Current affairs
- Popularly known as ‘Pink City’, Jaipur made an official entry in the list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites recently at the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
- The price fixed by the government of India for the new series of sovereign gold bonds (SGBs) which will be issued every month from June 2019 to September 2019 is Rs 3,443 per gram. For all the purchases made by digital payments, a discount of Rs 50 will be given, hence, for such investors, the price of the gold bond will be Rs 3,393 per gram.
- The world’s first ever floating farm has been built in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The floating farm is being built with an aim to shorten the distance between the production and consumption of food.
- The United Nations International Day of Cooperatives is celebrated annually on the first Saturday of July. This year it’s been celebrated on July 6, 2019. The aim of this celebration is to increase awareness of cooperatives. This year the theme of International Day of Cooperatives is Coops 4 decent work, which will let the policymakers, civil society organizations and the public know how cooperatives contribute to a decent working environment.
- To protect the ‘anti-infiltration grid’, the Border Security Force has launched a mega exercise called Sudarshan along the entire 1000 km length of the Pakistan border in Punjab and Jammu
- In order to aid the tenant farmers, the Andhra Pradesh government has extended its ‘YSR Rythu Bharosa’ Scheme. It will offer Rs. 12,500 per annum per farmer along with free crop insurance and interest-free loans to farmers. The total of Rs 50,000 will be given to a farmer in four installments of Rs 12,500 each.
- Started as early as 2009, the World Chocolate Day is a global event held annually on 7 July. It is dedicated to all things cocoa-based and the occasion prompts us to crave chocolate cake, cookies, fudge and just about anything else with chocolate in it.
- To receive land and crop-related benefits of state government schemes, the Haryana Government has launched a portal named ‘Meri Fasal Mera Byora’ for the farmers. They will also get a financial incentive of Rs 10 per acre when they register on the portal.
- Switzerland has surpassed Singapore to be placed as the world’s top-ranked destination for expatriates, according to the annual expat country ranking 2019 by HSBC Holdings. Switzerland was ranked 8th in 2018.
- Uttar Pradesh government has launched a 24*7 toll-free helpline 1076 for people to lodge complaints from anywhere in the state. This helpline will establish a direct medium between the people and the CM’s Office and will ensure time-bound action on the complaints.
- The district administration Rajouri is running a campaign called ‘Operation Khumaar’ to make all the 312 panchayats free from tobacco and tobacco-based products. Authorities have decided to impose fine and are also organising various counselling sessions for the locals.
- The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) has named MasterCard CEO and President Ajay Banga and Wipro Chairman Azim Premji for its prestigious 2019 Global Excellence Awards.
- The STEMI ST-segment elevation myocardial infraction) programme is a state government health programme which was launched in Goa last year. In this, to save patients suffering a heart attack they will be thrombolysed before bringing to the hospital. Entire Goa would be covered by August 15.
- NASA has created Jet Propulsion Laboratory called the Deep Space Atomic Clock, which is an ultra-precise device, about 50 times more stable than your average GPS satellite clock. The device uses mercury ions which help spacecrafts navigate more autonomously by allowing the spacecraft to receive signals from Earth.
