within Hindu society so that each group can share their business knowledge, expertise and resources with their fellow brethren to trigger the creation of surplus wealth and make society prosperous. HEF is affiliated with WHEF. It has national chapters in various countries like Bharat, Germany, Kenya etc. and city chapters within those countries such as HEF-Mumbai, HEF-Washington DC etc.
3. The scientists at the IIT-Kanpur have developed two-finger robotic hand (exoskeleton) to help paralysed stroke patients. For the exoskeleton, Prof. Ashish Dutta and Prof. KS Venkatesh have partnered with the University of Ulster (based in the United Kingdom) and their teacher Girijesh Prasad, who belongs to Gorakhpur. The exoskeleton uses a four-bar mechanism and has four degrees of freedom (DOF). It can be used by a patient on the hand. It uses brain signals, with the help of the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) that is worn on the head, and helps paralyzed patients to open and close the movement of their thumb, forefinger and middle fingers for physical practice. The exoskeleton is operated by a MEGA microcontroller of 300 Mhz and powered by a battery. The device will cost around Rs 15,000.
4. The World Hepatitis Day (WHD) is observed every year on 28rd of July to raise awareness about the disease which causes inflammation of the liver and claims around 1.4 million lives every year. The date of 28 July was chosen because it is the birthday of Nobel-prize winning scientist Dr Baruch Blumberg, who discovered hepatitis B virus (HBV) and developed a diagnostic test and vaccine for the virus. The host country for WHD 2019 is Pakistan and the theme for this year is “Invest in eliminating hepatitis“. Hepatitis is preventable, treatable, and in the case of hepatitis C, curable. However, over 80% of people living with hepatitis are lacking prevention, testing and treatment services.
5. Jaipal Reddy (77), the former Union Minister & Senior Congress leader, has passed away in Hyderabad on July 28, 2019. He joined politics as a student leader of Osmania University and went on to become Congress MLA in 1970s . In the wake of an upsurge of opposition to former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi after she imposed Emergency in the country, Reddy joined Janata Party and later Janata Dal in the splinter groupings that took place. He rejoined Congress in 1999 and was elected to Lok Sabha from Miryalguda in 2004. He won the next time in 2009 from Chevella constituency. He was Union Minister in Federal front government earlier and Congress-led UPA I and UPA II regimes. He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times and Rajya Sabha twice.
6. After nearly four decades, Chandigarh has finally received affiliation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Now, the city can also have its own team in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments organised by the BCCI. This was stated by Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA) President Sanjay Tandon. Following the development, Chandigarh cricketers, who were earlier forced to represent Punjab or Haryana to be able to play at the national or international level, can now directly represent the city. UTCA was registered in 1982 and since then various attempts were made to get the affiliation. Delhi is the only other Union Territory with BCCI affiliation.
7. Lt Gen Paramjit Singh, who has vast experience in counter-terror operations, will be the next Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of the Indian Army. He will succeed Lt Gen Anil Chauhan on October 15. Currently, he is serving as General Officer Commanding of the Army's Nagrota-based XVI Corps. As DGMO, Lt Gen Singh will oversee various operations of the Indian Army including along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. He has vast experience in high-altitude warfare, including a tenure at the Siachen Glacier. He spent most of his career conducting counter insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir, besides taking part in operations against the LTTE in Sri Lanka. He was also involved in the planning of the 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.
8. Renowned Indian sand artist and Padma Awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik has won the People’s Choice Award at a prestigious sand sculpting festival in the United States. He won the award for his sand sculpture ‘Stop Plastic Pollution, Save Our Ocean’ at the 2019 Revere Beach International Sand Sculpting Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. Pattnaik was the sole representative from India and Asia. The award-winning sculpture showed a turtle caught in a plastic bag and a fish with plastic trash such as slippers, bottles and glass inside its body. The tail of the fish is in the mouth of a human, signifying how plastic pollution in the oceans is adversely impacting human beings also when they consume sea food.
9. Six-time world champion & Olympic bronze medallist, MC Mary Kom claimed gold in the 51kg category at the 23rd President's Cup by defeating Australia's April Franks by 5-0. She asserted her supremacy in a lop-sided 51kg bout final in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia. The 36-year-old Indian had also won a gold medal at the India Open boxing tournament in May 2019. She is looking to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the World Championships in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The 2019 World Boxing Championships for women will be held from September 7 to 21.
10. The 5th International Dharma-Dhamma conference was held in Rajgir, Bihar from 27-28 July 2019. Approx 200 delegates from 15 countries participated in the conference. The main purpose of this conference was to address people about the terror, violence and global warming prevalent in the world. This two-day conference addressed the subjects of Sat-Chit-Ananda and Nirvana which are the pivotal topics of Buddhism. The Dharma-Dhamma conference will act as a platform for the Hindu and Buddhist thinkers to express their views.
