25 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

25 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs

1. 20th Anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas being celebrated today

• Today, India is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the victory of the Indian Armed Forces in ‘Operation Vijay’ against the infiltrating Pakistani troops.
• The day is named after the successful ‘Operation Vijay’ (in 1999) when India regained the control of the high outposts which had been stealthily taken over by Pakistan.
• The central theme of this year's celebrations is ‘Remember, Rejoice and Renew’.
• President Ram Nath Kovind visited the Kargil War Memorial in Dras (Jammu and Kashmir) and paid homage to soldiers & officers of the Indian Army who were martyred during ‘Operation Vijay’.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Army Chief General Bipin Rawat paid tributes to the martyrs at National War Memorial where a Victory Flame was illuminated.
• The Victory Flame traversed through eleven towns and cities and finally culminated at Dras where the flame was merged with the eternal flame at Kargil War Memorial.
• ‘Maharashtra’ states commemorate the 'Kargil Vijay Diwas' by organising special shows of Bollywood film Uri: The Surgical Strike at more than 500 screens across the state with an objective to "propagate nationalism".

Note:

• The Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LOC).
• In India, the conflict is also referred to as Operation Vijay which was the name of the Indian operation to clear the Kargil sector.

Source: AIR News

Science & Defence

2. Indian Navy Commissions Dornier Squadron INAS 313 at Chennai

• Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh commissioned the fifth Dornier squadron of the Indian Navy- Indian Naval Air Squadron 313 (INAS 313) at the Naval Air Enclave in Meenambakkam, Chennai.
• The fifth Dornier squadron will help India track of the growing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean Region.
• With commissioning of INAS 313, the Tamil Nadu states will have three naval (earlier, INS Rajali at Arakkonam and INS Parundu at Ramnad) airbases, the highest number for any Coastal State.
• The squadron will operate the indigenous Hindustan Aeronautical built maritime surveillance version multi-role Dornier 228 Short Range Maritime reconnaissance aircraft from Chennai airport.
• INAS 313 derives its name ‘Sea Eagle’ from the bird of prey family Accipitridae.

Source: PIB

3. DefExpo India-2020 to be held in Lucknow for the first time

• The Defence Ministry has announced that the 11th edition of the biennial DefExpo will be held in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) in 2020(from 5th to 8th February).
• The four-day event will offer an excellent opportunity for the Indian defence industry to showcase its capabilities and promote its export potential.
• The main theme of the DefExpo India- 2020 will be ‘India - the Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’.
• The focus will be on Digital Transformation of Defence.

Note:

• The DefExpo would provide a unique platform for Defence industry OEMs, exhibitors and private industry to display their latest innovations and capabilities.
• In 2018, the event was held in Chennai.

Source: PTI

Obituaries

4. Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi passes away

• Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi (92-years) passed away in a military hospital.
• He was the major figure in the country’s transition to democracy after the Arab spring.
• Essebsi was the oldest head of state after the Queen, has been a major figure in Tunisian politics since the uprisings that led to the overthrow of the long-time despot Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
• Tunisia is often described as the lone success story of the revolutions of 2011 because of its slow but steady progress towards democracy, despite extended economic problems.

Source: The Guardian

National Affairs

5. Chennai Metro Rail travel cards can be used for parking fee payment

• According to Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL), Chennai Metro Rail travel card can be used to pay the parking fee at Chennai Metro stations from 1^st August this year.
• This will facilitate seamless transportation of metro passengers.
• Passengers who are using the CMRL parking spaces, who do not possess a CMRL travel card can buy and top up through customer care /ticketing counters available at CMRL metro Stations for usage of the parking payments at all Metro Stations.

Source: Hindu Business line.

