13th July 2019 Current affairs

1.On July 10, 2019,Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy stated that the Government has proposed to set up the first National Police University in the country which will impart education in policing and internal security. It will conduct undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate academic programmes in specialized subjects. ii. The dedicated universities have been already set up in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Jharkhand for conducting courses in police services and internal security.

2. Ministry Of Women And Child Development(WCD) stated that at National level, Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) has increased to 931 from 923 for the time period between FY(financial year) 2015-16 and 2018-19.Impact of BBBP: SRB in 21 States and UTs is showing improvement whereas SRB is stable in 3 states and UTs for FY 2018-19 in comparison to FY 2017-18 on the impact of the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ (BBBP) scheme on the Child Sex Ratio(CSR) of the country.
3. On July 9, 2019, The 11th Mekong Ganga Cooperation Senior Officials’ Meeting (MGC SOM) 2019 was held in New Delhi to review progress in several areas of cooperation.
4. The nodal agency of the Kerala state government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities, Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in association with the Indian Women Network floated by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will host a one day event ‘Women Startup Summit 2019’ at the Integrated Startup Complex, Kochi, Kerala on August 1, 2019 with the theme “Developing an Inclusive Entrepreneurship Ecosystem”. The summit aims to encourage aspiring women professionals to take up their entrepreneurial journey and develop an inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem.
5. On July 9, 2019, The Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar in the presence of Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of UNCCD and the UN Under-Secretary-General informed that India will host the 14th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) from September 2- 13, 2019 at India Expo Mart Limited in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh with the focus on 3 crucial issues- desertification, land degradation and drought.
6. Bonn Challenge: It is a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of worlds degraded and deforested land under restoration by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030. In India, 3.5 years maiden phase will be implemented in the States of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, and Karnataka.
7. The United States India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) 2nd annual leadership summit was held in Washington DC, US on July 11, 2019. It focused on defence and energy security. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, Deputy US Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish, and India’s Ambassador to the US, Harsh V Shringla were among the top speakers of the summit. On this occasion, US India Bilateral Trade Report was launched.
8. If India grows 7.5% every year, trade between India and the US could reach $238 billion by 2025 from $143 billion at present. By 2025, bilateral trade could range between $283 billion and $327 billion, at an annual average growth rate of 10 to 12.5%, as witnessed in 2017 and 2018.The areas of potential growth in US investments and commerce into India are defence trade, commercial aircraft, oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), coal, machinery and electronics.
9. The First Global Conference for Media Freedom 2019, was held on July 10-11, 2019 in London, UK. The conference was structured around 4 themes: protection and prosecution, including impunity, national frameworks and legislation, building trust in media and countering disinformation and media sustainability.
10. The First Global Conference for Media Freedom 2019, hosted by the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada, was held on July 10-11, 2019 in London, UK. It was co-hosted by Chrystia Freeland, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Jeremy Hunt, the UK Foreign Secretary.
11. Indian delegation was led by Prasar Bharati Chairman Surya Prakash to the first Global Conference for Media Freedom 2019 that held in London, UK.
12. The UK government committed 18 million pounds to improve media freedom across the world. It announced the creation of a new Global Media Defence Fund. The new Global Media Defence Fund, administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will support, train and provide legal support to journalists in the most dangerous parts of the world.
13. On July 11, 2019, The United States (US) House of Representatives passed a Bill ‘Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act, 2019 or HR 1044’ which removes the present 7% country-cap on issuing Green Cards. A Green Card allows a person to live and work permanently in the US. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the bill increases the per-country cap on family-based immigrant visas from 7% of the total number of such visas available that year to 15% and eliminates the 7% cap for employment-based immigrant visas. It was passed by the 435-member House by majority of 365-65 votes.