Month Current Affairs 19 September 2019 National International Current Events PDF Download 2019

♦ The 16^th Session of Joint Economic Commission, JEC between India and Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union, BLEU convened in New Delhi, co-chaired by Anup Wadhawan and Sylvie Lucas

Anup Wadhawan: Commerce Secretary

Ms. Sylvie Lucas: Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, Luxembourg.

JEC Sessions were convened based on an agreement signed in 1990 in New Delhi which is a biennial event objective for economic and commercial issues discussion between India and BLEU, to be organized in capital cities of the three countries, India, Belgium, and Luxembourg alternatively

Note: Joint Economic Commission between India and Belgium – Luxembourg Economic Union (India-BLEU) was established in 1997

♦ DRDO successfully flight tested BVRAAM ‘Astra’ from the Su-30 MKI, air fighter in the off coast of Chandipur, Odisha, conducted by Indian Air Force against Jet Banshee target aircraft simulating all possible threat scenarios

The range of Astra BVRAAM is more than 100 km with modern guidance and navigation techniques to achieve target destruction with pinpoint accuracy.

BVRAAM: Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile

DRDO, Chairman: Dr. G Satheesh Reddy

♦ Jiont Military Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2019 between the US Army and Indian Army concluded at Joint Base Lewis McChord (JBLM), Washington, the USA

Yudh Abhyas 2019 is an annual Military bilateral exercise designed to strengthen the US and Indian Army  partnership  which focused on counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations in an urban environment

♦ Government to appoint Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, Vice Chief of Air Staff as the next Chief of the Air Staff after the retirement of Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on 30^th September 2019

Vice Chief of Air Staff: RKS Bhadauria

Chief of Air Staff: BS Dhanoa

♦ Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) as part of the “Make in India’’ program, delivered the 2nd Scorpene submarine ‘KHANDERI’ to the Indian Navy in Mumbai. The submarine ‘KHANDERI’ is named after Sawfish, which is a deadly sea predator of the Indian Ocean.

The 1st Submarine Khanderi was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 06^th Dec 1968 and decommissioned on 18^th Oct 1989. The constructions of 3rd Scorpene KARANJ, was started on 31^st Jan 2018 which is currently undergoing sea trials. The 4th Scorpene, VELA was launched in May 2019 and it is in sea trials

Note: Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) is called Ship Builder to the Nation, founded in 1934 which Headquarters at Mumbai. MDL provides services like Ship design, Shipbuilding, Ship repair

♦ Rajnath Singh to be the 1st Defence Minister to fly the ‘Tejas’ which is Light Combat Aircraft (LCA). He undertook 30 mins sorties in the indigenously-built multi-role fighter aircraft with Narmdeshwar Tiwari, Air Vice Marshal at HAL Airport in Bengaluru

The Tejas is an Indian single-engine, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency and HAL for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy. it is to replace India’s aging MiG-21 fighters, this LCA was officially named “Tejas” in 2003

♦ Maiden SITMEX 19 Sea Phase between Singapore, India, and Thailand Maritime Exercise commenced in the Andaman Sea on 18 Sep 2019.

Maritime Exercise(SITMEX-19 ) between Indian Navy, Republic of Singapore Navy and Royal Thai Navy in the Andaman Sea

♦ Giriraj Singh, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying released the 13th edition of “Handbook on Fisheries Statistics 2018” which published by the Department of Fisheries of  Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying

Note: The 12^th edition of Handbook was published in 2014

Handbook on Fisheries Statistics 2018 provides information on year-wise fish production (Marine and Inland) from 1990-91 to 2017-18

The total fish production during 2017-18 is 12.59 million metric tonnes, which 8.90 million metric tonnes from the inland sector and 3.69 million metric tonnes from the marine sector.

The average growth in fish production during 2017-18 is 10.14%. India is the world’s second-largest producer of fish.

Highest production of inland fish in India: Andhra Pradesh with 34.50 lakh tones

Highest production of Marine fish in India: Gujarat with 7.01 Lakh tonnes

♦ MHRD announced a new PPP Scheme, National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) with the objective to use Artificial Intelligence to make learning more personalized and customized for better learning outcomes in Higher Education. The government proposed to launch and operationalize NEAT in November 2019

MHRD: Ministry of Human Resource Development

PPP: Public-private partnership scheme

♦ The National Geoscience Awards 2018 were presented to 22 scientists by Pralhad Joshi Minister of Coal and Mines for outstanding contributions in the field of geosciences, mining, and allied areas

National Geoscience Awards were given in 10 disciplines like

• Mineral exploration
• Groundwater exploration
• Mining technology
• Mineral beneficiation
• Sustainable mineral development
• Basic and applied geosciences
• Geo-environmental studies
• Natural hazards investigation

Prof. Syed Wajih Ahmad Naqvi, CSIR received the Award for aquatic biogeochemical research

Dr. Sohini Ganguly, Goa University received the Young Scientist Award-2018 for work in petrology, volcanology, and geochemistry

♦ Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) crossed a milestone by crossing 1 crore beneficiaries, the total amount disbursed to the beneficiaries under the scheme has crossed Rs. 4,000 crores.

PMMVY is a direct benefit transfer scheme that started from 1st Jan 2017 under which cash (Rs 6,000) benefits are provided to pregnant women to meet enhanced nutritional needs and partially compensate for wage loss

Top 5 Performing States/UT in the implementation of PMMVY is

• Madhya Pradesh
• Andhra Pradesh
• Himachal Pradesh
• Dadra & Nagar Haveli
• Rajasthan

Note: Odisha and Telangana states were yet to start PMMVY

♦ Indian School of Business (ISB) secured 7th position Globally in Forbes Best Business Schools 2019 rankings

ISB Dean: Rajendra Srivastava

♦ 4 New Supreme Court judges were appointed on the recommendation on The Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi

Justices V Ramasubramanian, Chief Justices Himachal Pradesh

Justices Krishna Murari, Chief Justices of Punjab and Haryana

Justices S. Ravindra Bhat, Chief Justices Rajasthan

Justices Hrishikesh Roy, Chief Justices Kerala

♦ Robert O’Brien is appointed as new U.S. National Security Adviser replacing previous US NSA John Bolton

♦ Vinesh Phogat won a bronze at the World Championships 2019 and also made to qualify for Tokyo Olympics, 2020. She only the 5th women to win Worlds medal, pervious Alka Tomar (2006), Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012) and Pooja Dhanda (2018)

Summer Olympics 2019

Venue: Toyya, Japan

Commence: 24 July 2020