6. Railway’s first printing press heritage gallery opened

• The Western Railway (WR) has thrown open to the public the first printing press heritage gallery of the Indian Railways at Mahalaxmi.
• With this, the WR Mahalaxmi General Stores Depot (GSD) has become the first in Indian Railways to portray a heritage gallery of the printing and allied machines used in the WR Printing Press since 1948, which are still in working condition, it said.
• The press came into existence in 1912 under the Greater Indian Peninsular Railway (GIP) Bombay, as the railway needed stationery and tickets to run the operations.

Source: Mumbai Mirror

7. Gujarat tops India in rooftop solar power generation capacity

• Gujarat state has emerged as the most rooftop solar panels installed.
• The data was tabled by R K Singh (Union minister of state for new and renewable energy) in the upper house of Parliament.
• Gujarat has an installed rooftop solar power capacity of 261.97 MW, against 1,700.54 MW for all of India. Gujarat is followed by Maharashtra (198.52 MW) and Tamil Nadu (151.62 MW) in terms of installed rooftop capacity.
• The Union government aims to install rooftop solar capacity of 40,000 MW by 2022.

Source: The Economics Times

8. UP becomes No. 1 in implementation of Pradhanamntri Suraksha Beema Yojna

• Uttar Pradesh has become number one in implementation of Pradhanamntri Suraksha Beema Yojna in the country.
• As per the statement released by the state government, 1.95 crores people have been given insurance cover under the scheme till 31st March 2019.
• Implementation of this ambitious central government scheme started in the state from January 2018 under which people between age group of 18 to 70 get an accidental insurance cover of rupees 2 lakh by paying a nominal premium of 12 rupees annually.
• Uttar Pradesh stands second in the country in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Beema Yojana, another flagship scheme of the Union Government.

9. Arunachal CM launches statewide tree plantation programme

• Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has launched the state-wide tree plantation programme ‘Clean-Green Arunachal Campaign 2019’ in Itanagar.
• The campaign under the State Forest department will plant 1-lakh tree saplings in the next 24 hours.
• The campaign is being held as part of Van Mahotsav celebration and has set the target of planting 1 Crore tree within the next five years.
• Arunachal is known globally for its huge forest cover and is considered one of the eighteen 'biodiversity hotspots' in the world.
• The forest carbon stock in Arunachal comes to 148.52 tonnes per hectare, which is highest in the country and whose value in terms of carbon credit at 6 Euros per tonne works out to 48000 Crore rupees annually.

Sports

10. Ehsan Mani named the chief of ICC committee

• Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Ehsan Mani (74-years) has been appointed as the head of the ICC’s influential Finance and Commercial Affairs committee.
• The F&CA assists the ICC in discharging its responsibilities in relation to all financial and commercial matters.

Note:

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) has 104 cricket playing nations as members including 11 full members and other as associate members.
• It organises world championship events such as Cricket World Cup, Women's Cricket World Cup, ICC T20 World Cup, ICC Women's T20 World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Source:  Business-Standard

11. India drops two places in FIFA rankings

• The Indian football team slipped two places to 103rd in the FIFA (football's world governing body) rankings released.
• India has 1214 ranking points to its kitty, down by five points from the previous chart issued last month.
• The Indian team now lies at 18th among Asian countries.
• Iran (23rd) is at the top among Asian countries, followed by Japan (33), Korea (37), Australia (46) and Qatar (62).
• Overall, Belgium leads the chart, followed by Brazil, France, England and Uruguay.

Note:

• The FIFA World Ranking (publish-monthly) is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, currently led by Belgium.
• The teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the most successful teams being ranked highest.

Source: The Hindustan Times

12. Goa govt seeks new dates for holding National Games

• The Goa government is not able to host the 36th National Games in November this year.
• The Goa government has requested the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to allot fresh dates in May 2020.
• Recently, The IOA had fined the Goa government for frequently missing the deadlines to host the games in the last four years.
• The National Games were earlier scheduled to be held in March- April 2019 but were postponed to November on account of Lok Sabha elections, by polls.

Note:

• The National Games comprises various disciplines (37 sports) in which sportsmen from the different states of India participate against each other.