MAY 2019 CURRENT

AFFAIRS

UPSC PRELIMS 2020

 HANGUL
NEW SPECIES OF
REDDISH-BROWN PIT
VIPER FROM
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
CHAR DHAM
YATRA GRAPHITE
RESERVES
ZERO
PENDENCY
COURT PROJECT
COMMISSION TO LOOK
GUJARAT SHOPS AND INTO THE PROBLEMS
ESTABLISHMENTS FACED BY FARMERS
ACT

HERBIVORE CENSUS BENGAL TIGERS MAY NOT

IN GIR FOREST SURVIVE CLIMATE CHANGE

STUCCO
SCULPTURE
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
NUTRITION
CCMB SCIENTISTS SEQUENCE
KARNATAKA’S ORDER ASIATIC LION GENOME
CAPPING WEIGHT OF
SCHOOL BAGS ENVIRONME CYCLONE
NT IMPACT FANI
ASSESSMENT SPECIAL CATEGORY
SC/ST QUOTA IN
STATUS
PROMOTIONS

PURPLE FROG
NATIONAL E-VIDHAN
APPLICATION (NEVA) 10TH SCHEDULE OF
PROJECT THE CONSTITUTION
MASALA BONDS
STUCCO SCULPTURE
• Indian archaeologists recently unearthed a rare life-sized stucco sculpture from a Buddhist
site at Phanigiri in Suryapet, Telangana.
• Biggest stucco sculpture found so far in India.
• It represents a Bodhisattvas in Jathaka Chakra.
• It was created nearly 1,700 years ago by craftsmen at Phanigiri at peak of Ikshavaku dynasty
BASAVANNA
• Basava Jayanthi was observed on birthday of Basavanna, a Hindu Kannada poet of 12th
century.
• Basavanna was a 12th-century philosopher, statesman, Kannada poet and a social reformer
during the reign of the Kalachuri-dynasty king Bijjala I in Karnataka, India
THRISSUR POORAM
• festival of festivals
• started by Sakthan Thampuran.
• The pooram festival mainly happens between two groups representing the geographic
divisions of Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi.
CHAR DHAM PILGRIMAGE
• Chardham Yatra: Kedarnath portals open for public
• The project involves developing and widening 900-km of national highways connecting the
holy Hindu pilgrimage sites of; Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri
ZERO PENDENCY COURT PROJECT

•To study the life cycles of cases to come up with optimal timelines for cases
•The aim of project is to provide information on the judicial time required to dispose of a
case together with the gathering stage wise details in each case.

RECUSAL OF JUDGES FROM HEARING

•A litigant cannot seek recusal of the judge during a hearing.

•Often, judges don’t record their reasons for recusal in writing, allowing, in the process,
leaving plenty of scope for conjecture and surmise.

SPECIAL CATEGORY STATUS

•Odisha Chief Minister has demanded special category status from the Centre for his
disaster-prone State, saying it faces natural calamities almost every year.
•Special category status was the need of the hour due to the massive loss to
infrastructure which may stall growth of the State.
PCPNDT ACT

•The Supreme Court has upheld provisions in the anti-pre-natal sex determination law
which ‘criminalises’ non-maintenance of medical records by obstetricians and
gynaecologists and suspend their medical licence indefinitely
KARNATAKA’S ORDER CAPPING WEIGHT OF SCHOOL BAGS

•The Karnataka government has ordered all schools in the state to ensure that the weight
of a child’s schoolbag does not exceed 10% of the weight of the child. The order is
applicable to all schools in the State, including government, aided and unaided
institutions.

BLACK LISTS’ OF INDIAN-ORIGIN PEOPLE

•The Ministry of Home Affairs announced that it has put an end to the local adverse lists
commonly known as ‘Black Lists’ of Indian-origin people.
•It is a list maintained by Indian Embassies in different countries and posts abroad.

