TNPSC Current Affairs October 19, 2019

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs Oct 19, 2019 (19/10/2019)

Topic: Public Awareness and General Administration

Asbestos in Baby Powder

Johnson and Johnson (J&J) recalled 33,000 bottles of one lot of its talcum powder supplied in the United States (US) on October 18, 2019, as asbestos was found in it.

What is talc, and why is asbestos relevant?

Talc is a mineral in clay mined from underground deposits. It’s the softest mineral known to man and that makes it useful in a wide range of consumer and industrial products.

Asbestos is also found underground, and veins of it can often be found in talc deposits, leading to a risk of cross-contamination, geologists say.

About Asbestos:

Asbestos is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals, which all have in common their eponymous asbestiform habit: i.e., long (roughly 1:20 aspect ratio), thin fibrous crystals, with each visible fiber composed of millions of microscopic “fibrils” that can be released by abrasion and other processes.

They are commonly known by their colors, as blue asbestos, brown asbestos, white asbestos, and green asbestos.

Topic: Profile of States, Latest Diary of Events

Community policing scheme ‘Prahari’

To prevent crime and maintain law and order in Delhi Launched by Delhi Police. Under this scheme, civil personnel such as chowkidars and security guards deployed in the commercial and VIP areas will act as the eyes and ears of the police.

Significance: The move will help to bring professionalism in the work of security guards by giving them appropriate training and enabling frequent police-Prahari interaction and co-operation.

What is Merchant Discount Rate? It is a fee charged from a merchant by a bank for accepting payments from customers through credit and debit cards in their establishments.

MDR compensates the card issuing bank, the lender which puts the PoS terminal and payment gateways such as Mastercard or Visa for their services.

MDR charges are usually shared in pre-agreed proportion between the bank and a merchant and is expressed in percentage of transaction amount.

Why in News? In a move that may boost digital payments, businesses with an annual turnover of more than ₹50 crore will have to mandatorily offer electronic mode of payments to their customers from 1 November. Besides, no charges or merchant discount rate (MDR) will be levied on either customers or merchants.

Topic: Indian Army and Defence Activities

Danx- 19

Second edition of Defence of Andaman & Nicobar Islands 2019 (DANX-19), a large scale joint services exercise, was recently conducted by Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC).

Carried out by Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

Objective: to validate defensive plans of Headquarters ANC towards pursuance of the Command’s responsibility, namely ensuring territorial integrity of the A&N Islands.

Topic: Awareness in Space, Latest Diary of Events

World’s first female spacewalking team makes history

The world’s first female spacewalking team made history high above Earth on 18th October, floating out of the International Space Station to fix a broken part of the power network. The team included astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir. This marked the first time in a half-century of spacewalking that a woman floated out without a male crewmate.

Topic: Profile of States, Latest Diary of Events

Shirui lily festival

Shirui Lily Festival inaugurated in Manipur. Shirui Lily Festival is an annual five-day State festival celebrated in Ukhrul district to spread awareness about the endangered state flower ‘Shirui Lily’ as well as to promote Ukhrul district as a potential tourist destination in Manipur.

The festival was celebrated by the locals in their own level till 2016, when the State Government in 2017 declared that Shirui Lily festival would be celebrated in state level.

Topic: Sports and Medals, Persons in News

Raunak at 13, becomes India’s 65th Grand Master

Raunak Sadhwani will be the 65th Indian Grand Master (Chess) at the age of 13 years. On October 18, 2019, Sadhwani with a rating of 2479 has already gained 23 points to cross the stipulated mark of 2500 in live ratings. He just needs to turn up for the next two rounds to gain his final norms.

Sadhwani is from Nagpur and is an international master. He got his first master title at Aeroflot Open 2019 and second title at Poticcio Open 2019. He was trained by the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. He worked with the Russian player as a part of Kramnik-Microsense India Chess program. It was held in Switzerland in August, 2019.

Topic: India’s Foreign Relations, International Events

Pepe: India-UK collaborated hand-washing robot

A team of researchers from India and United Kingdom collaborated to create a new robot named Pepe which encourages children to wash their hands. The research project outcomes were presented at 28TH IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (held in New Delhi) on Global Handwashing Day 2019 (marked on 15 October every year).

Pepe was recently mounted to the wall above a hand washing station at Wayanad Government Primary School in Kerala as a fresh approach to hygiene. It was used by around 100 pupils aged between 5 and 10 years.