VINTAGE

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF FEBRUARY 19^th, 2019

              IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF FEBRUARY 19^th, 2019

1.      Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammad Bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud arrived in New Delhi today evening on a 2-day official visit.

a.       The Crown Prince who is also the Vice President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen.

b.       During this visit, he will hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. 

c.       Several agreements are expected to be signed after the talks. 

2.      External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajhas reached Madrid (capital of Spain) in the 3rd and final leg of her three-nation tour (Bulgaria - Morocco - Spain).

a.       She will have a bilateral meeting with her Spanish counterpart.

3.      Myanmar today set up a committee to discuss reforming the country's military-drafted constitution.

4.      Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). 

a.       The hospital aims to provide affordable cancer care to patients in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttarakhand and even neighbouring countries like Nepal. 

b.       The PM also inaugurated Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital in Lehartara.

5.      16 states and Union territories today joined a Pan-India Network of Single Emergency Helpline Number ‘112’ on which immediate assistance can be sought by anyone in distress. 

a.       The 112 helpline is an integration of police (100), fire (101) and women (1090) helpline numbers.

b.       The health helpline (108) will also be integrated with it soon. 

c.       The Emergency Helpline Number was launched by : Rajnath Singh (Home Minister)

d.       The states include Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir. The service has already been launched in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

6.      The 79th Indian History Congress (IHC) will be held at Barkatullah University in Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh) from February 26. 

a.       Over 1,000 delegates including prominent historians are expected to participate in the IHC in Bhopal.

b.       Note : Earlier the 79th Indian History Congress was supposed to be held at Pune but was cancelled citing financial constraints to host the congress.

c.       Indian History Congress was established in 1935 and it is the largest professional and academic body of Indian historians with over 10,000 members.

d.       Madhya Pradesh is hosting this event for the 2nd time, earlier it was held at 2011. 

7.      The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is going to transfer an interim dividend of ₹28,000 crore to the government. 

a.       Important Point to Note : 

i)       This is the second consecutive year that the RBI will be transferring an interim surplus. 

ii)     The central bank had transferred a total of ₹50,000 crore to the government for 2017-18 of which ₹10,000 crore was transferred as interim dividend.

8.      India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has announced that it will waive off all loans taken by CRPF soldiers martyred in Pulwama attack. 

a.       The bank also announced to expedite the payment of insurance money of ₹30 lakh as under the Defence Salary Package. 

b.       SBI has also created a UPI payment gateway to facilitate donation to martyrs' families.

9.      To handle the angel tax issue, the Indian government today announced a new definition for startups. 

a.       An entity will now be considered a startup for a period of 0 years from the date of its incorporation as opposed to the earlier norm of seven years, according to an official Gazette notification by the government. 

b.       Similarly, an entity will continue to be recognised as a start-up if its turnover for any of the financial years since incorporation and registration has not exceeded ₹100 crore in place of ₹25 crore earlier.

10. India and Morocco signed 4 MoUs following the delegation-level talks between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in Rabat. The MOUs are :

a.       MOU on setting up of Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism.

b.       MOU on Cooperation in Housing and Human Settlement.

c.       MOU on Reciprocal facilitation of procedures for issue of Business Visa.

d.       MOU on Cooperation in Youth Matters.

11. During the visit of Argentine President Mauricio Macri, Argentina has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to boost cooperation in the sector of nuclear energy with India. 

12. Israel is going to launch its 1st moon mission this week, sending an unmanned spacecraftto collect data to be shared with NASA.

a.       The 585-kilogram Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft is to lift off atopa Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida at around 0145 GMT on Friday.

b.       Note : Sofar only Russia, the United States and China have sent their spacecraft to the moon. The Chinese spacecraft made the first ever soft landing on the far sideof the moon on January 3.

13. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a National Cyber Forensic Lab (NDFL)and Cyber Prevention, Awareness & Detection Centre (CyPAD) in Dwaraka. 

a.       The national security agencies and Delhi Police will use facilities at NCFL set up under Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (ICCCC).

14. Dr G C Anupama has been elected President of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI). 

a.       With this, she has become the 1st woman to head the prime association of professional astronomers in the country.

b.       He is currently working as the Dean and Senior Professor at the Bengaluru based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA). 

15. Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar has been appointed as ADG & IGP, West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department (CID), days after the CBI questioned him in the Saradha and Rose Valley Ponzi scams. 

a.       Additional Director General of West Bengal Police (law and order) Anuj Sharma was appointed as the new Kolkata Police Commissioner to Rajeev Kumar.