Daily Current affairs for the 26th & 27th Feb 2018 ( English)
1. Feb
27- Marathi Bhasha Diwas was celebrated by Maharashtra on the
occasion of the birth anniversary of noted Marathi litterateur
VVShirwadkar, popularly known as “Kusumagraj.”
2. On the occasion of
former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s 70th birth anniversary ( 24th Feb,2018)
PM Narendra Modi has launched subsidised Amma two-wheeler Scheme meant for
working women. The subsidized scooter scheme for working women is an
electoral promise of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. Under the
scheme, every beneficiary will be given 50% of cost of a two-wheeler or grant
of Rs. 25,000. It will cover one lakh working women every year. He also
launched 70-lakh tree sapling planting drive.
3. The
Union Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Uma Bharti, launched
the Swajal pilot project at Bhikampura, in Rajasthan. Swajal is a community
owned drinking water programme for sustained drinking water supply. 90% of
the project cost will be provided by Central Government while remaining 10% of
the project cost will be contributed by the local community. This project will not
only ensure round the year availability of clean drinking water to every
household in Bhikampura, but will also generate employment.
4. CSIR-National
Institute of Oceanography, Goa has announced the discovery of methane gas
flares and active cold seeps from the seabed in the Krishna Godavari basin in
the Bay of Bengal. High concentrations of hydrogen sulfide, calcium carbonate,
unique faunal groups and shallow presence of methane hydrates has been found at
these sites. Research is being conducted to establish the economic feasibility
of commercial gas extraction from cold seeps. The seep sites are distributed
over a water depth of 900 metres to 1900 metres.
5. Employees’
Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has introduced UAN-Aadhaar linking facility
for the convenience of members using EPFO Link in UMANG Mobile App. A new
feature to link UAN with Aadhaar online, using biometric credentials has
been added to the facility in the e-KYC Portal. For using this facility with
UMANG APP, Member will have to provide his/her UAN. An OTP will be sent to the
UAN registered Mobile Number. After OTP Verification, member will have to
provide Aadhaar details and gender information. Another OTP will be sent on
Aadhaar Registered Mobile Number and/or email. After OTP verification,
Aadhaar will be linked with UAN where UAN and Aadhaar details are matched. EPFO has also introduced e-Nomination
facility for filing nomination form by members. This facility is offered
at Member Interface of EPFO Unified Portal (https://unifiedportal-mem.epfindia.gov.in/memberinterface/).
6. Chilika Lake in
Odisha has become the single largest habitat of Irrawaddy dolphins in the
world. 155 Irrawaddy dolphins have been identified in the Chilika
Lake. This information has been provided by Chilika Development
Authority (CDA) official, based on the preliminary report of the first ‘Annual
Monitoring’ of the Chilika Lake conducted recently.
7. The Union Minister
for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River
Development & Ganga Rejuvenation ,Nitin Gadkari has laid the foundation
stone for National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC),
at IIT Chennai. NTCPWC is set up under the Sagarmala programme of Ministry of
Shipping. It will function as a technology arm of the Ministry of Shipping. NTCPWC
will offer indigenous software and technology, develop technical guidelines and
standards and work towards modernization of Indian ports. The cost for setting
up NTCPWC is Rs 70.53 crore. This amount is shared by Ministry of
Shipping, IWAI and the Major Ports.
8. The Union Minister
of Civil Aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju inaugurated a first of its kind
Aviation Multi Skill Development Centre at the Chandigarh Old Airport Terminal
building. It has been set up in collaboration with the National
Skill Development Corporation and is supported by the Aerospace and Aviation
Sector Skill Council of India. It will train youth in 8 Aviation job roles
over the next three years.
9. The Union minister
of Information and Broadcasting Smriti Irani released the reference annual
India 2018 and Bharat 2018. These have been published by Publications Division in
English and Hindi. These books are authentic and comprehensive volumes
about government's plans and achievements in various sectors and also the basic
information about states and UT is also available in these volumes.
10. Telangana Chief
Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced five lakh rupees health-cum-life insurance
scheme for farmers in the state while addressing the regional conference of
Farmers’ Coordination Committees in Karimnagar, Telanagana. Over 70 lakh
farmers across Telangana will be covered under this scheme. Rs. 500 crore
has been allocated for implementation of this scheme. Entire premium for the
insurance will be borne by the Telangana State Government. In case of death of
farmer, amount will be paid to families of farmers. Health insurance will be
provided in case of hospitalisation.
11. Galvanizing Organic
Bio-Agro Resources Dhan (GOBAR-DHAN) scheme was launched by the Union Ministry. It was first
announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his 2018-19 budget speech.
The scheme will be hugely beneficial for country as India is home to highest
cattle population in world (around 300 million in number) which produces around
3 million tonnes of dung. The scheme focuses on managing and converting cattle
dung and solid waste in farms to useful compost, biogas and bio-CNG. It will
also help in keeping the village clean while increasing income of farmers and
cattle herders.
12. The 21st National
Conference on e-Governance was held in Hyderabad, capital city of Telangana
with the theme ‘Technology for accelerating Development’ by Department
of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), along with Ministry of
Electronics & Information Technology (MeITY) in.association with Telangana
The inaugural session of conference was followed by 3 Plenary Sessions based on
themes Building User Experience, Universalization and Replication and Governing
e-Governance. The Conference showcased best practices, innovative
technologies and ICT solutions. The National e-Governance Awards recognising
and promoting excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives by
various government departments and also initiatives of PSUs and Non- Government
Institutions were given.
13. SRIJAN (Station
Rejuvenation through Joint ActioN), an idea competition for development of 635
railway stations was launched on MyGov portal by Indian Railway Stations
Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC). IRSDC has taken up massive
redevelopment of around 600 major Railway stations across the country. In this
mega exercise, it will take assistance and involve all stakeholders i.e.
railway passengers, urban planners, architects, engineers. For this, it has
extended pen invitation for developing concept and master plans for
redevelopment of stations firms & professionals interested for Station
Development. The winners in the SRIJAN competition will get certificates and
worthy ideas will be incorporated in the designs.
14. The National Green
Tribunal appointed court commissioners to verify allegations made in a plea
regarding illegal sand mining in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. A bench headed by
Justice Jawad Rahim appointed advocates Gaurav Bansal and Rahul Khurana as
court commissioners in the case and directed them to submit the inspection
report by 30 March.
15. ‘Viral Load
testing’ for all People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) was launched by the Union
Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda. The viral load test
measures amount of HIV in blood and number of copies of HIV RNA in millilitre
of blood. Viral Load testing initiative for PLHIV will provide free of cost
viral load testing for 12 lakh PLHIV on treatment in country at least once
year. It will help to monitor effectiveness of treatment of patients taking
lifelong Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). It will also help in strengthening
‘Mission Sampark’ in tracking LFU (Loss to Follow Up) PLHIV and achieve India’s
commitment to global 90-90-90 target by 2020. According to UNAIDS, India has
third largest population of PLHIV after South Africa and Nigeria.
16. Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), introduced a ‘Baal Aadhaar’ card ( Blue color
card)for children below the age of five years. No biometric details
will be needed for ‘Baal Aadhaar’. However, when the child turns five, a
mandatory biometric update will be required, which is to be done by taking
the child to any nearby Aadhaar centre. Aadhhar Card is not mandatory for
children in this age group. However, it is required if he/she wants to avail
government scholarships and also attending educational programmes overseas.
17. India and Canada
signed following six pacts in New Delhi, in presence of Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and visiting Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau for
co-operation in the fields of science, technology and innovation, Information
Communications Technology and Electronics, higher education, sports,
Intellectual Property Rights, India-Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue.
18. An MoU was signed
with Canada’s International Development Research
Centre (IDRC) for research collaboration in various fields by the
Union government. It envisages ‘programme based research support’ in
handling current and future global and local developmental challenges.
