24 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

24 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. Boris Johnson named UK's new Prime Minister

• Conservative Party leader Boris Johnson (55-years) has been elected as new Prime Minister of United Kingdom.
• Johnson, the former foreign secretary, secured 92,153 votes against 46,656 of his rival Jeremy Hunt in the battle for 10 Downing Street after Prime Minister Theresa May announced her resignation amid a mounting rebellion from within the party.
• The new Prime Minister is expected to spend some time finalizing his key Cabinet and ministerial posts soon after the results.

Note:

• The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of the Government of the United Kingdom and chairs Cabinet meetings.
• The Prime Minister directs both the executive and the legislature, and together with their Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to Parliament, to their political party and ultimately to the electorate.

Source: AIR News

2. Mark Esper appointed as Pentagon chief

• The U.S. Senate confirmed former soldier Mark Esper as Secretary of Defense.
• Esper replaces Patrick Shanahan, who led the military in an acting capacity but this week withdrew his name from consideration for a permanent role after allegations of domestic violence.
• Earlier, Mark Esper served as acting secretary of defence and was the 23rd United States Secretary of the Army from 2017 to 2019.

Note:

• The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, ‘Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
• The Pentagon is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.

National Affairs

3. Piyush Goyal launches Global Innovation Index

• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has launched the Global Innovation Index (GII) in New Delhi.
• This is for the first time that the GII is being launched in an emerging economy.
• The theme this year is Creating Healthy Lives - The Future of Medical Innovation, which aims to explore the role of medical innovation as it shapes the future of healthcare.

Note:

• India has jumped 24 places in the Global Innovation Index in four years, from 81st position in 2015, it achieved the 57th position in 2018.
• To promote vibrant innovation economies, the GII probes and quantifies the state of national innovation ecosystems, including their strengths and weaknesses.
• It provides a critical tool for policymakers across the world.

4. SC extends the deadline for NRC publication to 31^st August

• The Supreme Court (SC) bench, comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice R F Nariman has extended the deadline for publication of final National Register of Citizens, (NRC) in Assam by a month (from 31^st July to 31^st August).
• The Apex Court rejected the pleas seeking permission for 20 per cent sample re-verification.
• The Centre and the Assam government sought permission for sample re-verification to find out wrongful inclusions and exclusions of persons in the NRC.
• Both the governments had told the top court earlier that India cannot be the refugee capital of the world and sought an extension of its deadline of July 31st to complete the Assam NRC.
• They sought directions to conduct sample re-verification to quell a growing perception that many illegal immigrants may have infiltrated the NRC especially in districts bordering Bangladesh.

Note:

• The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a register containing names of all genuine Indian citizens (first prepared in 1951).
• The 1951 NRC list has been updated for Assam, which has had a longstanding foreigner problem, to remove out illegal migrants and save further inflow.

Source: AIR news

5. Lok Sabha passes Motor Vehicles (Amendment), Bill

• The Lok Sabha has passed the Motor Vehicles (Amendment), Bill, 2019 by voice vote.
• The bill seeks to amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 to provide for road safety.
• Provisions related to increasing penalties of traffic violations, addressing issues on third-party insurance, regulation of cab aggregators and road safety are proposed in the amendment.
• The Bill proposes a scheme to allow cashless treatment of victims in a road accident during the golden hour.
• The golden hour is defined as the time period of up to one hour following a traumatic injury, during which the likelihood of preventing death through prompt medical care is the highest.
• The Bill proposes to increase the minimum compensation for hit and run cases.
• In case of the death, the compensation has been raised from 25 thousand to two lakh rupees, and in case of grievous injury, it will be from 12 thousand 500 to 50 thousand rupees.

Source: AIR News

6. New India-UK scheme to fund students from the UK to visit India

• A new India-UK bilateral pilot scheme has been launched to support Britain's universities to collaborate with Indian partners to send UK students to India during their studies.
• The “UKEIRI Mobility Programme: Study in India”, an initiative of Universities UK International (UUKI) and British Council India.
• It aims to generate up to 200 opportunities for undergraduate students at UK universities to visit India by March 2021.
• The Study in India programme will support national and institutional-level objectives to increase the levels of outward student mobility from the UK to 13 per cent by 2020.
• The programme will be funded by the UK and Indian governments as part of Phase 3 of the UK-India Education Research Initiative (UKEIRI) and delivered by the British Council, Universities UK International and EdCIL in India.

