Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 18 OCTOBER 2019

::NATIONAL::

Once dominating the news for setting debates and settling sticky discourses for 70years, the Jammu & Kashmir legislative Council, the upper house of the Assembly, was abolished on Thursday as per Section 57 of the J&K Reorganisation Bill, 2019,which reduced the State to the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.
A spokesman of the General Administration Department(GAD) said all the staff members of the Council shall report to the GAD by October 22. There are 116 employees working with the Council since the first constituent assembly came into being in 1957.
The Council, which had a strength of 36 members, also used to be a part of the electoral college for the Rajya Sabha elections.
The Secretary of the Council has been directed to transfer all records pertaining to the Council Secretariat, including related legislative business, to the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.

The first-ever India Innovation Index was launched by NITI Aayog in New Delhi today in order to promote competitiveness among the states.
Karnataka has emerged the topper among major states. Tamil Nadu is second and Maharashtra is on the third position followed by Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.
Jharkhand finished last in the list of 17 major states. Among the North-Eastern states, Sikkim and among Union Territories Delhi has occupied the top spot.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that investors can find no better place in the world than India. Ms Sitharaman said that India has a democratic environment that respects capitalists.
She was speaking at an event hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), in association with the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum, at the IMF headquarters in Washington.
The Finance Minister said that India is one of the fastest growing economies and has the best skilled manpower. She assured international investors that the government is continuously working to bring reforms.

India's livestock population has increased to over 535 million showing an increase of 4.6 per cent over Livestock Census-2012. The Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying released the 20th Livestock Census -2019 yesterday.
As per the livestock census, the share of cattle is around 36 per cent, goat is over 27 per cent, buffaloes is over 20 per cent, sheep around 14 per cent and pigs around two per cent. The cow population is over 145 million, increasing by 18 per cent over the previous census.
Among the states, West Bengal reported the highest increase of over 23 per cent in livestock population, followed by Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Negotiators from the European Union and the UK have reached an agreement on a Brexit deal before a meeting of European leaders in Brussels.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called it a fair outcome. He urged MPs to come together to get Brexit done and get this excellent deal over the line. He added, now is the moment for us to get Brexit done and then together to work on building our future partnership.
The EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said, there was no need to extend the Brexit deadline.

Indian Air Force is participating in a Bilateral Joint Exercise with Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO), named EX-EASTERN BRIDGE-V, from today, at Air Force Base Masirah in Oman.
The last exercise, EX-EASTERN BRIDGE-IV was held in 2017 at Jamnagar. For the first time, MiG-29 fighter aircraft will be participating in an International Exercise outside India.
The IAF contingent comprises of MiG-29 and C-17 aircraft. MiG-29 will be exercising with Royal Air Force Oman’s Eurofighter Typhoon, F-16 and Hawk. This exercise will enhance inter-operability during mutual operations between the two Air Forces and will provide an opportunity to learn from each other’s best practices.
AIR correspondent reports, the participation of the Indian Air Force in the exercise will also promote professional interaction, exchange of experience and operational knowledge. The Joint Exercise will be concluded on the 26th of this month.