19. A multinational
mega event ‘MILAN 2018’ will be hosting by Indian Navy’s Andaman & Nicobar
Command with the theme ‘Friendship Across the Seas’ from
6th – 13th March, 2018 at Port Blair The main
objective is to foster co-operation through naval exercises and professional
interactions. Inaugural address at this event will be delivered by Chief of the
Naval Staff of the Indian Navy, Admiral Sunil Lanba. Countries that
will participate in MILAN 2018: Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Cambodia, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Myanmar, New Zealand,
Philippines, Seychelles, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Thailand. Countries
that will participate for first time: Brunei, Mozambique, Papua New
Guinea, Oman, South Africa, Timor Leste and Vietnam. Professional exercises,
seminars, social events and sporting fixtures will be conducted during the
course of this event.
20. ‘Run for New
India’ marathon in Surat, Gujarat was flagged off by PM Modi. CM of
Gujarat Vijay Rupani was also present on the occasion. It was organized
by the Surat Nagrik Samiti. It is divided into 4 categories which
included 41 KM full marathon. It aims to create awareness about social
causes and call upon youth to resolve to build a New India.
21. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi launched various development projects worth Rs 1000 crores in
Daman & Diu. He distributed certificates to beneficiaries of
programs and addressed a public meeting at the Daman college ground. He flagged
off Pawan Hans helicopter services from Daman to Diu through a video link. The
Prime Minister inaugurated Air Odisha's flight connecting Ahmedabad with Diu
under the UDAN scheme.
23. September 22
will be observing as Rhino Day by the Assam government to generate public
awareness on protection of one-horned rhinoceros (pachyderm).It was announced at
the 10th meeting of State Board for Wildlife chaired by Chief Minister
Sarbananda Sonowal. State government is also launch State Rhino Project in line
with National Rhino Project for protecting them from threats of poaching. The
day will be dedicated to approximately 2,500 rhino population in state.
Kaziranga National Park hosts two-thirds of the world’s Great One-horned
rhinoceros (68% of worldwide population). It has been listed as Vulnerable on
the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. They are found in Kaziranga, Orang,
Pobitara, Jaldapara (in Assam), Dudhwa (UP) National Park.
24. The Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs) will get largest chunk of loans on offer under
Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE), new funding model
scheme for all centrally-run institutes. RISE scheme was announced in
Union Budget 2017-18. It aims to lend low-cost funds to government higher
educational institutions. Under it, all centrally-funded institutes (CFIs),
including central universities, IITs, IIMs, NITs and IISERs can borrow from a
Rs 1,00,000 crore corpus over next 4 years to expand and build new
infrastructure. It will be financed via restructured Higher Education Financing
Agency (HEFA), a non-banking financial company.
25. An MoU was
signed between Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) and
Indian Ocean Rim Association’s (IORA’s) Regional Centre for Science and
Technology Transfer (RCSTT) for designating Central Institute of Medicinal and
Aromatic Plants, Lucknow (CSIR-CIMAP) as Coordinating Centre on Medicinal
plants. It will establish database on important medicinal plants, their
value added products, related experts and industries of IORA member states. The
IORA is association of 21 countries and 7 dialogue partners which have
identified six areas of cooperation including medicinal plants. IORA is
headquartered in Tehran, Iran.
26. The two day
international conference on Sustainable Biofuels jointly being organized by
Department of Biotechnology and Biofuture platform was held in New Delhi. The
conference also aimed to provide clear understanding of development in
bio-economy made by participating countries, increase awareness of policy
makers about challenges faced by industry-investor for commercial scale up of
advanced biofuels. It also focused on concerns of private sectors to speed up
large scale production of sustainable biofuels.
27. The 2nd India-Korea
Business Summit was held in New Delhi with the theme “India-Korea:
Scaling up the Special Strategic Relationship through Trade and Investments”. Over 200 business
delegates, including representatives of leading Korean business conglomerates
and Government officials participated in this Summit. he Summit focused on
exploring opportunities in Infrastructure, Information Communication
Technology, Power, Smart Cities and Manufacturing sectors.
28. Union Ministry of
External Affairs (MEA) is planning to set up “India corners” which will provide
authentic reference material for students who wish to know more
about India at educational institutes abroad. India corner
will comprise a set of books carrying information on different aspects
of India. Such books will be provided to the selected library by
Ministry of External Affairs.
