Current Affairs 15th June 2019
Important Current Affairs
Current Affairs 15th June 2019
Asiatic golden cat:
Context: The coat of Asiatic golden cat comes in five other shades besides the golden colour in Arunachal Pradesh, scientists have discovered.
Its coat comes in six types: cinnamon, golden, gray, melanistic, ocelot and tightly rosette.
- The Asiatic golden cat (Catopuma temminckii) is listed as near threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of threatened species.
- It is found across eastern Nepal through north-eastern India to Indonesia.
- Scientists believe that the wide variation displayed in the cat’s coats provides them with several ecological benefits such as occupying different habitats at different elevations — from wet tropical lowland forests to alpine scrubs — and providing camouflage while preying on pheasants and rabbits.
PM Kisan Pension Scheme: Farmers' contribution to be Rs 100 per month
Central government plans to launch a village-level campaign to enroll an additional one crore farmers in Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme over the next 100 days,The scheme urged States to ensure wider coverage of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojna (PM-Kisan) and pension schemes Currently, there are about 6.92 crore KCC holders. Around 14.5 crore operational landholdings farmers eligible for an agricultural loan of up to ₹1.6 lakh. Among the major States that have poor KCC penetration are Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
About PM Kisan Scheme
PM Kisan is a Centrally-sponsored income support scheme for farmers which would give them ₹6,000 a year in three equal installments.
The scheme extended to all farmers, irrespective of the size of landholdings.
The pension scheme would give ₹3,000 monthly to small and marginal farmers from the age of 60 between 18 and 40 years of age. Farmers will have to contribute ₹100 per month under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Pension Yojana for the monthly pension, according to the government. The Centre will match the farmers contributed to the pension fund to be managed by the LIC. The cabinet approved a separate pension scheme for farmers which covers five crore beneficiaries in the first three years,It costs around ₹10,774.5 crore per annum. Farmers to allow the contribution to be made directly from the benefits drawn from the PM-Kisan scheme.
Sahitya Akademi announces winners of 2019 Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Yuva Puraskar
Sahitya Akademi, India's national academy of letters has announced a list of 22 winners of the Bal Sahitya Puraskar and 23 recipients of the Yuva Puraskar for the year 2019. The selection of awardees in Agartala has been approved by the Executive Board of the Akademi, under the chairmanship of its President, Chandrashekhar Kambar.
The Bal Puraskar award is to be conferred upon the winners on the Children's Day. The day for the Yuva Puraskar is yet to be decided.
Prize:
The winners of both the awards will receive a casket containing an engraved copper plaque and a cheque of Rs 50,000.
Awardees:
Six books of children's poetry have won the Bal Sahitya Puraskar. The books include works by Vijay Sharma (Dogri), Naji Munauwar (Kashmiri), and Sanjay Chaubey (Sanskrit); five storybooks by authors including Govind Sharma (Hindi), Mohammad Khalil (Urdu), and Swmim Nasrin (Assamese); and five authors for their total contribution in children's literature.
One folk tale author, Lakhminath Brahma, in Bodo language, three novels by Chandrakanth Karadalli (Kannada), Salim Sardar Mulla (Marathi), and Pawan Harchandpuri (Punjabi); one history book by Devika Cariapa in English, and one play by R K Sanahanbi Chanu in Manipuri
The books that won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar 2019 includes eleven books of poetry, including works by Anuj Lugun (Hindi), Sagar Nazir (Kashmiri), Anuja Akathoottu (Malayalam); six of short stories by authors, including Tanuj Solanki (English), Ajay Soni (Gujarati), Keerti Parihar (Rajasthani); five novels by Moumita (Bengali), and Salman Abdus Samad (Urdu).
Global Peace Index 2019
Iceland topped the Global Peace Index 2019 rankings which were released by Institute for Economics & Peace. Since 2008, Iceland holds the most peaceful country in the world. India ranked 141 among 163 countries. In 2018, India ranked at 136th among 163 countries.
Afghanistan ranked as the least peaceful country in the world. The has replaced Syria, which is now the second least peaceful
Parameters:
The Australian think tank ranked countries according to their level of peacefulness.
The analysis was based on three major domains:
1) the level of societal safety and security
2) the extent of ongoing domestic and international conflict
3) the degree of militarization
Top/Bottom 5 countries:
The top five countries in the list are Iceland, New Zealand, Austria, Portugal, and Denmark.
The least 5 peaceful countries in the list are Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan (ranked the least) remains the world's least peaceful counties.
Findings of the report:
The report highlighted that India, Philippines, Japan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Pakistan are the nine countries with the highest risk of multiple climate hazards.
In the overall natural hazard score, India stands 7th highest.
The top 5 countries with the largest total military expenditure are India, the US, China, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
Bhutan topped the index with 15th rank, followed by Sri Lanka 72nd rank, Nepal 76th rank and Bangladesh stood101 among the South Asian countries. Pakistan has been ranked 153rd on the index.
UNCTAD World Investment Report 2019
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2019, India received foreign direct investments (FDI) worth USD 42 billion in 2018.
India attracted over 77% of the total foreign direct investments that came to the South Asian region.
The global FDI slipped by 13% in 2018, to US$1.3 trillion from $1.5 trillion in 2017, the third consecutive annual decline.
India’s rank as a source country for FDI dropped one place to the 10th position as it was overtaken by Spain.
Investment in India rose by 6% to USD 42 billion.
Among others in the South Asian region, FDI flows to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka rose to a record level, to USD 3.6 billion and USD 1.6 billion, respectively, while Pakistan witnessed a 27% decline in investment to USD 2.4 billion.
Scientists place worlds highest weather stations atop Mount Everest
Scientists from National Geographic Society and Tribhuvan University installed have installed two highest weather stations in the world in an expedition to Mount Everest that wrapped up in June 2019. The two weather monitoring stations are located at an altitude of 8,430 meters (27,657 feet) and 7,945 meters (26,066 feet). Also, three other stations have been set up across the Mount Everest.
The setting up of the weather station aim to collect weather data. The data gathered from the stations will help scientists to understand how rising global temperatures impact the rapidly melting glaciers.
The nearly two-month expedition involved a team of more than 30 scientists from all over the world, including 17 Nepali researchers. The team also collected the world highest ice core sample at 8,020 meters, which will help the scientists study the deep record of precipitation on the mountain and composition of the atmosphere during pre-industrial times.
The project also reached another milestone of placing the world's highest helicopter-based lidar scan and the most detailed photogrammetric imaging, also with lidar scans, of the Everest Base Camp area and the entire Khumbu Glacier.
Two female scientists Ritu Kridhal and Vanitha to head Indias 2nd Moon mission Chandrayaan-2
For the first time, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has appointed two women scientists - Ritu Karidhal (as mission director) and Muthayya Vanitha(as project director) - to head India's second Moon mission Chandrayaan-2.
ISRO Chairman K Sivan announced that close to 30 percent of the ISRO team working on Chandrayaan 2 are women.
Ritu Karidhal was referred to as the 'Rocket Woman of India'. She became famous with the launch of the Mars Orbiter Mission where she was the deputy operations director.
Muthayya Vanitha received the Best Woman Scientist award in 2006 by the Astronomical Society of India.