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CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
India and Germany join hands on water and waste management
- 3rd Indo-German Working Group for cooperation on water and waste management concluded in New Delhi
- Indian delegation was led by Additional Secretary in the Environment Ministry Anil Kumar Jain while the German Delegation was headed by Director-General for Water Management and Resource Conservation, Dr. Regina Dube
- Third Indo-German Environment Forum which is scheduled in New Delhi on February 13, 2019
| USEFUL INFO |
| Germany Capital | Berlin |
| Germany Currency | Euro |
| Germany Prime Minister | Angela Merkel |
Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen launched ‘Darwaza Band – Part 2’ campaign in Mumbai
- The Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) launched the ‘Darwaza Band -Part 2’ campaign for sustainability of the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of villages across the country.
- The campaign was launched by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in Mumbai in the presence of brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan.
- The ‘Darwaza Band- Part 2’ campaign is supported by the World Bank
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan(SBA) or Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) is a nation-wide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas.
- The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets, the mission aims to achieve an “open-defecation free” (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 90 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of Rs. 1.96 lakh crore (US$30 billion).
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (“gramin” or ‘rural’), operates under the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation
- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (‘urban’), operates under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE
Maharashtra government sets up panel to review welfare schemes for tribals
- The Maharashtra government has set up a committee to review various schemes being implemented for the welfare of tribals in the state.
- The 17-member committee, headed by former MLA and Shramjeevi Sanghatna president Vivek Pandit, will undertake the study of various works done for providing employment opportunities, minimum wages and proper livelihood to tribals.
- The committee will suggest measures to ensure that children in tribal regions were not deprived of education. The committee will hold its meetings every three months and submit its recommendations to the government
| USEFUL INFO |
| Maharashtra Capital | Mumbai |
| Maharashtra Chief Minister | Devendra Fadnavis |
| Maharashtra Governor | Chinamani Vidyasagar Rao |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL
Macedonia signs accord to join NATO
- Macedonia signed an accord to join NATO to become the 30th member of the US-led alliance
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries.
| USEFUL INFO |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General | Jens Stoltenberg |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
| Macedonia Capital | Skopje |
| Macedonia Currency | Macedonian Denar |
| Macedonia President | Gjorge Ivanov |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement: Repo Rate Reduced to 6.25%
- On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to reduce the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 6.5 per cent to 6.25 per cent with immediate effect
- Reverse repo rate under the LAF stands adjusted to 6.0 per cent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.5 per cent.
| USEFUL INFO |
| RBI Headquarters | Mumbai |
| RBI Governor | Shaktikant Das |
| RBI Deputy Governor | BP Kanungo, N S Vishwanathan, Viral Acharya and Mahesh Kumar Jain |
| Repo Rate | 6.25% |
| Reverse Repo Rate | 6.00% |
| MSF Rate | 6.50% |
| Bank Rate | 6.50% |
| CRR | 4% |
| SLR | 19.25% |
RBI imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 crore fine on Union Bank of India
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 crore on Union Bank of India for delay in exchange of information regarding the conduct of the borrower’s account with other lenders.
- The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 confers power on Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under Section 47(A) to impose penalties if there has been any default or contravention.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Union Bank of India Headquarters | Mumbai |
| Union Bank of India Tagline | Good people to bank with |
| Union Bank of India MD and CEO | Rajkiran Rai G |
Fino Payments Bank introduced sweep account facility in association with Suryoday Small Finance Bank
- Fino Payments Bank (FPB) has announced the launch of a sweep account facility in association with Suryoday Small Finance Bank (SSFB)
- As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), payment banks can only take deposits upto Rs. 1 lakh per account
- The partnership would allow customers to seamlessly transfer the excess amount from their account in Fino Payments Bank (FPB) to Suryoday Small Finance Bank (SSFB) (partner bank) account.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Fino Payments Bank Headquarters | Navi Mumbai |
| Fino Payments Bank MD & CEO | Rishi Gupta |
| Suryoday Small Finance Bank Headquarters | Navi Mumbai |
| Suryoday Small Finance Bank MD & CEO | R Baskar Babu |
IBA issues guidelines to waive off various fees to Kisan Credit Card
- The Indian Banking Association (IBA) issued advisory guidelines requesting banks to waive off the processing, documentation, inspection, ledger folio charges and all other service charges for crop loans up to Rs 3 Lakhs or for the Kisan Credit Card Scheme.
- Agriculture Ministry stated that, there are over 21 crore small and marginal farmers in the country and providing them timely and affordable credit is the key to attaining inclusive growth.
