06-07 January 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Bohemian Rhapsody’ wins Golden Globe 2019 for best motion picture drama

Bohemian Rhapsody and its lead star Rami Malek were declared as the Best Motion Picture (Drama) and the Best Actor, respectively in the 76th Golden Globe Awards 2019.
Bohemian Rhapsody is a 2018 biographical film about the British rock band Queen.
Green Book won the most awards for the ceremony with three, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
Jeff Bridges was honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement.

Note:

The 76th Golden Globe Awards honoured the best in film and American television of 2018, as chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

2. WCD minister Maneka Gandhi confers National Anganwadi Awards

The Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has conferred National Awards to 97 Anganwadi workers for their exceptional achievements for the year 2017-18 in New Delhi.
The award is given to motivate the Anganwadi workers and recognize their exemplary services in the field of child development and related areas under the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme.
The annual award was given in two levels.
From this year, the cash prize of the national level has been increased from Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 50,000.
State level award comprises of a cash prize of 10,000 rupees.

3. Vice President gives away Textiles Awards

The Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has given Textiles Awards to Seventeen persons for their outstanding contribution in different fields of textiles sector in New Delhi.
Mr Naidu also stressed on improving the quality of products to become competitive in international markets and called upon the textiles industry to create brand for Indian textiles products.
Earlier in the day, the national conclave was inaugurated by the Union Textiles Minister, Smriti Zubin Irani.
He also presented commemorative stamps on GI registered handicrafts.
For the first time, The Textiles Ministry is giving awards to people who have made a significant contribution to the textiles sector.

National Affairs

4. Govt will soon make linking Aadhaar mandatory with driving licences

According to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Central government will soon make it mandatory for linking Aadhaar with driving licences.
At present, the guilty person who causes an accident flees the scene and gets a duplicate licence which helps him go scot-free.
However, with the Aadhaar linkage, one can change his/her name but cannot change his/her biometrics(neither iris nor fingerprints).
A digital profile of India -- Aadhaar cards (123 crores), mobile phones (121 crores), smartphones (44.6 crores), internet users (around 56 crores), there has been 51% growth in e-commerce.
Digital payment transactions in the country have increased manifold to over 2,070 crore rupees in 2017-18.

5. Norwegian Prime Minister arrives in New Delhi

Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg has arrived in New Delhi on a three-day state visit to India.
She will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
The Norwegian Prime Minister will participate in the Indo-Norwegian Business Conference.
The visit of the Prime Minister of Norway will provide an opportunity to review the progress in bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
India and Norway enjoy close & multifaceted ties and economic, technical cooperation are important facets of the bilateral relation.
More than 100 Norwegian companies have invested in India in areas such as shipbuilding, petroleum-related services, hydropower, clean energy and IT services.

6. NCR launches a mobile app to help people navigate through Prayagraj city during Kumbh Mela

The North Central Railway (NCR) has launched a mobile application 'Rail Kumbh Seva Mobile App' to help people navigate through Prayagraj city during Kumbh Mela (from 15^th January).
It will also provide information regarding all the 'Mela special' trains that will be run during the period.
The app will provide a link to the user to buy both unreserved and reserved train tickets.
Through this app, the users will not only get to know their current location but will also be able to reach to all railway stations, the mela zone, major hotels, bus stations and other facilities within Prayagraj.

Know about Kumbha Mela

Kumbha Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage of faith in which Hindu gather to bathe in the holy river.
According to medieval Hinduism, Lord Vishnu dropped drops of Amrita (the drink of immortality) at four places, while transporting it in a Kumbha (pot).
Traditionally, four fairs are held periodically at one of the following places by rotation: Prayagraj, Haridwar, Nashik district (Nashik and Trimbak) and Ujjain.

S. No.	Kumbha Melas	River
1.	The Prayag Kumbh Mela	(Sangam) Ganges and the Yamuna and the invisible Sarasvati
2.	The Haridwar Kumbh Mela	Ganga
3.	Nashik-Trimbakeshwar Simhastha	Godavari
4.	The Ujjain Simhastha	Shipra

Bathing in these rivers is thought to cleanse a person of all their sins.
At any given place, the Kumbh Mela is held once in 12 years.

7. Govt allocates Rs 10,900 cr for development of 40 satellite launch vehicles in next 4-years

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman Dr K Sivan, the Union Government has allocated 10,900 crore rupees for the development of 40 satellite launch vehicles in the next four years.
Chandrayan Mission will be launched within three months.
It will land in one part of the Moon which is still unexplored.
The human space flight Gaganyaan is planned to be launched by 2022 (the 75th anniversary of Independence).

