Daily Current Affairs of 21st & 22nd August 2019

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will leave on a 3-nation visit  to France, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain today. 
• In the first leg of his visit, Mr Modi will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and hold bilateral talks on trade, security, energy security, counter terrorism and maritime cooperation in Indo-Pacific. 
• He will also meet French Prime Minister Eduard Charles Philippe.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa are set to travel to Paris next month to receive the 1st of the 36 Rafale jets. 
• Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte today announced that he will submit his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella after his coalition partner Deputy PM Matteo Salvini moved a no-confidence vote against him. 
• The coalition government was formed in March 2018 by Conte's Five Star Movement party and Salvini's League party.
• Nepal has banned single-use plastic below 30 microns as well as plastic bottles at Mount Everest. 
• The ban will be effective from January 2020.
• India is going to introduce a flexible e-tourist visa regime for more than 160 countries based on tourist footfall. 
• As per this the e-tourist visa fee would be higher for peak season of July to March and a considerably lower fee during lean period of April to June. 
• The objective behind the move is to encourage foreign tourists to visit India.
• The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) held a High-Level Meeting (HLM) with Sri Lanka Coast Guard at Coast Guard Headquarters in New Delhi to discuss issues of mutual safety and security. 
• The Indian side was led by K Natarajan, Director General, Coast Guard while Sri Lankan delegation was headed by Rear Admiral Samantha Wimalathunge. 
• The 5th Meeting of India-Nepal Joint Commission was held in Kathmandu today. 
• External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and his Nepalese counterpart Pradeep Kumar Gyawali co-chaired the meeting. 
• The Joint Commission reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations.
• An MoU was signed between the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and Nepal’s Department of Food Technology and Quality Control on food safety and standards.

• In a first, the Kerala government has decided to appoint women as drivers in government departments and public sector undertakings. 
• Chief Minister of Kerala : Pinarayi Vijayan 
• The Ministry of Railways has directed all railway units to ban single-use plastic materials with less than 50 microns thickness from October 2. 
• Railway Board has asked IRCTC to ensure that pantry staff collect empty drinking water bottles for their safe disposal. 
• The board also asked the authorities to install plastic water bottle crushing machines at major stations.
• The Lok Sabha Secretariat has also banned the use of non-reusable plastic water bottles and other plastic items within the Parliament complex. 
• Punjab govt has launched a mega health insurance scheme titled ‘Mahatma Gandhi Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana’ (MGSSBY) for poor by clubbing Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) plan with its own.
• The scheme was launched by Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to mark 75th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. 
• With launch of this scheme, Punjab has become 1st state to offer medical insurance for such a large proportion of its population.
• Centre has notified new sets of health warnings for all tobacco products by making an amendment in the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Packaging and Labeling) Rules, 2008 
• The new warnings will come into effect from 1st of next month. 
• The text messages that will be printed on the packs are - tobacco causes painful death. 
• A national toll-free number - 1800-11-2356 will also be printed on packs to assist the users to quit.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah today chaired the 24th meeting of Western Zonal Council in Goa.
• It is a forum for the Centre and States to exchange ideas on issues like health, security and social welfare.
• Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and representatives from the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli attended the meeting.
• Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik has inaugurated the 2-day National Conference on Varmam Science, a part of the Siddha system of medicine in Chennai today.
• 'Varmam' is a constituent of the Siddha system of medicine, that also doubles up as a martial art. 
• The national conference is being organized by the National Institute of Siddha in Chennai.
• Maharashtra Transport Minister Diwakar Raote launched a tracking system for Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation  (MSRTC) buses which will allow people to have real-time information about their commute.
• GPS machines are being installed in all the buses.
• The cost of the project, including deployment of GPS machines, tracking software, and putting up screens to display information at bus stops, is 32 crore rupees.

• Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been formally arrested by CBI in the INX Media case.
• This comes after CBI took him in custody from his residence in Delhi's Jor Bagh.
• American Actor Dwayne Johnson (Rock) topped Forbes' list of world's highest-paid male actors, with earnings for last 12 months estimated at $89.4 million (nearly ₹640 crore). 
• He's followed by Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr.
• Note : Bollywood Actor Akshay Kumar has secured the 4th spot in the list with an earning of $65 million (over ₹450 crore).
• Germany sold the world's 1st 30-year bond that doesn't offer any interest payment, meaning investors would receive nothing for lending their money. 
• Investors who hold the bonds until they mature in 2050 will actually lose money as the bonds will offer a yield of -0.11%. 
• American multinational technology company Amazon opened its largest-ever campus in Hyderabad that can accommodate 15,000 employees. 
• The company's largest buildings in Seattle can house about 5,000 employees.
• Completed in three years, the Hyderabad campus has 1.8 million square feet of office space with interfaith prayer rooms, mothers' room, quiet rooms, showers, helipad and an all-day open cafeteria.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has announced that the individuals providing "credible and original information" on insider trading would be rewarded. 
• The reward will be 10% of the disgorgement amount, up to ₹1 crore. 
• The information provided by the informant will be exempt from disclosure under the Right to Information Act.

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed that it is going to send a spacecraft to Europa, one of the 79 known moons orbiting gas giant Jupiter. 
• The organization is targeting to make the spacecraft launch-ready by as early as 2023, with baseline commitment supporting a launch readiness date by 2025. 

• Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur (89) passed away.
• A veteran BJP leader, Gaur had represented Bhopal in the state Assembly for 10 terms. 

• 1985 IAS Officer of Kerala cadre, Ajay Kumar hgas been appointed as the new Defence Secretary.
• He is currently serving as Secretary, Department of Defence Production, Union Ministry of Defence.
• Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba was appointed as the next Cabinet Secretary for a tenure of 2 years. 
• Gauba, a 1982-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre, will initially join as the Officer on Special Duty in the Cabinet Secretariat, before he takes over the charge of the country's top bureaucracy from the incumbent Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha.

• Team India players are going to wear jerseys with their names and numbers on them for the 1st time in Test cricket starting with the first Test against West Indies. 
• The match will also mark India's first match in the World Test Championship.
• Madhya Pradesh para swimmer Satendra Singh Lohia has become the 1st Asian swimmer to cross the Catalina Channel of America. 
• Satendra holds the Asian record of crossing both the English and Catalina channels.