DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: FEBRUARY 24 &25, 2019 -

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: FEBRUARY 24 &25, 2019

Dear Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (February 24 & 25, 2019) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

NATIONAL

Bihar first state to deploy dog squad to check liquor smuggling:

Bihar has become the first state in the country to have raised a special dog squad to detect liquor consignment.
As many as 20 liquor-tracker dogs which were imparted training for nine months in Hyderabad have been deployed in nine police ranges in the state. Notably, Bihar had banned liquor in the state in 2016.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurated VIVID 2019 :

“VIVID-Vision Insight and Voices as India goes Digital”- the District Informatics Officer (DIO) meet, was organised by National Informatics Centre (NIC) from 21st to 22nd February, 2019, as an initiative to interact with the DIO’s and to share their experiences as well as contribution, as digital change-makers at the grass-root level in the States.
Union Minister of Electronics and IT, Law and Justice Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, inaugurated the event with conferring of NIC TechGov Awards and Swachhta Awards.
He also released the Digital India Compendium and launched Digidhan Mitra Chatbot and Technology incubation and development of entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0) scheme.

Uttarakhand CM launches helpline “1905” for quick redressal of public complaints:

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat launched a helpline for quick redressal of public complaints.People can call on the helpline number “ 1905 “ to lodge their complaints.
Citizens can contact any department under the this step has been take to ensure speedy functioning of the government departments and step up transparency in their work.

Odisha government launches boat ambulance service to ferry patients in remote areas :

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Odisha government has launched a boat ambulance service to ferry patients to hospitals in remote areas. The total project cost Rs 5.40 crore.
The ambulance service can be availed by dialling ‘108’.It would be used to transport patients to hospitals in remote areas.

INTERNATIONAL

Trump Signs Directive to Create a Military Space Force :

President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4), ordering the Pentagon to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States military, to go along with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
The main goal of the Space Force is to secure and extend American dominance of the space domain.Donald Trump signs SPD-4 to create US Space Force SPD-4, as the name suggests, is Mr. Trump’s 4th space policy directive.
The first SPD directed NASA to get humans back to the moon as a stepping-stone to Mars. The second streamlined regulations for the commercial space sector, and the third dealt with management of space traffic.

STATIC: USA

Capital: Washington D. C

Currency: US Dollar.

India to attend OIC foreign ministers meet for first time:

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has been invited to deliver an address at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi.
This is the first time that a leader of the non-Muslim country has been invited to the OIC conference. Ms Swaraj will be the Guest of Honour and address the inaugural plenary of the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC on the 1st and 2nd of next month.

Cobra Gold military exercise kicks off in Thailand :

The annual Cobra Gold military exercise hosted by the Thailand and the United States is the biggest activity of its type in the Asia-Pacific region with 29 nations taking part as participants or observers. Apart from the 2 countries, 7 countries who participated in the exercise were India, Singapore, Japan, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea.
The Indian Army participated in the military training exercise with a 14-member contingent. India participated in this exercise for the first time in the ‘Observer Plus’ category in 2016 alongside China.
This year’s exercise consists largely of table-top exercises, field training, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

STATIC: USA

Capital – Washington D. C.

Currency – US Dollar

President – Donald Trump

14th Agricultural Science Congress held at New Delhi :

The 14th Agricultural Science Congress was organized by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research(ICAR) and Indian Agricultural Research Institute at National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC) in New Delhi.
The theme of the event was “Innovations for Agricultural Transformation” and it is central to the national complementary pledges of building a New India and Doubling Farmers’ Income by 2022.

BANKING & ECONOMY

World Bank, UN Women and SIDBI Launched Women’s Livelihood Bond:

World Bank, UN Women, and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) have joined hands to launch a new social impact bonds exclusively for women, called Women’s Livelihood Bonds (WLBs), with an initial corpus of Rs 300 crore.
The proposed bond will enable individual women entrepreneurs in sectors like food processing, agriculture, services and small units to borrow around Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh at an annual interest rate of around 13-14 per cent or less.

