Important Current Affairs 31st May 2019

NATIONAL

Gujarat traffic police to use laser guns to curb overspeeding

• The Gujarat governmenthas decided to equip the traffic police with 'laser guns'for detection of over-speeding by vehicles. The state police's traffic branch has purchased 39 such high-tech guns at a cost of Rs.3.9 crore.

• Five of these US-made devices will be given to the Ahmedabad city police, and every district police force will also be provided one of these guns.

A three-day workshop was organised recently at the Karai Police Academy here to impart training to over 200 traffic policemen on operating the device.

• Laser gun:The gun uses laser technology to detect the speed of a vehicle. It can record the speed of three vehiclessimultaneously in a second, even if the vehicles are a km away.The device is equipped to record speeds from 0-320 kilometre per hour.

• The speed gun is an online device which can send an e-memo to the owner with a photo of the vehicle. If required, the speed gun can also generate and print the challan offline on the spot.

It is also capable of recording videos of the over- speeding vehicles which will serve as proof if the vehicle owner confronts the police.

SC extends tenure of NCDRCs judicial member by one year

• Supreme Court May 29 extended the tenure of Justice V K Jain, a judicial member of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), which was expiring.

• A vacation bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose said the extension of tenure would be for one year or till the process of fresh appointment is completed.The bench was dealing with an application seeking an extension of Justice Jain's tenure.

• He had joined the Delhi Judicial Service on May 20, 1977, and was later appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court on May 14, 2009.

He had demitted the office on May 14, 2014, after which he was appointed as a judicial member of the NCDRC.

Mississippi River flood becomes the longest-lasting in over 90 years

• Flooding in theMississippi River is on the record for being the longest-lasting in more than 90 years since the "Great Flood" of 1927.

It is due to relentless, record-breaking spring rainfall. In the month of June also, Mississippi River will continue to rise as runoff from snowmelt upstream in combination with rainfall runoff moves through the river system.

• Along several parts of the river, water levels have been at flood stage for nearly 4 months. It is the longest stretch of time since the Great Flood.

• The reason for this drastic flood is climate change, as planet is getting warmer which is resulting in rise of heavy downpours.

About the Mississippi River:

• It is the second-longest river and Chief River of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent.

Source: Lake Itasca, Minnesota, United States

Mouth: Gulf of Mexico

INTERNATIONAL

Goldman Sachs to invest USD250 mn to construct one of its largest global workspaces in Bengaluru

• New York-based investment and financial services major Goldman Sachs have pumped in $250 million to construct one of its largest global workspaces in Bengaluru.

• Bengaluru workspace:Bengaluru, with 2,500 techies, is the second-largest engineering talent base of Goldman Sachs after New York. Goldman Sachs Service, Bengaluru has become one of the firm’s global centres of innovation focused on the development and application of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics to help solve business problems for our worldwide network.

• The investment bank has seen significant technology value-addition from Bengaluru during the past one-and-a-half decades, and software solutions developed in the city have been used in many business verticals. It has also undertaken automation of key services such as client onboarding.

ISS spacewalk successfully carried out for the 217th time by 2 cosmonauts

• Two Russian space agency Roscosmos' cosmonauts have successfully carried out the 217th spacewalk for International Space Station's support, maintenance and upgrade. The spacewalk, fourth for 2019, was done by Expedition 59 Commander Oleg Kononenko and Flight Engineer Alexey Ovchinin and lasted six hours and one minute.

• This was Commander Kononenko's fifth spacewalk and the first-ever for Ovchinin.The cosmonauts retrieved science experiments, install handrails on the Russian segment of the complex, and conduct maintenance on the orbiting laboratory.

• Roscosmos State Space Corporation:

Formation: 25 February 1992

Headquarters: Moscow, Russia

Administrator: Dmitry Rogozin

Parent organization: The Russian government

• It is responsible for the wide range and types of space flights and cosmonautics programs for the Russian Federation.

APPOINTMENT AND RESIGNATION

Former Flipkart Executive Sandeep Patil appointed as India Managing Director of Truecaller

• Former Flipkart Executive Sandeep Patil appointed as India Managing Director of Truecaller. He served as the head of consumer and commercial lending vertical at Flipkart until his new appointment with Truecaller.

Sandeep Patil will be leading business strategies to expand the company and increase its revenue.

• He will be supervising the teams based in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

India is the largest market for Truecaller with 60-70% of global revenue and user base.

It has 100 million daily active users in the country.

About Truecaller

Headquarters: Stockholm

Founded: 2009

Founders: Nami Zarringhalam and Alan Mamedi

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa received baton of Chairman COSC

• Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa received the baton of Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee from outgoing Chairman COSC and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba,

• Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa will be the Chairman COSC with effect from May 31, 2019, consequent to relinquishment of charge by Admiral Sunil Lanba upon superannuation.

• Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, an alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College and the National Defence Academy, was commissioned in the Flying Branch of Indian Air Force in June 1978.  He is an experienced fighter pilot and a qualified CAT ‘A’ Flying Instructor with over 3000 hours of flying experience to his credit.

• The Air Chief Marshal has mainly flown the MiG-21 aircraft with flying experience across the entire spectrum of fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

Admiral Sunil Lanba is proceeding on retirement on May 31, 2019, after a distinguished career spanning over four decades.

BANKS AND ECONOMY

NCLT approved the the resolution plan of Tata Steel to acquire Bhushan Energy Ltd.

• The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the resolution plan of Tata Steel to acquire debt-ridden Bhushan Energy Ltd. for about Rs.800 crore on 30 May. The principal bench of NCLT-Delhi also rejected objections from Bhushan Energy’s former promoter Neeraj Singal opposing Tata Steels’ bid.

• Resolution plan:Under the resolution plan, Tata Steel will offer an upfront payment of Rs.730 crore. It would also pay Rs.50 crore additionally to operational creditors of the company. Besides, Tata Steel would also infuse Rs.367 crore into the company as a part of equity infusion. A detailed order is still awaited in this matter.

• Acquisition of Bhushan Steel Ltd.:Bhushan Energy was a subsidiary of Bhushan Steel Ltd., which was also taken over by Tata Steel last May and later renamed as Tata Steel BSL Ltd.Tata Steel had offered Rs.35,200 crore in cash to acquire Bhushan Steel besides Rs.1,200 crore to creditors and convert the remaining debt owed to banks to equity.

• Earlier in June 2018, in this matter, NCLT had extended the insolvency resolution period for 90 days after the creditors failed to find a suitable buyer within the initial period of 180 days as mandated under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC).