Current Affairs Daily Digest – February 23 2019
1.Rajnath Singh inaugurates Waste to Wonder Park in Delhi
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a new park which houses the replicas of seven wonders of the world at Sarai Kale Khan. The park, which is called the ‘Waste to Wonder Park’, was built by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).
It is the first-of-its-kind tourist attraction in the world, with the replicas of the Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid of Giza, Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro, Rome’s Colosseum, and the Statute of Liberty which were opened for the public at the inauguration.
2. DAE Media Meet held at Anushakti Bhavan
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), in collaboration with PIB Mumbai, organized a half-day event to provide an opportunity for the media interested in the sector to get a deeper understanding of issues germane to the field. The theme chosen for the Media Meet was “Radioisotopes in Healthcare – Radiopharmaceuticals for Nuclear Medicine: DAE Roles and Contributions”.
3. In a first, India to attend OIC meet as ‘guest of honour’; Swaraj to attend
In a significant move, India has been invited to the inaugural plenary of the foreign ministers’ conclave of the OIC, a powerful grouping of Muslim majority nations, and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will attend it in Abu Dhabi next month as the ‘guest of honour’.
The 46th Session of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers will be held in Abu Dhabi from March 1 to 2.
The invitation to India by the OIC comes at a time when India has been mounting diplomatic offensive against Pakistan to isolate it internationally following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
4. Odisha to give free sanitary napkins to 17 lakh school girls
The Odisha Cabinet approved the ‘Khushi’ scheme to provide free sanitary napkins to school girls across the state. The scheme will benefit nearly 17.25 lakh school girls from Class VI to XII studying in government and government-aided schools. The state government will spend ₹466 crore over a period of five years to implement the scheme.
5. Philippines leads Asia in gender equality
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report for 2018, the Philippines was ranked eighth among the 10 best performers. Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Nicaragua, Rwanda, New Zealand, Ireland, and Namibia are the other countries on the list.
In the study, 149 countries were tested for economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. The report also took into consideration skills gender gaps related to artificial intelligence (AI).
6. Digital India Awards conferred for Excellence in Web Space
The Digital India Awards have been instituted under the ambit of the National Portal of India by National Informatics Centre, MeitY, to promote exemplary initiatives in e-governance using the medium of World Wide Web.
Besides conferring the Digital India Awards, the series of releases for enriching the Digital India vision also took place:
Digital India Coffee Table Book – “Towards a New India, Transforming Digital Dream to Reality”
Digital India Awards Compendium – A compilation of the exemplary digital initiatives that have been awarded in each of the eight categories for the platinum, gold and silver awards.
STQC Accessibility Certification Scheme- A scheme to assess and certify websites that migrate to S3WaaS (Secure, Scalable & Sugamya websites) for web content accessibility.
7. Jharkhand CM launches Rs 100-crore Sweet Revolution scheme
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das launched the first phase of the Rs 100-crore Sweet Revolution Scheme under which 1,207 farmers will be given Rs 1 lakh for bee keeping.
1,207 farmers, after training, will be given Rs 1 lakh for bee keeping. Of the amount, Rs 80,000 is in the form of grant. Farmers can earn Rs 1.30 lakh every year by just investing Rs 20,000.The Chief Minister announced that the Pradhanmantri Krishi Samman Yojna will be launched in Ranchi on February 24 under which Rs 2,000 will be deposited in the account of the farmers through direct transfer.
8. Free clinical laboratory services introduced in Tripura
Tripura Health and Family Welfare Minister Sudip Roy Barman launched a mega free clinical laboratory service across the northeastern state. The Minister said that “worldclass standard” 24-hour free clinical laboratory services were introduced in six districts and 12 sub-divisional government-run hospitals and the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Agartala on a public private partnership (PPP) model.
The free services, which include 53 to 60 types of medical tests to be conducted at the newly set up laboratories in 19 hospitals, were introduced under the National Health Mission programme.
9. India to start preparations for U-23 AFC championship
India U-23 mens football team, which has never qualified for the U-23 AFC championship since its inception in 2014, will start preparation for the qualifying round matches, under coach Derrick Pereira in Goa from March 2.
India, which have qualified for the men’s AFC Asia Cup championship four times but failed to qualify for this biennial international age-restricted football championship, organised by the AFC, will be one of the 44 teams that have entered the competition. These teams are divided into two zones — West Zone (Groups A-F) and East Zone (Groups G-K) with 24 and 20 teams, respectively.
10. President Bashir Declares Year-Long State Of Emergency In Sudan
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has declared a year-long state of emergency, dissolving his cabinet and local governments throughout the country. Bashir also called on Sudan’s parliament to postpone constitutional amendments that would allow him to run for another term in a presidential election in 2020.
Since December 2018, various areas in Sudan, including the capital Khartoum, have been witnessing popular protests over the deteriorating economic conditions and price hikes of basic commodities.
11. ISSF World Cup 2019: Apurvi Chandela scales ‘China Wall’ to win women’s 10m Air Rifle gold
Apurvi Chandela broke World Record to register India’s first gold medal at the ISSF World Cup 2019. The 26-year-old shooter shot 252.9 in a thrilling 10m Women Air Rifle finale to bag the yellow metal on Day 1 of the tournament at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi.
In the final round, Chandela was engaged in a neck-and-neck battle with China’s Zhao Ruozhu, who had earlier broken the World Record in the Qualification stage, scoring 634 points. But in the final two-shot series, Chandela shot a 10.6 and a 10.8 to win the top prize, while Ruozhu had to settle for silver.2.
12. World Thinking Day: February 22
World Thinking Day, formerly Thinking Day, is celebrated annually on 22 February by all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It is also celebrated by Scout and Guide organizations and some boy-oriented associations around the world.It is a day when they think about their “sisters” (and “brothers”) in all the countries of the world, the meaning of Guiding, and its global impact.
2019 Theme of World Thinking Day is: “Leadership”.
