Current Affairs - February 16, 2019 Current Affairs

In order to focus on the issues in the area of chid protection in the state, the UNICEF in Maharashtra joined hands with Goa Women and Child Development (WCD). Discussion was held on "Key challenges around child protection in Goa" at a training programme on Integrated Child Protection Scheme(ICPS), by WCD, which saw the participation of Ms. Rajeshwari Chandrasekar, Chief Field Officer,UNICEF Maharashtra and Ms. Alpa Vora, Consultant, Child Protection, UNICEF. Issue of migrant children who face a whole lot of different problems linked with challenges of livelihood, alcoholism, etc., of their poor parents, or the children themselves were brought to light, among other issues.

Ashwani Lohani, former chairman of Railway Board, has been reappointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India for the second time after his previous tenure from August 2015 to August 2017. He will assume office from 14th February 2019, replacing Pradeep Singh Kharola, who is appointed as the new Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.

PM Modi inaugurated ESIC Medical College and Hospital at Faridabad which will provide good quality medical care to every citizen of the country.It is the first ESIC Medical College and Hospital in North India. The hospital is well equipped with state of art equipment, services, facilities, campus hostel for boys and girls, etc.The project costs around Rs. 595 crore. The 510 bedded hospital will provide medical facilities to the workers and their family members of the region.

The Union Cabinet approved the 3 MoU's between India and Saudi Arabia. The Union Cabinet approved the MoU between India and Saudi Arabia on establishing a mechanism for Investment Infrastructure in India. The MoU provides for engaging with the institutions of Saudi Arabia to attract potential investment into the infrastructure sector of India. The aim is to boost the infrastructure development in India, creating more jobs, growing ancillary industries and finally lead to the growth in GDP and overall economic prosperity.

Chandigarhs Hina Jaiswal becomes IAFs first woman flight engineer. She has completed the Flight Engineers' course at 112 Helicopter Unit and placed at the Air Force Station, Yelahanka, Bangalore. She has served as the Chief of firing team and battery commander in a front line Surface to Air Missile squadron, before being selected for the the prestigious Flight Engineers' Course. The flight engineer branch was opened to woman officers in 2018.

Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji, has been conferred with 'Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2019' at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS-2019) in New Delhi. He won the award for his outstanding contributions towards sustainable development in Fiji. The summit reiterated India's vision for a greener tomorrow and to focus on energy transitions, clean oceans, mobilising development finance, environmental sustainability and sustainable mobility. Over 2000 delegates and speakers from over 40 countries participated in the summit. The summit was organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). At the event, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has collaborated with TERI to set up a Resource Efficiency Cell to help frame blueprint for national integrated resource efficiency policy. The cell will enable inter-ministerial and inter-departmental synergy in promoting material resource efficiency in India while helping frame the blueprint of the integrated resource efficiency policy for India.

Challachitram National Film Festival with the theme 'Our Heritage, Our Pride' will be held here in March, with a special award for entries from the northeastern region. Entries for short films, documentaries and animation films have been invited for both the competitive and non-competitive sections, a press release of 'Challachitram' said on Monday. The deadline for submitting entries is February 15. The three-day film festival will be held here from March 1. Chalachitram is a Guwahati-based organisation working for showcasing the heritage and culture of the northeast to national and international audience through films.

The MoU between India and Finland on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of outer space was given approval by the Union Cabinet.It includes provisions for exploring newer research activities and applications in the fields of Remote Sensing of the Earth, Satellite Communication, Satellite Navigation Space Science and Exploration of Outer Space.Provisions for Launching Finnish space objects by Indian launch vehicles, processing and using space data, use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cooperation around emerging new space opportunities are also included.

NASA has announced a new space telescope mission dedicated to understanding the origins of life and the universe. It's called the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer or SPHEREx, for short. The space agency is aiming for a 2023 launch. Once SPHEREx is in orbit, it will observe and collect data on over 300 million galaxies, some as far as 10 billion light-years away from Earth, and 100 million stars in our own Milky Way every six months. The space telescope's main goals, though, are to search for water and organic molecules within the Milky Way. It will also look for those ingredients of life in regions where stars are born.

Early Ed Asia 2019, Asias largest early childhood conference, held in Jaipur. It was the first time such a conference was held in India with over 6000 eminent early childhood educators, policy-makers, researchers and other stakeholders from India and foreign countries. The latest trends in teaching and research were discussed to provide a stronger foundation to the children. The motto of the event was 'Our Children. Our Future'.

