Daily Current Affairs, 25th January 2019

1) National Voters Day: 25 January

•25 January is celebrated every year as National Voters Day to spread awareness about the necessity of voting and to encourage young generation towards the voting rights. National Voters Day Theme 2019 is “No Voter to be left behind”. This is the ninth year of celebrating National Voters Day.

•25th January is the foundation day of the Election Commission of India (ECI) which came into existence in 1950. This day was first celebrated in 2011 to encourage as much as young voters to take part in the electoral process. Earlier the eligibility age of the voter was 21 years but in 1988 it was lowered to 18 years.

2) DRDO Launches Long Range Surface to Air Missile Off Odisha Coast

•The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM) from naval warship INS Chennai.The test was conducted off the coast of Odisha. The LR-SAM hit a low flying aerial target during the test.

3) Telangana To Set Up ‘Save Tiger Protection Force’

•The Telangana government has decided to form a ‘State Tiger Protection Force’ to save the Big Cat population in the State. The State Forest Protection Committee headed by Chief Secretary S K Joshi took the decision to form the STPF. The 112-member-armed STPF will be headed by an Assistant Conservator of Forests to protect the tiger population in Amarabad and Kawal Tiger Reserves.

•The State and Central government will share the cost of the force on 40:60 basis. Fund amount of 2.25 Cr was also sanctioned to protect the tigers and to prevent forest fire accidents. The Committee decided to act tough against those felling forest trees and committing other related crimes.

4) ISRO Successfully Launched PSLV C44 Carrying Kalamsat & Microsat R

•carrying Kalam sat and imaging satellite Microsat R. The rocket precisely injected the Microsat R in its designated orbit. The satellite was launched from the Sathish Dhawan Space Centre Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. 

5) Sultan Abdullah Elected New Malaysian King

•Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was elected as Malaysia’s new king by the members of the country’s royal families. The 59-year-old was earlier appointed the Sultan of the Malaysian state of Pahang. He replaced Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan, who stepped down recently, making it the first abdication in Malaysia’s history.

6) IndiGo Appoints Ronojoy Dutta As New CEO

•IndiGo owner InterGlobe Aviation has appointed Ronojoy Dutta as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company with immediate effect. The company has also approved the appointment of Meleveetil Damodaran, the Independent Non-Executive Director, as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company.

•Ronojoy Dutta will remain as the company CEO for the next five years. Ronojoy Dutta, 67, has done BS Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology and MBA from Harvard Business School. He was a co-founder and Managing Director of ACO Investment, renowned investment advisory firm in the field of aviation and infrastructure.