Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Piyush Goyal has been appointed as the new Union Minister of Railways after latest Union cabinet reshuffle on September 3, 2017. He succeeded Suresh Prabhu, who has become the new Union Minister of Commerce and Industry. Prabhu resigned from the post after a series of train accidents in August 2017. Apart from Railways, Piyush Goyal retains the Ministry of coal. Along with Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Nirmala Sitharaman and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were promoted to the cabinet rank.

Notes:
The International Day of Forests is observed every year on March 21 to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests and of trees outside forests for the benefit of current and future generations. The 2017 theme is ‘Forests and Energy’. The theme highlights the importance of wood energy in improving people’s lives, powering sustainable development and mitigating climate change.
 

Notes:
The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority group that are native to the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China. The Uyghurs are predominantly Muslim and are culturally affiliated with Central and East Asia. The Uyghurs have been protesting against the increasing settlements of Han Chinese in the Xinjiang province.  The Chinese government has committed human rights abuses against the Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities. China’s counterterrorism efforts focus on the mostly Muslim ethnic Uighur population in the western Xinjiang region.  According to the 2020 census, the total population of Xinjiang was 25.85 million. The Han ethnic group numbered 10.92 million, and ethnic minorities numbered 14.93 million.

Notes:
Major General Jose Eladio Alcain of Uruguayan Army has been appointed new Head of Mission and Chief Military Observer for UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP). He will succeed Major General Per Gustaf Lodin of Sweden, who will complete his two year assignment in July 2018. In 1948, the UN Security Council (UNSC) established the UN Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) to investigate the dispute between India and Pakistan regarding the disputed state of Kashmir. In 1949, UNCIP was absorbed into the UNMOGIP, which supervises the ceasefire between India and Pakistan and to monitor the peace in Kashmir.

Notes:
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a 2-member monitoring committee to oversee the Yamuna rejuvenation project. The committee, comprising former Delhi Chief Secretary Shailaja Chandra and retired NGT expert member Bikram Singh Sajwan, has been directed to submit the first action plan by September 2018 and report by December 2018. The green panel also directed the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments to assist the committee on the project. The Tribunal directed the authorities to take strict action against encroachments on the Yamuna floodplains. It also directed the Delhi Development Authority and the Delhi Jal Board to hold a meeting on July 30 for identifying land for setting up of a sewage treatment plant on a drain which falls under phase-II of the Yamuna cleaning programme. The current chairperson of the NGT is Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, retired Supreme Court Judge.

Notes:
As per the India State of Forest Report 2017, Arunachal Pradesh has the maximum carbon stock of 994.5 million tonnes followed by Madhya Pradesh (695.5 million tonnes), Chhattisgarh (560.9 million tonnes) and Maharashtra (493 million tonnes).

Notes:
Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm is a joint venture between India and Sri Lanka.

Notes:
Recently, Scientists from India have discovered seven new frog species belonging to the genus Nyctibatrachus, in the Western Ghats. These adorable creatures are among the smallest in the world, and four of the new species are tiny enough to fit on a fingernail.

Notes:
Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the longest road tunnel named Chenani-Nashri Tunnel, located in Jammu & Kashmir. It is the 9-km-long tunnel built at an altitude of 1200 meters, and it passes through the lower Himalayan mountain range on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway 44. It cuts the distance between Jammu and Srinagar to around 250 km from the current 350 km. It is also Asia’s longest bi-directional highway tunnel.

Notes:
The proposed Chilahati-Haldibari rail route will link India and Bangladesh, and is expected to be functional by 2020.