CURRENT AFFAIRS 2019

Defence Minister meets French President

An official meeting was organized by the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh with French President Emmanuel Macron to talk about the aircraft deals between the two nations. In the meeting, the formal handover of the 36 Rafale Aircrafts, which is worth Rs59,000 crore, was done by the French representative and received by Rajnath Singh. These 36 aircrafts were ordered in September 2016, and the first batch of these aircrafts is expected to be received in May 2020 and it is said by the officials that the delivery of all of them is expected by September 2022. Indian Air Force (IAF) is now all set to make arrangements for these aircrafts by undertaking the preparation for the infrastructure required to place them and have started training the pilots so that they can fly these aircrafts. It is decided that the tail number for the first Rafale jet is to RB 001 honoring Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria, who was the person behind cracking this deal for India while he was the IAF Deputy Chief. Rajnath Singh stated that the “Special Relationship” between France and India would be ahead of the realm of formal ties. Rajnath Singh’s visit to France had a motive expand the strategic partnership between the two nations.

JAL SHAKTI MINISTRY launches Ganga Aamantran Abhiyan

Ganga Amantran Abhiyan is a one of a kind open-water rafting and kayaking water sport adventure on the Ganga River, focusing on creating Ganga Rejuvenation and Water Conservation awareness was launched by Jal Shakti Minister on 7^th October 2019. The initiative will also help various stakeholders to come along and interact with each other and discuss the strategies to increase tourism. The Abhiyan is set to start on 10^th October 2019, and the expedition will continue till 11^th November 2019. It is said that the event will cover the full stretch of the river, covering around 2500km, starting from Devprayag till the end which is Ganga Sagar. The Ganga Basin States are Uttarakhand, Uttar-Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, and West Bengal. A team consisting 9 members form Indian Armed Force led by Wing Commander Paramvir Singh from the Indian Air Force will undertake the whole expedition, and 3 members from NDRF will also join the team. This is the first longest ever social initiative to raft across the entire stretch of the river.

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87th anniversary of Indian Air Force celebrated across the country

87^th anniversary of the Indian Air Force was celebrated with full spirit at Hindon Air Force Base (Ghaziabad) on 8^th October 2019. Indian Air Force organized a grand event where the major invitees were Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria. IAF has been founded on 8^th October 1932 and in these 87 years, the growth in the technologies is very evident and commendable. On the day of the event, IAF managed to put a very interesting showcase of the new and major aircrafts which India owns. A beautiful Avenger Formation was made by the IAF Officers who were the participants of the latest Balakot Air Strike in which they flew three Mirage 2000 aircraft and two Su-30 MKI fighter air-crafts. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman of IAF, who went down in combat on February 2019 flew MiG-21 Bison aircraft. The latest choppers, such as Apache Attack Chopper, which was procured from United States for the lethal attacks and the new twin-rotor blade chopper The Debutant Chinook were also showcased in the event.

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