Current Affairs - 2019-20

Notes:
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the abolition of tax on agricultural income in March 2016 while presenting the state budget for 2016-17. This in turn will provide relief to several tea and coffee companies apart from thousands of individual coffee growers. Plantation companies had to pay 35 percent tax on their net income.

Notes:
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is the apex government body responsible for laying down policies related to disaster management in India. It is chaired by Prime Minister and has nine other members. It was set up as per the Disaster Management Act, 2005. It is mainly involved in coordinating response to natural and manmade disasters and improving disaster resilience within India. As the northeastern state of Assam faces floods and rain-induced landslides, NDMA has recently released dos and don’ts before, during and after the floods. It also provided tips to follow during the evacuation process.

Notes:
The gross direct tax collections has registered a growth of 30% in the current financial year in comparison to 2021-22.

Notes:
CAR-T cell therapy is a gene therapy for cancers like Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. It involves extracting T cells from a patient’s blood, modifying them in a lab to target cancer cells, and reintroducing them into the body. This modification uses a gene for the Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR).

Notes:
Aducanumab, developed by Biogen, is the first FDA-approved drug for Alzheimer’s disease in 20 years. It uses monoclonal antibodies to reduce amyloid beta, a protein that forms brain plaques associated with the disease. While it slows disease progression, it does not cure it. The drug is administered monthly via intravenous infusion and is considered expensive.

Notes:
The Gatekeeper Model by NIMHANS aims to prevent suicides among prison inmates by training selected inmates to identify those at risk and refer them for treatment. Additionally, a Buddy System will be implemented, where trained ‘buddies’ provide social support to suicidal prisoners.

Notes:
The Kanai Chatta Shrirampur Natural Gas Pipeline supplies re-gasified LNG from West Bengal to Shrirampur, Bangladesh. The Motihari Amlekhgunj Pipeline transports petroleum products from Barauni refinery in Bihar to Amlekhgunj, Nepal.

Notes:
Colson Whitehead’s celebrated novel The Underground Railroad, in April 2017, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The blockbuster novel depicts the journey of a young woman escaping from slavery via a fantastical train system.

Notes:
Noted English writer Neelum Saran Gour, author of Requiem in Raga Janki, in January 2019, bagged The Hindu Prize 2018 for fiction at The Hindu Lit for Life 2019 in Chennai. Bengali writer and socio-political activist Manoranjan Byapari, author of Interrogating my Chandal Life: An Autobiography of a Dalit, bagged The Hindu Prize 2018 for non-fiction.

Notes:
Harika Dronavalli is an Indian chess grandmaster.

• She was conferred with the Padma Shri Award on 11th March 2019.
• She has won three bronze medals in the Women’s World Chess Championship, in 2012, 2015 and 2017.