Current Affairs Daily Digest – February 15 2019
1.Three-day Udaipur World Music Festival kicks-off today
The annual Udaipur World Music Festival will commence from . The three-day festival exhibits and hosts artists from all around the world. Festival will continue till January 17. During its course, the festival will cater to a variety of music enthusiasts from the country and abroad. Over 50,000 visitors are expected at the music festival this year. Organisers are not charging any fee from the visitors.
2.President of India to present Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony in national capital on 18 th February 2019
The President of India will present the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony to Shri Rajkumar Singhajit Singh; Chhayanaut (a cultural organization of Bangladesh); and Shri Ram Sutar Vanji for the years 2014, 2015 & 2016 respectively on 18.02.2019 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi.
Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony was instituted by the Government of India from 2012 recognizing the contributions made by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore to humanity at large with his works and ideas, as part of the Commemoration of his 150th Birth Anniversary in 2012, for promoting values of Cultural Harmony.
The First Tagore Award – 2012 was conferred upon Pt. Ravi Shankar, the Indian Sitar Maestro and the Second Award – 2013 was conferred upon Maestro Zubin Mehta.
Shri Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, Chhayanaut (a cultural organization of Bangladesh); and Shri Ram Sutar Vanji have been selected for the year 2014, 2015 & 2016.
3.Analjit Singh set to take over as chairman of Max Life, Max India
Max Group said its Founder and Chairman Emeritus Analjit Singh would take over as Chairman of Max India and Max Life. He would be taking over the chairmanship of the two companies from Group President Rahul Khosla, who would be moving to a non-executive role as group advisor from April 1, 2019, Max India said in a filing to the BSE.
Khosla will also demit his role as Max Healthcare Chairman once regulatory approvals for the transaction with KKR-Radiant are received. This position will then be filled by KKR Radiant.
4.Expert committee suggests Rs 9,750 a month as national minimum wage
A government-appointed expert committee has proposed doubling the national-level minimum wage for a worker in the country to Rs 9,750 a month, up from a floor of Rs 4,576 at present. The committee has alternatively proposed a national minimum wage at various regional levels in the range of Rs 8,892-11,622 a month (depending on local factors) and suggested an additional house rent allowance for urban workers.
The report of the expert committee, led by V V Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI) Fellow Anoop Satpathy, was made public by the Union labour and employment ministry . The labour ministry has put up the report, titled “Determining the Methodology for Fixation of the National Minimum Wage”, on its website for initiating stakeholder consultations.
5.India, Sweden ink security protection agreement
India and Sweden signed a security protection agreement that will enable the two countries to share classified information with each other.The agreement was signed on Wednesday during Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to the Nordic country. Sitharaman also met Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and her Swedish counterpart Peter Hultqvist.
Since 2009, Sweden and India have had a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the area of defence, and they conducted a number of bilateral meetings, most recently in December 2018 in New Delhi. In April 2018, Prime Minister Modi also visited Sweden.
6.PM flags off Vande Bharat Express
Vande Bharat Express, India’s first semi-high speed train, was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the New Delhi railway station amid sombre mood in the backdrop of the terror attack in Pulwama. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and members of the Railway Board were also on board the train on its inaugural journey.
The semi-high speed Train 18, which has been recently rechristened Vande Bharat Express, can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph.
Vande Bharat Express will travel from Delhi to Varanasi in 9 hours and 45 minutes. This includes stoppage time of 40 minutes each at Kanpur and Allahabad.
The Vane Bharat Express train, with its plush purple interiors, has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class. It has a seating capacity of 1,128 passengers.
All coaches of Vande Bhart Express are equipped with automatic doors, GPS-based audio-visual passenger information system and on-board hotspot WiFi for entertainment purposes.
7.IRS officer PC Mody takes charge as new CBDT chairman
IRS officer Pramod Chandra Mody took over as the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy making body of the Income Tax Department. Mody, a 1982-batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre) officer, has been appointed in place of Sushil Chandra, who was on Thursday named as Election Commissioner ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due this summer.
Mody, who has worked in various capacities in the I-T Department, has been working as the Member (Administration) in the CBDT.
8.Bihar govt announces universal old age pension scheme-Mukhyamantri Vridhajan Pension Yojna
Bihar government has announced a universal old age pension scheme – Mukhyamantri Vridhajan Pension Yojna- MVPY for all people above 60 years of age. the scheme will come into force from the 1st of April this year. He said, except those senior citizens who have retired from government service, all will be eligible for 400 rupees monthly pension irrespective of caste, religion or community.
Currently old age pension scheme is applicable to only the BPL category. The Chief Minister also announced a pension of 6,000 rupees for journalists above 60 years of age. Those who have been in regular service in the field of media and not getting any other pension will be eligible for Bihar Patrakar Samman Yojana (BPSY). He said this scheme will also be implemented from the 1st of April this year.
9.India withdraws Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan
Just a day after at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel lost their lives in a dastardly suicide bombing attack in Pulwama, the Indian government has withdrawn “Most Favoured Nation” or MFN status accorded to Pakistan.
What is MFN status?
