Current Affairs July 30, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of July 30, 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 30th July 2019, the Government of India (GoI) has kick off the 7th Economic Census from Tripura. It will be launched in other states and union territories in August and September. The census is being conducted by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) & will be held this year after a gap of five years. The ministry has partnered with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics and Information. The census would also cover all establishments, including household enterprises, engaged in production or distribution of goods and services. The data will be collected through door to door survey of each household and commercial establishment under the provisions of Collection of Statistics Act 2008. The fieldwork is expected to be completed by December and the results at the national level is expected to be available by March 2020. The economic census is the only source of information on the significantly large unorganized sector in the country. As per the last Economic Census conducted in 2013, there were 58.5 million establishments employing around 131 million workers.
2. The 22nd National Conference on e-Governance 2019 will be held with the theme “Digital India: Success to Excellence” on 8-9th August 2019 at Shillong, Meghalaya. It is being organized by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), in association with Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the State Government of Meghalaya. This is the first time that the event is being organized in the North-Eastern region of the country. The conference will provide a platform to disseminate knowledge on effective methods of designing and implementing sustainable e-Governance initiatives to provide end-to-end Digital services, exchange experience in solving problems, mitigating risks, resolving issues and planning for success. The Conference at Shillong is part of the DARPG’s 100 days initiatives in the new Union Government. 28 States and 8 Union Territories will participate in the 22nd National e-Governance Conference. Over 450 delegates are expected to attend the Conference.
3. Researchers from China and the U.S. have developed a novel computer model that can help accurately predict air pollution levels in the region a season in advance. The statistical model uses certain climatic patterns related to the oceans which have a regulatory effect on the wintertime air pollution over northern India. The new model could allow the government to forecast aerosol pollution conditions in winter and accordingly improve plans for pollution control. The study found that the inter-annual variability of wintertime aerosol pollution over northern India is regulated mainly by a combination of El Nino -- a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns -- and the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), a low-frequency mode of atmospheric variability of the southern hemisphere. Both El Nino sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies and AAO-induced anomalies can persist from autumn to winter, offering prospects for a pre-winter forecast of wintertime aerosol pollution over northern India.
4. Dr. Donkupar Roy (64), the current Meghalaya Assembly Speaker and former Chief Minister of the state, has passed away in Gurugram on July 28, 2019. Donkupar Roy - who headed the United Democratic Party (UDP) - was seen as one of the most influential politicians from the Khasi community. The UDP was a key partner in the Conrad Sangma's National People's Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.
5. Congress floor leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been appointed chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Chowdhury is the lone member of the party in the PAC from the House. The appointment was made by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The PAC has 15 members from the Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha. It is one of the most important finance committees in the Parliament along with the Estimates committee (EC) and Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU). The purpose of PAC is to audit the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India (GoI). Beside this, the Estimates Committee (EC) will be headed by Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, COPU will be headed by Meenakshi Lekhi and Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be headed by Kirit Premjibhai Solanki.
6. VK Johri, a 1984-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as the new Director General (DG) of Border Security Force (BSF). He will take over the charge of the BSF from incumbent Rajni Kanti Mishra, who retires on August 31. Johri is presently serving as the Special Secretary in the external intelligence agency RAW, under the Cabinet Secretariat. He will attain superannuation in September, 2020. The BSF is the India’s largest border guarding force and is tasked to secure two of India's most important and sensitive fronts with Pakistan and Bangladesh. The two other border guarding forces are ITBP (China) and SSB (Nepal and Bhutan).
7. The Deep Ocean Mission (DOM) has finally got the green signal from the Government of India (GoI). It is five-year, Rs 8000-crore plan to explore the deepest recesses of the ocean & will be launched by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences. The mission proposes to explore the deep ocean similar to the space exploration started by ISRO about 35 years ago. A major thrust of the mission will be looking for metals and minerals. India has been allotted a site of 75,000 sq. km. in the Central Indian Ocean Basin (CIOB) by the UN International Sea Bed Authority for exploitation of Poly-Metallic Nodules (PMN). These are rocks scattered on the seabed containing iron, manganese, nickel and cobalt. It has been estimated that 380 million metric tonnes of PMN are available at the bottom of the seas in the Central Indian Ocean (CIO).
8. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has invited Nepal to be the partner country for the ‘Gita Jayanti Mahotsav 2019’ scheduled to be held at Kurukshetra. He extended the invitation to Ambassador of Nepal to India Nilamber Acharya. The Geeta Jayanti falls on the Shukla Ekadashi of the waxing phase of Moon in the Hindu month of Margashirsha. It symbolizes the birth of Shrimad Bhagavad-Gita, the sacred text of the Hindus. The Geeta Jayanti Mahotsav possesses huge significance and importance as it is regarded as the birthday of Bhagavad-Gita which is considered as the most pious and influential scriptures of Hindu mythology. It comprises political, spiritual, psychological, practical and philosophical values. Thus, to commemorate the sacred day when Lord Krishna offered his philosophical teachings to King Arjuna during the battle of Kurukshetra, people celebrate Gita Jayanti.
9. Under the aegis of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), the NITI Aayog and has partnered with Facebook-owned WhatsApp to support and promote women entrepreneurs in India. Both will announce an annual calendar of events aimed at capacity building of women entrepreneurs and develop specific programmes aimed at addressing challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. The initiative will target registered users of the WEP forum in India. WhatsApp will also partner with the Women Transforming India (WTI) Awards 2019, a flagship initiative of NITI Aayog and provide $100,000 for the WTI winners. The WTI Awards are organised by the NITI Aayog in partnership with the United Nations. These awards recognize and celebrate the contributions of women who are not just addressing and solving key societal challenges but also challenging the stereotypes and breaking the glass ceiling.
10. The scientists at IIT Hyderabad have developed low-cost, environment-friendly solar cells by employing an off-the-shelf dye used to make kumkum or vermilion in India. The Dye-Sensitised Solar Cell (DSSC) is based on New Fuchsin (NF) dye with aqueous electrolyte and platinum-free counter electrodes. The research is published in the Solar Energy journal. The most familiar solar cells today are made up of silicon. However, this technology is limited by huge fabrication costs as silicon processing is very expensive and involves very high temperature methods that leave a large carbon footprint. DSSC is a third-generation thin-film organic molecule-based energy conversion device. It consists of three components: A monolayer of dye molecule adsorbed on semiconductor material, titanium dioxide (TiO2) deposited on transparent conductive oxides, like indium tin oxide (ITO) and a liquid electrolyte with an excess of electrons. DSSCs are generally considered eco-friendlier to produce than conventional solar cells because they require little energy to manufacture. The best performing DSSCs use organic solvent-based liquid electrolytes.
