Important Current Affairs 5th August

NATIONAL:

Centre moves J&K Reorganisation Bill 2019, a resolution to revoke Article 370 of Jammu and Kashmir

• The Government of India announced repealing Article 370 and introduced the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha on 5 August.

This will now repeal special status to Jammu and Kashmir. The resolutoin was passed by Home Minister Amit Shah in the upper house. The aborgation of Article 370 will make J&K an integral part of India.

• What is Article 370?

Article 370 was introduced in 1947 by Sheikh Abdullah the Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir

Article 370 of the Indian constitution gives autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The article is drafted as Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions in Part XXI of the Constitution. The Indian Constitution still describes it as a temporary provision.

Article 370 provided six special provisions for Jammu and Kashmir:

1) The State is allowed to have its own Constitution.

2) The Central legislative powers over the State were limited to the three subjects of defence, foreign affairs and communications.

3) Only with the concurrence of the State Government, other constitutional powers of Indian Government could be extended to the State.

4) The concurrence was only provisional. The State's Constituent Assembly should ratify the provision.

5) Until the State Constituent Assembly was formed, the State Government was given authority to give concurrence. Once the State Constituent Assembly finalised the scheme of powers and dispersed, no further extension of powers was possible.

6) Only if the State's Constituent Assembly approves the Article 370, it could be repealed or amended.

Under Article 370, the Centre has no power to declare financial emergency under Article 360 in the state. It can declare an emergency in the state only in case of war or external aggression

• What's next?

After the repealing of Article 370, the government should get back the Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). It is now expected that the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan would return the land taken illegally from India.

Gujarat government launched Vhali Dikri Yojna

• Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupanilaunched the ‘Vhali Dikri Yojna’ from his hometown Rajkot, Gujarat. The scheme is introduced for the welfare of the girl child. The meaning of this scheme is Dear Daughter Scheme.

• The main details about this scheme is stated before. Vahali Dikri Yojana is launched to improve the sex ratio of girl child in the State. The successful implementation of this scheme State government allocated a budget of Rs 133 Crore.

• According to the scheme State Government will pay Rs. 4,000 to every girl child at the time of admission to Standard 4th, Rs. 6,000. There will be a time of taking admission to Standard IX, Rs. 1-lakh at the time of taking admission for higher education at the age of 18 at the time of marriage. It is a statewide cash incentive scheme for every girl child born in Gujarat.

DRDO successfully test fired QRSAM Missile

• The Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test-fired an indigenously developed Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) from a mobile truck-based launch unit from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, Odisha. It is an all-weather and all-terrain missile type.

QRSAM missile has been developed for the Army. The entire mission was tracked by various electro-optical tracking systems, radar systems and telemetry systems.

• QRSAM:

QRSAM is equipped with electronic counter measures against jamming by aircraft radars. The missile uses solid-fuel propellant. It has a range of 25-30 km.  The test flights had successfully demonstrated various parameters like aerodynamics, propulsion, structural performance.The missile was developed as part of Integrated Guided-Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) other than Nag, Agni, Trishul, Prithvi missiles.

• QRSAM has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)in cooperation with Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics Limited.

Previously, the first trial of  QRSAM Missile was conducted on June 4, 2017. The Second missile test was conducted in May 2019 in odisha coast.

INTERNATIONAL:

Malaysia seizes $240 million from Chinese state firm's bank account

• Malaysia seized more than 1 billion ringgit ($243.25 million) from a bank account of state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Ltd (CPP), The seizure comes nearly a year after Malaysia suspended two pipeline projects, valued at $2.3 billion, on which CPP was the lead contractor.

• The Malaysian government ordered HSBC to transfer the funds held in the Chinese firm’s account to Suria Strategic Energy Resources.CPP was perplexed by the unilateral transfer of funds out of its account without notification, the firm, a unit of state energy giant China National Petroleum CorpCPP won a contract from the government of former prime minister Najib Razak to build a petroleum pipeline stretching 600 km (373 miles) along the west coast of peninsular Malaysia and a 662-km (411-mile) gas pipeline in Sabah. The projects were suspended last July by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who unexpectedly defeated Najib in the 2018 election.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY:

State Bank of India and Shanghai becomes first Indian bank to link up with CNAPS

• State Bank of India's Shanghai branch linked to China's National Advanced Payment System (CNAPS). It is the first Indian Bank to operationalize it. The CNAPS, launched in 2008 by the People's Bank of China (PBOC) provides real-time settlement services for all payments cleared in China.

• The CNAPS system is complemented by its international counterpart, the CIPS (China International Payments System or Cross-Border Interbank Payment System) launched in 2015

• Main Aim: To boosting international use of the Chinese currency, yuan. The participants from multiple countries across the globe participated.

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS:

President Ram Nath Kovind was awarded the National order of Merit

• President Ram Nath Kovind was awarded the National order of Merit by the President of Guinea on 3rd August. This is the highest award Republic of Guinea by African government.

He was honoured for his exceptional contribution to the advancement of overall relations and development of mutual cooperationbetween India and Guinea. It also recognised his efforts for promoting friendship and partnership between the people of both the countries.

• President's Visit to Guinea:

During his visit to Guinea, President Ram Nath Kovind signed 3 MoUs between India and Africa. The agreements aimed cooperation in the Field of Traditional System of Medicine, e Vidhya bharati, e Aarogya Bharati Network Project and Renewal Energy.

Both countries also agreed on sign in  the need for reform of the UN Security Council to make it reflective of contemporary realities. The leaders expressed their deep concern over the rise of extremism and terrorism around the world in the meeting. The  President also announced a new Line of Credit of US$ 170 million for Water Supply Project of Conakry city.

SPORTS:

Lovlina Borgohain Won Gold In Umakhanov Memorial International Boxing Tournament

• Lovlina Borgohain won gold at the Magomed Salam Umakhanov Memorial International Boxing Tournament 2019.The event held at Kaspiysk, Russia.The Golaghat district of Assam, Lovlina faced Assunta Canfora of Italy in the finals.Govind Sahani (49Kg) and Jony (60Kg) grabbed bronze medals after their semi-final losses.

• Assunta Canfora at the India Open final, World Championships bronze medallist, Lovlina (69kg) was better prepared this time to tackle the wily Italian. India Open silver and a bronze from the Strandja Cup, Lovlina's efforts and dedication have been rewarded with her first international gold medal of the year.

• India Open gold-medallist champion Neeraj (57kg) in the semi-finals by stunning former world champion Alessia Mesiano 3-2, continued her impeccable form in the summit clash against Russia's Malika Shakhidova. The two judges' points being drawn at 28-28, the Strandja Cup bronze medallist Neeraj Lovlina and Neeraj in their respective finals India failed to register a flawless day as Gaurav

• Solanki succumbed to a 0-5 defeat to Uzbekistan's Abdulkhay Sharakhmatov. The Commonwealth Games gold medallist was unable to judge his opponent's pace and power.

Lewis Hamilton won Hungarian Grand Prix

• Formula One Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix .He defeated Max Verstappen for a record-extending seventh time .He won 62 points clear in the championship.

• Lewis Hamilton

He is a British racing driver races in Formula One for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. He is one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport.

• Hungarian Grand Prix

It is is a motor race held annually in Mogyorod, Hungary.

Most win: United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton.