India to host the 8th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics in New Delhi

NATIONAL NEWS

India to host the 8th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics in New Delhi

• The 8th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics (ICAS-VIII) will be organized by the Ministry of Agriculture in New Delhi from 18th to 21st November 2019.
• The conference will be inaugurated by the Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar and Chief Guest will be Bill Gates.
• The conference will be organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, ISI-CAS, FAO, the USDA, ADB, World Bank, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Eurostat, AfDB and various other organizations.
• The theme of this year’s ICAS is ‘Statistics for Transformation of Agriculture to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Indian Ocean Rim Association Concludes Meetings, UAE Named Chair

• The 19th Ministerial Council of the Indian Ocean Rim Association, IORA, concluded with the United Arab Emirates, as incoming chairman, committing to focus over the next two years on Maritime Safety and Security, Trade and Investment Facilitation and Tourism and Cultural Exchange.
• The conclusion of the meeting, the head of the UAE delegation, Minister of State Ahmed Al Sayegh, added that there would also be activity related to the Blue Economy and Women’s Economic Empowerment.
• Maldives Becomes IORA Member, Myanmar’s Entry Blocked at Last Hurdle.

DEFENCE

India-Russia Military Exercise Indra-2019 To Take Place in December

• India and Russia will hold the eleventh iteration of their bilateral military exercise, designated Indra-2019, in December of this year. The exercise will principally take place at a training ground in India.
• The naval part of the exercise, dubbed Indra Navy, took place in the Bay of Bengal last year. The Indian Navy dispatched the “INS Ranvir, a guided missile destroyer, INS Satpura, an indigenous frigate, INS Kadmatt, an indigenous anti- submarine warfare (ASW) corvette, IN Ships Kuthar and Khanjarboth indigenous missile corvettes and INS Jyoti, a fleet tanker” to the exercise

APPOINTMENT & RESIGN

Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi takes oath as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court

• Justice Akil Abdulhamid Kureshi sworn in as Chief Justice of Tripura High Court. The oath was administered by Tripura Governor Ramesh Bais at old Raj Bhavan in Agartala.
• Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb was present at the oath-taking ceremony besides other dignitaries.                 

Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan takes oath as Chief Justice of Jharkhand HC

• Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan took oath as the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court.
• He was administered the oath of office by Governor Draupadi Murmi in a simple ceremony at Raj Bhawan.
• Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan has been appointed as the 13th Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. The post was lying vacant since May this year after the former Chief Justice, Anirudh Bose was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court.
• Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan was a judge in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

FACTS

Chief Minister- Raghuwar Das

Governor- Draupadi Murmi

Folk Dance- Karma, Munda

Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take oath as Sri Lankan President

• Sri Lanka's controversial wartime defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa will take oath as the seventh executive president of Sri Lanka at the Ruwanweli Seya precincts in the ancient north central town of Anuradhapura.
• Rajapaksa, 70, defeated Sajith Premadasa, 52, by more than 13 lakh votes, the election commission announced on Sunday.
• He will succeed President Maithripala Sirisena for a five-year term.

FACTS

Sri Lanka Capital-Colombo

Currency-Rupee

British-Indian MP Keith Vaz retires after 32 yrs

• Keith Vaz, the longest-serving Indian-origin MP in the House of Commons, has announced his retirement from Parliament after 32 years in the wake of a drug scandal.
• Vaz who had been the Labour Party’s MP for Leicester East since 1987 would not be seeking re-election in the December 12 General Election.