NATIONAL E-VIDHAN APPLICATION (NEVA) PROJECT

•The Kerala Legislative Assembly recently announced an initiative to digitize all its records
and proceedings under its ambitious project called E-Vidhan
•It is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) comes under the Digital India Programme.
• Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA) is the ‘Nodal Ministry’ for its implementation in
all the 31 States/UTs with Legislatures.
RESERVATION IN PROMOTIONS
Supreme Court upheld ‘The Karnataka Extension of Consequential Seniority to
Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (To the Posts in the Civil
Services of the State) Act, 2018’, granting a quota in promotions for state government
employees from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities

FAST TRACK COURTS

•As per the recent study conducted by the National Law University (Delhi), fast-track courts
(FTC) in India are increasingly getting sluggish.
•To expeditiously dispose of long pending cases in the Sessions Courts and long pending
cases of under trial prisoners in a time bound manner

ARTICLE 324
•The Election Commission of India has passed an unprecedented order ending the
campaign in West Bengal. It also removed the state’s Home Secretary, and a senior police
officer.
•The decisions were taken under Article 324 of the Constitution, in response to street
violence in Kolkata between cadres of two political parties.
ELECTION COMMISSION
•Article 324 of the Constitution of India provides for an independent Election
Commission. It was established in accordance with the Constitution on 25th January
1950.
• It has the powers of superintendence, direction and conduct of elections to the
Parliament, the state legislatures, the office of the President and the office of the Vice-
President.

COLLEGIUM SYSTEM
•Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, recommended
the names of two judges to the court and rejected the government’s disapproval of
the elevation of two others
REDACTIVE PRICING AUDIT
•The Supreme Court’s observations in connection with the Rafael fighter aircraft deal by
citing the Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG’s) report on redacted pricing
brought back into the spotlight the role of the supreme audit institution of India
•Redaction is the selection or adaption by ‘obscuring or removing sensitive information’
from a document prior to publication. Consequently, the full commercial details were
withheld and the figures on the procurement deal were blackened in the report.

LIEUTINANT GOVERNOR OF PUDUCHERRY

•The Madras High Court has ruled that the Lieutenant-Governor (L-G) of Puducherry could
not interfere with the day-to-day administration of the Union Territory when an elected
government was in place. The court said incessant interference from the L-G would amount
to running a “parallel government.”

CONTEMPT OF COURT
•According to the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, contempt of court can either be civil
contempt or criminal contempt.
•Civil contempt means wilful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ
or other process of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court.
• Criminal contempt means the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by
signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other
act
BASEL CONVENTION
•14th Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention (COP-14) is being held in
Geneva, Switzerland.
•It is an international treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous
waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from
developed to less developed countries (LDCs).
• It does not address the movement of radioactive waste.
ARCTIC COUNCIL
•India was re-elected as an Observer (first it became in 2013) to the Arctic Council, At
11th Arctic Council ministerial meeting held at Rovaniemi in Finland
•1996 – Ottawa declaration.
•It is an Intergovernmental forum which addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments
and people living in the Arctic region
• It is Not a treaty-based international organization but rather an international forum that
operates on the basis of consensus

INDIA AND CTBT

•India has been invited to join Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation
(CTBTO) in the capacity of an observer.
•It is a multilateral treaty
• Bans all nuclear explosions, for both civilian and military purposes, in all environments
•It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1996

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 2019 REPORT

• United States Commission has released its International Religious Freedom 2019 report.
• US Commission on International Religious Freedom is a bipartisan, independent federal
government commission, created by International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
UN HABITAT
• India has been elected to the Executive Board of the first UN-Habitat Assembly
• The first session of UN- Habitat assembly was held at the headquarters of UN-Habitat
in Nairobi.
• Mandate is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities

WORLD CUSTOM ORGANISATION

• Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), under Ministry of Finance is
organising a meeting of Regional Heads of Customs Administration of Asia Pacific
Region of World Customs Organization (WCO) in Kochi (in Kerala). India currently
holds seat of Vice Chairperson of Asia Pacific region.
• It is an independent intergovernmental body whose mission is to enhance the
effectiveness and efficiency of Customs administrations.
COMMON WEALTH TRIBUNAL
• Justice KS Radhakrishnan, a former Supreme Court judge, has been appointed as the
Member of the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal of London
• The Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal resolves disputes of the
Commonwealth organisations, international or intergovernmental.
• Based in London
• Term of members 4 years
PREPAID PAYMENT INSTRUMENTS
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty on five Pre-Paid Payment
Instrument (PPI) issuers for violating its regulatory guidelines under provisions of payment
and settlement Systems act 2007.
• These are generally issued in the form of smart cards, mobile wallets, paper vouchers,
internet accounts/wallets.

