Current Affairs Daily Digest – February 28 2019
1. 47th Manipur Shumang Leela Festival 2018-19 underway
The 47th Manipur Shumang Leela Festival 2018-19 was inaugurated at Th Iboyaima Shumang Leela Shanglen in Imphal. The festival which, participated by 21 Shumang Leela groups comprising 12 female groups and 9 male groups, is being organised by Manipur State Kala Akademi, Imphal.
‘Shumang Leela’ stands for ‘Open Air Performance’ generally performed in the courtyards of residential houses. Originally, it started as a comic genre presented before the kings and noblemen which ultimately developed into the present form of courtyard enacted play.
2. Sonowal inaugurates Mission Assam QualiTea
Assam Chief Minister Sarbandna Sonowal inaugurated Training of Small Tea Growers on Tea Quality titled ‘Mission Assam QualiTea’ at Assam Agricultural University in Jorhat. Assam Chief Minister Sonowal also distributed cheques to small tea growers under new plantation scheme 2018-19 at the same programme.
Rs. 5000 is given for every bigha of land with highest allocation for a land of 20 bigha. In the first phase, 3397 tea growers were benefitted and in the second phase which was launched. a total of 1099 tea growers will be benefitted.
3. Assam CM lays foundation stone of 70 MW Solar Park in Sivasagar
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of 70 MW Solar Park at Japisajia village of Amguri in Sivasagar district in a bid to boost power production and promoting clean energy in the state. The solar park to be set up in an area of 340 acre with production life of 25 years will also provide facilities for research and development in the field of solar energy.
Chief Minister Sonowal said that the state government has set a target to generate 6500 MW power in the state by 2030 and this goal could be achieved only through leveraging power production capacity of the state.
4. India-Korea Startup Hub Launched
India Korea Business Symposium was hosted by Invest India and Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI)in Seoul .The Symposium was organized to felicitate the Korean business community on their success in India and to present more opportunities for Korean business in India.
To further strengthen the bilateral ties between India and Republic of Korea, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, launched the India-Korea Startup Hub and Startup Grand Challenge. The Hub is hosted on theStartup India digital platform, the world’s largest virtual incubator with over 300,000 registered startups and aspiring entrepreneurs.
5. Suresh Prabhu addresses Diplomats of LAC Region
Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu,interacted with diplomats of India-Latin America and Caribbean Strategic (LAC) Economic Cooperation in New Delhi .
In his keynote address Suresh Prabhu stressed on the need for a multi-pronged strategy to enhance our bilateral trade, both in merchandise and services.He said that establishing value chain linkages will help to boost trade relations between LAC-India.
6. Textiles Minister launches Short Term Courses at NIFT Panchkula
Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani, launched five short term courses at NIFT Panchkula, Haryana,through video link from New Delhi . The campus is being set up with the support of Department of Technical Education, Government of Haryana.
The proposed one-year Certificate Programmes are:
- Fashion Clothing & Technology
- Design Development for Indian Ethnic Wear
- Fashion & Media Communication
- Textile for Interiors & Fashion
- Fashion Knitwear Production and Technology
The programme aims to impart intensive training to prepare professionals for the knitwear garment industry, especially in the area of knitwear fashion coordination, merchandising and production.
7. Steel Minister to present 25th Prime Minister’s Trophy for Excellence in Performance of Integrated Steel Plants
Union Steel Minister, Chaudhary Birender Singh, will give away 25thPrime Minister’s Trophy for Excellence in Performance of Integrated Steel Plants for 2016-17 in New Delhi on 1st March 2019.
Ministry of Steel has a scheme for award of Prime Minister’s Trophy, Steel Minister’s Trophy and Certificates of Appreciation. The scheme for awarding integrated steel for excellence in performance began in 1992-93 and 2016-17 was the 25th year of evaluation.
There are four categories of awards:
- Prime Minister’s Trophy along with prize money of Rs. 2 crore is given to a plant whose performance is best amongst all participating plants.
- Steel Minister’s Trophy with a prize money of Rs. 1 crore is given for 2nd best overall performance.
- Other categories of awards include “Certificate of Appreciation for Maximum Improvement” and “Theme Based Awards”.
