CURRENT AFFAIRS DAILY DIGEST – NOVEMBER 23 2019
1. Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as Maharashtra CM, NCP’s Ajit Pawar deputy CM
BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra at 8 am in the morning on November 23, 2019. NCP’s Ajit Pawar took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
The BJP claims the support of all NCP legislators while forming the government in Maharashtra. The BJP stated that it will form a stable government in the state. The President’s rule was revoked at 5.47 am in the state by President Ram Nath Kovind.
2. FASTag countdown begins: Get the tag before December 1 to avoid paying double
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is going to make fast tag facility mandatory on all its toll plazas from December 1. FASTag is using Radio Frequency Identification technology that makes toll payments directly from the prepaid account of the vehicle owner. FASTag is a Pan-India level initiative to eliminate bottlenecks on toll plazas and ensure uninterrupted movement of traffic.
3. WHO study on physical activity-India ranks 8th
The World Health Organization on November 22, 2019 published its study about physical activity of adolescents aged between 11 and 17 years. The study was conducted across 146 countries with the help of data from 298 school-based surveys. The assessment included physical education, active play, recreation and sports, walking, planned exercises and cycling.
4. Scorsese to be awarded at Palm Springs Film Festival for The Irishman
Filmmaker Martin Scorsese has been selected by the 31st Palm Springs International Film Festival as the recipient of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award for the film ‘The Irishman’. The Oscar-winning director will be awarded on January 2. The film, which is based on a book titled, ‘I Heard You Paint Houses’, also features Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
5. Karvy Stock Broking banned after ₹2,000 crore client defaults
SEBI has banned Karvy Stock Broking from adding new clients and executing trades for existing customers over client defaults worth ₹2,000 crore. An investigation by NSE found that Karvy credited funds raised by pledging client securities to its own bank accounts. It also transferred a net amount ₹1,096 crore to group firm Karvy Realty between April 2016 and October 2019.
6. Muthoot Finance to acquire IDBI Mutual Fund for ₹215 crore
Gold loan financier Muthoot Finance has agreed to acquire IDBI Mutual Fund to foray into the mutual fund segment. As per the deal, it will acquire 100% shareholding in IDBI Asset Management for ₹215 crore. The mutual fund firm has assets worth over ₹5,300 crore under its management.
7. Kohli 3rd batsman to slam 70 international hundreds after Sachin, Ponting
Team India captain Virat Kohli smashed his 70th hundred in international cricket, achieving the feat during the first innings against Bangladesh in India’s first-ever Day-Night (pink-ball) Test on Saturday. The 31-year-old became the third batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting to slam 70 international hundreds. Kohli has now hit 27 tons in Tests and 43 in ODIs.
8. India’s urban unemployment rate fell to 9.3% in March quarter: Report
The urban unemployment rate in India during the January to March period fell to the lowest level in at least four quarters to 9.3%, as per an unreleased government report seen by Reuters. The rate had reportedly been 9.9% in the preceding quarter. Unemployment rate among the youth, aged 15-29 years, declined to 22.5% during the period from 23.7% earlier.
9. New ‘warm Jupiter’ exoplanet discovered
Astronomers have reported the discovery of a new “warm Jupiter” exoplanet that is transiting a main sequence late F-type star. The newfound exoplanet, designated TOI-677 b, is about 20% bigger and more massive than Jupiter. The “warm Jupiter” planets are gas giant planets with a minimal mass of 0.3 Jupiter masses and orbital periods ranging between 10 and 100 days.
10. In bid to repair ties, Japan and South Korea agree to summit
Japan and South Korea agreed on Saturday to hold formal talks next month, taking a step towards improving relations strained by decades of bitterness over their wartime past and now exacerbated by a simmering trade dispute. The decision to return to the table came a day after Seoul made a last-minute move to stick to an intelligence-sharing deal with Japan. The feud is rooted in a decades-old disagreement over compensation for South Korean labourers forced to work at Japanese firms during World War Two. Seoul has seized local assets of Japanese companies and Tokyo this year curbed exports of materials used to make semiconductors.
11. India’s first largest biotechnology conference Global Bio-India Summit, 2019 concludes
India’s first largest biotechnology stakeholders conglomerate, – the Global Bio-India (GBI) Summit, 2019 concluded in New Delhi. The three-day event was organized by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India along with its Public Sector Undertaking, Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). The associated partners for this event were Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Association of Biotechnology Led Enterprises (ABLE) and Invest India.
Biotechnology is recognized as the sunrise sector- a key driver for contributing to India’s USD 5 Trillion economy target by 2025. The Summit provided an opportunity to showcase the potential of India’s biotech sector to the international community, identify, create opportunities and deliberate on the key challenges in the areas of Bio-pharma, Bio-Agri, Bio-Industrial, Bio-Energy and Bio-Services and allied sectors.
12. All India Institute of Ayurveda Signs MoU with Western Sydney University Australia
All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Western Sydney University, Australia at New Delhi. The MoU will promote the collaboration in research and developing guidelines for integrating Ayurveda principles with modern medicine. The memorandum was agreed and exchange on the occasion of the event “India Australia International Education and Research Workshop” at Ambedkar International Center, New Delhi.
13. Cabinet approves the Patent Prosecution Highway programme
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for adoption of Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme by the Indian Patent Office (IPO) under the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks, India (CGPDTM) with patent offices of various other interest countries or regions.
PPH programme would lead to the following benefits for the Indian IP office:
– Reduction in time to dispose patent applications.
– Reduction in pendency of patent applications.
– Improvement in quality of search and examination of patent applications.
– An opportunity for Indian inventors including MSMEs and Start ups of India to get accelerated examination of their patent applications in Japan.
The ambit of the programme may be extended in future, as decided by the Commerce & Industry Minister. The patent offices will frame their own guidelines for implementation of the programme.
14. Cabinet approves establishment of the National Institute of Sowa Rigpa (NISR) at Leh
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today approved the establishment of the National Institute for Sowa-Rigpa in Leh as an autonomous organization under the Ministry of AYUSH. Consequent to the formation of Ladakh as Union Territory and for the promotion of native culture of Ladakh, it has been decided by the Government of India to promote Sowa-Rigpa system of medicine by establishing a National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa (NISR) at Leh, Union Territory of Ladakh at an estimated cost of Rs.47.25 crore.
Sowa-Rigpa is a Traditional Medical system of the Himalayan belt in India. It has been popularly practiced in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Darjeeling (West Bengal), Himachal Pradesh, Union Territory of Ladakh and now all over India.
The objective is to establish the National Institute of Sowa-Rigpa (NISR) as an apex Institute for Sowa-Rigpa with aim of bringing a valid and useful synergy between Traditional Wisdom of Sowa-Rigpa and modern science, tools and technology. It will help to promote interdisciplinary research & education of Sowa-Rigpa.
15. Cabinet approves MoU between India and Finland for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism.
Benefits:
The main objectives of the Memorandum of understanding, inter alia, are:
- Establish the basis for a cooperative relationship to encourage and promote successful bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism
Sharing data; knowledge, expertise etc. related to tourism - Sharing experiences in making polices, regulation and standards in planning, implementation and development of tourism policy
- Facilitating the identification and expansion of joint projects, pilots and partnerships between companies and organizations through visits, meetings, workshops, co-creation sessions and site evaluations
- Exchanging best practices through workshops and study visits for experts of Finland and India on the field of cooperation
- Encouraging development of partnerships in the context of multilateral development programs and projects of international Financial Institutions, in which both Participants have common interests
