Current Affairs 25th July 2019

Current Affairs 25th July 2019 - Important Points

• Restriction on private cryptocurrencies recommended by - Inter-ministerial committee
• Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed by -  Lok Sabha
• Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft successfully launched by - GSLV MkIII-M1
• Carnatic vocalist S.Sowmya won - Sangita Kalanidhi Award
• 8 more air routes added under - UDAN Scheme

Current Affairs 25th July 2019 - Details

Restriction on private cryptocurrencies recommended by - Inter-ministerial committee

An Inter-ministerial panel, which was formed by government on matters related to the cryptocurrencies in India, has given its commendations. This high-level panel has recommended restricting all private crypto-currencies in India.

This inter-ministerial also recommends a fine of about Rupees 25 crore and imprisonment of 10 years for anyone dealing in them. Also, this panel has recommended to restriction the blockchain system in selected areas of the nation.

Important Highlights

• The committee recommends that all private crypto-currencies, except any crypto-currency which may be released by the government, be restricted in India.
• Crypto-currencies released by foreign private enterprises should be completely restricted in India.
• Committee also suggested that exchanges, investors, traders and other financial intermediaries should be covered under this.
• It also suggested that dealing in crypto-currency should be made a criminal offence.
• Punishment for using Cyrptocurrency in India
• A draft law given by the committee says that any direct/indirect usage of crypto-currency will be punishable offence in India.
• Committee proposed a fine/imprisonment which shall not be less than 1 year but which may extend up to 10 years.
• In case of repeated offence, it shall be punishable with imprisonment of minimum 5 years that could extend to 10 years with a fine.
• The fine could be 3 times the loss/harm caused by the person or 3 times the gain made by a person / up to Rupees 25 crore.

Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 passed by -  Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha  has approved Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 amongst strong protestation from Opposition with 218 members voting in its favour and 79 against it.
The bill pursues to modify certain provisions of landmark transparency law- Right to Information Act, 2005 so as to empower central government on determining terms of Chief Information Commissioner and Information Commissioners at both central and state levels, as well as have a say on salaries, grants and other terms and conditions of service.
Important Features of Amendment Bill

• Term and Conditions of Service includes Bill permits Central government to inform term of office for CIC and Information Commissioners while according to Right to Information Act, 2005, ChiefInformation Commissioner at the central level and Information Commissioners at state level will hold office for a term of five years.
  Quantum of Salary
• Bill proposes that salaries, stipends, and other terms and conditions of service of Chief Information
  Commissioner and Information Commissioners will be strong-minded by central government.
• While according to Right to Information Act the salary of Chief Information Commissioner and Information  Commissioners will be equivalent to the salary paid to the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners respectively.
  Deductions in Salary
• According to Right to Information Act, 2005 at time of the appointment of Chief Information
  Commissioner and Information Commissioners, if they are receiving pension/any other retirement
  benefits for earlier government service, their salaries will be compact by an amount equal to
  pension.
• The Right to Information (Amendment) Bill, 2019 eliminates these provisions.

Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft successfully launched by - GSLV MkIII-M1

Chandrayaan-2, India’s 2nd moon mission (after Chandrayaan-1, 2008) was successfully launched by GSLV-MkIII-M1 from Second Launch Pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota in andhra Pradesh. This successful launch comes exactly a week after Missions’ liftoff was aborted due to a technical snag.
More about Chandrayaan-2

• Besides being India’s 2nd mission to the moon it is 1st-ever mission to be spearheaded by two women.
• To demonstrate important technologies for end-to-end lunar mission capability, including soft-landing and roving on lunar surface.
• It will also carry detailed study of moon’s topography and atmosphere leading to a better understanding of Moon.
• It seeks to improve understanding of moon which could lead to discoveries that will benefit India and humanity as a whole.
• The rover will land on unexplored lunar South Pole of Moon on 7 September 2019, to carry out scientific experiments. After touchdown the rover will carry out experiments for 14 Earth days (equalling 1 Lunar Day).
  Components
  It comprises a fully indigenous-
  1. Orbiter
  2. Lander- Vikram. It is named after father of Indian space research programme Dr Vikram A Sarabhai.
  It will be landed in a high plain between 2 craters at a latitude of about 70 degrees South of moon.
  3. Rover- Pragyan. Pragyan in Sanskrit means wisdom. It is 6-wheeled robotic vehicle, weighing 27-
  kg. It will set out on its job of collecting information on lunar surface
  Rover Pragyan is housed inside Vikram lander i.e. Vikram will be carrying the rover Pragyan.
  Payload: Mission carries a total of 13 payloads. It includes 3 from Europe, 2 from United States and
  1 Bulgaria. A Laser Retroreflector Array (LRA) of NASA (US space agency) is among the
  payloads. LRA is aimed at understanding dynamics of Earths’ moon system and deriving clues on
  Lunar interior.
  Significance
  Besides making India 1st nation in world to land a rover on unchartered Lunar South Pole, Chandrayaan-2 will also make India 4th nation after Russia, United States and China to pull off a soft landing on moon.

