Current Affairs - JUNE 2019

National News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a commemorative coin of Rs 350 to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh on 13 January 2019, who was the 10th Sikh Guru.
• The Coimbatore city police launched the 'Police-E-Eye' mobile application to enable the public to take photographs of traffic rule violators and upload them to the police. Based on this, the traffic department would issue photo challans to the violators' place to collect the fine amount.
• The government of India has decided to induct women for the first time in Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) role in Corps of Military Police. The women will be inducted in a graded manner to eventually comprise 20% of total Corps of Military Police. Their role would range from probing rape and molestation cases to assisting the Army wherever required
• The government has notified a High-Level Committee for implementation of Clause six of the Assam Accord and the committee is headed by former IAS officer M.P. Bezbaruah. It will assess the appropriate level of reservation of seats in the Assam Assembly and local bodies for the Assamese people, besides providing employment opportunities.
• Rajasthan is the first state in India to launch a cow ministry. Otaram Devasi was India’s first Minister for cows. Madhya Pradesh is the second state in India to set up a ministry for cows
• Indian Army has carried out an operation codenamed ‘Operation Sunrise’ in Indo Myanmar border to wipe out who were planning to hit the Indian workers at the Kaladan Transit project. It was a joint operation carried out by both Indian and Myanmar armies. Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project involving India and Myanmar is critical to the connectivity between North East and Myanmar.
• Freedom Baby is India’s first penguin that was born in Mumbai's Byculla zoo on Independence day. However, the baby couldn’t survive due to anomalies associated with newborn penguins.
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched a special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva VIgyani KAryakram” (??????)from this year, in tune with the Government’s vision “Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan”.   The Program is primarily aimed at imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space Science and Space Applications to the younger ones with the intent of arousing their interest in the emerging areas of Space activities. Those who have finished 8th standard and currently studying in 9th standard will be eligible for the programme.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared ‘April 2019-March 2020’ as Construction-Technology year and stressed on use of advanced technology to meet the increasing demand of housing in the country caused by rapid urbanisation.
• In Assam, Railway Protection Force of Lumding Division has taken a significant step towards enhancing the security of women in the North East region. A dedicated RPF Women Squad named as ‘JOYMATI BAHINI’, comprising women sub-inspector and constables of the Railway Protection Force was formally launched at Kamkhaya Railway Station in Guwahati.

The main aim of the Joymati Bahini is to strengthen women security around Guwahati region within railway premises and trains.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released visually impaired friendly New Series Circulation Coins 2019 in New Delhi. The new series includes coins of Rs.1, Rs.2, Rs.5, Rs.10 and Rs.20 denominations. The coins are characterized by the increasing size and weight from lower to higher denominations.  National Institute of Design has designed the new coins which have been produced by Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited and the Finance Ministry.
• Kerala has become the first State to set up a price monitoring and research unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO). The move comes more than five years after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) proposed such a system for the States and the Union Territories.
• The Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) in New Delhi.

A tentative national level target of 20%–30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration by 2024 is proposed under the NCAP taking 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration. 

• The government of Maharashtra introduced the Atal Solar Krishi Pump Yojana to reduce losses due to non-payment of electricity bills and also promote solar energy. It has decided to give two LED bulbs, a DC fan and a mobile charging socket as freebies to farmers enrolling under the Atal Solar Krishi Pump Yojana.
• An agreement for Renukaji Dam Multipurpose Project was signed among six states- Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. The Dam will Augment Water Availability for Delhi, Haryana, UP, HP, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.  Three storage projects are proposed to be constructed on the river Yamuna and two of its tributaries - Tons and Giri in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh of Upper Yamuna Basin. These include Lakhwar project on river Yamuna in Uttarakhand , Kishau on river Tons in Uttarakhand and  Himachal Pradesh and  Renukaji on river Giri in Himachal Pradesh.
• Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed Official Language (Amendment) Bill 2019 to make Sanskrit as the second official language of the state. The first official language of Himachal is Hindi.
• The 17th Lok Sabha includes 24 cabinet ministers, 9 ministers of state with independent charge and 24 ministers of state. Seventy-eight seats have been won by women candidates in the 17th Lok Sabha elections, the highest since the first Lok Sabha in 1952. Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are sending the highest number of women to the house, 11 each

• In an attempt to combat human trafficking, the West Bengal government has rolled out a scheme, Swayangsiddha, in different districts of the State.