Most Favoured Nation status is given to an international trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between all partner countries of the WTO. A country which provides MFN status to another country has to provide concessions, privileges, and immunity in trade agreements. It is the first clause in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
10.India signs Legal Agreements with the World Bank
The Government of India, Government of Himachal Pradesh (GoHP) and the World Bank signed a $40 Million Loan Agreement to help bring clean and reliable drinking water to the citizens of the Greater Shimla area, who have been facing severe water shortages and water-borne epidemics over the last few years.
The Shimla Water Supply and Sewerage Service Delivery Reform Programmatic Development Policy Loan 1 is expected to improve water supply and sanitation (WSS) services in and around the iconic hill city of Shimla.
Shimla’s water supply infrastructure with a capacity of 40 million litres daily (MLD) is unable to meet the current demand of 56 MLD. As elsewhere in urban India, around half the available water is lost to leakages and unauthorized siphoning. As a result, water supply reaches citizens only once in two days and for limited hours. With at least 30-40% of the city’s population of around 200,000 not covered by the sewerage system, sanitation has also emerged as a public health issue in Shimla.
11.Suresh Prabhu Chairs Board of Trade Meeting
Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, chaired a meeting of the Board of Trade (BOT) at VigyanBhawan. The meeting was attended by Commerce Secretary, Secretary DPIIT, DGFT, Secretaries and other senior officials of key line ministries including, Finance and Agriculture, all major trade and industry bodies, Export Promotion Councils and industrialists.
On this occasion, Commerce & Industry Minister launched a new online “Anytime-Anywhere” export awareness course to train, mentor and hand-hold potential exporters so as to help them to tap international trade opportunities. This Online Course has been funded under the ‘NiryatBandhu’ scheme of DGFT and is in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. On successful completion, a Certificate in Export Import Management under NiryatBandhu Scheme will be awarded to participants.
In another e-initiative, Commerce Minister also launched a Mobile App of DGFT. Exporters can now log their grievances, apply for various licenses, view their status using this app, besides accessing information about latest trade notices, circulars, Foreign Trade Policy and trade fairs.
12.Inland Waterways Authority of India launches portal for real-time information
Moving a step ahead towards ensuring optimum use of National Waterways, the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) launched a new portal LADIS – Least Available Depth Information System.
LADIS will ensure that real-time data on least available depths is disseminatedfor ship/barge and cargo owners so that they can undertake transportation on NWs in a more planned way. An assured depth of waterway is required for seamless movement of vessels. If real time information is made available regarding LADs in stretches of various NWs, it will help transporters by guiding them on the suitability of time of movement.
The portal being hosted on IWAI’s website www.iwai.nic.in has been developed in-house. Initially LAD information will be available for NW-1, NW-2, Indo-Bagladesh Protocol route and NW-3, along with the date of survey. The facility will be expanded to other NWs also.
IWAI has designed LADIS to facilitate the day to day operations of inland vessels plying on National Waterways and to avoid any hindrance in service and operation.
13.India’s first Aqua Mega Food Park commissioned in Andhra Pradesh
Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal commissioned Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park at Tundurru Village in Bhimavaram Mandal, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh through video conferencing. The park is promoted by Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park Pvt. Ltd. It will be the first Mega Aqua Food Park operationalised exclusively for fish and marine products processing in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park Pvt. Ltd has been set up in 57.81 acre of land at a cost of Rs. 122.60 crores. The facilities created by the developer at Central Processing Centre (CPC) of this mega food park include pre-processing line for fish of 1.5 TPH, pre-processing line for shrimp of 1.5 TPH, freezing of fish of 1.5 TPH, freezing of shrimp of 1.5 TPH, cold storage for fish of 2000MT, cold storage for shrimp of 1000MT, ice plant, food testing laboratory besides state of art enabling infrastructure.
14.Meghalaya: Clouded Leopard chosen as mascot for National Games 2022
Meghalaya state animal ‘Clouded Leopard’ was chosen as the mascot for the upcoming National Games to be hosted by the state in 2022. At the first meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Games 2022 chaired by Meghalaya sports minister Banteidor Lyngdoh in the presence of officials from various departments , the members agreed that ‘Clouded Leopard’ will be the mascot for the National Games and a competition to design a smiling Clouded Leopard will be opened to all.
The meeting also decided that a competition will be opened to all to finalise the logo and the theme of the National Games which will be conducted by the Information and Public Relations department along with the Education department.
15.Sikkim CM Pawan Chamling conferred with honorary doctorate
Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling was conferred with the honorary Doctorate of Literature [Honoris Causa] by Desh Bhagat University at Gobindgarh in Punjab.
The honour was conferred on him for his ‘Exceptional vision, deep commitment and continuous efforts to uplift the weaker section, backward class and women; for his leadership and good governance with moral and spiritual wisdom’.
16.45th Karbi Youth Festival: Assam
One of the biggest and oldest ethnic festivals in the Northeast is underway in Karbi People’s Hall at Taralangso,Assam. The 45th Karbi Youth Festival (KYF), organised by the Karbi Cultural Society (KCS), will begin with a grand procession in the morning of February 15 and will continue till February 19.
The KYF brings together the Karbi tribe spread all over the Northeast.There will be culture, fun, spirit of youth, music and food. The preparation for the 45th edition of the KYF is complete as far as the arrangement for the event is concerned but the vendors are still putting up their stalls.
