The Daily Brief – 24th June 2019

The Indian Public Sector Undertaking’s (PSUs) National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC Ltd) and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) have signed an agreement to set up National Electricity Distribution Company Limited (NEDCL) to undertake business for distribution of electricity in distribution circles in various states and Union Territories (UTs) and other related activities.

India has now become 7th country after the US, Europe, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Brazil to have a Centralised Air Traffic Flow Management System with the installation of state-of-the-art Central Command Centre for Air Traffic Flow Management (C-ATFM) in New Delhi, which will optimise utilisation of resources such as airspace and aircraft at the capacity-constrained Indian airports. C-ATFM system has actively connected top 36 airports of India that are handling traffic.

Mauritania, a country in Northwest Africa held elections for the first time since it gained independence from France nearly 60 years ago. Following the independence, the country has mostly been ruled by Non-elected military governments. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (62), who seized power in a military coup in 2008, agreed to step down and abide by serving period of maximum two five year elected terms. In 1981, Mauritania became final country in world to formally abolish slavery, but it continues to this day.

Viral Acharya, Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) youngest deputy governor has resigned from his role before end of his tenure. Acharya joined the RBI on January 23, 2017 for a three-year term. The RBI is now left with three deputy governors N S Vishwanathan, B P Kanungo and M K Jain. Acharya completed his BTech in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Mumbai in 1995 and PhD in finance from NYU–Stern in 2001.

The government has developed a National Strategic Plan with the goal for ending Tuberculosis (TB) by 2025. Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said India accounts for 27.4 lakh estimated new TB cases annually, which is the highest in terms of absolute numbers. India ranked 35th in the world in terms of TB cases per lakh population. Over 5 lakh 62 thousand patients were cured of TB last year.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) formally opened its new headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland on 23 June exactly 125 years after the Olympic Games were revived. The Olympic House has been built on the site of the former headquarters, and 95 per cent of the old materials were reused and recycled.

The U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo released the State Department’s 2019 Report on International Freedom, an annual submission it makes to the Congress each year, as mandated by law. The report consists of country-wise chapters, with the chapter on India detailing and discussing mob-related violence, religious conversions, the legal status of minorities and government policies. The report says that India’s Central and State governments as well as parties took steps to affect Muslim practices and institutions.

Indian women’s hockey team beat Asian Games champions and hosts Japan 3-1 in the summit clash of the FIH Series Finals in Hiroshima on June 23. Indian men had won the FIH Series Finals in Bhubaneswar recently. Indian women’s team qualified for the FIH Olympic Qualifiers 2019 after securing a place in the finals of the competition with a win over Chile in the semi-final.