8. Agreement for Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) between India and Japan and provides for India to access 75 billion in US dollars.
Reserve Bank of India and Bank of Japan have completed signing of the Agreement for Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) between India and Japan. It may be recalled that the BSA was negotiated between India and Japan during the visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to Tokyo on 29.10.2018. This BSA provides for India to access 75 billion in US dollars whereas the earlier BSA had provided for US $50 billion. The BSA was approved by the Union Cabinet on 10.01.2019.
The agreement for the BSA has become effective from today . India can access the agreed amount of USD 75 billion for its domestic currency, for the purpose of maintaining an appropriate level of balance of payments or short-term liquidity. A part of the BSA can be accessed at the discretion of India.
9. Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to deliver the Key Note Address at the 4th National Conference on Economics of Competition Law
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is organizing its 4th National Conference on Economics of Competition Law tomorrow on 1st March 1, 2019 in New Delhi. CCI has been organising the Conference every year since 2016. Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India will be delivering the Keynote Address of the 4th National Conference on Economics of Competition Law.
The objectives of the Conference include (a) to stimulate research and debate on contemporary issues in the field of economics of competition law, (b) to develop a better understanding of competition issues relevant to the Indian context and (c) to draw inferences for enforcement of competition law in India among others.
10. India lose to Uzbekistan 0-1 in Turkish Women’s Cup football
India lost to Uzbekistan 0-1 in their opening match of the Turkish Women’s Cup football in Alanya, Turkey . An early goal by Uzbekistan’s Burhanova Malika in the 4th minute made the difference as India struggled for the equaliser in the remainder of the game.
The Indian team will also be facing Turkmenistan and Romania in group A of the tournament.
11. Prakash Javadekar launched SHREYAS
To provide industry apprenticeship opportunities to graduates in non-technical fields, passing out from the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) in April 2019, the Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar launched the Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills (SHREYAS) for youth pursuing higher education.
The objective is to enhance the employability of Indian youth by providing ‘on-job work exposure’ and stipend.
SHREYAS is a programme basket comprising the initiatives of three Central Ministries — the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
12. IDBI Bank, LIC ink bancassurance pact
IDBI Bank and Life Insurance Corporation of India have signed a bancassurance agreement under which the lender will offer LIC’s insurance products at its branches. IDBI Bank as a corporate agent of LIC would get a window to provide LIC’s entire gamut of insurance offerings to the bank’s 1.80-crore customer base spread over 1,800 branches across the country.
As part of the service-level agreement, the bank will become the preferred bank for LIC premium payments and also function as premium point to boost sale of LIC products, thereby gaining from fees and float income, it further said.
13. Adobe, Atal Innovation Mission partner to enhance digital literacy, creativity skills
Software firm Adobe has partnered with Niti Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to collaborate on enhancing digital literacy and creativity skills.
The two parties have signed a statement of intent (SOI) to collectively drive the charter of developing creative skills and spreading digital literacy across all Atal Tinkering Labs in India with the support of Adobe’s resources and expertise.
Adobe will also implement its Digital Disha Programme across 100 schools under Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) initiative, it added.
14. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan hands over 100th Letter of Intent under SATAT scheme
Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill development and Entrepreneurship Shri Dharmendra Pradhan handed over the 100th Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Compressed Bio-Gas(CBG) Entrepreneur (producer) under the SATAT scheme.
SATAT is an initiative aimed at providing a Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation as a developmental effort that would benefit both vehicle-users as well as farmers and entrepreneurs.
15. IRCTC launches payment aggregator, IRCTC iPay
The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched its own payment aggregator system, IRCTC iPay, a step which will help promote government’s Digital India initiative.
The exclusive digital payment gateway will provide an improved online digital payment convenience and ease of doing business to passengers availing online travel related services through the IRCTC website.
“With the launch of IRCTC iPay, the passengers will not need any third-party platforms as the IRCTC iPay provides payment options like credit card, debit card, UPI – Unified Payment Interface, International Card.
16. England women beat India by two wickets in third ODI
England women’s team defeated India by two wickets in the third and final ODI in Mumbai .England scored 208-8 in 48.5 overs to grab two crucial points as the three-game series is part of ICC Women’s Championship.