The International Labour Organization released World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2019 report. As per the report, unemployment rates will fall to 4.9% in 2019 and remains steady in 2020. Among the age group 15-24 the global unemployment stood at 11.8% which is much higher than it is among other age groups. In the global labor market, 2 billion out of 3.3 billion people worked keeping their economic security at risk in informal employment.

On 13th February, 2019, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved various agreements with foreign governments in areas of terrorism, counter-terrorism and space. The signing of MoU between India and Argentina in the field of Tourism was approved by the Union Cabinet. The MoU is aimed at helping the two countries to create an institutional mechanism for enhancing cooperation in the Tourism sector.

India and the European Union made a decision to mutually invest up to 40 Million Euros on 7 Research and Innovation projects to tackle and handle immediate water challenges in the country. The projects which are selected will develop or adapt the most acceptable existing creative and affordable solutions for Indian conditions, both in rural and urban areas, to facilitate solutions to cope up with water challenges. 'Horizon 2020', EU's programme and Indian government will invest together on projects for average duration of 4 years. The main prime areas of the projects are to improve the quality of drinking water, wastewater management system and real-time monitoring and control systems. The project will brace India's Ganga rejuvenation initiative, transfer of European technologies to India to suit Indian needs.

A National Defence Academy (NDA) graduate, Vice Admiral SN Ghormade took charge as the Chief of Staff at Eastern Naval Command, Vishakhapatnam. SN Gharmade was commissioned into Indian Navy on 1st January 1984 and he had assumed command of Guided Missile Frigate INS Brahmaputra, Submarine Rescue Vessel INS Nireekshak and Minesweeper INS Allepey in his 35 years long career. He was honoured by President of India with Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM) on 26th January 2017 and Nau Sena Medal in 2007.

Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) has appointed senior IRS officer Pramod Chandra Mody as chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). He will succeed Sushil Chandra, who was recently appointed Election Commissioner. He is 1982 batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre). Prior to this appointment, he was a member in CBDT. Central Board of Direct Taxes is a nodal policy-making body of Income Tax (IT) department functioning under Department of Revenue, Union Ministry of Finance.

World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2019, the flagship event of 'The Energy and Resources Institute' (TERI), was inaugurated by Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The theme of WSDS 2019 was 'Attaining the 2030 Agenda: delivering on our promise'. Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji was honoured with the Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2019 for his outstanding contributions towards sustainable development in Fiji.

Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr Harsh Vardhan released a Publication on climate actions in India titled "India - Spearheading Climate Solutions" in New Delhi. It refers to the vital actions India has taken under multiple sectors to combat and adapt to climate change. Major initiatives mentioned in the publications are National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), National Adaptation Fund on Climate Change (NAFCC), Climate Change Action Programme (CCAP), State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC), International Solar Alliances (ISA), and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).The Government aims to generate 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022. Advancement from Bharat Stage-IV to BHARAT Stage-VI emission standards by April 2020 have been undertaken to minimize the effect of climate change.

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) launched a new portal Least Available Depth Information System (LADIS) for real-time data on available depth on stretches of National Waterways.

Andhra Pradesh has made a significant move by merging Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Portal with its own Annadatha Sukhibhava scheme. This move will further allow a fixed amount of Rs. 10,000 per annum to all farmers in the state, irrespective of the size of their land.The benefits will be facilitated in 2 portions of Rs. 5000 before the Kharif and Rabi crop cycle. Around 70 lakhs farmers will get advantage from this merger.PM-Kisan scheme will not only cover the marginalized farmers, but also the tenant farmers who will be facilitated with 'Cultivation Certificates' and 'Loan Eligibility Certificates' to avail the benefits of scheme.Other than Rs. 6000 per household which will given under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, farmers will also receive Rs. 4000 from Andhra Pradesh government, which will further benefit 54 lakhs farmers.

Union Cabinet approved the proposal for allotment of 30 acres of land to Pasteur Institute of India for establishment of New Viral Vaccine Manufacturing Unit at Coonoor, Tamil Nadu. The land for the project will be transferred free of cost and will also be changed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from 'industrial' to 'institutional'.The project includes production of Anti Sera (like snake venom and Anti Rabies Sera) and Viral Vaccine (like TCA anti-measles vaccine, JE vaccine, etc.) at its manufacturing unit in Coonoor.