MIDDLE INCOME TRAP

• The term middle-income trap (MIT) usually refers to countries that have experienced rapid
growth and thus quickly reached middle-income status (with Gross National Product per
capita between $1,000 & $12,000), but then failed to overcome that income range to
further catch up to the developed countries and achieve high-income status. MIT is a
relatively new phenomenon and was first mentioned in 2007 in the World Bank report.

RBI’S VISION 2021 DOCUMENT ON PAYMENT SYSTEM

• The Reserve Bank has released the ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019
- 2021', with its core theme of 'Empowering Exceptional (E)payment Experience' to
achieve "a highly digital and cashlite society".
• The Vision 2021 has endeavoured to ensure that India has ‘state-of-the-art’ payment and
settlement systems that are not just safe and secure, but are also efficient, fast and
affordable.
CPI INFLATION
•Rising prices in the food basket, as well as jump in fuel prices, are contributing to the
rising inflation.
•The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure that examines the weighted average of
prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, such as transportation, food and
medical care. It is calculated by taking price changes for each item in the predetermined
basket of goods and averaging them.

RBI REMOVES CHARGES ON NEFT AND RTGS

•RBI has removed charges for payments via NEFT and RTGS and asked banks to pass on
the benefits to customers
•Reserve Bank of India had also recently increased the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS)
time window for customer transactions (initial cut-off) from 4.30 pm to 6 pm.

PRADHAN MANTRI FASAL BIMA YOJANA (PMFBY)

•Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram are not covered under the scheme
at all.
•To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of
natural calamities, pests & diseases.
MASALA BONDS
• Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board issued Masala Bonds to raise funds from
the overseas market.
• Masala Bonds are rupee-denominated bonds i.e the funds would be raised from
overseas market in Indian rupees.
• Eligibility: Any corporate, body corporate and Indian bank is eligible to issue Rupee
denominated bonds overseas.

ECONOMIC CENSUS
• The 7th Economic Census -2019 is being conducted by MoSPI to provide disaggregated
information on various operational and structural aspects of all establishments in the
country.
• Implementing agency: MoSPI has partnered with Common Service Centres, CSC e-
Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle under the MEITY as the
implementing agency.

CHRIST CHURCH CALL TO ACTION

• Recently, a document called "Christchurch Call To Action" was signed and adopted with
participation from 26 nations, including India
• The initiative was taken up by the governments of France and New Zealand along with
top social media companies after the Christchurch attacks to combat online extremism
and secure the Internet.
INDIAN TRI SERVICES COMMANDO UNIT
• In a major step towards setting up of an elite Indian tri-services commando unit, a Major
General ranked officer has been appointed as the first chief of the Armed Forces Special
Operations Division.
• The tri-services formation will have Special Forces commandos from Army’s Parachute
Regiment, Navy’s MARCOS and Air Force’s Garud Commando Force.
• Integrated Defence Staff (IDS).

