Daily Current Affairs, 12th January 2019

1) National Youth Day: 12 January

•The National Youth Day is celebrated across the country on 12th January. NYD 2019 is the  156th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

•Known for his pragmatic approach towards spirituality, inter-faith harmony and modernization, Vivekananda is often considered an inspiration for India’s youth. Since 1985, his birth anniversary has been celebrated as National Youth Day.Vivekananda died at the young age of 39, attaining Mahasamadhi in 1902.

2) India’s 1st Manned Mission To Space By December 2021: ISRO

•ISRO Chairman Dr. K Sivan has announced that the organization is well prepared to meet the targets of launching Gaganyaan manned mission to outer space by December 2021. Under Gaganyaan project, India is planning to send three astronauts to outer space for seven days and bring them back.

•332 launches are planned this year. Important among them are Chandrayaaan -2 mission to the moon in mid-April. GSAT-20 Satellite for high bandwidth connectivity to be launched in September-October.

3) MEA Sushma Swaraj On 2 Day Visit To Uzbekistan

•External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj embarked on a two-day visit to Uzbekistan. Mrs. Swaraj will be in Samarkand for the First India-Central Asia Dialogue which she will co-chair with Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov. 

•The Foreign Minister of Afghanistan will participate in the Dialogue as a special invitee for the session dedicated to connectivity issues in the region.  

4) 6 States Sign Agreement For Renukaji Multipurpose Dam Project

•An agreement for Renukaji Dam Multipurpose Project was signed in New Delhi among the States of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand in the presence of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Minister Nitin Gadkari. All the six Chief Ministers were present on the occasion.

•Under the agreement, three storage projects are proposed to be constructed on the river Yamuna and two of its tributaries – Tons and Giri in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

•In addition to this, a concession agreement was also signed for Namami Gange projects for the city of Prayagraj under Hybrid Annuity Mode and One City One Operator Concept. 

5) 4th Meeting of CTDP Held In New Delhi

•Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, chaired the 4th meeting of the Council for Trade Development and Promotion (CTDP) in New Delhi. 

•Suresh Prabhu informed in the meeting that the Government of India has formulated an Agricultural Export Policy for the first time with a focused plan to boost India’s agricultural exports to USD 60 billion by 2022. 

6) Su Tseng-chang Appointed PM of Taiwan

•Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has appointed Su Tseng-chang as Prime Minister, during a Cabinet reshuffle following the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s heavy losses in local elections. 

•Su is a former premier appointed in 2006 by then-President Chen Shui-bian and was a chairman of Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party for two terms. His appointment follows the widely-expected resignation of William Lai, the second premier to quit since Tsai took office in 2016. 

7) GST Registration Threshold Limit Increased To Rs 40 Lakh

•The 32nd Meeting of GST Council was concluded in New Delhi. The Limit of annual turnover for composition scheme increased to 1.5 crore rupees effective from April 1, 2019. The Council has decided to increase the GST registration threshold limit to 40 lakh rupees from 20 lakh. 

•The Taxpayers who are giving Services of up to Rs 50 lacs per annum will be taxed under 6% under Composition Scheme. The council has decided to simplify the compliance under the composition scheme.

8) Adi Godrej Conferred ICSI Lifetime Award

•Industrialist and Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej was conferred the ICSIs Lifetime Achievement Award for ‘Translating Excellence in Corporate Governance into Reality’. 

•The awards were instituted by The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI),which is celebrating its golden jubilee. The 18th ICSI National Awards for Excellence in Corporate Governance were bagged jointly by Cipla Ltd and Dabur India Ltd and five others: ACC Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Indian Oil Corp, Tata Metaliks Ltd and Indian Hotels Co Ltd.

9) EIU Democracy Index 2018: Norway Tops, India Ranks 42nd

•The 11th edition of EIU Democracy Index 2018 was released by the Economist Intelligent Unit compiling the state of democracies in 167 countries in the world. In the list, Norway topped and India has slipped to 42nd place on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Global Democracy Index.  The Index was started in 2006.

•The top 3 performing countries on the Democracy Index 2018 are: 

1.  Norway

2. Iceland

3. Sweden.