Current Affairs 21st May 2019

Current Affairs 21st May 2019 - Important Points

• Government to introduce AI in - MCA 21 portal
• Maharashtra reservoirs hit zero water storage on - 18th May 2019
• Seven Mega Missions announced by - ISRO
• 2 New Formats of Badminton Game launched by - BWF
• Prices of 9 Non-Scheduled Cancer Medicines by 87% reduced by - NPPA
• Who has received JFK Profile in Courage Award 2019? - Nancy Pelosi 
  Current Affairs 21st May 2019 - Details

Government to introduce AI in - MCA 21 portal

The Union Corporate Affairs Ministry devices to announce Artificial Intelligence system in the MCA 21 portal in order to make the submission process easier and to make sure routine enforcement events are done habitually on autopilot basis.
The portal is the electronic pillar for distribution of data to all the related shareholders, including
the regulator, corporates and investors.
All the particles under the companies’ law are forwarded to the ministry through this portal.
Key Highlights

• The Ministry plans to announce Artificial Intelligence in the MCA 21 portal when its version-3 is rolled-out within a year. 
• The main focus of the Ministry will be to rationalise all the forms and trail the principle of a single source of truth so that one is not needed to fill in the known details again, as it will get filled inevitably.
• The Ministry will also goal to intertwine records so that routine enforcement is done 24*7 on automatic basis.
• MCA 21 permits electronic filings of various papers under the Companies Act, 2013 and has fully automated all processes linked to enforcement and compliance monitoring under the Act.

Maharashtra reservoirs hit zero water storage on - 18th May 2019

As per to the information published by the Water Conservation department of Maharashtra, 26 reservoirs in the state hit Zero water storage levels on May 18th, 2019.
The water storage in Aurangabad Division includes Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Parbhani and Osmanabad districts, were reported to be 0.43% in comparison to 23.44% last year.
Key Highlights

• The reservoirs in the Aurangabad division are Paithan, Manjara, Majalgaon, Yeldari, Siddeshwar, Lower Terna, Sina Kolegaon and Lower Dhudna, all of which have Zero storage currently.
• The storage in these reservoirs in May 2018 was 34.95% in Paithan, 21.24% in Manjara, 17.5% in Majalgaon & 52.03% in Lower Terna.
• The other reservoirs that have hit the Zero storage level comprise Kadakpurna and Pentakli in Buldhana, Gosikhurd, Dina and Nand in Nagpur Division, Upper Tapi Hathnur in Jalgaon, Waki, Bham, Bhavli and Punegaon in Nashik Division, Dibhe, Ghod, Pimpalgaon Joge, Wadaj and Temghar in Pune, Bhima, Kundali Tata and  Lonavala Tata in Solapur.
• Tisgaon dam in Nashik and Totladoh in Nagpur also have 0.01 and 0.08% water respectively.
• The water storing in Maharashtra’s 103 large, medium and small dams stood at 11.84%, against 23.73% last year.

Seven Mega Missions announced by - ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation, freshly declared its planned 7 mega missions, including
Chandrayaan-2 which is India’s 2nd lunar exploration mission, and it will be conducted over a period of
forthcoming 10 years. The Indian Space Research Organisation has also organized a roadmap for
subsequent 30 years.
Key Highlights