INDIA COOLING ACTION PLAN

• India is the first country in world to develop such a document (ICAP), which addresses
cooling requirement across sectors and lists out actions which can help reduce the cooling
demand.
• The overarching goal is to provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort for all while
securing environmental and socio-economic benefits for the society

CARBON DIOXIDE IN THE ATMOSPHERE

• Recently, for the first time, global concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have
crossed 415 parts per million (ppm) mark as per Mauna Loa Observatory
• Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) is the oldest continuous carbon dioxide (CO2)
measurement station in the world situated in Hawaii.
• Keeling Curve is a graph of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere
based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory.
BIO JET FUEL
• a Russian-origin AN-32 transport plane was formally fleet certified by DRDO to fly with
the 10 per cent bio-jet blended ATF (aviation turbine fuel) made from Jatropha oil
• India's first biofuel-powered flight was successfully tested between Dehradun to Delhi in
August 2018 by Spicejet Airlines to ascertain the feasibility of biofuel powered flights.
• India's first biofuel-powered flight was successfully tested between Dehradun to Delhi in
August 2018 by Spicejet Airlines to ascertain the feasibility of biofuel powered flights.

WORLD MIGRATORY BIRD DAY

• The World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) 2019 is being observed on 11 May 2019. It helps
to raise global awareness about threats faced by migratory birds, their ecological
importance, and need for international cooperation to conserve them
• Organized By: The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the African-Eurasian
Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) together with Environment for the Americas (EFTA).

GLOBAL ASSESSMENT REPORT (GAR)

• Global Assessment Report (GAR) was launched by the United Nations Office for Disaster
Risk Reduction (UNDRR).
• Published biennially
CYCLONE FANI
• Extremely severe cyclonic Fani recently hit the Odisha coast
• India Meteorological Department issued yellow warning, which indicates severely bad
weather, warning people who are at risk to take preventive action
• originated quite close to the Equator, around latitude 2°,

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NUTRITION

• The National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) has said that it stands by its findings certifying
mid-day meals without onion and garlic provided by the Akshaya Patra Foundation
(APF) in Karnataka schools as compliant with nutritional norms laid down by the State
government.
• It is an Indian Public health, Nutrition and Translational research center located in
Hyderabad.
• The institute is one of the oldest research centers in India, and the largest center,
under the Indian Council of Medical Research

EDUCATION QUALITY UPGRADATION AND INCLUSION

PROGRAMMEE (EQUIP)
• It is meant to bridge the gap between policy and implementation.
• Ministry of Human Resource Development launched it.
ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of a microorganism (like bacteria, viruses,
and some parasites) to stop an antimicrobial (such as antibiotics, antivirals and
antimalarials) from working against it. As a result, standard treatments become
ineffective, infections persist and may spread to others.
• the Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) has released
a report titled, “No Time to Wait: Securing The Future From Drug Resistant
Infections”,
MANAV: HUMAN ATLAS INITIATIVE
• Department of Biotechnology (DBT) launched
• MANAV Project aims to create an open and interactive atlas of human biology,
compiling, curating and synthesizing data at the molecular, cellular, tissue and
organismic level from scientific literature and public databases.
• mapping every single tissue
GOLDEN RICE
• The International Rice Research Institute along with its partners has successfully
cultivated Golden Rice in a controlled environment on IRRI campus
• Golden rice is the collective name of rice varieties that are genetically modified to
counter vitamin A deficiency in developing countries.
• contains extra genes one from maize and one from bacterial origin together
responsible for the production of provitamin A (beta-carotene) in the rice grain
PATTACHITRA
• A traditional cloth-based scroll painting form Odisha, which derives its unique place
because of its pictorial conception, technique of painting, line formation and colour
scheme.
• These were traditionally drawn by the mahapatras, the original artiste caste in
Odisha
TRANS FATTY ACIDS
• The commitment made by the IFBA is in line with the WHO’s target to eliminate
industrial trans fat from the global food supply by 2023.
• Trans fatty acids (TFAs) or Trans fats are the most harmful type of fats which can
have much more adverse effects on our body than any other dietary constituent.
MONKEY POX VIRUS
• Singapore recently reported the first ever case of the Monkeypox Virus, a rare virus
similar to the human smallpox
• Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is an orthopoxvirus that causes a viral disease with
symptoms in humans similar, but milder, to those seen in smallpox patients.
• Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis, i.e. a disease transmitted from animals to humans.
THANKYOU FOR WATCHING

PART 2 OF MAY CURRENT

AFFAIRS TOMORROW