General Awareness

Daily G.K. - Top Stories

20 Jul 2019

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

US Destroys Iranian Drone

The US said it has destroyed an Iranian drone that came close to one of its warships in the Strait of Hormuz and warned it would do the same for drones that fly too close to its vessels in the area.
But Iran denied it had lost any drones and suggested that the US might have shot down one of its own by mistake.
The video published by the Revolutionary Guards showed aerial views of warships.
The TV station said the drone had captured the footage and timing notations showed it was still filming after the US said it had been downed.

UK Panel Seeks Support for an Indian as Next IMF Chief

Pushing for a candidate from outside Europe or the US as next managing director (MD) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an influential British parliamentary panel has suggested an Indian as a candidate that Britain could support.
French politician Christine Lagarde announced her resignation as MD of IMF with effect from September 12. She has been nominated by the European Council as president of the European Central Bank.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that published a report on UK-India relations on June 24, wrote to foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt that countries with major economies should now hold leadership positions in international organizations.

World's Highest Aquarium Starts Trial Ops in China

The world's highest aquarium has opened for trial in northwest China's Qinghai province. The new aquarium is located more than 2,200 metres above sea level in the city of Xining, the capital of Qinghai, representing the first aquarium on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau.
Covering 28,000 square metres, the building has been divided into different exhibition zones, including freshwater animals, marine life, jellyfish, science popularisation and interaction, pets, belugas and dolphins.
Naked carps, which are endemic to Qinghai lake, will also be exhibited among more than 400 aquatic species and over 100 terrestrial animals in the aquarium, the Xinhua report said.
The aquarium is scheduled to officially open on August 18, and is able to accommodate up to 2,000 visitors.
Animal stars, including two belugas from Russia and eight bottlenose dolphins from Japan, are expected to stage wonderful performances for visitors.

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ENVIRONMENT

Bitcoin Use Releases as much CO2 in a Year as Las Vegas

The use of Bitcoin leads to about 22 megatonnes in CO2 emissions annually, comparable to the total emissions of cities like Hamburg or Las Vegas, according to the most detailed analysis to date of the cryptocurrency's carbon footprint.
Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) analysed such data as the IPO filings of hardware manufacturers and the IP addresses of Bitcoin "miners".
The study, published in 'Joule', was able to localise 68% of the Bitcoin network computing power in Asian countries, 17% in European countries, and 15% in North America.
For a Bitcoin transfer to be executed and validated, a mathematical puzzle must be solved by an arbitrary computer in the global Bitcoin network. The network rewards the puzzle solvers in Bitcoin.
Statistics show the computing capacity used in this process — known as Bitcoin mining — has quadrupled in 2018 alone. Researchers determined the annual electricity consumption by Bitcoin, as of November 2018, to be about 46 TeraWatt Hour (TWh).
The team found the Bitcoin system has a carbon footprint of between 22 and 22.9 megatonnes per year.

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BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Only Digital Payment Allowed on National Highway Tolls

Beginning December 1, 2019, commuters will need to use FASTag to pay toll across national highways in the country, or pay double if they use cash, according to a letter sent by the Union road transport and highways ministry to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
FASTag, a radio frequency identification (RFID) sticker typically fixed to a vehicle's windscreen, lets toll booths wirelessly and automatically deduct the fee, thereby not requiring a vehicle to stop.
The tags were made mandatory for all new cars sold after December 1, 2017, as a measure to encourage digital payments and free up congestion at toll booths.

L&T Finance to Exit Structured Finance Biz

L &T Finance Holding said the company was looking to exit from its Rs. 8,660 crore structured finance and debt capital market (DCM) business.
The decision to run down the business comes after in the wake of a mark-to-market hit on account of its exposure to Dewan Housing Finance Ltd. L&T Finance has classified its structured finance and debt capital market as "defocused" book this quarter, while it turns its focuses on infrastructure finance and infra debt fund.
The firm has exited from its supply chain finance business. Announcing its first quarter results, the company said its exposure to a specific housing finance company, part of its DCM business, saw a mark down of 50% on overall exposure of Rs. 567 crore.
It had to take the MTM hit after ratings of the housing finance company was downgraded.

Jio pips Airtel to Become No. 2 by User Base

India's youngest and only profitable telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd has overtaken rival Bharti Airtel to become the second largest operator in terms of subscribers to its mobile phone services, according to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
Jio, which entered the sector in September 2016, had 322.98 million users and 27.8% subscriber market share, against Airtel's 320.38 million users and 27.6% market share as of end-May.
To be sure, the subscriber numbers include active as well as inactive SIMs. The telecom regulator counts each SIM as a user although there are overlaps.
Vodafone Idea, the company born out of a merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, continues to retain the top position with 387.55 million users and a 33.36% subscriber market share.
There is, however, a silver lining for Airtel. It held the maximum proportion (99.86%) of active wireless subscribers as against its total wireless subscribers in May.

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA Aims to Build as a Way Station for Mars Exploration

Unlike the Apollo programme that put astronauts on the moon 50 years ago, NASA is gearing up for a long-term presence on Earth's satellite that will eventually enable humans to reach Mars.
NASA is working to build a sustainable, open architecture that returns humanity to our nearest neighbour.
The next manned mission to the moon will require leaps in robotic technologies and a plan for NASA to work with private companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX or Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to help cut the cost of space travel.
Using NASA's Space Launch System, a heavy-lift rocket being built for a debut flight in late 2020, the agency is aiming to return humans to the moon by 2024 in an accelerated timeline set in March 2019 by the Trump administration.
No humans have launched from US soil since the space shuttle programme ended in 2011.
NASA officials say exploration of the moon and Mars is intertwined, with the moon becoming a testbed for Mars and providing an opportunity to demonstrate new technologies that could help build self-sustaining extraterrestrial outposts.
Technologies that can mine the moon's subsurface water ice to sustain astronaut crews, but also to be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen for use as a rocket propellant, could be crucial for missions to Mars. The planet is reachable in monthslong missions when at its closest orbital approach of 35.8 million miles from Earth.
The last manned mission to the moon was almost a half-century ago in 1972, when Cold War era tensions underscored President John F Kennedy's push to prove technologies that landed the first humans on the lunar surface.

Ant- Sized Robots to Sense Climate Change

Scientists have developed a 3D-printed robot — about the size of the world's smallest ant — that moves by harnessing vibration from ultrasound sources or even tiny speakers.
Swarms of these "micro-bristle-bots" could work together to sense environmental changes, move materials, or repair injuries inside the human body in the future.
The prototype robots respond to different vibration frequencies depending on their configurations, allowing researchers to control individual bots by adjusting the vibration, according to the research published in the 'Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering'.
About two millimetres long, the bots can cover four times their own length in a second despite the physical limitations of their small size.

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SPORTS

Tendulkar, Donald Inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

Sachin Tendulkar was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame along with South Africa fast bowling great Allan Donald and Australia's twice World Cupwinning woman player Cathryn Fitzpatrick.
Tendulkar is the sixth Indian to receive the honour, after Sunil Gavaskar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid.
Donald took 330 Test and 272 ODI wickets before retiring in 2003.
Fitzpatrick is the second highest wicket-taker of all time with 180 ODI scalps and 60 Test wickets. She also coached the Australia women's team to three World Cups.

Stokes Nominated for New Zealander of the Year Award

After ripping the heart out of New Zealand's bleary-eyed cricket fans with a Man-of-the-Match performance in the World Cup final, England all-rounder Ben Stokes has now been nominated for the New Zealander of the Year award.
The 28-year-old Stokes was born in New Zealand but grew up in England when his father Gerard moved there to take a rugby league coaching job.
Stokes remained in England when his parents returned home and carved out a successful cricketing career, scoring 84 not out in the final that helped his side to their maiden 50-over World Cup title at Lord's.
Nominations for the award only opened on July 1 and close on September 15. A shortlist is confirmed in December with the winner named next February.
The award is typically given to prominent members of the community with comedian Mike King, who has become a mental health and suicide prevention advocate, the most recent to receive the award.
The last sportsman to win it was former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw in 2016 after he led the side to their second successive Rugby World Cup title towards the end of 2015.

