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Optimized Current Affairs Date- 19 August 2019

NEW RIGHTS FOR SAUDI WOMEN
Women in Saudi Arabia scored a significant victory earlier this month, after they
were allowed to travel abroad without obtaining permission from a male guardian,
apply for passports, and register their marriages and divorces.
New rules allow any person 21 and older to travel abroad without prior consent and any
citizen to apply for a Saudi passport on their own.+Significance: In highly conservative
Saudi Arabia, these steps, deemed natural almost everywhere else in the world,
constitute key social reforms.+changes are a potential game-changer for Saudi
women’s rights in the kingdom.+the male guardian was a woman’s own son granting
her the necessary travel permissions.
2 NEW SPECIES OF FRESHWATER FISH FOUND
Scientists of the Zoological Survey of India have discovered two new species of
freshwater fish from the north-eastern and northern parts of the country.
Key facts: Glyptothorax gopii is a new species of catfish+was found in Mizoram’s
Kaladan river+dark brown on its dorsal surface, and its ventral surface is of a yellowish-
light brown. Garra simbalbaraensiswas found in Himachal Pradesh’s Simbalbara river. It
has a yellowish-grey colour fading ventrally.Both fish, measuring less than seven
centimetres, are hill stream fauna and are equipped with special morphological features
to suit rapid water flow.
NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS
National Sports Awards 2019 have been announced.
Key facts: National Sports Awards are given every year to recognize and reward
excellence in sports.Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given for the spectacular and
most outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of
four year.Arjuna Award is given for consistency outstanding performance for four
years.Dronacharya Award for coaches for producing medal winners at prestigious
International sports events.Dhyan Chand Award for life time contribution to sports
development.Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar is given to the corporate entities
(both in private and public sector) and individuals who have played a visible role in the
area of sports promotion and development.MAKA Trophy:Overall top performing
university in inter-university tournaments is given Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA)
Trophy.
ODISHA TO SET UP MARITIME BOARD
A proposal for establishment of the Odisha Maritime Board for administration,
control and management of non-major ports and non-nationalised inland
waterways was recently approved by the State Cabinet.
Functions: will function as a single window facilitator for the overall maritime
development of the State.+will provide policy, guidelines and directions for the
integrated development of ports and inland water transport keeping in view of the
country’s security and defence related concerns.Need: Odisha is endowed with a vast
coastline of 480 km, having rich, unique and natural port locations and perennial rivers.
PUBLICITY RATH

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It is a vehicle to be used for creating awareness about Bihar State government’s

water resources schemes and steps to save and conserve water.
Will create awareness on the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali (water-life-greenery) campaign via the
audio-visual medium.+will also make people aware of the fact that groundwater is the
only source of water in the event of less rainfall and people will have to go for rainwater
harvesting to conserve water.
DELIMITATION
Since the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir state into the UTs of J&K and
Ladakh, delimitation of their electoral constituencies has been inevitable.
Delimitation redrawing boundaries of Lok Sabha and state Assembly seats to represent
changes in population+main objective:To provide equal representation to equal
segments of a population; fair division of geographical areas+Under Article
82,Parliament enacts a Delimitation Act after every Census.+Delimitation
Commission:Union government sets up an independent Delimitation Commission
made up of a retired Supreme Court judge, the Chief Election Commissioner and the
respective State Election Commissioners+its orders are final & cannot be questioned
before any court+set up four times— 1952, 1963, 1973 and 2002+ no delimitation after
the 1981 and 1991 Censuses.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS (VIDHAN PARISHADS)
The Madhya Pradesh government has indicated that it plans to initiate steps
towards creation of a Legislative Council. The ruling Congress is working on a
resolution that will be presented in the next Assembly session.
Article 168 & 169 provides for bi-cameral legislatures in States.+Legislative Council is
Upper House of State Legislature+permanent House i.e. not subject to
dissolution+Under Article 169, Union Parliament has the power to create or abolish the
Legislative Council on the basis of resolutions adopted by special majority in the
Assembly of the concerned State.+maximum strength:one-third of strength of the
Legislative Assembly of that State & not less than 40.+Currently, six states have
Legislative Councils+Election of Council Members:under the system of proportional
representation by means of the single transferable vote (Article 171).+One-third of the
MLCs elected by the state’s MLAs,one-third by special electorate comprising sitting
members of municipalities and district boards, 1/12th by teachers ,1/12th by registered
graduates & remaining by the Governor from people having special knowledge and
experience in the field of Art, Science, Literature, Social Science and cooperative
movement +Criteria for becoming a member:Minimum age limit-30 years+Tenure:6
years+one third members retire every second year.+legislative power of the Councils is
limited.+MLCs cannot vote in elections for the President and Vice President.
OKJOKULL GLACIER
In Iceland, the loss of Okjokull glacier was commemorated by people with a
plaque
Okjokull glacier was officially declared dead in 2014 at the age of 700 by the Icelandic
Meteorological Office when it was no longer thick enough to move+Okjokull is the first
Icelandic glacier to lose its status as glacier+The plaque is also labelled "415 ppm
CO2", referring to the record level of carbon dioxide measured in the atmosphere last
May+Iceland loses about 11 billion tonnes of ice per year

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PARKER SOLAR PROBE

On August 12, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe completed a year in service+part of
NASA’s “Living With a Star” programme that explores different aspects of the
Sun-Earth system.
Gather information about the Sun’s atmosphere+Main objective:to investigate extreme
heating in the sun's outermost layer, known as the corona.+It is the closest a human-
made object has ever gone to the Sun.
JUNO
According to analysis of data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft, Jupiter may
have been smacked head-on by an embryonic planet 10 times Earth's mass not
long after being formed, which had lasting effects on the Jovian core
Jupiter,covered in thick red, brown, yellow and white clouds, boasts a diameter of about
89,000 miles (1,43,000 km)+Interior models indicated-Jupiter has a large "diluted" core
representing about 5 to 15 % of the planet's mass comprised rocky and icy material
unexpectedly mixed with light elements like hydrogen and helium+Juno launched in
2011 as part of the New Frontiers program+Juno is the second spacecraft to orbit
Jupiter, after the nuclear powered Galileo orbiter, which orbited from 1995 to 2003+Juno
is powered by solar arrays.
INTERPLANETARY SHOCK
Recently, NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission made the first high-
resolution measurements of an interplanetary shock.
Interplanetary shocks are a type of collisionless shock — ones where particles transfer
energy through electromagnetic fields instead of directly bouncing into one
another.+These shocks, made of particles and electromagnetic waves, are launched by
the Sun, which continually releases streams of charged particles called the solar
wind.+These collisionless shocks are found in supernovae, black holes and distant
stars+NASA launched the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission in 2015+MMS
consists of 4 identical spacecraft that orbit around Earth to study ‘Magnetic
reconnection’+Magnetic reconnection is a phenomenon unique to plasma, that is, the
mix of positively and negatively charged particles that make up the stars, fill space and
account for an estimated 99% of the observable universe.
CARBON DOTS/PHOTO-DYNAMIC THERAPY
Researchers in the UK have developed a new technique that could make light-
based cancer treatment more effective and safer for patients while reducing its
cost
Light-based or photo-dynamic therapy is already a clinically-approved treatment, which
uses drugs that only work when exposed to light to destroy cancer cells+many of these
drugs are frequently toxic even without light, causing many side effects in patients and
leading to treatment failure+Now,to improve it is using small carbon dots as a way to get
the drug to the tumour.+Carbon dots are fluorescent nanoparticles with very little toxicity
REGN-EB3; mAb114
Clinical trials conducted amid an Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC) have identified two new drugs that can dramatically cut mortality
from the disease
drug mAb114 developed using antibodies harvested from survivors of Ebola+REGN-
EB3 comes from antibodies generated within mice infected with the disease+prompt

