Current Affairs 13th May 2019

Current Affairs 13th May 2019 - Important Points

• India to host WTO Ministerial Meeting of Developing Nations on - 13th May 2019
• Renowned Tamil novelist Thopil Mohammed Meeran dies aged - 74 Years
• World’s 1st Women’s Cricket Magazine CRICZONE’ published in - India
• New Viper species Discovered in - Arunachal Pradesh
• IAF intercepted trespassing Georgian An-12 Aircraft pushed to land in - Jaipur

Current Affairs 13th May 2019 - Details

India to host WTO Ministerial Meeting of Developing Nations on - 13th May 2019

India will be hosting a World Trade Organisation Ministerial meeting of developing nations in New Delhi on 13th-14th May 2019. The objective is to discuss various challenges being faced by multilateral rules- based trading system.
Key Highlights of Meeting

• 6 Least Developed Nations, namely Benin, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Chad, Uganda, Malawi participated in it.
• 16 developing nations, namely Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt,
  Guyana, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Guatemala, Nigeria, Oman, China, Saudi Arabia, Barbados also
  participated in this meeting.
• Director-General of WTO, Roberto Azevêdo headed the meeting.
• The 2 days meeting will be an interface between participants in order to provide an opportunity to
  Ministers to discuss various issues and the way forward.
  Purpose
  The meeting is a determination to bring developing nations and Least Developed Nations together on single platform and to share common issues on various matters affecting World Trade Organisation and also working together in addressing these concerns.
  Significance
  The meeting is being organised at a time when multilateral rules based-trading system is facing serious challenges. In recent times, there has been an upsurge in unilateral measures and counter measures by member nations, further heading to deadlock in important areas of negotiations and stand-off in Appellate Body. This is bullying the very existence of Dispute Settlement Mechanism of World Trade Organisation & impacting World Trade Organisations position as an effective multilateral group. This present scenario has given rise to demands from various quarters to reform the World Trade Organisation.

World’s 1st Women’s Cricket Magazine CRICZONE’ published in - India

The opening edition of world’s 1st exclusive women’s cricket magazine termed as “Criczone” was
published in India.
More about Criczone

• It is the world 1st magazine which features only women cricketers.
• In its 1st edition published in India, the magazine features Indian Women’s Cricket team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana as cover story.
• It is a single stop solution, entirely dedicated to delivering updates, articles, news, interviews etc. from the world of women’s cricket.
• It was published on the side-lines of the induction of forthcoming women’s T20 challenge.
  The occasion was witnessed by top international cricketers including Harmanpreet Kaur, Smiriti Mandhana, Mithali Raj and also by abroad players including Sophie Devine and Danielle Wyatt. Publisher of magazine is Yash Lahoti.
• The Criczone stories will look forward to empower young ambitious women cricketers to take the sport as a profession and able to make sustainable living.

Renowned Tamil novelist Thopil Mohammed Meeran dies aged - 74 Years

The famous Tamil writer and Sahitya Akademi awardee Thopil Mohammed Meeran decreased at the age of 74.
About Thoppil Mohamed Meeran

• In his lifetime he got 8 literary awards which comprises Sahitya Akademi Award and Tamil Nadu Kalai Ilakkiya Perumantram Award.
• He secured the admired Sahitya Akademi Award in 1997, for his novel Saaivu Naarkkaali- The Reclining Chair, published in year 1995.
• Other Novels Authored include Thurobjectiveugam, Anju Vannam Theru, Oru Kadalora Graamaththin Kathai, and Koonan Thoppu.
• His Short Story Collections & widespread translation work, provided him a projecting place in literary world. Some of his short story collections comprises Thangarasu, Oru Maamaramum Konjam Paravaigalum, Anbukku Muthumai Illai, Oru Kutti Theevin Varippadam, Ananthasayanam Colony, and  Thoppil Mohamed Meeran Kathaigal.
• Due to his perfection over both Malayalam and Tamil, he utilised both languages in his novels naturally.
• This became the speciality of all his literary works that means his novels brilliantly narrated the
  fisherfolk’s life with details in both Tamil and Malayalam.

New Viper species Discovered in - Arunachal Pradesh

A team of scholar specialized in study of reptiles and amphibians, have found a more advanced new species of reddish-brown pit viper from Arunachal Pradesh. Their discovery was published in Russian Journal of Herpetology.
About the Viper

• Scientific Name of revealed Arunachal pit viper is Trimeresurus arunachalensis. This discovery of new species makes Arunachal Pradesh only Indian state to have a pit viper termed after it.
• The scholar team from Pune-based Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, discovered the snake species while directing biodiversity surveys in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary, in in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The viper found is never labeled before therefore this single known specimen of this species makes it presently the rarest pit viper in the world.
• It is a reddish-brown pit viper species, which is a venomous snake. It has an exceptional heat-sensing system.

IAF intercepted trespassing Georgian An-12 Aircraft pushed to land in - Jaipur

The Indian Air Force captured an unknown Georgian Antonov-12, a heavy cargo aircraft invading into
Indian sovereign territory. It was pushed to land in Jaipur for essential investigation.
Key Highlights

• The Sukhoi aircraft of Indian Air Force, captured an unknown aircraft entering Indian Air Space in North Gujarat Sector with its IFF- which is a radar-based identification system, utilised within military and civil air traffic control interrogation systems for detecting and identifying friendly aircrafts.
• Due to present geopolitical situation with reference to the 14th February Pulwama terror attack in India by Pakistan and the Balakot Military strike conducted by India on Pakistan, the Air Traffic Services routes in the area were closed and aircraft did not shadow approved Air Traffic Services route.  
• It tried to enter Indian Air Space from an impulsive point, and was also not responding to Radio calls from Indian controlling agencies.
• This directed to Indian Air Force’s fighter aircraft to take-off instantly for action and focused  towards unknown aircraft for investigation.
• On visual contact, the alleged aircraft flying at 27000 feet was recognized as Georgian Antonov-12 which is a heavy cargo aircraft.
• Firstly, it neither responded on International distress frequency nor to visual signals during interference but, when challenged, the aircraft responded and replied that it was a non-scheduled An-12 aircraft that flew from Tbilisi, Georgia and was on its way to New Delhi via Karachi.
  Encounter 
  The aircraft was followed for the route violation and enforced to land in Jaipur for security concern and to undertake essential investigation.