Current Affairs 21st January 2019

 Current Affairs 21st January 2019 - Important Points       

• Exclusive Satellite to help in securing Pakistan & Bangladesh borders by - ISRO
• Methanol Blending to cut Carbon-di-oxide Emissions by - ARAI
• Amazon-Witzig bid to acquire Birla’s retail store chain gets - CCI node
• Females to get 20% jobs in - Military Police
• PM Narendra Modi launches National Museum of Indian Cinema on - 19th Janunary 2019
• Young Scientist Program  by - ISRO

Current Affairs 21st January 2019 - Details

Exclusive Satellite to help in securing Pakistan & Bangladesh borders by - ISRO

Indian Space Research Organisation will launch a satellite exclusively for the Union Home Ministry to help it in firming its frontiers with Pakistan & Bangladesh among others.
Features of the exclusive satellite for Border Management

• The exclusive satellite will be used for the purpose of space resources usage for security, operational planning & border infrastructure expansion.
• It would reinforce island & border security & simplify the development of infrastructure in border & island areas.
• A short, medium & long-term plan has been suggested for execution in 5 years in close co-ordination with the Indian Space Research Organisation & the Union Defence Ministry for the execution in a time-bound manner.
• Under short term strategy, immediate requirements of border guarding forces will be accomplished by gaining of high-resolution imagery & the hiring of bandwidth for transportations.
• Under the mid-term strategy, Single satellite is being released by the Indian Space Research Organisation for the limited use of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• Under long term strategy, the Ministry of Home Affairs will progress ground segment & network
  infrastructure to stake satellite resources by operator agencies, progress a central archival facility for storage various imagery resources & propagation of the same to operator agencies.

Methanol Blending to cut Carbon-di-oxide Emissions by - ARAI

Biofuels are being measured as an alternative to decrease the nation’s crude oil imports worth Rupees 7 lakh crore. They can also be a latent weapon to fight rising pollution. The results of the research by the Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India- ARAI, have authenticated the potential decrease in the releases of the carbon dioxide by the adoption of methanol blending.
Research by the Pune-based ARAI

• Pune-based Automotive Research Association of India directed a study utilising 15 percent M-15 methanol blend in vehicles & verified them for 3000 kms to assess emissions in real-world conditions and to check the performance of the automobiles.
• The results of the study presented that methanol blending with petrol in the present BS-IV standard automobiles resulted in the decrease of the carbon-dioxide emissions significantly.
• The study also discovered that hydrocarbon emission decreased marginally, with a slight rise in the levels of nitrogen oxides.
• The results of the research were submitted to Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin
  Gadkari.
• The Minister guaranteed full support for Automotive Research Association of India in furthering the methanol blending program, repeating the government’s commitment to upsurge the methanol blending to 20 percent by the year 2030.

Amazon-Witzig bid to acquire Birla’s retail store chain gets - CCI node

The Competition Commission of India- CCI, has accepted the contract wherein Samara Capital-backed Witzig Advisory Services & Amazon will get Aditya Birla Retail Ltd, that runs a supermarket store chain “More”.
According to the contract, 99.99% of the equity share capital of Aditya Birla Retail would be assimilated
by Witzig & 49% share buys in Witzig by Amazon’s subsidiary Amazon NV Investment Holdings LLC.
Competition Commission of India
CCI is a statutory body recognized under The Competition Act, 2002.
To avoid practices having an adverse effect on competition.
To encourage & sustain competition in markets.
To guard the interests of customers.
To ensure freedom of business carried on by other members in markets, in India.
To ban anti-competitive agreements.
To ban abuse of dominant position.
To control combinations.
Competition advocacy.
The CCI includes of a Chairperson & 6 members selected by the Central Government.

Females to get 20% jobs in - Military Police

The Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has declared the decision to initiate females in Personnel Below Officer Rank, PBOR, role in Corps of Military Police. The females will be initiated in a graded manner to ultimately encompass 20 percent of total Corps of Military Police. Consequently, the Army chalked out introduction of about 800 females in military police with a yearly intake of 52 personnel every year.
More about Military Police

• Military Police are the forces responsible for the enforcing discipline & the law maintenance, order in the military environment & for military resolutions.
• The roles of the Military Police include policing cantonments & Army institutions, preventing a break of rules & regulations by soldiers, preserving movement of soldiers and logistics during peace & war, handling prisoners of war & extending aid to civil police whenever essential.
• The declaration is seen as a precursor for permitting the females in combat roles.
• Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat had earlier informed that the process to permit females in a combat role, presently, an exclusive domain of males was moving fast & initially, females will be employed for positions in the military police.

PM Narendra Modi launches National Museum of Indian Cinema on - 19th Janunary 2019

PM Narendra Modi initiated the National Museum of Indian Cinema- NMIC, in Mumbai on January 19th, 2019.  The development of the Museum was directed by the Museum Advisory Committee led by Shyam Benegal. An innovation Committee led by Prasoon Joshi delivered an upgrade to the National Museum of Indian Cinema.
National Museum of Indian Cinema

• Constructed at a cost of Rupees 140.61 crores, the museum portrays the journey of more than a century of Indian cinema in a story telling mode with the support of visuals, graphics, artefacts, interactive exhibits & multimedia expositions.
• The Museum is kept in 2 buildings, the New Museum Building & the 19th century historic palace Gulshan Mahal as in the Films Division campus in Mumbai.
• The Gulshan Mahal is an ASI Grade II Heritage Structure which has been reinstated as part of the National Museum of Indian Cinema project. 
• It is divided into nine sections, know as, The Origin of Cinema, Cinema comes to India, Indian Silent Film, Advent of Sound, The Studio Era, The impact of World War-II, Creative Resonance, New Wave & Beyond & Regional Cinema.

Young Scientist Program  by - ISRO

ISRO has declared Young Scientist Program to inculcate & nurture space research fervour in youngsters’ mind. Young Scientist program is part of Indian Space Research Organisation’s hard work to reach out to the student community. On the New Year day, Indian Space Research Organisation had held  Samwad with Students  & a declaration was made about the student outreach program.
More about Young Scientist Program

• It would be a 1-month program.
• Mostly 8th standard passed-out students will be specified lecturers & access to research laboratories.
• 3 students from each of the 29 States & 7 UTs will be carefully chosen for the Young Scientist program.
• The students will be allowed to the take practical experience of building small satellites.
• Indian Space Research Organisation also declared about setting-up of an incubation centre in Tripura,Trichy, Nagpur, Rourkela, & Indore.