The scheme aims to empower young boys and girls to make informed choices so that they are less vulnerable to trafficking and child marriage.

As the per the NCRB data West Bengal has highest recorded case of trafficking among the States.

• The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai's Deonar has become the first campus in the country to have a gender-neutral hostel.
• Karnataka government has issued a circular according to which school bags cannot weigh more than 10% of the average body weight of students. The bags of students of Class I and II can only weigh around 1.5kg to 2kg while those of Class III, IV and V can weigh 2kg to 3kg. Students from Class VI-VIII can have their bags weighing only up to 3kg-4kg and those of Class IX and X can weigh up to 5kg. This direction is binding on schools across the state from this academic year.
• World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated on 5th June every year. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) celebrates WED focussing on the theme declared by UNEP and organizes several events.  This year’s theme was ‘Air Pollution’. Union Environment Ministry launched the song 'Hawa Aane De' to spread awareness about Air pollution. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change has recently launched the National Clean Air programme (NCAP) which is a mid-term 5 Year Action Plan with targets of 20-30% reduction of PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration in 102 cities, out of which 84 cities have already submitted their action plan.  The main objective of NCAP is to control and abate air pollution across the country.  It is a multi sectoral and collaborative approach with mainstreaming and integration.
• The Indian Army is commemorating 2019 as the ‘Year of Next of Kin’. It plans to reach out to the next of kin of battle casualties, ex-servicemen and serving soldiers to inform them of entitled financial benefits, welfare schemes and help resolve pension-related problems.
• National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has developed the world's first complete parent-wise genome assembly of buffalo.Named as 'NDDB ABRO Murrah', the genome assembly of riverine buffaloes would provide more insights about buffalo genome.

International News

• Malala Yousafzai is the author of the book ‘We are Displaced: My Journey and Stories from Refugee Girls Around the World.’ The author describes her own experience of being displaced in Pakistan and later forced to move to England, and tells stories from nine other displaced people around the world.
• The UK’s Royal Mint unveiled a new commemorative 50 pence coin inspired by the late legendary British physicist Stephen Hawking’s seminal work on black holes. Hawking, one of the world’s best-known theoretical physicists who died aged 76 last year, joins the ranks of other eminent scientists such Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin to have a commemorative coin in honour of one of his greatest discoveries that black holes should not be all black.

The coin, on sale in silver and gold forms for a price range between 55 and 795 pounds on the Royal Mint’s website, is a nod to Hawking’s research into black holes and his ability to make science accessible for all.

• Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of central Pahang state was crowned as Malaysia’s 16th king. The move came nearly a month after the sudden abdication of Sultan Muhammad V.
• Former Army captain, Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil's President after defeating leftist opponent Fernando Haddad.
• Kepler space telescope is a retired space telescope launched by NASA to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars. It was named after astronomer Johannes Kepler and was launched on March 7, 2009 and NASA announced its retirement on October 30, 2018.
• Zuzana ?aputová will be the first woman to hold the presidency, as well as the youngest president in the history of Slovakia, at age 45. Sahle Work Zewde is the first female president of Ethiopia.
• Italy became the first G7 country to join China's controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Rome, endorsing the global infrastructure-building scheme.
• The Republic of Ireland Voted by a landslide to legalise abortion in its sixth referendum on the issue. Ireland’s eighth amendment, which its voters have rejected, hitherto gave equal rights to the foetus and the woman carrying it. An Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar died after being refused abortion during a miscarriage. In 2013, a Law was introduced allowing abortion when woman’s life is at risk but it also introduces a penalty of 14 year imprisonment on illegal abortion.
• France, which assumed the March Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has reiterated its support for India as the permanent member of the powerful UN organ, saying the UNSC's enlargement is the ‘first crucial part’ towards UNSC reforms. India has been calling for the reform of the UN Security Council along with Brazil, Germany and Japan for long, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.
• In a major diplomatic win for India, the United Nations declared Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist. The decision from UN Security Council's 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee came after China lifted its technical hold, imposed on March 13, on a proposal made by US, UK and France to this end. Even before that, China, a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, had been blocking India's attempts to secure designation against Azhar almost for a decade.
• In a first, NASA will launch a spacecraft that will collide with an asteroid in 2022 to demonstrate a planetary defense technique. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will get one chance to hit its target, a small moonlet in the binary asteroid system Didymos.The asteroid poses no threat to Earth.
• Jeff Bezos, who heads both Amazon and space company Blue Origin, unveiled a lunar lander that would be used to transport equipment, and possibly human beings, to the south pole of the moon by 2024.
• Zimbabwe started to trade its new currency, the RTGS dollar, days after the central bank announced measures to try and resolve a chronic monetary crisis.

The currency was launched at an initial rate of 2.5 RTGS dollars per US dollar, “as per agreement with forex dealers in the banks”.

• Brief Answers to the Big Questions is a popular-science book written by physicist Stephen Hawking, and published by Hodder & Stoughton (Hardcover) and Bantam Books (Paperback) on 16 October 2018. The book was incomplete at the time of the author's passing in March 2018, but was completed with “his academic colleagues, his family and the Stephen Hawking Estate”.
• President Donald Trump has terminated India’s designation as a beneficiary developing nation under the key GSP trade programme after determining that it has not assured the US that it will provide “equitable and reasonable access” to its markets. The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries.
• Facebook launched an ambitious plan to create a new digital currency and financial system to transform the way money moves around the world, and not just on its own apps. It’s leading a consortium to create an open-source digital currency called Libra, set to launch in the first half of next year. The Libra currency, as described in this white paper, will not be run by Facebook, but rather by a nonprofit association supported by a range of companies and organizations. But Facebook does have a plan to profit from it with a new subsidiary, Calibra, which is building a digital wallet of the same name for storing and exchanging the currency.

Government Schemes

• Assam government launched the Wage Compensation Scheme for Pregnant Women in tea gardens of the state. Under the scheme, each pregnant woman in tea gardens will get a sum of Rs 12,000 so that she can take better care of herself and her unborn baby without compromising the livelihood of her family.
• Maharashtra Government has launched World Bank assisted State of Maharashtra‘s Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (SMART) Project to transform rural Maharashtra. This project aims to revamp agricultural value chains, with special focus on marginal farmers across 1,000 villages.
• Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis launched the Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee International School on the occasion of 94th birth anniversary of the late prime minister. The school is affiliated to the Maharashtra International Education Board (MIEB), which the state government had set up with an aim to achieve higher education standards.
• Delhi government has launched ‘Mukhyamantri Tirth Yatra Yojana’ for senior citizens which offers free travel packages on five religious circuits for senior citizens from the national capital.
• Haryana Government has launched the “Pashu Sanjeevni Sewa” in the state under which free of cost quality veterinary services and health care facilities for the livestock would be made available at the doorstep of livestock farmers through mobile veterinary clinic.
• In Assam, the Namrup-based Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL) rolled out Asia's first cannisters based and India's first  “Methanol Cooking Fuel Program” was launched. The project has been promoted by NITI Aayog.

The safe handling cannister based cooking stoves are from Swedish Technology and through a Technology transfer a large-scale cooking stove manufacturing plant will come up in India in the next 18 months producing 10 lakh Cookstoves and 1 Crore Cannisters per year. This technology is very unique, it handles methanol extremely safely, does not need regulator or any piping system. It is a joint initiative of the union and state governments and is the biggest project of its kind in northern India. 

• Maharashtra has become the first state in the country to appoint out-of state trade representatives. The Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board (MSAMB) appointed six trade representatives to promote trade in semi-perishable commodities. They will also collect relevant market information. They have been posted in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Assam, and Tamil Nadu.
• Odisha's Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the ‘Peoples Empowerment Enabling Transparency and Accountability’ (PEETHA) programme. It is a sub-scheme of the Odisha government's flagship 'Ama Gaon Ama Bikas Yojana'.

The aim of the programme is to create transparency and awareness of various government schemes.

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development launched the Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS) for providing industry apprenticeship opportunities to the general graduates exiting in April 2019 through the National Apprenticeship Promotional Scheme (NAPS). The program aims to enhance the employability of Indian youth by providing ‘on the job work exposure’ and earning of stipend.
• Ministry of Human Resource Development launched Leadership for Academicians Programme (LEAP), which is a 3 weeks flagship leadership development training programme for second level academic functionaries.

Economy News

• The 'Tata' brand has entered the list of top 100 most valuable brands according to the Brand Finance Global 500 2019 report released at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It has been ranked at 86th position this year and the Tata brand is the only Indian brand in the Top 100.
• As per its annual report, the RBI bought nearly 8.5 metric tonnes of gold between December 2017 and June 2018 taking the level of gold reserves to 566.23 metric tonnes. This was the first time that the central bank had bought gold since its purchased 200 million metric tonnes from the International Monetary Fund in 2009.
• Union Ministry of Civil Aviation approved operations on 13 water aerodromes under Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik-3 (UDAN-3). The very first seaplane could run within Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Four different islands from Andaman and one island from Nicobar have been selected to fly seaplanes. These are Havelock, Long Island, Neil Island and Hutbay Island in Andaman and Car Nicobar in Nicobar.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted a high-level committee that will work towards deepening digital payments in India and will be headed by Nandan Nilekani.
• Yoga guru Baba Ramdev's Patanjali  launched a new swadeshi messaging application called Kimbho to compete with WhatsApp. 
• India signed a USD 3 billion deal with Russia for leasing of a nuclear-powered attack submarine for the Indian Navy for a period of 10 years. The two countries signed an inter-governmental agreement capping months of negotiations on price and various other aspects of the deal. Under the pact, Russia will have to deliver the Akula class submarine, to be known as Chakra III, to the Indian Navy by 2025.
• The Indian Space Research Organisation will launch its second mission to the moon — Chandrayaan-2 — on July 15 in a mission that it said would be the most complex operation ever to be undertaken by the space agency. It  will be the first such operation near the south pole of the moon, and will make India just the fourth country to complete a soft landing on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-2 consists of an orbiter, a lander (Vikram), and a rover (Pragyan).
• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch its Radar Imaging Satellite, the RISAT-2BR1 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The RISAT, a remote sensing satellite, provide all-weather surveillance using synthetic aperture radars (SAR). RISAT's are the first all-weather observation satellites from ISRO and are designed to provide a continuous view of earth either at day or night for the forces to detect border infiltration. Earlier, the observation satellites banked mainly on optical and spectral sensors which often were handicapped by cloud cover.
• Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Libcoin (20% is owned by Magnis) will build India’s first Lithium-ion Battery Gigafactory. The consortium plans to start with initial capacity of 1GWh plant with proposal to scale it up to 30GWh.
• NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), was officially inaugurated in Bengaluru.
• The government has issued a notification taking over the National Housing Bank (NHB) after buying entire stake for Rs 1,450 crore from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI has exited the NHB, thus making it a fully government-owned entity. The central bank was holding 100 per cent stake in the NHB, the housing finance regulator.
• The Reserve Bank of India has extended the last cut-off timing for customer transactions through Real Time Gross Settlement Systems (RTGS) from 4.30pm to 6pm on all working days, effective June 1, 2019.
• The sea phase of the Indo-French naval exercise 'Varuna' began on 8 May 2019.This year's edition of the Indo-French naval exercise currently underway off the Goa coast is the largest ever undertaken by the two navies. The exercise, began on May 1, will culminate on May 10 after sea phase operations.
• A government-appointed advisory group has suggested issuance of 'Elephant Bonds' (25-year sovereign bonds) wherein people declaring undisclosed income will have to mandatorily invest half of that amount in these securities. The fund will be utilised only for infrastructure projects.
• Mukesh Ambani's oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries has toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) to become the country's biggest company by revenue. Reliance in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended March 31, reported a turnover of Rs 6.23 lakh crore. In comparison, IOC posted a turnover of Rs 6.17 lakh crore for the fiscal, according to regulatory filings by the two companies. It was also the most profitable company in the country with a net profit of more than double that of IOC in FY2019.
• The Defence Ministry approved Indian Navy's proposal to acquire 10 Kamov-31 choppers from Russia at a cost of around Rs. 3,600 crore to strengthen its capability against aerial threats to its aircraft carriers and large warships.

Sports News

• International Cricket Council (ICC) announced women's ODI and T20I teams of the year 2018. New Zealand’s Suzie Bates was named as captain of the 50-over side and Harmanpreet Kaur of India appointed captain of the T20 team.
• Chess player D Gukesh became the second youngest Grand Master (GM) in the world and the youngest Indian to achieve the feat at age of 12 years and 7 months. He became India's 59th Grand Master.
• Anders Antosen of Denmark won Indonesian Badminton 2019 men’s singles by defeating Kento Momota of Japan. It was held at Istora Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is officially known as the DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2019.
• Saina Nehwal of India won Indonesian Badminton 2019 women’s singles after Carolina Marin of Spain withdrew with an injury midway during the first game.

It was held at Istora Gelora Bung Karno in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is officially known as the DAIHATSU Indonesia Masters 2019.

People in News

• The Commonwealth of Learning appointed 96-year-old Karthyayani Amma as their goodwill ambassador. She bagged the first rank in the ‘Aksharalaksham’ literacy exam conducted by the Kerala government in November 2018. Commonwealth of Learning is a Canada-based organisation which works for the promotion of education in Commonwealth countries
• Vice Admiral Karambir Singh was appointed as the Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS). He is currently serving as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam.  Vice Admiral Singh will be the first helicopter pilot of the Navy to become the Chief of Indian Navy.
• US Air Force General Tod Wolters has been nominated to become NATO's top officer.  The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's military leader is always American, and Wolters was nominated by acting US defence secretary Patrick Shanahan.  General Wolters is currently serving as Commander, United States Air Forces Europe, United States Air Forces Africa and Allied Air Command.
• India has nominated NITI Aayog member and agricultural economics and policy expert Ramesh Chand to lead a specialised agency of the United Nations focussed on achieving food security for all. The next Director-General of FAO will be appointed for the period August 1, 2019 to July 31, 2023 and will be eligible for only one additional mandate of four years. The new Director-General will succeed José Graziano da Silva, who was first elected in 2011 and has served two consecutive terms.
• The former chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Vineet Joshi, was appointed the first director-general of the National Testing Agency (NTA), an independent body dedicated to conducting entrance tests for higher education in India. NTA, which was approved by the Union cabinet last October, will conduct entrance tests entrusted to it by any department or ministry. For starters, in 2019, it will take over all entrance examinations currently being organised by the CBSE, including UGC’s National Eligibility Test (NET), Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) and National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET).
• In a significant victory, India's Jagjit Pavadia was re-elected to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) for another term, posting the highest number of votes at 44. 
• India’s first woman IAS officer after Independence, Anna Rajam Malhotra, who served in the Madras State under then Chief Minister C. Rajagopalachari and at the Central government, died in Mumbai at the age of 91.
• Naveen Patnaik took oath as chief minister of Odisha for a record fifth term in a row.The Biju Janata Dal headed by him has won a decisive victory in the assembly polls bagging 112 of the 146 assembly seats.
• YSR Congress chief Yeduguri Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy has taken the oath as the second chief minister of Andhra Pradesh post its bifurcation.
• Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) president Prem Singh Tamang, or P.S. Golay took oath as the Chief Minister of Sikkim.
• Pema Khandu will be sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh for the second time.
• Virat Kohli is the first cricketer in the world ever to break into the 100 million category for followers on social media.
• Aarohi Pandit has become the world’s first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean in a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA).
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Indian Army officer Lieutenant General Shailesh Tinaikar, as the new Force Commander of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
• Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has appointed its first independent woman director Jayshree Vyas.

Awards

• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research tableau in the Republic Day Parade has won the first prize for its Kisan Gandhi theme. The ICAR tableau with the theme "Mishrit Kheti, Khushiyon Ki Kheti" portrayed Gandhi Ji with goats and a cow and Kasturba engaged with charkha and caring animals.
• The government of India instituted an annual award titled ‘Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar’. The award recognises all Indian Citizens and organisations who have excelled in areas of Disaster Management. The award will be announced every year on 23rd January on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and for 2019, 8th Battalion of NDRF was selected for the award.
• Anurag Thakur, MP, Hamirpur, has been bestowed with the 'Sansad Ratna Award' for distinguished performance as a parliamentarian under Jury Committee Special Award. The Sansad Ratna Award was started in 2010 on the suggestion of former president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.
• Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani will be conferred with the Ashoka Chakra.

He was a militant but later joined the Indian Army in 2004 and was killed during an anti-terror operation in November 2018. Ashok Chakra is the highest peacetime military decoration for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield.

• Behrouz Boochani, a Kurd who has been held on PNG's Manus Island since 2013, was awarded the Victorian Prize for Literature for a book he reportedly wrote using the online messaging service WhatsApp. The journalist and filmmaker was awarded the Aus$100,000 (US$72,600) prize for his book “No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison”. It is Australia's most valuable literary prize.
• Rajendra Kumar Joshi was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA) for his contributions in the field of science, education, and medicine. Dr. Joshi is a scientist of Indian origin and is based in Switzerland. The PBSA is the highest honour conferred on Non-resident Indians by the President of India for their significant contributions towards bringing honour and glory to India.
• Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen was awarded the prestigious Bodley Medal. It is the highest honor granted by the University of Oxford’s world-famous Bodleian Libraries. The medal is awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the fields in which the Bodleian is awarded are, including literature, culture, science, and communication.
• President Ram Nath Kovind was honoured with Croatia's highest civilian award, the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav. He was on an 8-day visit to Croatia, Bolivia, and Chile to further strengthen bilateral ties between India and the three countries. It is awarded to heads of state for their important contribution towards the development of relations with Croatia.
• An Indian police officer Jitender Kumar deployed to the UN mission in Congo and a consultant Shikha Garg with the UN development programme, killed in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash, are among 115 UN peacekeepers and staff honoured by the global organisation for their sacrifice. They lost their lives in the service of peace between January 2018 and March 2019. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres,  along with top UN officials and Peacekeeping personnel paid tribute to 115 peacekeepers  from 43 different nations, who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty at the solemn ceremony yesterday.
• Alfred Brownell from Liberia, an environmental lawyer and activist, has been awarded the prestigious 2019 Goldman Environmental Prize for exposing alleged abuse by the palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia and helping to prevent it from converting about 50 km2 of forest that is home to elephants, pygmy hippopotamuses and chimpanzees into palm oil plantations. The other winners of the top environment prize are: Linda Garcia of Vancouver, Ana Colovic Lesoska of North Macedonia, Bayarjargal Agvaantseren of Mongolia, Jacqueline Evans of the Cook Islands and Alberto Curamil of Chile. The Goldman Environment Prize is awarded annually to six grassroots activists from six different continents who have taken action and risked their lives to protect the planet.