The World Champions are placed in seventh place and need to be in the top four to qualify directly for the 2021 World Cup.
India had already sealed the series after the winning the first two games. The two teams will now head to Guwahati to play the three-match T20I series.
17. Boxing: One gold, five silver medals for India at Makran Cup
National champion Deepak Singh was the lone Indian boxer to notch up a gold while five others claimed silver medals in the Makran Cup in Chabahar, Iran.
Deepak (49-kilogram) defeated Jaafar Naseri in the finals held last night.However, none of the other five Indian finalists could win their summit clashes.
Finishing second on the podium were P Lalitha Prasad (52kg), Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik (60kg), Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg), Sanjeet (91kg) and Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Satish Kumar (91kg).
18. India and Brunei sign Agreement for the Exchange of Information and Assistance in Collection with respect to Taxes (TIEA)
The Government of Republic of India and the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam signed an Agreement for the Exchange of Information and Assistance in Collection with respect to Taxes (TIEA) in New Delhi.
19. 101 police personnel awarded ‘Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation’ for 2018
The ‘Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation’ for the year 2018 have been awarded to 101 Police personnel belonging to 25 States/UT/ Central Investigating Agencies .
This medal, constituted in 2018, with the objective to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime and to recognize such Excellence in Investigation by Investigating officers.
Among the personnel receiving this Awards, 11 are from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra Police each, 9 are from CBI, 8 are from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh police, 7 are from Tamil Nadu police and the remaining from the other States/UT and Central Investigating Agencies. These include twelve (12) women police officers.
20. TECH-SOP 2019 for MSMEs
With a view to enhance awareness among MSMEs about latest technological innovations available, and sensitize them on the role of technology in creating competitiveness and opportunities, the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)organized a programme on Technology Support and Outreach (TECH-SOP 2019) in New Delhi.
TECH – SOP 2019 is an initiative to bridge the gap between the technological innovations and MSMEs so that they can harness the technologies and grow in the global value chain.
‘India Green Tech Open Challenge’was also launched during this occasion which aims to encourage MSMEs to adopt sustainable and green technologies.
21. Booker Prize for fiction secures new financial backer
Booker Prize for fiction secures new financial backer Britain’s leading literary award, the Booker Prize, found a new financial backer after its sponsor of almost two decades pulled out.
Prize trustees said the Crankstart Foundation will become the sponsor in June. The charity was founded by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Michael Moritz and his wife, writer Harriet Heyman. Crankstart has committed to funding the Booker Prize for English-language novels and the International Booker Prize for translated works for at least five years.
The prize’s previous sponsor, the investment firm Man Group PLC, announced last month that it was stopping its funding after 18 years.
22. Smriti Irani inaugurates Titanwala Museum in Rajasthan’s Bagru
Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the ‘Titanwala Museum’ in Bagru that showcases the Chhipa community’s hand-block printing.
The museum is an example that art and culture are not dependent on the government for being nurtured or preserved. It will go a long way in taking the name of Bagru on the world map,” Irani said .
23. West Bengal Launches ‘Banglar Shiksha’ Portal
West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee inaugurated a web portal “Banglar Shiksha” which is set to provide real-time data on state-run and aided schools.The portal, Banglar Shiksha (banglarshiksha.gov.in), will be up and running in two months time.
A statement issued by the school education department stated that the portal will store real-time data of 1.5 crore students, 5 lakh teachers and 1 lakh schools.
24. MP: CZPDC Bhopal, WZPDC Indore bag Saubhagya award
In Madhya Pradesh, the Central Zone Power Distribution Company, Bhopal and West Zone Power Distribution Company, Indore have been awarded the Saubhagya award under Pradhanmantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana at the National Conference of Energy Ministers. The award included 100 crore rupees each.
25. National Science Day: 28 February
National Science Day is celebrated in India on 28 February each year to mark the discovery of the Raman effect by Indian physicist Sir C V Raman on 28 February 1928. For his discovery, Sir C.V. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
This year the theme for the National Science Day is ‘Science for people and people for science’.
