Daily GK Updates - 27th September, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. India Tourism Mart 2019 inaugurated in New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture (I/C) Shri Prahlad Singh Patel inaugurated the exhibition of India Tourism Mart (ITM) 2019 in New Delhi. The Ministry of Tourism and the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) have jointly organized this Mart. Over 240 international delegates from 51 countries and 160 exhibitors from across the country are taking in the part in the second edition of ITM. The Mart will provide a platform at the national level for trade and hospitality service providers in the country to interact and conduct business with their counterparts from overseas.

2. UP govt. announces ₹6,000 annual aid for ‘triple talaq’ victims: Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath announced an annual support of ₹6,000 to the victims of triple talaq till their rehabilitation and they will get free legal aid. The victims of triple talaq came under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) and govt also gives rights over waqf properties and also called for several welfare measures that should be undertaken for their rehabilitation.

Note: ‘Triple talaq’ is a form of Islamic divorce which has been used by Muslims in India. It allowed any Muslim man to legally divorce his wife by uttering the word talaq (the Arabic word for "divorce") three times in oral, written or, more recently, electronic form.

3. Centre approves construction of 1.23 lakh houses under PMAY-Urban: The Indian government has approved the construction of 1.23 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban). The approval was given by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC). With this approval, over 90 lakh houses have so far been sanctioned against the target of 1.12 crore by 2022 under PMAY (Urban).

Note: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (launched in June 2015) is an initiative by Government of India in which affordable housing will be provided to the urban poor with a target of building 20 million affordable houses by 31st March 2022.

4. Justice C.K. Abdul Rehim- Acting CJ of the Kerala, Justice Vineet Kothari- Acting CJ of Madras: According to law and justice ministry’s notification the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind has appointed senior High Court (HC) judge Justice C.K. Abdul Rehim as the acting Chief Justice(CJ) of the Kerala High Court after incumbent Chief Justice Hrishikesh Roy was elevated as the Supreme Court (SC) Judge.

Also Justice Vineet Kothari of Rajasthan, the senior-most judge of Madras High Court (HC), appointed as its Acting Chief Justice (ACJ). He replaces Justice Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani who recently resigned her post.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Global Goals Jam 3.0 hosted by World University of Design: World University of Design (WUD) hosted Global Goals Jam 3.0. The Indian edition of the global event focusing on design thinking and service design methodologies was hosted with the theme: eWaste. 70 participants from across India, divided into ten groups, participated in the workshop and presented their ideas and vision for the future. GGJ is an international platform for inclusive learning where people from all around the world contribute to the 17 global goals for sustainable development of UNDP by sharing their stories, projects, and visions for the future.

2. Bangladesh lifts ban on Hilsa export to India: Bangladesh has lifted the ban on the exports of Hilsa fish to India as a goodwill gesture during the Durga Puja. Bangladesh will allow 500 tonnes of Hilsa fish for the occasion as a onetime arrangement. Export of the popular Hilsa or ‘Ilish’ fish from Bangladesh was banned in 2012 after local business establishments called for controlling the price of fishes. Bangladesh accounts for nearly 75 percent of world Hilsa production and nearly 2 million people get direct and indirect employment from its cultivation.

Note: Bangladesh Capital: Dhaka; Currency: Taka; PM: Sheikh Hasina.

3. 21st session of FAO-WHO Coordinating Committee of Asia for 2019 held in Panaji, Goa: The 21st session of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) Coordinating Committee of Asia for 2019 was held at the DoubleTree by Hilton Goa- Panaji, Goa from September 23-27, 2019. It was the second session of the Coordinating Committee in Asia, organized by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in collaboration with the WHO and FAO of the United Nations (UN). The aim of the session was to identify issues and explore best practices in food safety at primary production in the region and delegates from 18 member countries participated in the session.

4. World Tourism Day: 27 September: The United Nations observes 27 September every year as World Tourism Day. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide. This year India is hosting the official celebrations of World Tourism Day with the theme ‘Tourism and Jobs: a better future for all’.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu conferred the National tourism awards in various categories at a function in New Delhi. Andhra Pradesh has bagged the Best State Award for overall growth in tourism category while Goa and Madhya Pradesh were joint winners in the Adventure Tourism category. Uttarakhand was awarded best film promotion friendly state and Telangana for the best state in the innovative use of IT category.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. Ministry of Sports to create 20 National Centres of Excellence to groom athletes: Ministry of Sports will create 20 National Centres of Excellence to groom athletes for 2024 and 2028 Olympics. The new scheme will ensure that athletes in the same premises have access to similar facilities unlike before. According to sports minister Kiren Rijiju, standardising training on campuses will enable athletes to attain much higher performances in their respective sport. Each Centre of Excellence will offer funds for four to six specific sports. The centres are in Patiala, Trivandrum, Chandigarh, Sonepat, Lucknow, Guwahati, Imphal, Kolkata, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Gandhinagar.

2. Facebook bags digital content rights for ICC matches in South Asia: The International Cricket Council has inked an agreement with Facebook, under which the social media platform will get exclusive digital content rights for select cricket matches in the Indian subcontinent including the Women’s T20 World Cup 2020-22, Men’s T20 World Cup 2020-21 and the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. The social media platform also bagged the rights for match recaps for rest of the world for the next 4 years.

Note: Chief Executive Officer of ICC: Manu Sawhney.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. The search engine ‘Google’ is celebrating its 21st birthday: The Internet search engine ‘Google’ is celebrating its 21st birthday on 27 Sept, 2019. American multinational technology company ‘Google’ has shown this special occasion of the 20-year journey by making doodles (An old computer is shown in Google's doodle). Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were PhD students at Stanford University in California. Google (operating in 100 languages) is one of the four big technology companies along with Apple, Amazon, Facebook.

Note: Indian American Sundar Pichai (Pichai Sundararajan) is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Google LLC. Headquarters: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California, U.S.

OBITUARIES

1. 4-time Emmy Award winner J. Michael Mendel passes away: An American television producer 4-time Emmy Award winner J. Michael Mendel (54-years) passed away at his home in Los Angeles, US. He won four Emmys for ‘Lisa’s Wedding’ (in 1995), Homer’s Phobia (in 1997), Trash of the Titans (in 1998) and Pickle Rick (in 2018). He joined ‘The Simpsons’ (in 1989), where he produced shows such as The PJs, The Oblongs, Drawn Together, Sit Down, Shut Up, and Napoleon Dynamite.