Daily Current Affairs, 19th August 2019

1) World Humanitarian Day 2019

•World Humanitarian Day is observed across the world on August 19 to pay tribute to workers who risk their lives in humanitarian services and to gather support for people affected by crises around the world. The day was designated by the UN General Assembly to commemorate the 19 August 2003 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq.

WHD 2019 campaign: #WomenHumanitarians.

•World Humanitarian Day 2019 is set to celebrate Women Humanitarians and their undying contribution in making the world a better place. This year’s campaign on Women Humanitarians supports the recognition that women deserve in the strengthening of global humanitarian response as well as in protection efforts under the international law.

2) Manipur CM launches “School Fagadaba” scheme

•Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh launching the “School Fagadaba” (Make education better) scheme to improve the infrastructure of government schools in the state.

•The objective of the scheme was to ensure better infrastructure, quality education and overall improvement of government schools to make them model schools.

3) Union HRD Minister inaugurates International Conference on Teacher Education

•The Union Minister of Human Resource Development inaugurated the International Conference titled “Journey of Teacher Education: Local to Global” in New Delhi.

•The 2-day event is being organized by the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) as part of silver jubilee celebration of its establishment in 1995.

•NCTE was tasked with achieving planned and coordinated development of teacher education system throughout the country and maintenance of norms and standards.

4) Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be honoured with “Order of Zayed”

•The United Arab Emirates will honour the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the “Order of Zayed“, the highest civilian award of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will recieve the award during his visit to the UAE.

•The order in the name of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founding father of the UAE, acquires special significance as it is awarded to Prime Minister Modi in the year of the birth centenary of Sheikh Zayed.

5) 5 New fish species discovered in Arunachal Pradesh

•Fisheries and the aquatic ecology research team from the zoology department of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) have discovered 5 species of fish from various districts of the Arunachal pradesh.

The 5 newly discovered species of fish are:

•Mystus prabini (discovered in Sinkin and the Dibang rivers in Lower Dibang Valley district)

•Exostoma kottelati (discovered in the Ranga river in Lower Subansiri district)

•Creteuchiloglanis tawangensis (discovered in the Tawangchu river in Tawang district)

•Garra ranganensis (discovered in the Ranga river)

•Physoschistura harkishorei (discovered in the Dibang and the Lohit rivers in Lower Dibang Valley district).



6) Odisha approves conservation plan of lakes “Chilika and Ansupa”

•The Odisha Wetland Authority has approved implementation of an integrated management plan of lakes “Chilika and Ansupa“. The Chilika lake is India’s largest brackish water lagoon and Ansupa is the Odisha’s largest freshwater lake. The 5-year management plan of lakes is intended at strengthening livelihood of thousands of fishermen relying on the two water-bodies at an estimated investment of Rs 180 crore.

7) President inaugurates Bunker Museum in Mumbai

•President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated underground Bunker Museum at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai.

•The British-era bunker was discovered in 2016 and has 13 rooms such as Shell Store, Gun Shell, Cartridge Store and Central Artillery Store. The 15,000 square feet underground bunker museum has virtual reality booths in which visitors can “time travel” to the 19th century.

8) Iceland commemorates 1st glacier “Okjokull” lost to climate change

•Iceland commemorated the loss of 1st glacier “Okjokull”, lost due to climate change. A bronze plaque was unveiled by Iceland in a ceremony which was attended by scientists and locals at the glacier in west-central Iceland.

•The plaque bears the inscription “A letter to the future”.

9) Nepal will host 5th meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission

•The 5th meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal. India’s Minister for External Affairs and Nepal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs will co-chair the meeting.

•The Joint Commission Meeting will review overall state of bilateral relations and various areas of cooperation such as connectivity and economic partnership, trade and transit, power and water resources, culture, education and other matters of mutual interest.

10) Longest documentary “100 Years of Chrysostum” will receive Guinness Award

•A biographical documentary “100 Years of Chrysostum” will receive Guinness Award in the category of longest documentary. The “100 Years of Chrysostum” is based on the life of Philipose Mar Chrysostum, scripted and directed by filmmaker Blessy. The 48-hour and 8 minutes documentary has broken the record of the 21-hour Saudi Arabian documentary “World of Snakes”.

•Former Padma Bhushan awardee Philipose Mar Chrysostum is a Metropolitan Emeritus of the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar.