Current Affairs February 11, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of February 11, 2019 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. On 8th of February 2019, the Red Cross called for a total ban on nuclear weapons & also gave warning of the growing risk that such arms could again be used with devastating effect. For this burning issue, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched a global campaign to raise awareness about the rising nuclear threat facing the world. The notonukes.org campaign comes after the United States and Russia announced to abandon the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF)Treaty. The campaign aims to encourage people to lobby their governments to sign and ratify the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which has so far been signed by 70 nations and ratified by 21.
2. Oscar-nominated British actor Albert Finney (82) has passed away in London on 7th of February 2019. He was a five-time Oscar nominee who began his career at the Royal Shakespeare Company before making his mark in film. He is known for his roles in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (also 1960), Tom Jones (1963), Two for the Road (1967), Scrooge (1970), Annie (1982), The Dresser (1983), Miller's Crossing (1990), etc.
3. Weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga from Mizoram has recently clinched silver in men's 67kg category & fetched India's second medal in the EGAT's Cup International Weightlifting Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Lalrinnunga lifted 131kg in the snatch and 157kg in clean and jerk for a total of 288 kg. Earlier, in the on-going event, world champion Saikhom Mirabai Chanu had won a gold in the women's 48-kilogram category with a total lift of 192 kilograms.
4. The book titled “Let's Talk On Air: Conversations with Radio Presenters" has been authored by Rakesh Anand Bakshi, which serves as a comprehensive guide on radio-presenting in India. The new book celebrates the lives of 14 popular radio presenters in India - from the legendary Ameen Sayani to present-day RJs who have been entertaining us via the airwaves. Besides Sayani, among those RJs featured in the book are Yunus Khan, Rohini, Mamta Singh, Sayema, Hrishikay Kannan, Anuraag 'picture' Pandey and Anmol. This book can help shed light on intricacies of radio as a medium and the RJs behind the microphones, connect fans to their favourite RJs and, eventually attract more talent to be part of the industry. The book, published by Penguin Random House, will be launched on World Radio Day (WRD-2019) on February 13 in Mumbai.
5. Radheyshyam Julaniya, a 1985 batch officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has been appointed the new Union Sports Secretary. He succeeded Rahul Bhatnagar, who is set to join the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Earlier, Bhatnagar had also served as Director General of Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA). During his tenure, IIM Rohtak has also started a MBA programme in Sports Management with Ministry funding. Bhatnagar also outlined the achievements of the Sports Ministry during his tenure, which includes, opening the National Sports University (NSU), Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) besides hosting important international tournaments like the Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar and World Women's Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
6. Father Francois Laborde, a 92-year-old Bengal priest, has been conferred the Légion d'Honneur (Legion of Honour), the highest civilian award of France, in recognition of his work for specially-abled children. Father Laborde is of French-origin but he has been given Indian citizenship. He is the third person from the state to have been awarded the Legion of Honor after film maestro Satyajit Ray and actor Soumitra Chatterjee.
7. The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS 13) will be held at 15th to 22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Recently, the Government of India (GoI) has announced that the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) will be its mascot for CMS COP-13. It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Representatives from 129 Parties and eminent conservationists and international NGOs working in the field of wildlife conservation are expected to attend the COP. India has been a Party to the CMS since 1983. The Conference of Parties (COP) is the decision-making organ of this convention. CMS, also known as the Bonn Convention, recognizes that States must be the protectors of migratory species that live within or pass through their national jurisdictions and aims to conserve terrestrial, marine, and avian migratory species throughout their ranges.
8. The National Deworming Day (NDD) is an initiative of Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) to make every child in the country worm free. The day is observed every year on 10th of February to tackle worm infections among pre-school (anganwadi) and school-age children across India. On 8th of February 2019, Union Health Ministry conducted its 8th round of NDD across the country to reduce the prevalence of parasitic intestinal worms among children. During the programme, Albendazole tablets were orally administered to pre-school and school-going children in the age group of 1 to 19 years. As per World Health Organization (WHO) report, 64% of the Indian population less than 14 years are at risk of Soil-Transmitted Helminths (STH) infections. During this round, over 24 Crore Children and Adolescents will be covered.
9. India has signed a MoU with Bangladesh to train 1800 Bangladesh Civil Servants at the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) over the next 6 years. They will be trained in e-governance and service delivery, public policy and implementation, information technology, decentralization, urban development and planning, ethics in Administration and challenges in implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This is the second time that NCGG signed an MOU for a training program for Bangladesh Civil Servants. Under the first MOU signed 5 years ago, 1500 Bangladesh Civil Servants have already been trained in NCGG. The NCGG is an autonomous institute under the aegis of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG), Government of India. Its head office is at New Delhi. It’s a think tank for governance & policy reforms.
10. The Union Cabinet has recently approved establishment of a unified authority for regulating all financial services in International Financial Services Centres (IFSCs) in India through IFSCs Authority Bill of 2019. The establishment of a unified financial regulator for IFSCs will result in providing world-class regulatory environment to market participants from an ease of doing business perspective. This will provide a stimulus for further development of IFSCs in India. Currently, the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors in IFSC are regulated by multiple regulators -- the RBI, SEBI and IRDAI, respectively. An IFSC caters to customers outside the jurisdiction of the domestic economy. Such centres deal with flows of finance, financial products and services across borders. It provides business and regulatory environment that is comparable to other leading international financial centres in the world like London and Singapore. IFSC provides Indian companies easier access to global financial markets. The first IFSC in India was set up at GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.