• Out of 7 missions Chandrayaan-2, will be flight ready by May 2019 and its spacecraft will be released in July 2019. The remaining 6 are classified as:
  1. Defined Missions, which consist XPoSat, to study cosmic radiation in 2020 and Aditya-L1, to the Sun in 2021.
  2. Undefined Missions, which consist missions which are still in development stage namely
  Mangalyaan-2, Lunar Polar Exploration/Chandrayaan-3 in 2024, Venus mission in 2023,
  Exoworlds, exploration outside the solar system in 2028.
  About Aditya-L1
• The “Sun Mission” is planned for year 2021.
• The payloads involved Aditya-L1 will study solar corona. The Sun’s Corona has an impact on upper
  atmosphere which influences climate change on earth. Thus, it will play a crucial role in understanding and  predicting climate change on Earth.
• It will be placed in a halo orbit around Sun-Earth L1, called “liberation orbit”. It is around 1 per cent of distance between Sun and Earth and where gravity of 2 celestial objects equalises. Positioning it in such an orbit will permit spacecraft to circle along with earth and will result in continuously facing the Sun.
  About Xposat
• The X-ray Polarimeter Satellite/Xposat, is Indian Space Research Organisation’s dedicated mission to study polarization. It will be released launch in year 2020. It will be 5 years mission and will study cosmic radiation.
• It will be transporting a payload named “polarimeter instrument in X-rays” made by Raman Research Institute. POLIX will study degree and angle of polarisation of bright X-ray sources in energy range 5-30 keV.

2 New Formats of Badminton Game launched by - BWF

The Badminton World Federation has released 2 new formats of badminton game
namely, ‘AirBadminton’ & ‘Triples’. In disparity to traditional competitive badminton which is an indoor game the Airbadminton is an outdoor game.
Key Highlights
BWF is badminton’s highest governing body. For long outdoor badminton has been one of India’s
favourite fun sports. Much like India, internationally the amateur participation in outdoor games is 40 percent above those undergoing structured training on expensive indoor wooden courts.
Both have a potential of delivering an alternate job to retired badminton professionals.
For people attracted in AirBadminton infrastructure won’t be an interruption as it can be played in
different environments including on sands in beaches, grass in parks and even on street lanes.
About AirBadminton
It was internationally released at Guangzhou in China by BWF. It has new dimensions of court and an
innovative outdoor shuttlecock called AirShuttle.
AirBadminton is outlined to be played on hard, grass and sand surfaces like that in playgrounds, gardens, parks, streets, and beaches. The purpose is that AirShuttle could be utilised in winds up to 12 km/h.
About Triples
In Triples format, badminton match will be between a team of total 3 players. Each team will mandatory
have minimum 1 female athlete. Also, players are not permissible to hit returns successively.

Who has received JFK Profile in Courage Award 2019? - Nancy Pelosi 

The United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was bestowed with 2019 John F
Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
Key Highlights
Pelosi has worked in House of Representatives since 1987. She was known for putting national interest
above her party’s interest, for her exertions to pass former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care
law and also for serving Democrats reclaim control of United States House during 2018 elections.
The award was given at John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.
Earlier, award was given to former Presidents Barack Obama, Gerald Ford and prominent lawmakers Rep.
John Lewis and late Sen. John McCain.

About John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award

It is a yearly award that was recognised in 1989 by members of President J.F. Kennedy’s family. It
pursues to honour J.F. Kennedy and to identify and celebrate quality of political courage which he admired most.
The award identifies a public official at local/federal/state level whose actions speaks of qualities of
politically courageous leadership. It is presented in spirit of ‘Profiles in Courage’, which was President
Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

Prices of 9 Non-Scheduled Cancer Medicines by 87% reduced by - NPPA

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has condensed the prices of Nine non-scheduled cancer
medicines by up to 87 percent. This decision is in prolongation of nodal agency’s efforts to decrease
medicine prices.
Key Facts

• In February 2019, the government had capped approximated 42 cancer medicines at 30 percent.
• This new anti-cancer non-scheduled medicine list is in continuance of efforts to control profiteering on these vital medicines and to make cure of cancer affordable for patients and for their families.
• Above 390 brands and about 72 formulations have decreased costs after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority order. This price reduction is supposed to profit above 22 lakh cancer patients in India & will result in yearly savings of about Rupees 800 crore to patients.
• Also, MRP of 500mg chemotherapy injection ‘pemetrexed’ which is utilised to treat lung cancer, has been slashed from Rupees 22000 to Rupee 2800.
• Maximum Retail Price of 150mg Erlotinib tablets will now cost Rupees 2400 instead of Rupees 8800.
• National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has also sanctioned a formula which bans trade margin of selling price by up to 30 percent.