Sindhu Crushes Okuhara

Three months after former world champion Nozomi Okuhara hammered PV Sindhu in straight games at the Singapore Open semi-finals, the Indian returned the favour by coming out on top in Jakarta.
Fifth seeded Sindhu beat the Japanese third seed 21-14, 21-7 in 44 minutes to move into the semifinals of the $1.25 million Indonesia Open.
This was the Hyderabadi's eight victory in 15 meetings, and first this year in two face-offs, over the world No 2 Okuhara.
The only Indian left in the BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournament, world No 5 Sindhu was challenged stroke for stroke at the start by Okuhara.
However, from 6-6 Sindhu took off, never losing the lead to close the game in about 25 minutes.
The four-time World Championship medallist was even more comprehensive in the second game, leading from the start till the mid-game break at 11-6.
Sindhu lost the next point but won the next 10 successive points to smash the confidence of her opponent and pocket the second game and contest quickly.
The Rio Olympics silver medallist will next face upcoming Chinese sensation and third seed Chen Yufei, who has a 3-4 record against the Indian.

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Rajasthan Likely to Shift Tigers to New Locations

The Rajasthan government is considering introducing tigers at nine locations spread over four districts in the state over the next 10 years in an effort to reduce humanwildlife conflict and provide new homes for the big cats.
The forest department was looking at the possibility of introducing tigers in forest areas such as Ramgarh Vishdhari, Shergarh, Kumbhalgarh, Rawli Toadgarh and Jhiri in Dholpur district, Khetri Bansiyal in Jhunjhunu district, Sultanpur (Bundi) and Shahbad (Baran).
The move was to avoid the possibility of human-wildlife conflict in existing tiger habitats and relocating excess tiger.
A workshop was held in May 2019 at which the possibility for distribution of excess tigers through self dispersal, environment improvement and relocation was discussed.
Rajasthan has three tiger reserves with at least 85 big cats, of which 66 are at Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, 15 at Sariska Tiger Reserve and four at Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve.
Eight tigers have been relocated to Sariska from Ranthambore since 2004, and four to Mukundra in 2018 to decongest Ranthambore.
A tigress was sent to Sariska from Ranthambore in January 2019 to improve the skewed sex ratio in the habitat, but it died in June 2019 after being tranquillised.

SC Seeks Attorney General's Aid

The Supreme Court sought attorney general KK Venugopal's assistance in dealing with a plea that wants minority communities to be defined on the basis of state-wise population instead of national data.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and justices Deepak Gupta and Aniruddha Bose took note of the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay and asked him to send a copy to the top law officer's office.
The PIL challenges the validity of the Centre's 26-year-old notification declaring five communities — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis — as minorities.
Upadhyay's plea has sought to declare as unconstitutional the section of the National Commission for Minority Act, 1992, under which the notification was issued on October 23, 1993.
It has asked for guidelines to be laid down to define the word "minority" based on state-wise population of a community.
In the petition, Upadhyay said Hindus are a majority community as per national data but a minority community in some North-eastern states and in Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the Hindu community is deprived of benefits available to the minority community in these states.

World Bank Pulls Out of Amaravati Capital City Project

The World Bank said it had pulled out of the Andhra Pradesh government's Amaravati capital city project following the withdrawal of request by the Government of India.
World Bank's lead external advisor (special projects) for India Sudip Mozumdar said the Government of India had withdrawn its request to the bank for financing the proposed Amaravati Sustainable Infrastructure and Institutional Development Project.
The state government had not agreed to the World Bank's proposal to inspect the work undertaken so far as they had been taken up with loans obtained from other lending agencies.
The ruling YSR Congress Party and Telugu Desam Party are indulging in a blame game for the World Bank backing out of the Amaravati project.