8. Odisha Agriculture Minister Pradeep Maharathy resigns

Odisha agriculture minister, Pradeep Maharathy has resigned, after strong protests over his dismissive remarks on the acquittal of those accused in a controversial rape case of 2011.
It was alleged that the accused in the case had been sheltered by Maharathy.
On December 24, 2018, the court of additional district judge in Bhubaneswar had acquitted the two persons arrested in the case.
A Dalit girl (19-year-old) was raped in November 2011 and died in June 2012 after remaining in a semi-comatose state, sparking a state-wide furore.

International Affairs

9. Sheikh Hasina takes oath as PM of Bangladesh

Today, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina (71-years) took oath as Prime Minister of Bangladesh for the third consecutive term.
President Mohammad Abdul Hamid has administered the oath of office to the Ministers at Bangabhaban.
Recently, Awami League and its allies secured 288 seats (Awami League -266 seats & Jatiya Party-21 ) out of elections held for 299-member Parliament.
The opposition National Unity Front (UNF) with BNP being its key partner got only seven seats and Independent candidates won in two seats.

Note:

The 350 members of the Jatiya Sangsad consist of 300 directly elected seats using first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies, and an additional 50 seats are reserved for women.
The reserved seats are distributed based on the proportional vote share of the contesting parties.

10. Pentagon Chief of Staff Kevin Sweeney resigns

The chief of staff of the US Department of Defence, Rear Admiral ‘Kevin Sweeney’ has announced his resignation from the post.
Defense Secretary Chief of Staff Kevin Sweeney served in this role since January 2017.
The move comes a month after the Defence Secretary James Mattis announced his departure in December 2018.
Now, He is the third senior Pentagon official to announce his resignation since President Donald Trump announced US forces would leave Syria.

Note:

In general, a chief of staff provides a buffer between a chief executive and that executive's direct-reporting team.

Banking & Finance

11. Direct Tax Collections for F.Y. 2018-19 up to December 2018

According to the provisional figures of Direct Tax collections 2018, The gross collections are at Rs. 8.74 lakh crore which is 14.1% higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year.
Refunds amounting to Rs.1.30 lakh crore have been issued during April to December 2018, (17.0% higher) than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year.
Net collections (after adjusting for refunds) have increased by 13.6% to Rs. 7.43 lakh crore during April - December 2018.
The net Direct Tax collections represent 64.7% of the total Budget Estimates of Direct Taxes for F.Y. 2018-19 (Rs. 11.50 lakh crore).
So far as the growth rate for Corporate Income Tax (CIT) and Personal Income Tax (PIT) is concerned, the growth rate of gross collections for CIT is 14.8% while that for PIT (including STT) is 17.2%.
An amount of Rs. 3.64 lakh crore has been collected as Advance Tax, which is 14.5% higher than the Advance Tax collections during the corresponding period of last year.
The growth rate of Corporate Advance Tax is 12.5% and that of PIT Advance Tax is 23.8%.

Note:

A direct tax is a tax imposed upon a person or property as distinct from a tax imposed upon a transaction, which is described as an indirect tax.
Direct Taxes in India were governed by two major legislation, Income Tax Act, 1961 and Wealth Tax Act, 1957.

Sports

12. Head Constable Rani wins gold medal in Senior National's Judo C'Ship

Lady head constable Rani of 5th Indian Reserve Battalion of Himachal Pradesh Police has won the Gold medal in the Senior National Women's Judo Championship at Visakhapatnam.
She claimed top honours in the 78 kg category.
Rani was also declared the best Judoka at the Championship.

13. India win their maiden series in Australia

India has won the first ever series (ending a 71-year wait) on Australian soil beating the home team 2-1 after the fourth and final Test ended in a draw due to inclement weather.
India scored 622 for 7 in their first innings and then bowled out Australia for 300 thereby enforcing the follow-on.
However persistent drizzle washed out day five thereby keeping the victory margin down to 2-1 and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with the series win.
It is the first time India managed the feat since they began touring Australia in 1947-48.
Now, Virat Kohli has become the first Indian as well as the first Asian captain to win a Test series in Australia.
Cheteshwar Pujara was declared man of the match as well as man-of-the-series.