1.PM Modi Describes Passing Of Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Bill 2019 As Momentous Occasion:-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed the passing of landmark bills pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir in Parliament, with overwhelming support. Earlier, Parliament had adopted the resolution revoking the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution, with Lok Sabha approving it last evening. The Rajya Sabha had adopted a similar resolution on Monday. The Lok Sabha also passed The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 through voting. Replying to the debate, Home Minister Amit Shah informed that scrapping of Article 370 is essential as it is a hurdle in connecting Kashmir to India’s mainstream. Mr Shah reiterated that Pakistan occupied Kashmir will always belong to India. Mr Shah informed that as soon as the situation normalises, at an appropriate time, Jammu and Kashmir will regain state status. The Minister assured that Narendra Modi government has no intention of removing Article 371, which gives special status to North eastern states to preserve their tribal culture. He added that Naga Accord and Article 370 have no relation at all.
2.Bangladesh Home Minister Leaves For India For Talks:-
Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has left Dhaka on a three day visit to Delhi to attend the 7th India- Bangladesh Home Minister level bilateral talks. The 6th round of home minister-level talks was held in Dhaka in July last year.Issues like trans-border security, cross border trafficking and border management are likely to come up for discussion during the talks. Ahead of the talks India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh Riva Ganguly Das called on the Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan in Dhaka on Sunday and discussed various issues related to border management and infrastructure.
3.India Contributes USD 5 Million To UN Palestine Refugee Agency:-
India contributed USD 5 million to the UN Palestine refugee agency and called for ensuring sustained fiscal support for the organisation’s work. The cheque for the amount was handed over to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) forPalestinian Refugees by Representative of India (ROI) in Palestine, Sunil Kumar, at the Agency’s headquarters in Jerusalem.India increased its annual financial assistance to the UNRWA by four fold, from USD 1.25 million to USD 5 million, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Palestine in February 2018, the first-ever visit by an Indian Premier to Ramallah. The UNRWA has been providing health, education, relief and social services, as well as emergency humanitarian assistance, across its five areas of operations in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, and the Gaza Strip since 1950.
4.Malaria Kills Over 1,800 People In Burundi This Year, Says UN:-
The UN’s humanitarian agency informs Malaria has killed more than 1,800 people in Burundi this year. It informed the death toll rivals a deadly Ebola outbreak in neighbouring the Democratic Republic of Congo.In its latest situation report, the agency expressed, 5.7 million cases of malaria had been recorded in Burundiin 2019, a figure roughly equal to half its entire population. The tiny country of 11 million people in the African Great Lakes region has still not declared a national emergency, despite the UN’s humanitarian agency expressing the outbreak crossed epidemic proportions in May.
5.US Ends Visa-Free Entry For Visitors To North Korea:-
The United States has revoked visa-free entry rights to the country, for foreigners who have visited North Korea in the past eight years.This move may deal a new blow to the isolated country’s nascent tourism industry.The US allows citizens of 38 countries – including South Korea, Japan and France – to enter for up to 90 days without a visa under a waiver programme.But visitors who have travelled to eight countries including North Korea since March 1, 2011, are “no longer eligible”. As per details posted on the US Customs and Border Protection website, they will have to apply for tourist or business visas.The other seven countries – most of them in the Middle East – were already on the exclusion list.The change will affect thousands of people from visa waiver countries who have gone to the North as tourists or for other purposes in recent years. It will also put a damper on South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s hopes of promoting cross-border tourism projects.US citizens have been banned from visiting North Korea since 2017 after an American student detained in Pyongyang was released in a coma and died a few days later.
6.India Tops Latest ICC Test Rankings:-
India topped the latest ICC Test team rankings while New Zealand is placed 2nd and South Africa is in 3rd position. India skipper Virat Kohli retains his number one position in the latest ICC Test batsmen’s rankings. Australian batsman Steve Smith overtook India’s Cheteshwar Pujara to grab the No.3 spot. His elevation in rankings came after consecutive hundreds in the opening Ashes Test in Edgbaston. Pujara is placed fourth in the fresh standings. Australian speedster Pat Cummins retains his top position in Test bowling, with a seven-wicket match haul. Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja is placed 6th and Ravichandran Ashwin 10th.In rankings for Test all-rounders, Jason Holder of the West Indies tops the list while Ravindra Jadeja is placed 3rd and Ravichandran Ashwin is in sixth place.
7.RBI Slashes Repo Rate By 35 Basis Points To 5.40% To Give Fillip To Economy:-
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut repo rate by 35 basis points to 5.40 per cent to give a fillip to the economy. This is the fourth consecutive time that the Monetary Policy Committee has reduced the rates. In the earlier three policies, RBI had reduced repo rate by 25 basis points each. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility stands revised to 5.15 per cent, and the marginal standing facility rate and the Bank Rate to 5.65 per cent. In its third bi-monthly policy announced today, RBI has decided to maintain the accommodation stance of monetary policy.On the inflation front, RBI has informed that actual headline inflation for first quarter of 2019-20 stood at 3.1 percent and in alignment with the Committee’s projections of 3-3.1 percent inflation figure for first half of the current financial year. While marginally lowering its GDP growth forecast for current fiscal to 6.9 percent from 7 percent as previously predicted, RBI has informed the base effect of policy transmission will turn favourable only in the second half of 2019-20.
8.Bangladesh Signs Uranium Supply Deal With Russia:-
Bangladesh today signed a deal with Russia for the supply of uranium for its 2,400 MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP). Under the deal, Russia will supply the nuclear fuel needed for the plant during its entire life cycle. The deal was signed in Dhaka between the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and Russian Nuclear Fuel Supply Company (TVEL). Work on the two units of the plants, each producing 1200 MW of electricity is scheduled to be completed in 2022 and 2024 respectively.The two countries have also signed ‘spent fuel sent back’ agreement in 2017 for management of the nuclear waste of Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant (RNPP).
9.Chandrayaan-2 Successfully Completes Its Final Earth-Bound Orbit-Raising Manoeuvre:-
In yet another significant development in its journey towards the Moon, India’s lunar probe Chandrayaan-2has successfully completed its fifth and final earth-bound orbit-raising manoeuvre today. The national space agency ISRO has informed, the operation began at 15:04 hours, by firing the engine onboard the aircraft and went on for 17 minutes and 21 seconds. The manoeuvre led the spacecraft to reach an orbit of substantial apogee that is the farthest point from the Earth, at nearly one lakh-forty three thousand kilometres. The next important move would be to inject Chandrayaan-2 in a trans-lunar path. It is scheduled to be held early in the morning on the 14th of this month.The country’s second lunar expedition to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2 is expected to reach an orbit around the Moon on the 20th of this month. ISRO expressed, all the spacecraft parameters are normal. It will have a touch down on the lunar South Pole on 7th September.
10.IIT Guwahati Researchers Develop Portable Device To Detect Bacteria Without Cell Culture Or Microbiological Assays:-
A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) has developed a portable device to detect bacteria without cell culture or microbiological assays. The hand-held device, with bio-compatible sensor can also diagnose time-critical illnesses such as meningitis researchers informed.The bacterial infection is a common cause of morbidity and mortality across the world.Despite the development of a range of antibiotics, the challenge continues to lie in diagnosing bacterial infection early on. The present techniques are extremely time-consuming. Currently, cells derived from a patient are cultured or grown in laboratories to detect and microanalyses bacteria.The new portable device, however, can instantly detect the charges on the cell walls of bacteria. The rapid detection kits are like those used for blood sugar monitoring. The research has enabled rapid detection of bacteria, which is not just important in healthcare but also in anti- bioterrorism measures and environmental monitoring.The team work has been recently patented as well as published in the July 2019 issue of ‘Journal of Materials Chemistry of the Royal Society of Chemistry’.
11.India Whitewash West Indies In Three Match T-20 Series:-
India completed a 3-0 clean sweep over the West Indies after winning the third and final Twenty20 International by seven wickets in Guyana last night. Indian skipper Virat Kohli and young wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant starred with the bat, helping India achieve the 147-run target with five balls to spare. Pant stitched a 106-run partnership with Kohli. Pant was brilliant during his unbeaten 65 off 42 balls while Kohli anchored the innings to perfection with 59 off 45 balls. Deepak Chahar, who claimed 3 wickets, was awarded Man of the Match while Krunal Pandya was adjudged player of the series. For the West Indies, Kieron Pollard contributed 58 off 45 balls while Rovman Powell scored unbeaten 32 off 20 balls. The three-match ODI series against the West Indies will begin at the same venue tomorrow.
12.Rankireddy-Shetty Jump Seven Spots In Badminton Rankings:-
In Badminton, Indian men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty today jumped seven places to enter the top 10 of the latest world rankings. This follows their historic win at last week’s Thailand Open. They are placed ninth in the doubles rankings. The other Indian men’s doubles duo of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy remained on 25th spot.In the men’s singles, Parupalli Kashyap moved up three places to 32nd spot, while Subhankar Dey climbed two places to 39th. However, there were no significant changes for other Indian singles shuttlers as Kidambi Srikanth (10th), Sameer Verma (13), B Sai Praneeth (19), H S Prannoy (31) and Sourav Verma (44) are all static at their respective positions. In the women’s singles rankings, Olympic medallists P V Sindhu managed to hold on to her fifth place and Saina Nehwal the eighth spot. In the women’s doubles, Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy moved up a place to 23rd.
13.Players From Ladakh To Continue To Represent J&K:-
Cricketers emerging from the newly-created Union Territory of Ladakh will continue to qualify to representJammu and Kashmir in all BCCI domestic competitions. Chief of Indian cricket’s Committee of Administrators Vinod Rai in New Delhi informed the arrangement remains the same like it is for Chandigarh which is also a Union Territory. Their players either play for Punjab or Haryana in domestic competitions. The J&K Ranji team is not known to have featured a player from Ladakh till date. The upcoming Ranji Trophy season is scheduled to start in December later this year.
14.South African Quick Dale Steyn Retires From Test Cricket:-