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PERSONS IN NEWS

Raja's Name Proposed as CPI General Secretary

CPI national executive meeting unanimously proposed the name of senior central secretariat member D Raja, 70, as the party general secretary to succeed incumbent S Sudhakar Reddy, who has expressed his desire to quit the top post on health ground.
The proposal will be now placed before CPI national council, which is meeting in the next two days for final approval.
Raja's name was proposed by Reddy and was endorsed by all executive members.

Flipkart Hires Unilever's Gupta to Head Marketing

Walmart-owned ecommerce company Flipkart has appointed consumer goods giant Unilever's general manager Vikas Gupta as the head of its marketing function.
Flipkart, which competes fiercely with rival Amazon and dominates online retail sales along with Amazon, was acquired by the world's biggest retailer Walmart Inc for more than $16 billion in May 2018, valuing it at $22 billion.
Gupta, general manager at the home care division and VP for digital transformation at Unilever Indonesia, had been associated with the company for over 20 years.
He was leading Unilever's home care division, served on the company's board, and also led the digital marketing transformation effort at the company.

Sanjeev Singla Named India's New Envoy to Israel

Senior diplomat Sanjeev Kumar Singla, who was serving as private secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was named India's new ambassador to Israel.
Singla, an officer of the 1997 batch of the Indian Foreign Service, was appointed to the post in the Prime Minister's Office in 2014.
He is expected to take up his new assignment shortly.
He will replace Pavan Kapoor, who had assumed charge as ambassador to Israel in 2016.

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GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES

Trans Rights Bill in New Avatar Tabled in LS

Marking a change from its previous avatar by allowing individuals the right to self declaration of gender identity without going through a screening committee, The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2019 was introduced in LS.
Identity certificates will be issued by the district magistrate based on documents that may be prescribed under the rules. The bill also states that "appropriate government" which refers to the Centre and states will have to make provision for coverage of medical expenses by a comprehensive insurance sche- me for sex reassignment surgery, hormonal therapy, laser therapy and other health issues of the community.
The 2019 bill comes without the controversial provision that existed in the previous bill that sought to criminalise begging by the community.
In terms of offences and penalties the bill makes compelling or enticing a transgender person to indulge in the act of forced or bonded labour a punishable offence with imprisonment and fine.
The same punishment applies to anyone who harms or injures or endangers the life, safety, health or well-being, whether mental or physical, of a transgender person or causes physical, sexual, verbal, emotional and economic abuse.
The bill also talks of a national council that will be led by the social justice minister.

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GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION

Ramanujan College Offers 6-month Course in Happiness

In order to tackle rising stress among students, Delhi University's Ramanujan College is offering a free six-month certificate course for students on happiness.
The course will be provided by the college's School of Happiness, which was inaugurated in 2018.
The course, open to all DU students, will have candidates participating in community service, yoga and meditation, and activities which would improve their personality, life skills and communication skills.
Students would also be introduced to "glimpses of our vedas and spirituality".
The college had kept little syllabus workload so that it would not cause an additional burden. Students will also get relaxation in attendance for regular classes.
Though the course is free, the college may charge a nominal amount for transportation while organising outdoor activities.