29. China-based Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved USD 1.5 billion in loans to
India for infrastructure-related projects in 2018. The funds would be
used for investment in India's energy, roads and urban development projects.
30. Russia vetoed a UN
draft resolution presented by Britain on Feb 26, 2018 that would have pressured
Iran over its failure to block supplies of missiles to Yemen's Huthi rebels. It was strongly
supported by the United States, won 11 favourable votes at the 15-member
Security Council but was blocked by Russia's veto. China and Kazakhstan
abstained, while Bolivia also voted against the measure. No vetoes from
the five permanent council members - Britain, France, China, Russia and the
United States. The adoption of a resolution at the UN Security Council
requires 9 votes. After the veto, the council unanimously adopted a
Russian-drafted measure that extended the sanctions regime against Yemen for
one year, but that text made no mention of Iran.
31. Saudi King Salman
suspended the Military Chief General Abdul Rahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan and a
number of other top commanders in a series of royal decrees issued on February
26, 2018. The series of royal decrees also saw the
appointment of new governors, deputy governors of provinces across the kingdom
as well as new ministers to several posts. Fayyad al-Ruwaili was
appointed as replacement of General Abdul Rahman bin Saleh al-Bunyan.
32. China was elected
as vice chair of Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global body mandated to
combat terror financing and money laundering. In its plenary meeting in Paris,
FATF had placed Pakistan under “grey list” subject to direct monitoring and
intense scrutiny by International Cooperation Review Group till June 2018 for
compliance of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Finance of Terrorism
regulations. Pakistan was on the same list from 2012 to 2015.
33. 20th Conference
of the Commonwealth Education Ministers (20CCEM) was held in Nadi, Fiji from
19th – 23rd February 2018. With the theme “Sustainability
and Resilience: Can Education Deliver?”. Indian delegation to this conference
was led by Dr. Satya Pal Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource
Development.
34. ISRO has started
work on building igloos (referred to as lunar habitats) on the Moon. The objective
is to help the astronauts to spend more time on the moon. Scientists have
already designed five prototypes of the lunar habitat. These lunar
habitats will be built by sending robots and 3D printers to the
Moon. It will be built from lunar soil and other materials. These lunar
habitats will serve as outpost on the Moon just like the ones that have been
built in Antarctica.
35. The Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has carried out first successful
test-flight of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Rustom-2 in user configuration
with higher power engine. The flight was conducted at its Aeronautical Test Range at
Chitradurga in Karnataka and all its parameters were normal. It is
medium-altitude long-endurance drone (MALE). It can fly up to an altitude of
22,000 feet and has endurance of over 20 hours. It is capable of carrying
payloads for electronic and signal intelligence missions.
36. Reserve Bank of
India (RBI) raised the exposure limit to USD 100 million across all currency
pairs.under exchange traded currency derivatives (ETCD) for
residents and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs). Earlier exposure limit set by RBI was USD 15 million for USD-INR
contracts and USD 5 million for other currency pairs. Increasing exposure limit
will help the participants to better manage their risk and will also improve
the liquidity in the instrument. Participants who breach this limit may face
action as per the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and the
regulations and directions related to the subject. As of now,
four currency pairs, viz. USD/INR, EUR/INR (Euro), GBP/INR (Great British
Pound) and JPY/INR (Japanese Yen) are traded on Indian exchanges.
37. Catholic Syrian
Bank Ltd (CSB) has partnered with Celebrus Capital Ltd (Celebrus), to offer
online equity trading and demat services to its customers. As per the terms of
the tie-up, CSB’s customers will be able to open a Celebrus trading
account free of cost.
38. IndusInd Bank has
announced its partnership with Ripple, the blockchain solution provider to facilitate
cross border remittances into and out of India.
39. Sterlite
Techologies announced that it has received a Rs 3500-crore advance purchase
order to design, build and manage communications network of the Indian Navy. This system
integration project will provide an advanced digital communications network to
the Indian Navy. Once the project is completed, it will link multiple Indian
naval sites and India-administered islands.
