18-19 August 2019 - Daily Current Affairs
1. President Kovind Inaugurates Bunker Museum at Maharastra Raj Bhavan
- President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the 15,000 square feet long underground ‘Bunker Museum’ at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.
- ‘Bunker Museum’ has virtual reality booths to give insight to visitors about the 19th century when the bunker was created to fire cannons at approaching enemy ships.
- The President also inaugurated the Presidential Guest House named Jal Kiran at Raj Bhavan which will serve as the accommodation for the President and the Prime Minister during their visits to Mumbai.
- On the occasion, President Kovind also laid the foundation stone of reconstruction of Maharashtra Governor’s Office-cum-Residence known as Jal Bhushan.
2. PM Modi to embark on 3-day visit to UAE, Bahrain
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-day visit to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain beginning 23rd August 2019.
- Mr Modi will first travel to United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he will meet the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and discuss bilateral, regional and international matters of mutual interest.
- He will receive the Order of Zayed, the highest civil decoration of the UAE which was conferred earlier in April 2019 in recognition of the distinguished leadership of Prime Minister Modi for giving a big boost to bilateral relations between the two countries.
- The robust flow of bilateral investments and an annual bilateral trade of about 60 billion US dollar, the UAE is India's third-largest trade partner.
- UAE is also the fourth-largest exporter of crude oil for India.
- In Bahrain, he would launch the renovation of a temple of Shreenathji.
- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country in Western Asia at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south and west, as well as sharing maritime borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.
- The sovereign constitutional monarchy is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi (which serves as the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain.
- The Kingdom of Bahrain is an island country in the Persian Gulf.
- It is 765.3 square kilometres (295.5 sq mi) in size, making it the third-smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore.
3. Manipur CM launches ‘School Fagadaba’ scheme
- Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has launched a scheme named ‘School Fagadaba’ (Make education better) to improve the infrastructure of government schools in the state.
- The objective of the “School Fagadaba” Scheme is to ensure better infrastructure, quality education and overall improvement of government schools to make them model schools.
- In the first phase of the scheme, one school from each of the 60 Assembly constituencies in the state have been selected.
- Biometric devices would be installed in schools in ensuring regular attendance of teachers.
4. India gets its first national essential diagnostics list
- India has got its first National Essential Diagnostics List (NEDL) finalized by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
- The purpose of this list to bridge the current regulatory system’s gap that does not cover all the medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic device (IVD).
- This will create stringent national pre-qualification specifications and processes that are necessary to ensure the availability of safe, effective, affordable tests of good quality as well as improving access to new diagnostics in resource-constrained settings.
- With this, India has become the first country to have such a list.
- This comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO) released the first edition of its essential diagnostics list (EDL) in May 2018.
- NEDL is a complete list of diagnostic tests, medical devices and in-vitro diagnostic device (IVD) for all levels of health care – village level, primary, secondary and tertiary care.
5. HRD Minister inaugurates two-day international conference on teacher education
- Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has inaugurated an international conference on teacher education in New Delhi.
- The two-day event is being organized by the National Council of Teacher Education as part of silver jubilee celebration of its establishment in 1995.
- According to Mr Nishank, India has traditionally been known for leadership in education and teacher preparation.
- The Union Human Resource Development Ministry will launch the world's biggest project for teacher training on 22nd August to train over 42 lakhs schoolteachers across the country.
Summits & Conferences
6. Nepal will host 5th meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission
- The 5th meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 21st-22nd August 2019.
- Dr S. Jaishankar (India’s Minister for External Affairs) and Pradeep Kumar Gyawali (Nepal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs) will co-chair the meeting and lead their respective delegations.
- The Joint Commission Meeting will review the overall state of bilateral relations and various areas of cooperation such as connectivity and economic partnership, trade and transit, power and water resources, culture, education and other matters of mutual interest.
- India-Nepal Joint Commission was established in June 1987.
- Its meetings are held alternately in Nepal and India.
- The last meeting of the Commission was held in New Delhi on October 2016.
Important Days
7. World Humanitarian Day being observed today
- The World Humanitarian Day (WHD) is observed annually across the world on 19th August to recognize the work of humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives working for humanitarian causes.
- The day provides an opportunity to celebrate the spirit that inspires humanitarian work around the globe.
- The world humanitarian day 2019 theme is ‘Women Humanitarians’.
- The World Humanitarian Day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by passing a resolution A/63/L.49.
