27 July 2019 - Daily Current Affairs
1. BS Yeddyurappa takes oath as Karnataka chief minister
- Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala administers the oath to the BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa (76-years) as chief minister of the state (4th time) at a ceremony held outside the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
- He has to prove their majority in the assembly by 29th July 2019.
- Earlier, Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa has served three terms as Chief Minister of Karnataka and the Karnataka state president of BJP.
- On 23rd July 2019, the vote of confidence happened and BJP defeats the trust of the vote as BJP got 105 votes while the coalition (Government of H. D. Kumaraswamy) got 99 votes.
- B S Yeddyurappa is popularly known as "Raithara Bandhu" for his pro-farmer policies, initiatives like separate agriculture budget in Karnataka Government during his chief ministership.
Karnataka Elected members (224 Elected + 1 Nominated)
- There are 224 members of the Legislative Assembly of Karnataka state (Vidhana Sabha).
- One member is a representative of the Anglo-Indian community nominated by the Governor of Karnataka.
- BJP - 104 seats
- Congress- 78 seats
- JD(S) - 37 seats
- Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) -1,
- Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janatha Party- 1
- Independent candidate -1
2. Cong’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury appointed as PAC chairman
- The leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been appointed as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
- The PAC has 15 members from Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha.
- The term of office of members of the committee does not exceed one year at a time.
- Earlier, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress leader in the 16th Lok Sabha) was the Chairman of the PAC.
Note:
- The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a committee of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the purpose of auditing the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India.
- It serves as a check on the government especially with respect to its expenditure bill.
- Its primary function is to examine the audit report of Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) after it is laid in the Parliament.
3. US Senate confirms General Mark Milley as next Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
- The US Senate has overwhelmingly confirmed four-star Army General Mark Milley (61-years) as the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS).
- He will replace General Joseph Dunford.
- The Chairman is nominated by the President for the appointment and must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate.
- The United States Senate confirmed him by an overwhelming 89-1 votes.
Note:
- The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is, the highest-ranking and senior-most military officer in the United States Armed Forces
- He is the principal military advisor to the President, the National Security Council, the Homeland Security Council, and the Secretary of Defence.
4. Sunil Kumar given additional charge as MTNL chief
- Sunil Kumar has been given additional charge of chairman and managing director of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).
- Currently, Mr Kumar is Director (Human Resources and Enterprise Business) at MTNL.
- He takes over from P K Purwar who was recently appointed chairman and managing Director of BSNL.
Note:
- MTNL operates telecom services in the Delhi and Mumbai circles, has been incurring consistent losses and is now awaiting a comprehensive revival plan from the government.
Science & Defence
5. Students at IIT Madras Develops ‘Smart Agricopter’
- A team of three students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have developed a drone name as “Smart Agricopter” to eliminate manual spraying of pesticides in agricultural fields as well as identify crop health by using imaging camera.
- The Project ‘Smart Agricopter’ is a hexacopter drone which has the capacity to carry 15 litres of pesticide and will allow spraying pesticides ten times faster and with 100 per cent precision at the same cost as manual spraying.
- The cost of the agricopter is estimated to be around Rs 5.1 lakh.
Source: Economic Times
6. India, China to carry out major military exercise ‘Hand in Hand’
- India and China will carry out a major military exercise called ‘Hand-in-Hand’ in Meghalaya this year.
- The exercise will take place at Umroi, Meghalaya in December 2019.
- It will be based on counter-terrorism humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations.
- The exercise was previously held in December last year at Chengdu, China.
Source: Economic Times
7. The US & South Korean military exercises to be held in August
- An annual military exercise between the US and South Korean military exercises ‘19-2 Dong Maeng (alliance)’ will be held in the month of August.
- The announcement was made by Choi Jong-kun, the secretary for peace planning to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
- Earlier, the United States and South Korea had suspended a large-scale exercise and it also cancelled a second exercise after the Singapore summit in June 2018.
- North Korea has threatened that the country will drop the nuclear talks with the US if it continues the military exercise with South Korea.
Source: BBC
Book & Author
8. Lt Gn. Ranbir Singh releases a book on Fire and Fury Corps of Army
- Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh has released the coffee table book titled ‘Fire and Fury Corps – Saga of Valour, Fortitude and Sacrifice’ in Leh, in Jammu and Kashmir.
- This book showcases the courage and bravery of the Fire and Fury Warriors and portrays the rich heritage and ethos of the Indian Army.
National Affairs
9. Residents having domicile of Haryana to get a family ID card
- The 14-digit Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) also called as Family Identity Card (ID), officially rolled out by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Chandigarh.
- It will include in the initial phase only those residents who belong to Haryana.
- Chief Minister Khattar has launched a portal ‘www.meraparivar.haryana.gov.in’
- According to the state government directives, the ID will be created for all the state government employees, including contractual employees and those in boards, corporations or universities.
- According to the government data, the population of over 2.5 crore, which is approximately 54 lakh households, will be covered through this exercise.
- Those not yet registered and also those who seek to modify the relevant data or provide additional data like birth, death or marriage details can do so at designated centres.
- As per the plan, more than 500 PPP registration centres will be set up for scanning and uploading of documents submitted by the citizens.
Source: Hindustan Times
10. President Kovind to visit 3 West African nations from 28th July
- President Ram Nath Kovind will embark on a week-long visit to three West African nations, Benin, The Gambia and Guinea. (from 28th July to 3rd August).
- India's diplomatic relations with Africa have undergone an unprecedented transformation in the last five years.
- This will be the first high-level visit for our Head of State from India to all the three countries in West Africa.
Source: Business Standard
Sports
11. Mohammad Amir announces retirement from Test cricket
- According to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Speedster Mohammed Amir (27-years) called time on his Test career.
- Amir made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in Galle in July 2009 and he featured in 36 Tests, taking 119 wickets at an average of 30.47.
- In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Dublin Chiefs in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament.
Source: Times of India
12. BCCI announces Byju's as Team India's new sponsors
- The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has officially named Byju's as the new sponsors of Team India (from September 5 to March 31, 2022).
- BYJU'S (Bengaluru-based online tutorial company) will be taking over the sponsorship from OPPO.
- Now, BYJU’S will be seen on the Indian team jersey from September 2019 when the home series against South Africa.
- Oppo had won the Indian team sponsorship rights in March of 2017 by bidding Rs 1079 crores.