5.6cr Indians Live Outside their State of Birth

More than 5.6 crore Indians lived in states other than the ones they were born in, newly released census data for 2011 shows.
While UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and MP had the highest 'outmigration', Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat saw the largest 'in-migration'.
Among larger states, Bihar had the lowest number of people migrating into the state with most of the 10 lakh plus migrants coming from Jharkhand and UP.
In the case of UP, which had just over 40 lakh in-migrants compared to almost 1.3 crore out-migrants, a lot of the in-migration could also be due to people from all of India flocking to the NCR cities of Noida and Ghaziabad. In Haryana too, Gurgaon and Faridabad could account for a sizeable chunk of the 37 lakh in-migrants.
Though the thumb rule is states with a high level of development have lesser out-migration and than people flocking in, more people left Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh than West Bengal or Assam.Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had more in-migration than out-migration. People born in UP constituted the largest chunk (45%) of Delhi's migrant population followed by MP (41%), Maharashtra (31%), and Gujarat (24%).
Contrary to the popular perception of Biharis moving in droves to Punjab, Haryana, Delhi or Mumbai, migrants from Bihar moved more towards the east.
People born in Bihar constituted 62% of migrants in Jharkhand, 47% in West Bengal, 31% in Assam and other north-eastern states compared to just 18% in Delhi and 6% in Maharashtra.
In most southern states, people from neighbouring states constituted the bulk of the migrant population. In Kerala, Bengalis, who constituted 5% of the migrant population were the only significant non-southern chunk, with Tamils (53.2%) and Kannadigas (16.4%) being the most numerous among nonlocals.
Similarly, in Punjab, Himachal, Uttarakhand and Haryana, people from neighbouring states account for most of the migrant population, though natives of UP and Bihar, too, have a sizeable presence in these states.
Rajasthanis mostly moved to Gujarat, MP and Haryana.
They, however, constitute the biggest chunk of those from the North (5%), among migrants in Tamil Nadu and other southern states like Andhra and Karnataka.

US Town Becomes Gender Neutral

The US city of Berkeley has officially gotten rid of all of its "manholes", "policewomen" and "firemen" — well, so to speak.
According to an ordinance adopted by local authorities in the northern California city, all such commonly used words in city documents are now banned and must be replaced by more gender-neutral alternatives.
As such, common words such as "bondsman" will be replaced by the non-gendered term "bonds-person", "manhole" becomes "maintenance hole" and a "pregnant woman" will now be referred to as a "pregnant employee".

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TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS

Oyo to Raise Stake

Ritesh Agarwal, the founder and chief executive officer of Oyo Hotels and Homes, will invest $2 billion to buy back a part of the equity holdings of the company's early investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India, besides infusing more equity capital into the firm.
The founder-led management purchases are being made through RA Hospitality Holdings (Cayman).
Sequoia Capital held a 10.24% stake in Oyo, while Lighspeed had a 13.4% stake. It is not clear how much of their stakes they have sold in the latest transaction.
Agarwal's investment, backed by global institutional banks and his financial partners, is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

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General Awareness

Daily G.K. - Top Stories

20 Jul 2019

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

US Destroys Iranian Drone

UK Panel Seeks Support for an Indian as Next IMF Chief

World's Highest Aquarium Starts Trial Ops in China

ENVIRONMENT

Bitcoin Use Releases as much CO2 in a Year as Las Vegas

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Only Digital Payment Allowed on National Highway Tolls

L&T Finance to Exit Structured Finance Biz

Jio pips Airtel to Become No. 2 by User Base

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA Aims to Build as a Way Station for Mars Exploration

Ant- Sized Robots to Sense Climate Change

SPORTS

Tendulkar, Donald Inducted into ICC Hall of Fame

Stokes Nominated for New Zealander of the Year Award

Sindhu Crushes Okuhara

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

Rajasthan Likely to Shift Tigers to New Locations

SC Seeks Attorney General's Aid

World Bank Pulls Out of Amaravati Capital City Project

PERSONS IN NEWS

Raja's Name Proposed as CPI General Secretary

Flipkart Hires Unilever's Gupta to Head Marketing

Sanjeev Singla Named India's New Envoy to Israel

GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES

Trans Rights Bill in New Avatar Tabled in LS

GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION

Ramanujan College Offers 6-month Course in Happiness

5.6cr Indians Live Outside their State of Birth

US Town Becomes Gender Neutral

TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS

Oyo to Raise Stake

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