Current Affairs 23 October, 2019

1. Two BrahMos Surface-to-Surface missile test conducted at Trak Island in the Andaman Nicobar

• Two BrahMos Surface-to-Surface missile tests were conducted at Trak Island in the Andaman Nicobar group of islands over the last two days by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
• The missile engaged the designated mock targets close to 300 km away and a direct hit on the target was achieved in both the cases, IAF stated.
• This has enhanced IAF’s capability to engage grounds targets with pin-point accuracy from a mobile platform, the statement added. BrahMos is a supersonic cruise missile jointly developed by India and Russia.

Foot Notes:
About Indian Air Force
1. Chief of the Indian Air Force: Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria
2. Founded: 8 October 1932, India
3. Headquarters: New Delhi

2. India improves ranking in Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index

• India has marginally improved its ranking to 32nd position in terms of providing pension and retirement benefits to citizens compared to last year.
• The country's score in the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index (MMGPI) 2019 rose to 45.8 from 44.6 last year.
• India stood at 32nd position in 2019 out of 37 countries, while it was ranked at 33rd place in 2018 out of 34 countries in the list.

3. Praveen Kumar becomes first Indian man to become wushu world champion

• Praveen Kumar is the first Indian man to win a wushu World Championships gold. In 2017, Pooja Kadian had become the first Indian to be crowned world champion in wushu.
• The Indian saw off his Filipino opponent 2-1 in the men’s sanda event of the 15th World Wushu Championships.
• Among other Indians in the fray, Poonam (women’s 75kg) and Sanathoi Devi (women’s 52kg) secured silver medals while Vikrant Baliyan bagged the bronze in the men’s 60kg category.

4. Assam: Starting 2021, no govt. jobs for those with more than two kids

• The State Cabinet of Assam has decided to make government jobs out of bounds for people with more than 2 children.
• The policy will come into effect from January 1, 2021.
• The Cabinet also adopted a new land policy that will make the landless indigenous people eligible for 3 bighas (43,200 sq. ft.) of land for farming and half a bigha for constructing a house. The beneficiary will be able to sell the given land only after 15 years of use.

Foot Notes:
About Assam
1. Chief Minister: Sarbananda Sonowal
2. Capital: Dispur

5. Captain takes charge: Sourav Ganguly becomes BCCI President

• Former India captain Sourav Ganguly took charge as the BCCI president, easily the most high-profile name to head the world's richest cricket board that has been mired in administrative turmoil for the past three years.
• The 47-year-old Ganguly was officially entrusted with the task of heading Indian cricket for the next nine months at the BCCI's General Body meeting here, ending a controversial 33-month reign of the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA).
• Ganguly's appointment as the BCCI's 39th President was finalised last week. He succeeds C K Khanna, who was the interim head of the Board since 2017.

Foot Notes:
About BCCI
1. CEO: Rahul Johri
2. Headquarters: Mumbai
3. Women's coach: W. V. Raman
4. Secretary: Amitabh Choudhary
5. Presidents: C.K. Khanna, Sourav Ganguly

6. Panchayati Raj Minister confers National Panchayat Awards 2019

• Minister of Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar conferred the national Panchayat Awards, 2019 at a function in New Delhi today. 246 Awards were given to Awardee Panchayats and States in various categories for their best performance at different levels, including the delivery of services.
• The Minister also launched an App called ‘Gram Manchitra’ which is a Geo-Spatial based decision support system for panchayats.  

Foot Notes:

7. Bibek Debroy pens translations of two Hindu mythological texts- ‘Markendya Purana’ and ‘The Bhagavad Gita’

• Economist and author Bibek Debroy has come out with English translations of two Hindu mythological texts -- "Markendya Purana" and "The Bhagavad Gita".
• Both the books, translated from Sanskrit, draw out the subtleties of the ancient texts and enable a new generation of readers to savour its timeless riches.
• While "Markendya Purana", is a marvellous amalgam of mythology and metaphysics that unfolds a series of conversations in which sage Markandeya is asked to answer some deeper questions raised by the events in the "Mahabharata", "The Bhagavad Gita" is an account of the debate between right and wrong, and the bond between action and consequence.

Foot Notes:
1. About Bibek Debroy
2. Bibek Debroy is an Indian economist, author and a bureaucrat.
3. Born: 25 January 1955
4. Awards: Padma Shri

8. President Kovind lays foundation stone for Sri Sathya Sai Sanathana Samskruti Project in Japan

• President Ram Nath Kovind laid the foundation stone for Sri Sathya Sai Sanathana Samskruti Project at Sai no Sato, Kakegawa, Japan.
• Sai no Sato will be developed as a temple on the lines of Akshardham and Swaminarayan Temple to promote Indian traditional culture.
• In the evening, the President also attended a banquet hosted in his honour by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan.

Foot Notes:
About Japan
1. Prime Minister: Shinzo Abe
2. Capital: Tokyo
3. Currency: Japanese yen

9. Satya Pal Malik likely to be first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir

• The Centre has proposed Satya Pal Malik’s name as the new lieutenant governor of J&K ahead of October 31 transition of the state into Union territories of J&K and Ladakh.
• The ministry further announced that the government employees of J&K and Ladakh will get salaries and benefits as per the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.
• The annual financial implication of the allowances like children education allowance, hostel allowance, transport allowance, LTC, fixed medical allowance for existing 4.5 lakh government employees will be around Rs 4,800 crore. A modest Rs 607 crore of the total Rs 4,800 crore will be for children’s education allowance, Rs 1,823 crore for hostel allowance, Rs 1,200 crore for transport allowance, Rs 1,000 crore for leave travel concession, Rs 108 crore for fixed medical allowance and Rs 62 crore for other allowances.

10. Delhi HC directs Facebook, Google, Twitter to globally remove links to video disparaging Ramdev

• The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed social media platforms Facebook, Google, its subsidiary YouTube, and Twitter to forthwith remove, block or disable on a global basis links to a video containing defamatory allegations against yoga guru Ramdev.
• Justice Pratibha M Singh held that merely 'geo-blocking' or disabling access to the defamatory content to viewers from India, as agreed to by the social media platforms, would not be sufficient as users residing here can gain access to it by other means.
• Observing that "the race between technology and the law could be termed as a hare and tortoise race - as technology gallops, the law tries to keep pace", the court said the provisions of the Information Technology law have to be interpreted in a manner so as to ensure judicial orders are effective and "not toothless".

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