Changing the way of learning Daily Current Affairs Capsule 19 th January 2019 1. Raksha Mantri Dedicates Diffo Bridge in Arunachal to The Nation Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the 426.60 metre long Pre Stressed Concrete Box Girder type bridge over Diffo river on Roing-Koron-Paya road in Arunachal Pradesh.
Dedicating the bridge to the nation, the Raksha Mantri praised the commendable work being done by Project Udayak, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in this region. This prestigious bridge which would provide uninterrupted access between Dibang valley and Lohit valley region of Eastern Arunachal Pradesh and an all-weather Road to the troops deployed on the China Border. 2. Tourism Minister co-chairs the 7th ASEAN-India Tourism Ministers meeting at Ha Long City, Viet Nam The Union Minister for Tourism, Shri. K. J. Alphons attended the Seventh Meeting of Tourism Ministers of ASEAN and India held in Ha Long City, Viet Nam. Shri. K J Alphons co-chaired the Tourism Ministers meeting with the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Viet Nam, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thien. As a follow up to the Summit, the Ministers launched the ASEAN-India Tourism Cooperation Year 2019, and looked forward to enhancing cooperation with a view to increasing two-way tourist visits and promoting greater people-to-people exchanges between ASEAN and India. Earlier, during the ASEAN - India Commemorative Summit in January 2018, the Prime Minister of India had proposed designating the year 2019 as ASEAN-India Tourism Year. 3. Palestine takes over chairmanship of G77
Palestine has taken over the chairmanship of G77 from Egypt. Palestine will be formally elected chair at the annual G77 ministerial meeting, scheduled in mid-september, 2019. G77 is a coalition of 134 developing nations (including China) at the United Nations. G77 was formed on 15 June 1964 by the Joint Declaration of the Seventy-Seven Countries issued at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. The group was credited with a common stance against apartheid and for supporting global disarmament. 4. Govt approves setting up of three new naval air squadrons The Government has approved setting up of three new naval air squadrons in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu as part of efforts to bolster the Indian Navy's overall strength. Government has also sanctioned recruitment of manpower for manning additional aircraft in existing Dornier surveillance squadrons in Kerala and Andaman Islands.
A contract for procurement of 12 Dornier aircraft was signed with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited two years back and their delivery is commencing soon. The new Dornier 228 maritime surveillance aircraft to be delivered to the Navy are fitted with improved 'state of the art' sensors and equipment which includes glass cockpit, advanced surveillance radar, optical sensors and networking features. 5. IAF AN-32 lands in Pakyong Airport of Sikkim For the first time, Antonov-32 AN-32 transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out a successful landing at Sikkim s Pakyong, one of the highest airfields in the country. Pakyong Airport is a Greenfield airport near Gangtok, the capital of the state of Sikkim. It is the first greenfield airport to be constructed in in the Northeastern Region of India. The airport is strategically important and the Indian Air Force is also building on the ability to land certain military aircraft at the Pakyong Airport. Prior to the inauguration of the Pakyong Airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24th September 2018, Sikkim was the sole state in India without a functional airport and Sikkim was dependent on the airport at Bagdogra in the neighbouring state of West Bengal, and Paro Airport in Bhutan. 6. BHEL and LIBCOIN to Build India s First Lithium Ion Giga Factory Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Libcoin are in dialogue to form a world class consortium to initially build 1GWh lithium ion battery plant in India. Its capacity will be scaled up to 30GWh.
This project will bring energy independence by replacing oil imports with abundant renewable. This project also includes Made by India, for India. Various Indian cities including Delhi have been struggling to cut down their pollution level for last several years and electric transportation has been considered as one of the viable approaches to cut down emission. The number of electric cars in the world already hit million-mark last year and the International Energy Agency has projected almost 140 million electric cars globally by 2030, if countries meet Paris climate accord targets, in which India has already committed to actively participate. 7. Dhoni's unbeaten 87 guides India to a historic ODI series win in Australia Mahendra Singh Dhoni struck an unbeaten 87 to guide India to a historic ODI bilateral series win against Australia. Visitors beat the hosts by seven wickets in the decisive third match in Melbourne. Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav who made 61, shared an unbeaten 121-run stand for the fourth wicket. India overhauled the tricky 231-run target on a slow wicket with four balls to spare. India made 234 runs. Dhoni was declared Man of the Series and Chahal Man of the Match. Before this, India had become first team from the sub-continent to win a Test series. It is the first time India remained unbeaten on Australian soil in all three formats.