Current Affairs Daily Digest – March 4 2019
1. Shri Rajnath Singh to inaugurate BOLD–QIT project along international border in Dhubri, Assam tomorrow
The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the project BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) under CIBMS (Comprehensive Integrated Border Management system) on India-Bangladesh border in Dhubri District of Assam tomorrow.
BOLD-QIT is the project to install technical systems under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS), which enables BSF to equip Indo-Bangla borders with different kind of sensors in unfenced riverine area of Brahmaputra and its tributaries.
2. PM visits Jamnagar in Gujarat : Dedicates new building of Guru Gobind Singh Hospital to Nation : Flags off Bandra- Jamnagar Humsafar Express
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi,flagged off the Bandra- Jamnagar Humsafar Express, at Jamnagar in Gujarat. He dedicated the new 750 bed annexe of Guru GobindSingh Hospital to the nation and unveiled various SAUNI projects. He also launched other development projects at Jamnagar including the 51 km pipeline from Aaji-3 to Khijadia.
Hailing the health sector revolution in Gujarat, Prime Minister said that the hospitals that have come up in the past few years in Gujarat will greatly benefit the poora and Ayushman Bharat scheme rolled out by the Union Government will ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the poor.
3. Assam CM lays foundation stone of Tingkhong Polytechnic Institute
Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of Tingkhong Polytechnic Institute to be setup at No 1 Betoni Village under Tingkhong LAC in Dibrugarh district .
The institute will be constructed with financial outlay of Rs. 50 crore under SOPD Scheme by the Directorate of Technical Education in an area of 35 bigha land.
In the same programme, Assam Chief Minister Sonowal also laid foundation stone of construction of Multi Purpose Market at Rajgarh in Tingkhong under Signature Project with an expenditure of Rs. 10 crore and strengthening of Rajgarh Community Health Centre with an expenditure of Rs. 1.91 crore under National Health Mission.
4. Former Union minister V. Dhananjaya Kumar dies aged 68
Former Union minister V. Dhananjaya Kumar, who was ailing for some time, died at a private hospital , was 68
Mr. Kumar began his political career in the youth wing of the BJP and later went on to become a Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1983 from the erstwhile Mangalore Assembly constituency. Though he contested again to the State Assembly from the same constituency, he got defeated in 1985.
5. Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah re-elected Asian Olympic chief
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah has been re-elected president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) for an eighth term despite being embroiled in a forgery case brought by Swiss investigators.
An IOC member since 1992, Sheikh Ahmad stepped down from his roles in the global Olympic body in November, less than two weeks after the Public Prosecutor of Geneva submitted a forgery accusation to a criminal court against the Kuwaiti and four others.
Sheikh Ahmad had been head of Olympic Solidarity — the multi-million dollar IOC purse that funds sports projects globally — and the head of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC). Sheikh Ahmad has proclaimed his innocence and said in November that the Swiss court case had nothing to do with “sport or corruption”.
6. IDBI Bank gets govt nod to handle import, export transactions with Iran
The IDBI Bank has received government nod to handle import and export transactions with Iran, a move which would help in promoting two-way trade amid US sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation.
Iran is India’s third-largest oil supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It was India’s second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11 but sanctions by the West over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in the subsequent years. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 million tonnes (MT) and 10.95 MT of crude, respectively from Iran.
Bilateral trade between India and Iran increased to $13.8 billion in 2017-18 from $12.9 billion in the previous fiscal. However, India’s exports were only worth $2.5 billion to that country.
7. IIT-Delhi develops India’s first Braille laptop for visually impaired
The researchers of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi have created India’s first Braille laptop for the visually- impaired. The laptop is named DotBook, and it has a feature-packed, affordable Braille display. The laptop comprises 10-cell refreshable Braille Cell modules.
The DotBook is expected to create a positive impact for the visually impaired community as independent digital access has become a vital part of day-to-day living.
DotBook is being launched in two variants:
DotBook 20P: 20-Cell Braille Variant with Perkins Keys
DotBook 40Q: 40-Cell Braille Variant with QWERTY Keyboard
8. Indian Bank receives Best Bank Award
Public sector Indian Bank has bagged the Best Bank Award from the Tamil Nadu government for meeting the needs of women’s self-help groups (SHGs). At a function in Salem recently, Chief Minister of the state K Palaniswami handed over the award to the executive director of the bank M K Bhattacharya.
9. Pranay Kumar Verma named India’s next Ambassador to Vietnam
The Ministry of External Affairs appointed Pranay Kumar Verma as the next Ambassador of India to Vietnam .
Verma, a 1994 cadre Indian Foreign Services officer, is presently serving as the Joint Secretary at MEA.
Furthermore, Nina Tshering La and Abhay Thakur were concurrently accredited as the respective Ambassadors of India to Gabon and Chad .
La, presently serving as the Ambassador of India to the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be carrying out the additional duties with residence in Kinshasa.
10. India Design Week to launch its first edition of Spring Summer
India Design Week is coming up with its first edition of Spring Summer season in April 2019. The design week aims at giving the platform to artisans of art and craft, handloom sector which is on the verge of extinction and also to promote young talent in the field of Textile, Knitwear and Lifestyle along with fashion which is again an untouched segment of the fashion industry.
11. TVS Motor wins international sustainability award
TVS Motor Company have bagged the ‘Green Era Award for Sustainability’ at Lisbon in Portugal.The two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturer also won the ‘Quality and Business Excellence Award’ for its endeavour to create new benchmarks in product quality.The awards are based on the conclusion of the research team of Otherways Management and Consulting in France.
The companies chosen were ranked against criteria such as investment attraction, high technologies, quality and staff for professional and modern management methods.
The event held at Lisbon was attended by 34 companies across 25 countries. TVS Motor is the flagship company of 8.5 billion dollar TVS Group.
12. Historic Guinness World Record in Yoga Made in Hong Kong
Taking the Yoga Day initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the next level, the Overseas President of BJP for Hong Kong & China, Sohan Goenka conducted a Japan Auction House Guinness World Record in Yoga.
The first of its kind in the history of Hong Kong; beating the previous record of 387, more than 1011 yoga practitioners attempted Virabathrasan (Warrior II Pose) for 3 minutes in one place and achieved the Guinness World Record at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, Hong Kong on 24th February.
13. BHEL installs first solar EV charging station on Delhi-Chandigarh Highway
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) announced that the company has set up its first solar-based electric vehicle charger on the Delhi-Chandigarh Highway.
The first in a series of charging stations was inaugurated at Ethnic India Resort in Sonepat district by A.R. Sihag, Secretary at the Department of Heavy Industry, in the presence of BHEL Chairman and Managing Director Atul Sobti and senior officials of Haryana Tourism.
The project is covered under the FAME scheme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles). The establishment of EV chargers at regular intervals over the entire 250 km stretch between Delhi and Chandigarh will allay range-anxiety among the users and bolster their confidence for inter-city travel.
14. India tops Global Consumer Confidence Survey
This was revealed in the latest Conference Board Global Consumer Confidence Survey, which is conducted in collaboration with Nielsen. The survey which was conducted over the internet, polls more than 32,000 consumers in 64 countries across Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and North America.
India had a Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) score of 133 in the fourth quarter of 2018 edging past the Philippines (131) and Indonesia (127). India maintain its number one position from the third quarter when it scored 130 on the index whereas Philippines and Indonesia were joint fourth in Q3 of 2018 with an identical score of 126.