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use of REGN-EB3 cuts mortality rates to 29% and mAb114 cuts mortality rate to 34%.
+Ebola is a viral hemorrhagic fever that kills up to 90% of those it infects
WORLD HONEY BEE DAY
World honey bee day was observed on August 17, 2019.
Date of observance+Third Saturday in August.+started by beekeepers in the USA in
2009+Objective:To build community awareness of the bee industry, through education
and promotion+North East Region of India and Maharashtra are the key areas for
natural honey production.+Export (2018-19):61,333 MT worth of Rs. 732 Crore in 2018-
19+Major Export Destinations were USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Qatar.
Institutions set up by the government:Central Bee Research & Training Institute at
Pune established in 1962 by Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC)+Agricultural
Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) under Ministry of Commerce and
Industry
BUNKER MUSEUM
President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the underground 'Bunker Museum' at the
Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao had discovered the bunker last year, along
with two identical cannons, atop the foothills of Raj Bhavan,situated at the tip of south
Mumbai+bunker resembles a fort made up of 13 rooms accessed by passing through a
20-foot-tall gate.+created in the 19th century to fire cannons at approaching enemy
ships+museum will be opened for the general public with an online booking facility later
this year.
GREEN CARD REGULATIONS
The US government announced that it would make green card regulations more
stringent, a move that will impact applicants from around the world, including
from India.
According to the ‘2017 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics’, by the US Department of
Homeland Security, India-born immigrants in the US got the fourth highest number of
green cards in 2017.Indians were behind applicants from Mexico, China, and Cuba in
terms of number of green cards (lawful permanent resident status) obtained in 2017.In
2017, 60,394 persons born in India obtained permanent resident status. +a third
(20,549) were immediate relatives of US citizens, a fourth (14,962) were family
sponsored, and over a third (23,569) were employed in the US.The remainder were
given this status under the Diversity Immigrant Visa, refugee, asylee and other
categories.
GALLANTRY AWARDS
President of India approved 132 Gallantry Awards and other decorations to
Personnel of Armed and Paramilitary Forces. He also approved 8 Tatrakshak
medals to Indian Coast Guard Personnel.
Awards to Armed Forces Personnel and members of Paramilitary Forces: include
two Kirti Chakras, one Vir Chakra, 14 Shaurya Chakras, eight Bar to Sena Medals
(Gallantry), 90 Sena Medals (Gallantry), five Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry), seven Vayu
Sena Medals (Gallantry) and five Yudh Seva Medals.Background: Three gallantry
awards namely Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir Chakra and Vir Chakra were instituted by
the Government of India on 26th January, 1950.+other three gallantry awards i.e. the
Ashoka Chakra Class-I, the Ashoka Chakra Class-II and the Ashoka Chakra Class-III

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were instituted in 1952.+were renamed as Ashoka Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya
Chakra respectively in 1967.+Announcement: These gallantry awards are announced
twice in a year - first on the occasion of the Republic Day and then on the occasion of
the Independence Day.Order of precedence: Order of precedence of these awards is
the Param Vir Chakra, the Ashoka Chakra, the Mahavir Chakra, the Kirti Chakra, the Vir
Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra.Tatrakshak Medals: awarded one President's
Tatrakshak Medal (Distinguished Service), five Tatrakshak Medals (Gallantry) and two
Tatrakshak Medal (Meritorious Service) to the following Indian Coast Guard personnel
for their act of conspicuous gallantry and distinguished/meritorious service.+being given
to the personnel of Indian Coast Guard on Republic Day and Independence Day every
year, since January 26, 1990 onwards. Abhinandan Varthaman? Commander
Abhinandan Varthaman has been awarded Vir Chakra for shooting down a Pakistani F-
16 combat jet on February 27 – a day after the Balakot operation – before he was shot
down and captured on the other side of Line of Control+IAF’s first Vir Chakra since the
Kargil war.
MICROPLASTICS IN THE ARCTIC
According to a new study published in Science Advances, microplastic particles
have been detected in the Arctic and the Alps, carried by the wind and later
washed out in the snow.
conducted at Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute and Switzerland’s Institute for Snow
and Avalanche Research+plankton, also get trapped in the ice. Some plankton ingest
the plastic bits that goes in ocean food chain+Microplastic particles are defined as
shreds less than five millimeters in length.
WHAT IS AN INVERTED YIELD CURVE?
Factor particularly spooking the markets in recent days has been the “inversion
of the yield curve” in the United States.
Yield curve is a graph showing the relationship between interest rates earned on
lending money for different durations.Normally, someone who lent to the government or
a corporation for one year (by buying a one-year government or corporate bond) would
expect to get a lower interest rate than someone who lent for five or ten years, making
the yield curve upward-sloping.In the US in recent days the ten-year bond rate has
fallen to the point at which the ten-year rate is below the two-year rate – so the yield
curve is inverted.
GREENLAND MELTING
NASA scientists are crisscrossing Greenland on a mission to track melting ice.
Greenland has been melting faster in the last decade and this summer, it has
seen two of the biggest melts on record since 2012.
If much damage is from the water higher potential for Greenland to melt more quickly
than thought.+Water brings more heat to something frozen faster than air does. That's
because 90% of the heat energy from climate change goes into the oceans & that
means seas rising faster and coastal communities being inundated more.

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