Welcome to Kyasc institute

Top Current Affairs December-2019

IAS Preliminary Exams के लिए महत्वपूर्ण  current affairs रट लो। 

1. General Bipin Rawat named as country’s 1st Chief of Defence Staff 
• Indian Army General Bipin Rawat named as the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). The  Chief of Defence Staff will be a 4-star General, the  principal military advisor to the defence minister, and  will head the new Department of Military Affairs. 
• The Defence Ministry had also amended the army, air force and navy rules by bringing in a new clause that  
allows the CDS to serve upto a maximum age of 65 years. 
2. India State of Forest Report 2019 Released
The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and
Climate Change released the biennial “India State of
Forest Report (ISFR)”, in New Delhi.
Some key highlights of the report:
• The total forest and tree cover of the country
is 80.73 million hectare. It is 24.56% of the total
geographical area of the country.
• The forest and tree cover has increased by more
than 130 million hectares in the last 4 years.
• Area-wise, Madhya Pradesh has the largest forest
cover in the country.
• In terms of forest cover as percentage of total
geographical area, the top five
States are Mizoram (85.41%), Arunachal
Pradesh (79.63%), Meghalaya (76.33%), Manipur (
75.46%) and Nagaland (75.31%).
• In comparison with ISFR 2017, the increase in the
forest cover has been observed as 3,976 sq km and
that in tree cover is 1,212 sq. km.
• The top 3 states showing increase in forest cover
are Karnataka (1,025 sq. km) followed by Andhra
Pradesh (990 sq km) and Kerala (823 sq km).
• Mangrove cover has been separately reported in the
ISFR 2019 and the total mangrove cover in the
country is 4,975 sq km which showed an increase of
54 sq Km as comapre to that of 2017. Top three
states showing mangrove cover increase
are Gujarat (37 sq km) followed by Maharashtra (16
sq km) and Odisha (8 sq km).
• The extent of bamboo bearing area of the country has
been estimated 16 million hectare showing an
increase of 0.32 million hectare.
• The total carbon stock in country’s forest is
estimated 7,124.6 million tonnes and there an
increase of 42.6 million tonnes in the carbon stock of
country as compared to the last assessment of 2017.
3. Nationwide vaccination drive launched under
Mission Indradhanush 2.0
• The centre is launching a nationwide vaccination
drive to prevent eight diseases under Intensified
Mission Indradhanush 2.0 across the country.
• The government’s flagship scheme is aimed at
immunizing children under the age of 2 years and
pregnant women against 8 vaccine-preventable
diseases.
• The IMI covers vaccines for diphtheria, whooping
cough, tetanus, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis,
measles, meningitis and Hepatitis B. Vaccines for
Japanese encephalitis and Hemophilus influenza
are also being provided in selected areas.
• The IMI 2.0 aims to achieve targets of full
immunization coverage in 272 districts spread over
27 States. The IMI 2.0 will be carried out between
December 2019 and March 2020.
4. India among top 10 countries with higher
climate performance
⚫ India has been ranked 9th in 2019's Climate Change
Performance Index (CCPI) at the COP25 climate
summit in the Spanish capital Madrid. The index is
jointly presented by Germanwatch, NewClimate
Institute and Climate Action Network.
⚫ The authors of the report noted that the first three
places of the ranking remain unoccupied.
⚫ While some EU countries such as Sweden (4th) and
Denmark (5th), one of the best climbers, achieve
overall high or very high ratings, the performance of
EU countries varies largely.
⚫ Only two G20 countries i.e. the UK (7th) and India
(9th) are ranked in the high category while eight
G20 countries were placed in the worst category of
the index.
⚫ Australia (56th out of 61), Saudi Arabia and above all
the US perform particularly poor.
⚫ China, the largest global emitter slightly improves its
ranking in the index to 30th place. 
5. India ranks 129th in Human Development Index 2019
⚫ The Human Development Index measures average
achievement of the countries in 3 basic dimensions
of human development i.e. life expectancy,
education and per capita income. The index is
released by the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP).
⚫ India has been ranked 129th among 189 countries in
the Human Development Index 2019.
⚫ India was ranked 130th last year in the index.
Norway, Switzerland, Ireland occupied the top
three positions in the index.
⚫ According to the report, South Asia was the fastest
growing region in human development progress
showing a 46% growth over 1990-2018, followed by
East Asia and the Pacific at 43%.
Facts related to India:
⚫ India’s HDI value increased from 0.431 to 0.647,
which places it above the average for countries in the
medium human development group (0.634) and
above the average for other South Asian countries
(0.642).
⚫ In the Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI), India was
ranked 130th, losing nearly half the progress (0.647
to 0.477) made in the past 30 years.
⚫ The IHDI indicates percentage loss in HDI due to
inequalities. In the Gender Inequality Index (GII),
India is at 122 out of 162 countries. 
6. India slips to 112th place on WEF’s Global Gender Gap
Report
• India has slipped four places to rank 112th globally
as per the Global Gender Gap Report 2020. The
report was released by World Economic Forum
(WEF) headquartered at Geneva.
• Iceland has topped the report and remains the
world’s most gender-neutral country while Yemen
was ranked the worst (153rd) in the report. As per
report, the most improved countries were Albania,
Ethiopia, Mali, Mexico and Spain.
• Among regions, Western Europe has made the most
progress on gender parity (standing at 76.7%).
• As per WEF, the time it will take to close the gender
gap has narrowed to 99.5 years in 2019 while the
number was 108 years in 2018. WEF stated that this
year’s improvement can largely be ascribed to a
significant increase in the number of women in
politics.
7. Atal Bhujal Yojana launched by Government of India
⚫ Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched Atal
Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) which aims to improve
groundwater management. The scheme has been
designed with the principal objective of
strengthening the institutional framework for
participatory groundwater management.
⚫ It aims to bring behavioral changes at the community
level for sustainable groundwater resource
management in 7 States: Gujarat, Haryana,
Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra,
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
⚫ The scheme will promote panchayat led ground
water management and behavioural change with
primary focus on demand side management.
⚫ The Government has outlaid Rs. 6000 crore for the
scheme. Out of the total outlay of Rs. 6000 crore to be
implemented over a period of 5 years (2020-21 to
2024-25), 50% shall be in the form of World Bank
loan, and to be repaid by the Central Government.
Learn More GK Questions and answers
Visit https:// www.kyascinstitute.in/

If u like Subscribe our YouTube channel. 
Thanks.....