Important Current Affairs 11th September 2019

NATIONAL:

PM Modi lanched National Animal Disease Control Programme.

• PM Narendra Modi launched the National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The government has announced that it will fund the Rs.12,652 crore for the programme for a period of 5 years till 2024.

Aim:

The programme aims at vaccinating over 500 Million livestock including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs against foot and mouth disease (FMD). It also aims to vaccinate 36 million female bovine calves annually in its fight against Brucellosis disease.

The programme has two components:

♦ to control the diseases by 2025

♦ to eradicate FMD by 2030

FMD and Brucellosis: 

FMD and Brucellosis diseases are very common among the livestock cow-bulls, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs etc. If a cow/buffalo gets infected with FMD, the milk loss is up to 100% which could last for four to six months.

If it is affected by Brucellosis the milk output reduces by 30%, during the entire life cycle of the animal. Brucellosis also causes infertility amongst the animals. The infection of brucellosis can also be transmitted to the farmworkers and livestock owners. Both the diseases will cause a direct negative impact on the trade of milk and other livestock products.

Kerala to introduce iWTC in Kozhikode.

• For the first time ever, the Kerala State government is to set up India's first International Women's Trade Centre (iWTC) in Kozhikode. It is in consonance with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Aim of iWTC:

iWTC aims to boost women entrepreneurship and secure gender parity by providing women a safe place away from home to start new businesses, set up or expand, and get their products marketed globally.

The first phase of iWTC is being implemented the Gender Park’s Vision 2020. The Phase-I is scheduled to be completed by 2021.

iWTC will provide space to promote and showcase performing arts and cultural forms like dance, music, and theatre.

Using the latest technology, it will involve women entrepreneurs and tradeswomen from the local region and connect them to world markets. It aims to build or expand their businesses

Gender Park:

♦ Gender Park is an institution that works to resolve gender inequity in development. It is promoted by the Department of Social Justice, Government of Kerala. It is headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

♦ It aims to generate a space exclusively for women development activities that emphasize entrepreneurship in service and cultural activities. It aims to provide formal education in gender studies.

♦ Gender Park also strengthens women development activities that are monitored by various departments, agencies, civil society movements, such as She-Taxi.

♦ Gender Park's International Institute for Gender and Development (IIGD) is involved in research on gender at the local, national and international level.

AGREEMENTS AND MOUS:

Gurugram traffic police partners with Google maps for traffic updates.

• The Gurugram traffic police from the Haryana State has partnered with Google maps for real-time traffic updates. The tie-up will provide traffic-related information in real-time for public use.

• The Gurugram traffic police with Google maps will share the information such as planned road closures, diversions, traffic alerts regarding road crash, etc. The Google maps will immediately respond to the given search conditions and update the information on its public maps.

Aim:

• The reason aimed to prompt commuters to make intelligent choices in order to make their commuting experience hassle-free. This mechanism has been tested successfully and it was found working effectively.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS:

Essel Group's Rajesh Sethi named NBA India's Managing Director.

• The National Basketball Association (NBA) has appointed Rajesh Sethi as the Managing Director of NBA India effective September 12. He was most recently with Essel Group, where he held various leadership roles with the group's entities, including SITI Networks, Zee Entertainment and Ten Sports. Sethi will oversee the league's basketball and business development initiatives in India.