ENVIRONMENT

Cyclone Bulbul intensifies into very severe cyclonic storm; to hit Odisha, Bengal with heavy rains, winds

• With the cyclone 'Bulbul' intensifying into a very severe cyclonic storm and triggering heavy rain in parts of Odisha and West Bengal, the two states are bracing for the impact.
• During landfall, 'Bulbul' is "very likely" to be in the 'severe cyclonic storm' category with a maximum sustained windspeed of 110 to 120 km per hour, gusting up to 135 kmph.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NASA unveils early version of all-electric plane

• The experimental aircraft, or X-plane, has been designated X-57, and will be known as "Maxwell" for short.
• It could be ready for its first test flight from Edwards Air Force Base in the desert of southern California next year.
• The X-57 has been adapted from an Italian-made Tecnam P2006T twin-engine propeller plane but with the traditional combustion engines replaced with electric cruise motors.
• There are 14 electric motors powered by specially designed lithium-ion batteries, the same technology used in mobile phones and electric cars.

MoS Sanjay Dhotre launches Shala Darpan portal for Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

• Union Minister of State for Human Resources Development Sanjay Dhotre launched the Shala Darpan Portal of Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.
• This will integrate all Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas with a common standard which includes around 636 schools and 2.67 million students.
• Shala Darpan provides an integrated platform to meet the educational and administrative needs of all stakeholders-students, teachers and parents. It is capable of sending and receiving effective dialogue between every stakeholder.

First Night trial of surface-to-surface medium-range missile Agni-II conducted successfully

• India has successfully conducted the first night trial of Agni-II, its versatile surface-to-surface medium-range nuclear-capable missile from Dr Abdul Kalam Island off Odisha coast.
• Agni-II, an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), has already been inducted into the armed forces.
• This was the first time that the sophisticated missile was testfired at night.
• The test was carried out by the specially formed Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army with logistic support from the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• The two-stage ballistic missile can carry a payload of 1000 kg over a distance of 2000 km.

OBITUARY

Former Union Secretary PS Krishnan passed away

• Former Union Secretary PS Krishnan passed away in New Delhi. He was 86 years old.
• He was regarded as a champion of the oppressed and exploited sections of society.
• PS Krishnan is an IAS officer of batch 1956. He served in Andhra Pradesh. He sought to take the government to the people, especially the Dalits, Adivasis, minorities, and other oppressed communities, and worked towards eliminating caste inequalities.

SPORTS

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: Thomas Dennerby takes charge as Indian Head Coach

• Sweden's Thomas Dennerby has been appointed as the Head Coach of the Indian Women's U-17 team, AIFF announced.
• The 60-year-old guided the Swedish Women's National Team to a third-place finish in the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany in 2011 and a quarterfinal spot in the 2012 London Olympics.
• Dennerby comes off a stint with the Nigerian Senior Women's team, having coached the Super Falcons in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France. He also coached the side to the AWCON title in 2018.

FACTS

FIFA Headquarters-Zurich, Switzerland.

Sarita Devi elected as member of AIBA athletes commission

• Laishram Sarita Devi of Manipur is among the six boxers from 5 continents who were elected as members of AIBA Athletes Commission.
• Laishram Sarita Devi was inspired by Muhammad Ali's achievements, and turned professional in boxing in the year 2000. She is DSP in Manipur Police.
• The election of the Athletes Commission members was organized during AIBA Men and Women World Boxing Championships 2019 in Russia.
• Boxers from all over the world voted for new members - one per continent, except Europe which has two representatives.

FACTS

AIBA Headquarter-Lausanne, Switzerland

BOOK AND AUTHOR

CJI Ranjan Gogoi releases Assamese version of book 'Courts of India: Past to Present'

• Chief Justice of India Justice Ranjan Gogoi released the Assamese version of the book 'Courts of India: Past to Present' in Guwahati.
• Releasing the book published by the Publication Division, Mr. Gogoi termed it as the architecture of justice.
• The book fabulously explains the Indian justice system.

Book ‘Accidental Magic’

• Keshava Guha has penned his debut novel ‘Accidental Magic’ which is a story of four very different people whose lives are brought together by Harry Potter.
• Keshava Guha is the son of historian Ramachandra Guha.
• Ramachandra Guha is an Indian historian whose research interests include environmental, social, economic political, contemporary and cricket history.
• He is also a columnist for The Telegraph, Hindustan Times and Hindi Daily Newspaper Amar Ujala.