8. 19th August: World Photography Day being observed today
- The 'World Photography Day' being observed to inspire photographers across the planet to share a single photo with the world.
- On this day, camera persons take stock of the different kind of photography that has come to the fore.
- On August 19 in 2010, World Photo Day hosted its first global online gallery.
International Affairs
9. Chad President declares a state of emergency in two eastern provinces
- Chad President Idriss Deby has declared a state of emergency in two eastern provinces after violent inter-communal clashes left dozens dead earlier this month.
- The state of emergency will run for three months in Sila and Ouaddai regions.
- The Republic of Chad is a landlocked country in north-central Africa.
- It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west.
Obituaries
10. Padma Shri awardee Damodar Ganesh Bapat passes away
- Noted social worker and Padma Shri award winner Damodar Ganesh Bapat (84-years) passed away at a hospital in Chhattisgarh.
- He dedicated his life to the treatment and service of leprosy patients.
- Damodar Ganesh Bapat served leprosy patients at an ashram run by the Indian Leprosy Prevention Association at village Sothi (8-kilometers away from Champa) in Chhattisgarh.
- He was awarded Padma Shri (the fourth highest civilian award) by in 2018 for his service to the society.
11. Nari Shakti Award Winner Neelum Sharma passes away
- Doordarshan Anchor and Nari Shakti Award Winner Neelum Sharma (50-years) passed away due to cancer.
- Neelum Sharma was known for her programmes like ‘Tejaswini’ and ‘Badi Charcha’.
- Through her show Tejaswini, Neelum focused on woman achievers of India.
- She had been awarded the Nari Shakti Puruskar (highest civilian award for the woman in India) by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2018.
12. Former Bihar CM Jagannath Mishra passes away
- Veteran Congress leader and three-time Bihar Chief Minister Dr Jagannath Mishra (82-years) passed away at a hospital in Delhi.
- Dr Mishra became Chief Minister in 1975, 1980 and 1989.
- Before joining politics, Mishra was an economics professor at Bihar University.
- The state government has declared a three-day state mourning in Bihar.
Science & Defence
13. NASA scientists fly over Greenland to track melting ice
- The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists are crisscrossing Greenland on a mission to track melting ice.
- Greenland has been melting faster in the last decade and this summer, it has seen two of the biggest melts on record since 2012.
- Global warming is the chief culprit, but scientists want to know how this is happening.
- Both warmer air and warmer water are eating away at Greenland, causing it to lose billions of tons of ice daily in the summer.
- A team of scientists and engineers aboard a research plane this week are dropping probes into the ice to help figure out which is the bigger cause.
Sports
14. Hima Das & Mohammad Anas win gold at Athleticky Mitink Reiter event
- Indian sprinters Hima Das (19-years) and Mohammad Anas (24-years) have won a gold each in 300m races at the Athleticky Mitink Reiter event in the Czech Republic.
- Hima won the gold in women's event and Mohammad Anas claimed the Gold medal in men’s category.
- This was Hima's sixth gold in 2019 in European races since last month.
- Mohammad Anas won the gold clocking 32.41 seconds.
- India’s Nirmal Tom clinched a bronze medal in the same event by clocking a timing of 33.03 seconds.
15. Labuschagne becomes first Concussion Substitute cricket player
- Australian Cricket player Marnus Labuschagne (25-years) has become the concussion substitution player in the history of Test cricket.
- A Concussion Replacement is a player who takes the place of a player who has been replaced for the remainder of the match.
- In Ashes Series 2019, Labuschagne replaced Steve Smith in Australia's XI on the last day of the Lord’s Test.
- A Concussion Replacement Request is a notification made to the ICC Match Referee in accordance with the process set out by ICC.
- The Team Medical Representative is the individual designated for the assessment of any head or neck injury sustained by a player.
- The player will be selected from the list of nominated players provided by that team whose player was injured and will take a full part in the match.
16. India wins gold at the U-12 Asian Tennis Championship in Kazakhstan
- India won the gold medal at the Under-12 Asian Tennis Team championship held in Kazakhstan.
- India defeated Chinese Taipei (2-1) in the summit clash to win the title.
- The final comprised of three matches including 2 singles and one doubles.
- India won both the singles matches (Manas and Rethin) while lost the doubles encounter.
- The Indian team comprised Manas Dhamma(12-year), Arnav Paprakar and Tamil Nadu’s Pranav Rethin.