40. Bharti Airtel announced
that it has joined ‘Seamless Alliance’, a new global
collaboration to bring high-speed and uninterrupted in-flight data connectivity
to mobile customers. Along with Bharti Airtel, OneWeb, Airbus, Delta and Sprint
are the other founding members of this alliance.
41. KS Dwivedi has been
appointed as the new Director General of Police (DGP) of Bihar. He
will replace PK Thakur who retires from his post on 28th February 2018.
42. Samina Baig
(mountaineer) was appointed the National Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan by
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). she will work
towards creating awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals, especially
the ones related to climate change, environmental protection, youth and women’s
empowerment.
43. Veteran footballer
Bhaichung Bhutia resigned from the Trinamool Congress. He resigned
from all the official and political posts of TMC and is no longer associated
with any political party.
44. Michael McCormack
was elected new Deputy Prime Minister of Australia after being
selected as the leader of the country's National Party. He replaces
former Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce who was forced to resign amid public
anger over an extramarital affair with his former press secretary.
45. Rahul Mahajan was appointed
as the new Editor-in-Chief of Rajya Sabha Television.
46. Sajeev Krishnan was appointed
as Additional Director on the Board of Dhanlaxmi Bank.
47. Vice
President M Venkaiah Naidu honored 338 workers with Prime Minister’s Shram
Awards. 194 prestigious Awards for the Year 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014,
2015 and 2016 were given away by the Vice President at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The
Awardees are employed in Public Sector Undertakings of the Central and State
Government and Private Sector Units with 500 or more workers.
48. Inclusive
Internet Index (III) 2018- India was ranked 47th out of 86 countries. India
has slipped by 11 positions compared to 36th rank in 2017 III report due to low
internet usage and poor quality. It provides rigorous benchmark of
national-level Internet inclusion across four categories: Availability,
Affordability, Relevance and Readiness. India was ranked 62nd in Availability,
39th in Affordability, 37th in Relevance and 23rd in Readiness categories.
Singapore, Canada, Poland and Malaysia have topped in respective categories.
The report was commissioned by Facebook in 2017 and is conducted by The
Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
49. Gopi
Thonakal and Monika Athare retained the titles they won last year in the men’s
and women’s category respectively, at the IDBI Federal Life Insurance New
Delhi Marathon.The marathon was flagged off at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium by
Sachin Tendulkar. Nearly 65 elite Indian athletes participated in the full
marathon of 42.195km.
50. India’s
Vikas Krishan has won a gold medal by defeating USA’s
Troy Isley in the middle-weight (75kg) finals and won the gold medal.
He was also named the best boxer of the tournament at the 69th Strandja
Memorial boxing tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria. Amit Panghal (49kg) also won a
gold medal in the tournament. M C Mary Kom (48kg), Seema Poonia (+81kg)
and Gaurav Solanki (52kg) won silver medals. Meena Kumari Devi (54kg), L
Sarita Devi (60kg), Saweety Boora (75kg) and Bhagyabati Kachari (81kg) are the
women who won bronze medals. Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg) and
Satish Kumar (+91kg) won bronze medals among men.
51. Indian
Olympic Association (IOA) announced that it has partnered with Edelweiss
Financial Services Limited as sponsor of the Indian team for 2018 Commonwealth
Games, the 2018 Asian Games and the 2020 Olympic Games and National Games 2018
and 2019. Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance, provides a Rs 50 lakh life
Insurance cover for Indian athletes participating in the 2018 Commonwealth
Games. IOA has also declared Raymond as its official styling partner
and Shiv Naresh Sports as its official sports apparel partner for the
Commonwealth Games that is to be conducted in Gold Coast, Australia, from 4-15
April 2018.
52. The book ‘Hari Singh
Nalwa: Champion of the Khalsaji (1791-1837)’ was authored by Dr Vanit
Nalwa
53. Odia
writer Kanakalata Mohanty passed away on 26th Feb 2018 after
suffering from old age related ailments at a private hospital in Odisha.
54.Former
Cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian has passed away.
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