Carnatic vocalist S.Sowmya won - Sangita Kalanidhi Award

Noted Carnatic vocalist S. Sowmya won the 2019 Sangita Kalanidhi award of Music Academy. She will preside over 93rd annual conference of Academy to be organised between 12th December 2019 and 1st January 2020. She along with other awardees will be conferred with the awards during the Sadas of Madras Music Academy on 1 January 2020.
Other Awards
Other 2019 Award conferred by Madras Music Academy-
Sangita Kala Acharya Awards: Vocalists Seetha Narayanan and M.S. Sheela.
TTK Awards: Nagaswaram player Vyasarpadi Kothandaraman and vocalist Rajkumar Bharathi

Musicologist Award: Aarti N. Rao 

Nritya Kalanidhi Award (for Dance): Priyadarshini Govind.
More about Sangita Kalanidhi Award

• It is an annual award presented by Madras Music Academy (MMA). MMA plays an important role
  in promoting Carnatic Music. Sangita Kalanidhi Award came into existence in 1942 and prior to that, a senior musician or expert was invited to preside over Music Academy’s annual conference.
• Sangita Kalanidhi Award is considered as the highest accolade in field of Carnatic music.
• It comprises of  gold medal and a birudu patra (citation) and is conferred upon one person who has
  contributed to the field of Carnatic music.
• Since 2005, Sangita Kalanidhi also receives MS Subbulakshmi Award instituted by The Hindu
  (newspaper publication).
  More about S. Sowmya
• She is youngest musician to receive coveted award in recent times after Sanjay Subramaniam.
• She is a high-calibre vocalist is known for her intellectual approach towards Carnatic music.
• She is a student of renowned Dr. S. Ramanathan and T. Mukta.
• She equally excelled in her academic pursuit and obtained a doctorate from Madras University.

Lt Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane appointed next Vice Chief of Indian Army

In a major rejig in Indian Army, Eastern Army Commander Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane has been appointed as next vice-chief of armed force. He will succeed Lt Gen D Anbu who is set to retire on 31st August 2019.
Important Highlights

• Lt Gen M M Naravane will be in contention for Chief of Indian Army post as he will be the senior-
  most commander when incumbent Gen Bipin Rawat retires on 31 December 2019.
• Lt Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane: In his 37 years of service, he has served in numerous command and staff appointments in peace, field and highly active counter insurgency environments.
• He has also commanded Rashtriya Rifles Battalion in Jammu and Kashmir and an Infantry Brigade on eastern front.
  Other Important Appointment
• Director General of Military Operations Lt Gen Anil Chauhan will be new General Officer
  Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Command
•  Lt Gen AS Kler has been appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of South-Western
  Command. He will succeed Lt Gen Cherish Matheson who retires on 31 August 2019.
•  Lt Gen I S Ghuman has been appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Command.
• He will be succeeding Lt Gen Abhay Krishna.
•  Lt Gen RP Singh has been appointed head of Western Command. He will be succeeding Lt Gen
  Surinder Singh who is currently serving as commander of the 21 Strike Corps is set to retire from
  service on 31 July 2019.

8 more air routes added under - UDAN Scheme

Civil Aviation Ministry  announced addition of 8 more air routes under UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik), the regional air connectivity scheme. These air routes have become functional and started operations.
Important Highlights

• Out of 8 routes added 2 are in northeast region.
• New 8 Routes added are: Mysore-Goa, Goa-Mysore, Mysore-Hyderabad, Hyderabad-Mysore,
  Mysore-Kochi, Kochi-Mysore, Kolkata-Shillong, and Shillong-Kolkata. Flights connecting Kolkata and Shillong will be served by IndiGo while others will be operated by Alliance Air.
• With the addition of 8 new routes the total UDAN routes that are now operational in nation has
  increased to 194.
• Up till now the Civil Aviation Ministry has awarded a total of 705 routes under the UDAN scheme
  More about UDAN
• UDAN or Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik is a regional connectivity scheme (RCS). It was scheme on
  21st October 2016 to stimulate regional air connectivity and make air travel affordable to masses.
• It aims to make flying affordable besides connecting underserved and unserved airports across
  India.
• Besides seeking boost to regional air connectivity it provides various incentives to airlines.
• India ranks as world’s 3rd-largest domestic aviation market. To tap this potential government has
  proposed to hike foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in domestic air carriers from existing 49%.