Events

• The first Sustainable Blue Economy Conference was held in Nairobi, capital of Kenya. It was organized by Kenya and cohosted by Japan and Canada.

The theme of this conference was ‘The Blue Economy and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.’

• The World Hindu Congress(WHC) 2018 was held in Chicago, USA to pay a tribute to the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s historic address to the Parliament of World Religions in Chicago  on September 11, 1893.

The theme of WHC 2018 was Sumantrite Suvikrante – Think Collectively, Achieve Valiantly. Dr Sriprakash Kothari chaired the second World Hindu Congress set to be held in Chicago.

• The first International Conference on 'Sustainable Water Management' was held in Mohali, Punjab from 10 to 11 December 2018. The conference was organised by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) and the aim of the conference was to promote sustainable policies for water management and to create awareness of water-related problems.
• The Great Indian Bustard, also called as Gibi will mascot of the 13th UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS)(COP 13). The COP-13 will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat from February 15-22, 2020.

Important days and themes

• The twelfth annual World Autism Awareness Day is April 2, 2019.

The theme of this year’s World Autism Awareness Day is ‘Assistive Technologies, Active Participation’. The day aims to encourage the Member States of the United Nations to take measures to raise awareness about people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) throughout the world.

• The Earth Hour 2019 was held on 30 March at 8.30PM and the theme for Earth Hour 2019 is “Change the Way We Live”.

Rankings

• International NGO, Reporters without Borders has released the World Press Freedom Index 2019. The index is based on the assessment of the countries’  press freedom records in the previous year. India has dropped two places on a global press freedom index to be ranked 140th out of 180 countries. The World Press Freedom Index 2019′, topped by Norway which is followed by Finland, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark. The 2019 index finds that hatred against journalists has degenerated into violence, contributing to an increase in fear around the world.
• Global Peace Index is released by Australian think tank Institute for Economics & Peace. The GPI was founded by Steve Killelea, an Australian technology entrepreneur and philanthropist. India’s rank has slipped five places to 141 this year. In South Asia, Bhutan topped the index with 15th rank, followed by Sri Lanka 72, Nepal 76 and Bangladesh 101. The neighbouring country Pakistan has been ranked 153rd on the index.
• The United Nations has released ‘the World Population Prospects 2019’ and it is published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. According to the report, in 2019 India has an estimated population of 1.37 billion and China 1.43 billion. India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in the next eight years by 2027.

India is expected to add 273 million people by 2050 and will remain the most populated until the end of the century. The global population is projected to increase by another 2 billion people by 2050, from 7.7 billion in 2019 to 9.7 billion thirty years down the line. India leads the set of nine countries that will make up for more than half the projected growth of the global population by 2050. The world’s population is ageing, with the age group of 65 and above growing at such a fast rate that by 2050, one in six people in the world will be part of it as compared to one in 11 in 2019. By the end of the century, the world population is set to peak at a level of about 11 billion.

• Singapore has ranked as the world's most competitive economy for the first time since 2010, according to the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings. Established in 1989, the IMD World Competitiveness rankings evaluate 63 economies in four categories: economic performance, infrastructure, government efficiency and business efficiency. India has moved up one place to rank 43^rd most competitive economy in world in annual competitiveness ranking.
• The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) launched the findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2019, which assesses the current state of armaments, disarmament and international security.A key finding is that despite an overall decrease in the number of nuclear warheads in 2018, all nuclear weapon-possessing states continue to modernize their nuclear arsenals.
• At the start of 2019, nine states-the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)-possessed approximately 13 865 nuclear weapons. This marked a decrease from the approximately 14 465 nuclear weapons that SIPRI estimated these states possessed at the beginning of 2018. The decrease in the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world is due mainly to Russia and the USA, which together still account for over 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons. China, India and Pakistan are increasing the size of their nuclear arsenals. India and Pakistan are expanding their military fissile material production capabilities on a scale that may lead to significant increases in the size of their nuclear weapon inventories over the next decade.