STATIC : World Bank

Headquarters: Washington D. C.

Interim President: Kristalina Georgieva

SIDBI

Headquarters: Lucknow

Chairman & Managing Director: Mohammad Mustafa

RBI formalises $75-billion swap pact with Bank of Japan :

The Reserve Bank of India and the Bank of Japan formalised the USD 75- billion swap agreement, which would act as a cushion against any sharp swings in the local currency whenever the international financial markets turn volatile.
It will enable the availability of USD 75-billion in foreign capital for use as and when the need arises, bringing greater stability to the foreign exchange and capital markets in India and serve as a second line of defence as India has about USD 398 billion foreign exchange reserves to cushion sudden dollar outflows.

STATIC : Japan

Capital : Tokyo

Currency : Japanese Yen

Prime Minister : Shinzo Abe

Jio Saavn only Indian company to make it to ‘50 Most Innovative Companies’ list :

Jio Saavn– an India-based global audio and music that it scored the 1^st rank among Indian companies and 28th rank globally in the 2019 list of “50 Most Innovative Companies”.
The other domestic companies that ranked top on the India list of “Most Innovative Companies” are OYO rooms, biodegradable sanitary pad manufacturers Sathi and app based can service Ola.

AWARDS & HONOURS

Indian Hockey Captain Manpreet Singh Honoured With AHF’s Player Of The Year :

The Asian Hockey Federation has honoured Indian skipper Manpreet Singh with the 2018 Player of the Year award.
The 18-year-old Women team’s striker Lalremsiami has bagged the Rising Player of The Year prize.
Manpreet led the Indian team to an unbeaten streak at the Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Brijbhushan elected as WFI president for third time :

Brijbhushan Sharan Singh was elected as the President of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) for a third time.Along with him, other office bearers were also elected and they will serve WFI for a 3-year term.

Kareena Kapoor Khan named brand ambassador of Swasth Immunised India :

Kareena Kapoor Khan named as the brand ambassador of Swasth Immunised India, a year-long campaign initiated by Network18 and Serum Institute of India which promotes immunisation of babies under two years of age.
The campaign was launched at Mumbai and Adar Poonawalla, President, Vaccine Manufacturers Association of India and CEO, Serum Institute of India (SII).

State Governor Ayala Appointed Sudan’s Prime Minister :

The governor of Gezira state, Mohamed Tahir Ayala was appointed as Sudan’s Prime Minister.
Sudan’s Defence Minister Awad Mohamed Ahmed Ibn Auf was appointed as first vice president while remaining in his defence post.

Saudi Arabia appoints first female ambassador to United States :

Saudi Arabia has appointed Princess Reema bint Bandar, a former business executive and philanthropist, as its first female ambassador to the United States.
She replaced Prince Khalid bin Salman, amid fallout over journalist Khashoggi’s murder. She has been a leading advocate of female empowerment in the kingdom.

SPORTS

Saurabh Chaudhary smashed World Record in ISSF World Cup, secured India’s Olympic quota :

The 16-year-old Indian Shooter Saurabh Chaudhary claimed gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event with a world record score of 245.0 in the final at the season-opening International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) event. In addition, he sealed a berth for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Dami Mikec of Serbia was second in the podium with a score of 239.3, while the bronze medal was bagged by 2008 Olympic champion Wei Pang of China, who managed 215.2.

IOC suspends India as future host for all events :

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended all Indian applications to host future events and urged international sports federations not to stage competitions in the country after two Pakistanis were denied visas to compete in New Delhi.
It was after India denied of entry visas for two shooters from Pakistan who were due to take part in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup event held in New Delhi following the attack by a Pakistan-based militant group in Pulwama, which killed at least 40 CRPF paramilitary police.

IMPORTANT DAYS

Central Excise day : 24th February

24th February was being observed as Central Excise Day in India.Numerous programs were conducted to spread awareness among the buyers and the sellers regarding the new excise rules and regulations for easy implementation and maximum benefit.