Daily Current Affairs, 11th May 2019

1) National Technology Day: 11th May

•National Technology Day is observed every year on 11th of May in India, acting as a reminder of the anniversary of Shakti. Shakti is the Pokhran nuclear test which was held on the 11th of May, 1998.

•The first nuclear test Pokhran with a codenamed as ‘Smiling Buddha’ was carried out in May 1974. The second test conducted was Pokhran II which was a series of five tests of nuclear bomb explosions, administered by India at the Pokhran Test Range of Indian Army in May 1998.

2) Ireland Becomes 2nd Country To Declare Climate Emergency

•Ireland has declared a climate emergency in their country, to be the second country after Britain to do so. Britain’s parliament became the first in the world to declare a climate emergency, passing the largely symbolic motion on May 1. The step followed 11 days of street protests in London by the Extinction Rebellion environmental campaign group.

3) Konkan Railways Signs Contract Agreement With Nepal To Supply DEMU Train Sets

•Konkan Railways Corporation Ltd has signed a contract agreement with Nepal’s Department of Railways to supply two 1600 HP DEMU train sets. These trains will be used to operationalise railway link between Jayanagar in India and Kurtha in Nepal. The train sets will be manufactured by the Integrated Coach Factory, Chennai. 

•The agreement was signed in Kathmandu in the presence of Indian Ambassador Manjeev Puri and Nepal’s Secretary, Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Madhusudan Adhikari. Each train set will comprise of one driving power car, three trailer cars with one air-conditioned, one driving trailer car with standard accessories.

4) New Heat-Sensing Snake Species Found, Named After Arunachal Pradesh

•Pune-based Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) team found a new species of reddish-brown pit viper snake with a unique heat-sensing system, the first in past 70 years in India.

•The species is named ‘Trimeresurus arunachalensis’ after Arunachal Pradesh, where it was discovered. This makes Arunachal Pradesh the only state to have a pit viper named after it.

5) 1st Apache Helicopter Formally Handed Over To IAF

•First AH-64E (I) – Apache Guardian helicopter was formally handed over to the Indian Air Force at Boeing production facility in Arizona, USA. Air Marshal AS Butola, represented the Indian Air Force and accepted the first Apache.

•IAF had signed a contract with US Government and M/s Boeing Ltd in Sep 2015 for 22 Apache helicopters. The first batch of these helicopters is scheduled to be shipped to India by July 2019.

6) Bharatpe Launches India’s 1st UPI Bahi Khata For Merchants

•BharatPe – India’s first Fintech start-up enabling payments for merchants through interoperable UPI QR codes, has announced its foray into merchant services with a new app. Along with UPI payments, the app now allows merchants to manage their entire Bahi Khata and even note receivables and payables seamlessly.