05 December 2019 - Daily Current Affairs
1. Reserve Bank keeps repo rate unchanged at 5.15 %
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review of the current financial year 2019-20.
- The RBI keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 5.15%.
- Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 4.90%.
- The marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 5.40%.
2. S&P reaffirms India's rating at 'BBB' with a stable outlook
- Rating Agency S&P (Standard & Poor's) has reaffirmed the Sovereign Credit Rating of India at BBB with outlook as stable.
- India’s economy continues to achieve impressive long-term growth rates despite a recent deceleration.
- India will maintain its sound net external position and fiscal deficit will remain elevated but broadly in line with their forecast.
- In the report, S&P has maintained a stable outlook for India on the basis of their expectation that over the next two years the growth will remain strong.
- They expect the economy to continue to outperform their peers on the back of rising domestic demand and strong demographics.
Important Days
3. World Soil Day being observed today
- World Soil Day is being observed every year on 5th December to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and advocating for the sustainable management of soil resources.
- The theme for 2019 World Soil Day is ‘Stop Soil Erosion, Save our Future'.
- The theme focuses on the increasing challenges in soil management.
- The Soil holds three times as much carbon as the atmosphere and can help us meet the challenges of a changing climate.
- As per the UN, every 5 seconds, the equivalent of one soccer field of soil is eroded.
4. 5th December: International Volunteer Day (IVD)
- The International Volunteer Day are occasions to educate the public on issues of concern, to mobilize political will and resources to address global problems and to celebrate and reinforce the achievements of humanity.
- The theme of IVD 2019 is ‘Volunteer for an inclusive future"
- Volunteering provides opportunities for people, particularly those often excluded, to concretely impact their own lives and play a constructive role in their communities by volunteering their time and skills.
Obituaries
5. England legend Bob Willis passes away
- Former England fast bowler Bob Willis (70 years) passed away after a short illness.
- Bob Willis took 325 wickets in 90 Tests and 80 wickets in 64 ODIs in his career.
- He also captained England in 18 Tests and 29 ODIs.
Honour & Awards
6. ET Lifetime of Public Service Award for Former FM (Late) Arun Jaitley
- Former Finance Minister of India Arun Jaitley was bestowed with the Economic Times (ET) Lifetime Achievement Award for Public Service 2019.
- The award was received by Arun Jaitley’s spouse Sangeeta Jaitley.
State Affairs
7. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has inaugurated the first-ever North East Food Show (three-day-long) at Polo Grounds, Shillong.
- The food show will provide a strong platform and network to different stakeholders.
- There are different technologies and products relating to the food industry which people are not aware of, and the show will serve as the bridge to connect with one another.
- It will also be an opportunity for these majors to source products not available anywhere else and to introduce their products to the region.
8. Avantee mega Food Park inaugurated in MP’s Dewas
- Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Union Minister for food processing) has inaugurated Avantee mega Food Park in Dewas. Madhya Pradesh.
- This first food park of central India is spread over 51 acres and has been constructed at a cost of about 150 crore rupees.
- About 5 thousand local people will get employment from this Mega Food Park.
- Processing of soyabean, gram, wheat and other grains and vegetables will be done in the park. Warehouses will also be opened in Indore, Ujjain, Dhar and Agar in the next phases.
National Affairs
9. Mumbai Central gets first ‘Eat Right Station’ certification from FSSAI
- The Mumbai Central station of Railways was conferred with the ‘Eat Right Station’ certification with four stars rating by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
- The Mumbai Central Railway Station is the country’s first “Eat Right Station.”
- The focus of the movement is on improving the health and well-being of people by ensuring they eat healthily.
- Mumbai Central station has been judged on the basis of compliance of food safety and hygiene, availability of healthy diet, food handling at preparation, transhipment and retail/serving point, food waste management, promotion of local and seasonal food and creating awareness on food safety and healthy diet.
- ‘Eat Right India’ movement is built on two broad pillars of ‘Eat Healthy’ and ‘Eat Safe’.
10. India’s first maritime museum coming up at Lothal in Gujarat
- Government of India (GoI) & Portugal has decided to cooperate in the setting up of an India’s 1st National Maritime Heritage Museum at Lothal in Gujarat.
- The objective of the museum to boost the underwater or marine archaeology.
- The Museum will showcase salvaged material from shipwreck sites in the Indian Ocean waters.
11. India gifts patrol vessel to the Maldives as the net security provider of the region
- India gifted a ‘Made in India’ Patrol Vessel named "KAAMIYAAB” to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).
- It will be net security provider in the region amid China’s increasing forays in the Indian Ocean Region.
- Meanwhile, 2500 LED streetlights donated by India were installed in Male recently.
- These streetlights save 80% energy and will result in cost savings of approx. 8.35 lakh MVR per year for Male city.
- In 2019, tourist arrivals from India to the Maldives have doubled and India has risen from 5th to the 2nd position in the tourism market of Maldives.
Source: Economics Times
12. Naveen Patnaik (Chief Minister of Odisha) has launched e-learning mobile app ‘Madhu’ for school students.
- It is an e-learning mobile phone application which will help school students to understand their subjects in a better and most efficient way.
- Through this app, the students will be able to access the video explanation of the topics they were taught in their classroom.
- The app is named after ‘Utkal Gourab’ Madhusudan Das, developed by Ganjam district administration.
Source: India Today
Sports
13. New Zealand wins MCC’s Spirit of Cricket award
- The New Zealand cricket team has been awarded the Christopher Martin-Jenkins Spirit of Cricket award.
- The team has been awarded for its exemplary show of sportsmanship during the final match of the ICC World Cup at Lord’s in July 2019, which it lost under controversial circumstances.
- Martin-Jenkins was the former MCC president and BBC Test Match Special commentator.
14. India bag ten Gold medals at 13th South Asian Games in Kathmandu
- India dominated the 13th South Asian Games in Nepal by clinching 10 Gold in Athletics, Volleyball, Shooting and Table Tennis.
- Archana Suseendran in women's 100 metres (track and field events), M. Jashna (women's high jump), Sarvesh Anil Kushare (men's high jump) and Ajay Kumar Saroj (men's 1500 metres) won a gold each to begin India's athletics campaign on an impressive note.
- In Volleyball, Indian men's and women's team won gold.
- Indian women's volleyball team defeated host Nepal by 3-2 in the final at Kathmandu.
- In Shooting, India swept all the medals on offer in the women's 10 metres air rifle event with Mehuli Ghosh winning the gold.
- The Indians have so far claimed 40 medals (15 gold, 16 silver and nine) bronze.
15. Virat Kohli regains no.1 spot in ICC Test rankings
- India captain Virat Kohli regained the top spot in the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Test rankings in batting.
- Kohli, who had struck a fine 136 in the day-night Kolkata Test against Bangladesh last week, reached 928 points.
- Australian Steve Smith (923 points) slipped a rung in the latest list issued in Dubai.
- Cheteshwar Pujara has held on to his fourth spot, while Ajinkya Rahane has come down a spot to sixth in the latest batting.
- Among the bowlers, Jasprit Bumrah is the highest-placed Indian at the fifth position.
- West Indies captain Jason Holder has consolidated his position at the top of the all-rounders' list.