Source: AIR News

Banking and Finance

7. Govt extends the deadline for filing of Income Tax returns till Aug 31

• The Union government has extended the deadline for filing of Income Tax returns by individuals for the financial year 2018-19 to 31st of August from 31st July.
• According to the official release of Finance Ministry, the decision has been taken after it was reported that some of the taxpayers are facing difficulties in filing their income tax returns due to various reasons including the extension of due date for issue of Form 16 for the Assessment Year 2019-20.

8. Reliance becomes highest-ranked Indian firm on Fortune Global 500 list

• Mukesh Ambani-led 'Reliance Industries' has jumped 42 places to become the highest-ranking Indian firm on the Fortune Global 500 list.
• US giant Walmart continues to top the Fortune 500 list followed by Chinese state-owned oil and gas company Sinopec Group, which moved one rank up.
• Dutch company Royal Dutch Shell was ranked third followed by China National Petroleum and State Grid.
• This year, ranked 106, Reliance Industries (RIL) has replaced IOC (117) as the top-ranked Indian company on the Global 500 list.
• RIL's revenue soared 32.1 per cent from USD 62.3 billion in 2018 to USD 82.3 billion in 2019.
• ONGC has moved up 37 places to 160th rank on the global list, while SBI lost 20 places to 236th rank.

Honours & Awards

9. Keshav Dutt & Prasun Banerjee to get Mohun Bagan Ratna

• Keshav Dutt (2- time Olympic gold medallist) and Prasun Banerjee (former India Football Captain) will be conferred the 'Mohun Bagan Ratna' during its annual daycelebrations on the 29th of this month.
• Mohun Bagan will also felicitate pacer Mohammed Shami, while Ashok Chatterjee will be given the Lifetime Achievement award.
• The Mariners will also give Life Memberships to Sourav Ganguly, Chuni Goswami, Dr Vece Paes, Prasenjit Chatterjee and Deb Shankar Halder.
• One of the oldest surviving hockey Olympians of the country, Duttdonned (94-years) the national jersey in the 1948 London Games, where India won the first gold post-Independence, and the former centre halfback won his second Olympic gold in Helsinki 1952.
• This is for the first time Mohun Bagan's executive committee has decided to confer their highest honour to a non-footballer.

Note:

• Mohun Bagan Day is being celebrated (since 2001) every year on 29th July in honour of Mohun Bagan's victory over East Yorkshire Regiment in the 1911 IFA Shield Final.
• Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is a professional association football club based in West Bengal, India.

Source: The Times of India

10. The Central Board of Direct Taxes celebrates ‘Aaykar Diwas’

• Today, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is celebrating the 159th Income Tax Day.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has attended an event to mark Income Tax Day in New Delhi.
• The event will include the release of departmental publications, e-journal, publicity kit for outreach programmes among other things.
• The week preceding the Aaykar Diwas has been marked by various activities undertaken by the regional offices of the department across the country.

Note:

• On 24th July 1860, Income Tax was introduced for the first time in India by Sir James Wilson to compensate for the losses incurred by the British regime during the first war of independence against British Rule.

Sports

11. Abhay, Tanvi win Bengal Open squash titles

• Abhay Singh (Tamil Nadu) and Tanvi Khanna (Asian Games medallist) clinched the men's and women's titles respectively in the sixth Bengal Open squash tournament in Kolkata.
• Singh defeated top seed Abhishek Pradhan 11-6 11-6 11-4, while Tanvi fought her way past Tamil Nadu's Aparajitha Balamurukan 11-7 11-6 5-11 13-11.
• Earlier, the under-15 category witnessed a thrilling battle with fifth-seeded Tamil Nadu girl Shameena Riaz upsetting top seed Soniya Bajaj from Maharashtra 9-11 11-7 11-5 7-11 11-8.
• Daughter of former India hockey captain Mohammed Riaz, Shameena recently won the U-15 title at the Goregaon Sports Club All India Squash Open in Mumbai.