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IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY  27^th & 28^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF JULY 27^th& 28^th, 2019

1.      28th July is observed as World Hepatitis Day.

a.       Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. It can affect any individual of any age including children.

b.       This day aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis (a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E)

c.       Theme of World Hepatitis Day 2019 : “Invest in eliminating hepatitis”.

d.       Note : World Hepatitis Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO).

i)       Remaining Campaigns are

(1)  World Health Day, 

(2)  World Blood Donor Day, 

(3)  World Immunization Week, 

(4)  World Tuberculosis Day, 

(5)  World No Tobacco Day, 

(6)  World Malaria Day 

(7)  World AIDS Day

2.      President Ram Nath Kovind has reached Benin on the 1st leg of his 3 Nation tour(Benin, The Gambia and Guinea)

a.       The 7-day visit is the 1st high-level tour of any Head of State from India to the three West African countries.

b.       During this visit, Mr Kovind will hold talks with his Beninese counterpart Patrice Talon. 

c.       Later, the President will address the National Assembly in Porto Novo. 

d.       Mr Kovind will also meet members of the Indian Community at a reception hosted in his honour in Cotonou.

e.       During the visit to The Gambia, Mr Kovind will hold delegation-level talks with President Adama Barrow in the capital, Banjul.

f.        On the last leg of his visit, the President will reach Conakry, the capital of Guinea on 1st August.

g.       Mr Kovind will hold delegation-level talks with his counterpart on 2nd August.

3.      The Death Anniversary of 11th President of India, Bharat Ratna Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (A. P. J. Abdul Kalam) was observed on 27th July 2019.

a.       He is known as the 'Missile Man of India' for his work on the development of ballistic missile. 

b.       He passed away on 27th July 2015, while delivering a lecture at IIM Shillong.

4.      The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) paid tributes to those who laid down their lives for the nation, at the National Police Memorial in New Delhi on the occasion of its 81st Raising Day on 27th July 2019.

5.      5th International Dharma-Dhamma conference is being held Rajgir International Convention Centre in Rajgir, Bihar from 27-28 July 2019. 

a.       The conference was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State Kiren Rijiju who is also the Chief Guest of Conference. 

b.       Note : This conference is being hosted by Rajgir for 2nd time.

6.      The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed the renewal of fitness certificates every 6 months for vehicles older than 15 years instead of the current one year. 

a.       Further, it also proposed exemption of registration fees for buyers of vehicles if a scrapping certificate of a vehicle, belonging to the same category of the vehicle being purchased, is produced.

7.      Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar has invited Nepal to be Partner Countryfor International Gita Jayanti Mahotsav scheduled to be held at Kurukshetra from 3-8 December 2019. 

8.      The government is going to begin the fieldwork for the 7th Economic Census (7th EC) from Tripura tomorrow.

a.       The 7th EC is being conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in 2019.

b.       The fieldwork in other States and Union Territories will be launched in August and September.

c.       About Economic Census :

i)       The Economic Census is the complete count of all establishment located within the geographical boundary of the country. 

ii)     It is a periodic exercise conducted by the ministry to provide disaggregated information on various operational and structural aspects of all economic establishments in the country.

iii)   The economic census provides valuable insights into the geographical spread, clusters of economic activities, ownership pattern and persons engaged of all economic establishments in the country.

iv)   6 Economic Censuses have been conducted by the Ministry till date. 

v)     The Sixth edition of Economic Census was conducted in 2013.

9.      The GST Council has decided to reduce GST rate on electric vehicles (EV) from 12% to 5% and 18% to 5% on EV chargers from August 1.

a.       Moreover, the council also approved exemption from GST on hiring of electric buses by local authorities.

b.       This follows government announcing ₹1.5-lakh income tax deduction on loan interest for purchasing EVs.

10. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has overtaken Vodafone Idea to become India's largest telecom operator by subscribers in the June quarter. 

a.       While Vodafone Idea had 320 million subscribers in the quarter from the previous quarter's 334.1 million, Jio's subscriber base grew to 331.3 million.

b.       Note : Jio had in May surpassed Bharti Airtel to become the country's second-largest operator by users.

11. Vidisha Baliyan, a 21-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh, has been crowned Miss Deaf World 2019.

a.       With this she became the 1st Indian to bag the title. 

12. Veteran actor Meryl Streep will be honoured with Tribute Actor award at 2019 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). 

a.       Note : She will be 1st-ever recipient of TIFF Tribute Actor Award.

13. A high-level 10-member Committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju to coordinate and strategise the preparation for the 2020 and 2024 Olympics.

a.       The objective of the committee is to ensure that the performance of the Indian athletes is optimised in the Olympics and other multidisciplinary events. 

14. Appointments Committee of Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has reappointed Badri Narain Sharma as Chairman of National Anti-profiteering Authority (NAA) for 2 years. 

a.       B N Sharma a 1985-batch IAS officer from Rajasthan was due for retirement on August 2019.

15. Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy (77) passed away.

a.       He served as Information and Broadcasting Minister in the IK Gujral government, and was the Urban Development Minister and later served as the Petroleum Minister in Manmohan Singh's government.

16. Meghalaya Assembly Speaker and former Chief Minister Donkupar Roy (64) passed away. 

17. Russi Taylor (75), the voice actress behind the Disney character Minnie Mousepassed away.

a.       She had also voiced Donald Duck's nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie in the 'Ducktales' animated series.

18. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released the book titled ‘Chandra Shekhar – The Last Icon of Ideological Politics‘ at an event held at Balayogi Auditorium, Parliament Library Building. 

a.       The book has been authored by Harivansh, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha along with Ravi Dutt Bajpai.

b.       The book chronicles the political journey of 8th Prime Minister of India Chandra Shekhar. 

c.       He is 1st Indian Prime Minister who has never held any Government office.

19. Union Minister of Sports Kiren Rijiju announced that 3rd edition of Khelo India Youth Games will be held in Guwahati, Assam between 18-30 January 2020. 

a.       Note : Khelo India programme’s inaugural edition was held in New Delhi in 2018, while Pune hosted 2nd edition in 2019.

b.       The 2020 Games will be conducted in partnership with Indian Olympic Association (IOA), School Games Federation of India (SGFI) & Assam as host State. 

c.       The event will see a participation of over 10,000 athletes and officials from all over country and it will be held .

20. 6-time world champion Mary Kom won the Gold medal at the 23rd President's Cup in Indonesia's Labuan Bajo today. 

a.       The Olympic bronze medallist boxer defeated Australian April Franks 5-0 in the final. 

21. Australia Women captain Meg Lanning smashed an unbeaten 133 off 63 balls, including 7 sixes and 17 fours, against England Women in first T20I, breaking the record for the highest individual score in a women's T20I. 

a.       The previous record was jointly held by Lanning and Netherlands Women's Sterre Kalis, who had scored 126 and 126* in 2014 and 2019 respectively.

22. Asian Championships silver-medallist boxer Ashish Kumar won the 1st gold medal of his international career at the Thailand Open in Bangkok on Saturday. 

a.       Ashish won the gold by defeating Korea's Kim Jinjae 5-0 in the 75 kg category.

b.       Note : The Indian contingent ended the tournament with 1 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze.

23. Chandigarh today received affiliation from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) after nearly 40 years. 

a.       Union Territory Cricket Association (UTCA) president Sanjay Tandon said that the association was registered in 1982 and since then various attempts were made to get the affiliation from BCCI.

24. Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju today received the Special Olympics Torch came from Singapore. 

a.       He received the Olympics Torch from the Chairman of the Special Olympics International Football Championship, Dr. Amar Prasad Reddy in New Delhi. 

b.       The championship will be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai from 3rd of August to 6th of August.