- The Kisan Credit Card Scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system to the farmers to meet the short term credit requirements for cultivation of crops, investment credit requirements for agriculture and allied activities and other needs
- The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme is a credit scheme introduced in August 1998 by Indian banks. This model scheme was prepared by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on the recommendations of V.GUPTA committee
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola appointed as civil aviation secretary
- The government appointed Air India chief managing director and Chairperson Pradeep Singh Kharola as the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation
- Pradeep Singh Kharola is a 1985 batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, was named chairperson of Air India in November 2017
- He will take over from Rajiv Nayan Choubey, who retired on January 31.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of Civil Aviation | Suresh Prabhu |
| Constituency | Andhra Pradesh, Rajya Sabha |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: CABINET APPROVALS
- MoU between India and Malaysia for Mutual Cooperation in the field of Company Secretaryship
- MoU between India and Election Management Bodies of Namibia and Panama
- MoU between India and Norway on India-Norway Ocean Dialogue
- MoU between India and Brazil on cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy
- MoU between India and Maldives for Establishing Mutual Cooperation to Improve the Ecosystems for Agribusiness
- MoU between India and the UAE on Development cooperation in Africa
- Signing of Agreement between India and Ukraine for cooperation in Agriculture and Food Industry
- MoU between India and Finland in the field of Biotechnology
- MoU between India and Uzbekistan for promoting Bilateral cooperation in the area of e-Governance
- Establishment of Circuit Bench of Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri
- Introduction of National Institutes of Food Technology, Enterpreneurship and Management Bill, 2019 in the Parliament
- Establishment of Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog for Conservation protection and development of cows and their progeny
- Proposal for Official Amendments to the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2018
- Abolition of Institution of Income-Tax Ombudsman and Indirect Tax Ombudsman
- Framework Agreement between India and Indonesia on cooperation in the exploration and uses of outer space for peaceful purposes
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
SBI UK chief honoured with ‘Freedom of the City of London’ award
- India’s largest state-owned lender SBI’s UK head Sanjiv Chadha has been honoured with the ‘Freedom of the City of London’ award in recognition of his contribution to promoting the bilateral relations.
- Sanjiv Chadha was nominated for the honour by Lord Mayor of London Peter Estlin and Sheriff Vincent Keaveny.
- Chadha took up the position in 2014 and he will be succeeded by Sharad Chandak.
- The previous Indian recipient of the honour is Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Other recipients include author J K Rowling and actor Dame Judi Dench.
| USEFUL INFO |
| State Bank of India Headquarters | Mumbai |
| State Bank of India Tagline | The Banker to every Indian |
| State Bank of India Chairperson | Rajnish Kumar |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SUMMIT AND CONFERENCE
WLPGA 2019 ASIA LPG summit held in New Delhi
- Union Minister for petroleum and natural gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, inaugurated the2019 Asia LPG summit in New Delhi.
- The summit is being organized by the World LPG Association (WLPGA) in association with major Indian public-sector oil companies (OMCs) Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, and Bharat Petroleum
- The two-day ‘WLPGA Asia LPG Summit’, focusing on ‘LPG – Energy for Life’
- India is the 2nd largest consumer of liquified natural gas (LPG) in the world.
BPRD organized 2nd National Conference of Micro Missions of National Police Mission
- Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) organized the 2nd National Conference of Micro Missions of National Police Mission in New Delhi.
- The two day Conference, inaugurated by former governor of Jammu and Kashmir N. N. Vohra, discuss the issues of Skills and Competence at the grass-root level, Attitudinal Changes in Police, Gender Sensitization, harnessing technology and Community Policing
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOBILE APPLICATION
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana App launched on Google play store
- The world’s largest cashless health insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), popularly known as the Ayushman Bharat is now active on Google Playstore to access scheme details.
- Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage up to 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya run by Yojana National Health Authority (NHA)
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
Indian Coast Guard signed MoU with AAI for maritime search and rescue
- Indian Coast Guard and the Airport Authority of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding, at Coast Guard Regional Headquarters in Port Blair, for coordination in the aeronautical and maritime search and rescue operations.
- MOU with Airport Authority of India (AAI) is aimed at strengthening mutual interactions, interoperability and validating procedures during conduct of search and rescue operations jointly by the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) Kolkata, Airport Authority of India (AAI) and Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Port Blair.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Indian Coast Guard Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Indian Coast Guard Director General | Rajendra Singh |
| AAI Headquarters | New Delhi |
| AAI Chairman | Guruprasad Mohapatra |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES
Odisha MP Ladu Kishore Swain passed away
- Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP from Aska Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha, Ladu Kishore Swain passed away
- Swain was member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2009. He was elected to the 16th Lok Sabha in May 2014
- Swain also served as member of several committees– Standing Committee on Rural Development, Committee on Welfare of Other Backward Classes and Consultative Committee of Ministry of Labour and Employment.