TNPSC Current Affairs November 20, 2019

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs Nov 20, 2019 (20/11/2019)

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Topic: Awareness in Space, Latest Diary of Events

DRDO to double ASTRA’s range

The DRDO Chief, Mr G Sateesh Reddy recently announced that DRDO (Defence Research Development Organization) is to increase the range of ASTRA air-to-air missiles. India is one of the few countries to own a successful BMD-Ballistic Missile Defence programme.

Key facts:

Astra (Sanskrit word for weapon) is an all-weather air-to-air missile developed completely by DRDO. Currently, ASTRA is capable of engaging targets upto a distance of 110 km. The ASTRA missiles are integrated with Sukhoi Su-30 MKI aircrafts of India.

Now, DRDO plans to increase the range of the missile to 160 km. Apart from this, it is also planning to infuse technologies like solid fuel ramjet and dual pulse solid rocket motor. There are also plans to integrate the missiles with other aircrafts like Dassault, MiG-29, HAL Tejas.

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Topic: Latest Diary of Events

Rani Lakshmibai

19th November 2019 marks the 191st birth anniversary of Rani Lakshmibai. Born on November 19, 1828, as Manikarnika Tambe. Rani was married to the King of Jhansi, Raja Gangadhar Newalkar in 1842.

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Topic: International Diary of Events

Uighur detention camps

For some months now, international concern has been growing about what China is doing to its Uighur population. Reports have emerged of China ‘homogenising’ the Uighurs.

What’s the issue now?

Around a million Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslims have been bundled into internment camps, where they are allegedly being schooled into giving up their identity, and assimilate better in the communist country dominated by the Han Chinese.

China resolutely denies all such allegations, claiming the camps to be ‘educational centres’ where the Uighurs are being cured of “extremist thoughts” and radicalisation, and learning vocational skills.

Who are Uighurs?

Uighurs are a Muslim minority community concentrated in the country’s northwestern Xinjiang province. They claim closer ethnic ties to Turkey and other central Asian countries than to China, by brute — and brutal — force.

Xinjiang shares borders with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

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Topic: Awards and Honours, Latest Diary of Events

Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for 2019: David Attenborough

Renowned naturalist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough will be conferred the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for the year 2019. He was selected for the 2019 prize by an international jury chaired by former President Pranab Mukherjee. He is being awarded the prize for a lifetime of doing more to reveal wonders of natural world to people than perhaps any other individual.

About David Attenborough:

He has worked tirelessly to awaken humankind to the need to- preserve and protect biodiversity of the planet, to live in a sustainable and harmonious way with all life. He also advocated for stopping what he has called: ‘a plague on earth’.