Current Affairs Daily Digest – August 03 2019
1. Parliament passes Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019
Parliament has passed Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019 to empower Central Government to designate an individual as a “terrorist”. It was first passed by Lok Sabha on 24 July 2019 and later by Rajya Sabha on 2 August 2019.
2. Parliament passes Repealing and Amending Bill, 2019
Parliament has passed Repealing and Amending Bill, 2019 that seeks to repeal certain enactments and to amend certain other enactments. The bill provides for repealing 58 old and obsolete laws which have no relevance at present and makes minor amendments to two other laws. It was introduced in Lok Sabha on 25 July 2019 by Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad.
3. Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed by Lok Sabha
Lok sabha passed Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019 by a voice vote and amendments moved by members of opposition parties were also defeated. The bill ends automatic nomination of Congress President as trustee of Jallianwala Bagh Memorial trust. It was introduced in Lok Sabha by Prahla.
4. BIS to set up Pashmina Testing Centre in Leh
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has announced setting up Pashmina testing centre in Leh region of Jammu and Kashmir to check the quality of pashmina collected. It will be set up in partnership with lab of Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh.
The centre will have standards testing lab, machines and scientists to check the quality of pashmina collected. It also released BI Standards of Pashmina. BIS will also train the locals, with cooperation of LAHDC in marking of the standards to save the time and money.
5. LS passed the Dam Safety Bill
The Lok Sabha passed the Dam Safety Bill, 2019. The Bill aims to provide an uniform safety procedures for the specified 5,600 dams in the country. It will also enhance the security of citizens. The introduction of the Bill will not take away the rights of the States. The Bill was introduced in 2010. It was opposed in various edition in the State and has never been successfully passed until now.
6. West Bengal launches awareness campaign Save Green Stay Clean
West Bengal government launched an awareness campaign named ‘Save Green, Stay Clean’ for preserving the greenery and keeping the environment clean in the state. The campaign launched State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. The campaign was launched on August 1, 2019. The state will also observe this day every year. It also plans to distribute more than 1 lakhs saplings throughout the state for spreading of greener
7. Siddhartha Mohanty takes over as MD, CEO of LIC HFL
LIC Housing Finance (LIC HFL) August 2 said Siddhartha Mohanty has assumed charge as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NBFC. Prior to taking over as MD and CEO of LIC HFL, Mohanty was the company’s COO, a release said here. Before joining LIC HFL, he was Executive Director – Legal with LIC of India.
8. President Kovind honoured with National order of Merit, highest award of Republic of Guinea
President Ram Nath Kovind has been awarded the “National order of Merit” by the President of Guinea for his exceptional contribution to the advancement of overall relations and development of mutual cooperation between India and Guinea and for promoting friendship and partnership between the people of both the countries. This is the highest award of Republic of Guinea.
9. SBI, Shanghai becomes first Indian bank to link up with China National Advance Payment System
The State Bank of India’s (SBI) Shanghai branch is now connected to China’s National Advance Payment System (CNAPS), becoming the first Indian BankNSE -1.36 % to operationalise it, a senior bank official said.
The CNAPS, launched in 2008 by People’s Bank of China (PBOC) provides real-time settlement services for all payments cleared in mainland China, as well as in all clearing banks in offshore yuan centers, such as Hong Kong.
10. Government Launches Vernacular Agro Advisory App Meghdoot For Farmers
In a bid to further the Digital India initiative, and bring technology to farmers, the ministries of Earth Sciences and Agriculture have launched a mobile application — Meghdoot — that will provide location, and crop and livestock-specific weather-based agro advisories to farmers in local languages.
11. India, US agree on collaboration in defence sector
Indian and American officials on Friday agreed to pursue a policy environment conducive to collaboration between the defence industry and start-ups in both countries. An understanding in this regard was reached during the 15th meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group (DPG) in Washington. The Indian side was led by Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra. The US was led by the Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, John Rood
12. Gujarat CM launches ‘Vhali Dikri Yojna’
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has launched the ‘Vhali Dikri Yojna’ from his home town Rajkot. The scheme for the welfare of girl child has been launched to mark the 63th birth day of Chief Minister.
According to scheme, the State Government will pay Rs. 4,000 to every girl child at the time of admission to Standard 4th, Rs. 6,000 at the time of taking admission to Standard IX, Rs. 1-lakh at the time of taking admission for higher education at the age of 18 and another Rs. 1-lakh at the time of marriage.
13. Adarsh Singh wins two gold medals in shooting meet
Young Adarsh Singh outclassed his rivals in the Sardar Sajjan Singh Sethi Memorial Masters shooting competition, winning the gold medal in both the men and junior 25m rapid fire pistol event. The 17-year-old Adarsh shot 584 to top the qualification rounds, his score way above the second-ranked shooter in both the competitions.
