News

·         Who has been appointed Director General of the DGCA ?                           

           Arun Kumar

·         Arun Kumar, a 1989 batch IAS Officer of Haryana Cadre was appointed the Director General in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on July 9, 2019 after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by PM Narendra Modi approved his name for the post. Prior to this appointment, he was heading the DGCA as an additional charge from May 31, 2019. DGCA is a regulatory body in the field of civil aviation basically dealing with safety issues.

l       Who has been appointed the chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) ?    

                 > Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

l      Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha, was on July 25, 2019 appointed the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), comprising 15 lawmakers from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha. The PAC is conventionally headed by a member from the Opposition Party in the Lok Sabha. BJP’s Girish Bhalchandra Bapat was named as the Chairman of the Committee of Public Estimates. BJP’s lawmaker Meenakshi Lekhi has been appointed chairperson of the Committee on Public Undertakings.

l  Which Indian City was included in the ‘UNESCO World Heritage Site’ list this year ?                        

            > Jaipur

l  Jaipur, the Capital City of Rajasthan State, was declared the UNESCO World Heritage Site on July 6, 2019, becoming the second Indian city after Ahmedabad to claim this recognition from UNESCO. The decision to accord UNESCO World Heritage status to Jaipur, also known as the ‘Pink City’, was taken at the 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan. After Jaipur’s inclusion, the number of heritage sites of UNESCO in India has gone upto 38, including 30 cultural sites. Jaipur was founded in 1727 by Sawai Jai Singh II.

l  The RBI launched its ‘Medium-term Strategy Framework’ named—                      > Utkarsh 2022

l      RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on July 23, 2019 launched RBI’s ‘Medium-term Strategy Framework’ named ‘Utkarsh2022’in linewith the evolvingmacroeconomic environment, to achieve excellence in the performance of RBI’s mandates and boosting the trust of citizens and other institutions in RBI. The Utkarsh 2022 contains the bank’s mission, core purpose, values and vision statements etc. It will promote transparent, accountable and ethics-driven interval governance.

l    What is India’s rank on the 2019 Global Innovation Index ?                                                           

      > 52nd rank

l  India was placed on 52nd rank as the innovative economy on WIPO’s Global Innovation Index for 2019, released on July 24, 2019. India improved its ranking by five places this year as it was on 57th position in 2018. Switzerland continues to be on top of the GII as the most innovative economy of the world this year also. Sweden finished on the second spot after Switzerland in the 12th edition of the Global Innovation Index. The Index has been prepared on 80 parametres, comprising 129 economies across the globe to measure the innovative economic capacity.

l     Who has been elected as the President of 74th Session of UNGA ?  

                  > Tijjani Muhammad Bande

l     Nigerian diplomat Tijjani Muhammad-Bande was in June 2019 elected as the President of the United Nations General Assembly for its 74th annual session, starting in September 2019. Mr. Bande, who was Nigeria’s ambassador to the UN, succeeds Maria Fernanda Espinosa as the UNGA President. Mr. Bande, whose candidature was endorsed by the African Union, will be the second Nigerian President of the UNGA after Joseph Nanven Garba who held the position between 1989 and 1990.

l  Who became the first woman President of the European Commission ?       

               > Ursula Von der Leyen

l     Ursula Von der Leyen of Germany was confirmed as the European Commission President on July 16, 2019, becoming the first woman to hold the prestigious post after the European Parliament approved her name in a vote. Ursula, the outgoing German Defence Minister received 383 votes in her support in the European Parliament, easily crossing the required 374 votes mark. 327 votes went against her with 22 abstentions. She succeeded Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg on this post for five years’ term, starting on November 1, this year. Brussels-based European Commission is the 28-nation European Union’s executive arm.

  l     Who continues to be the richest man in the world in recent Bloomberg Billionarires Index ?  

           >  Jeff Bezos

l  Amazon Chief Jeff Bezos continues to be the richest man in the world, with a total net worth of $ 125 billion as per the Bloomberg Billionnaires Index, released in July, 2019. LVMH Chief Bernard Arnault of France grabbed the second position as the richest man after Bezos, pushing Microsoft’s Bill Gates for third spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Arnault grabbed the second rank with a net worth of $ 107·6 billion and about $ 200 million better than Gates. Mukesh Ambani, the richest Indian, secured 13th spot on the Index with a networth of $ 51·8 billion.

l  WHO declared global health emergency for                                                      

        > Ebola outbreak

l     The World Health Organisation (WHO) on July 17, 2019 declared the global health emergency due to deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo. The WHO declaration comes after a case of Ebola was confirmed in a city of two million people in Congo. The WHO declaration brings greater international attention along with greater aid and global efforts to tame this outbreak. More than 1,600 people have lost lives since August 2018 due to Ebola threat and now it spreads its effect in a city named Goma, having 2 million people in it.

     l     Palau joined the ISA as its—                                               

       > 76th member

l  Palau, an archipelago of over 500 islands in Oceanica, on July 16, 2019 became the 76th signatory country to join the International Solar Alliance. The agreement was opened for signature during COP22 at Marrakech, Morocco on November 15, 2016. The ISA is a group of 121 solar resource-rich nations with headquarters in Gurugram, India. It was jointly launched by India and France in November 2015 in Paris. The ISA aims to deploy over 1,000 giga watts of solar energy and mobilise more than USD 1,000 billion into solar power by 2030.