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Daily Current Affairs of 18th July 2019
International Current Affairs
- Today (18th July) is 'Nelson Mandela International Day'.
- He was born on this day in the year 1918.
- In November 2009, the UN General Assembly declared 18 July "Nelson
Mandela International Day" in recognition of the former South African
President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.
- Important Points to Note :
- Mandela was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna in 1990 for his role in the anti-apartheid movement.
- Apart from Pakistan national Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, he is the only non-Indian to have received the award.
- He was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in the year 1993.
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from 25th & 26th July2019.
- During this visit, he will participate in the Standalone meeting of BRICS' Foreign Ministers.
- The Minister is expected to discuss amongst other issues, the preparation for the 11th BRICS Summit of the leaders to be held in Brasilia in November 2019.
- The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in favour of India in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case and voted 15-1, with the only judge to dissent being former Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.
- The ICJ has said Pakistan violated the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) in the case.
- Pakistan didn't inform Jadhav of his rights under VCCR's Article 36 and didn't inform India, without delay, of his arrest and detention.
- Pakistan also violated the pact by denying Jadhav access to consular officers of India.
- The ICJ also directed Pakistan to review conviction order of Kulbhushan Jadhav and, until then, put his death sentence on hold.
- ICJ also asked Islamabad to allow New Delhi consular access at earliest.
- This is a major diplomatic and legal victory for India in Kulbhushan Jadhav case.
- Note : Kulbhushan Jadhav (49), a retired Indin Navy officer, was allegedly arrested by Pakistani security forces on 3 March 2016, while India was informed on March 25.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the Ebola crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo a public health emergency of international concern.
- The UN health agency made the announcement days after the virus was confirmed in Goma, a major regional crossroads in northeastern Congo on the Rwandan border.
- WHO Director-General : Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
- More than 1,600 people have died since August in the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history, which is unfolding in a region described as a war zone.
- Palau, an archipelago of more than 500 islands in Oceania, has become 76th signatory country to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
- The agreement was opened for signature during COP22 (22nd Conference of the Parties) at Marrakech, Morocco on 15 November 2016.
- Countries which have signed agreement until now include India, United Kingdom (UK), Japan, France, Australia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), amongst others.
- Palau President : Tommy Remengesau
National Current Affairs
- 2 new districts are going to be formed in In Tamil Nadu, taking the total number of districts in the state to 35.
- In a suo motu statement in the Assembly in Chennai today, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy said Tenkasi District would be carved out of Tirunelveli and Chengalpet District would be established by splitting Kanchipuram district.
- The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill - 2019 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha today.
- The Bill seeks to amend the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act- 2012 which will make punishment more stringent for committing sexual crimes against children including death penalty.
- The amendments also provide for levy of fines and imprisonment to curb child pornography.
- The amendment is expected to discourage the trend of child sexual abuse by acting as a deterrent due to strong penal provisions incorporated in the Act.
- Union Cabinet has approved 1,600 crore rupees for Dibang Multipurpose Project in Arunachal Pradesh.
- The project is envisaged as a storage-based hydro-electric project with flood moderation as the key objective.
People in News
- Former Pakistani PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was arrested in a nearly ₹9,500-crore corruption case related to the awarding of a contract to a liquefied natural gas firm.
Banking, Business & Economic Affairs
- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) today lowered India's GDP growth forecast to 7 per cent for the current year on the back of fiscal shortfall concerns.
- India is expected to grow by 7 per cent in 2019 and 7.2 per cent in 2020, slightly slower than projected in April, ADB said in its supplement to the Asian Development Outlook 2019.
- The US has removed Turkey from its F-35 fighter jets programme after it received the first parts of the Russian S-400 air defence system.
- The US had earlier stopped training Turkish pilots on F-35 jets.
- The Finance (No.2) Bill, 2019 was moved by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha today.
- The Bill proposes to amend 7 acts to encourage Make in India for intensifying manufacturing.
- The seven Acts in Direct Taxes are proposed to be amended to incentivize start ups, financial companies and make filing of returns effective.
- The Bill proposes to amend seven Acts in the Indirect Taxes to reform Customs, Goods and Services Tax and Central Excise.
- The government has permitted the export of 1,239 tonnes raw sugar under its Tariff-Rate Quota (TRQ) to the US, which enables shipments to enjoy relatively low tariff.
- Note : TRQ is a quota for a volume of exports that enter the US at relatively low tariffs. After the quota is reached, a higher tariff applies on additional imports.
MOUs & Agreements
- Sri Lankan government today signed an agreement with IRCON International Ltd of India for upgrading of a railway track with Indian concessional financing of around 91.26 million US dollars.
- The agreement is for upgradation of over century old track of 130 km located between Colombo and Jaffna in Tamil -majority northern province.
- The West Bengal government is going to sign an MOU with the British Council for brushing up the English Speaking skills of the students studying in Polytechnic Colleges in the state.
- The move is aimed to improve English speaking capacity for job seekers students.
Science & Technology
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announced that India's 2nd Moon mission 'Chandrayaan-2' launch, which was called off due to a technical snag on July 15, is now rescheduled at 2:43 pm on 22nd July 2019.
- It will be launched from Andhra Pradesh's Sriharikota.
- Note : Earlier, the mission was aborted just 56 minutes before the scheduled launch time.
New Appointments
- 4 days after leading England to 2019 World Cup victory, Trevor Bayliss has been appointed as the head coach of IPL team SunRisers Hyderabad.
Sports Current Affairs
- Star Indian sprinter Hima Das clinched her 4th gold in a fortnight as she won the 200m race with a creditable timing in the Tabor Athletics Meet in Czech Republic.
- India's 18-year-old defender Narender Gahlot became the 2nd youngest footballer to score a goal for the national team.
- Gahlot achieved the feat after his 51st-minute header in India's last league match of 2019 Intercontinental Cup against Syria.
- Note : Jerry Zirsanga, who scored aged 16 in May 2004, is the youngest footballer to score for India.
- India's top-ranked woman archer Deepika Kumari won a Silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games test event.
Download June 2019 Month's Current Affairs PDF File from HERE (New)
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