Dear Readers, Here we have given the list of Important Weekly Current Affairs 1st week of February 2019. Candidates those who are preparing for Upcoming NIACL AO Mains 2019 and other competitive exams can make use of it.
Current Affairs: Important Days
| Date | Important days | Theme |
| February 2 | World Wetlands Day | – |
| February 4 | World Cancer Day | I Am and I Will |
Current Affairs: National
- The agriculture ministry released the final estimates for 2017-18 and the first estimates for 2018-19 of area and production of horticulture crops. As per the final estimates of 2017-18, horticulture production stood at record 311.7 MT
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare | Radha Mohan Singh |
| Constituency | Purvi Champaran,Bihar |
- The country’s tourism sector fetched 234 billion US Dollar revenue last year, registering a growth of over 19%
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of Tourism (State) (I\C) | Alphons Kannanthanam |
| Constituency | Kanjirappally |
- Department of post will soon set up its own insurance company which will deal with its business of two products Postal life insurance and Rural Postal Life Insurance.
- Minister of Railways & Coal, Shri Piyush Goyal launched the report “The Future of Rail” of International Energy Agency (IEA)
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of Railways & Coal | Piyush Goyal |
| Constituency | Maharashtra, Rajya Sabha |
| International Energy Agency Headquarters | Paris, France |
| International Energy Agency Executive Director | FatihBirol |
- Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated Railway electrification of 294-km long Andal-Sainthia-Pakur-Malda andKhana-Sainthia sections in West Bengal
6. India-Monaco Business forum held in New Delhi
| USEFUL INFO |
| Monaco Capital | Monte Carlo |
| Monaco Currency | Euro |
| Monaco Prince | Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi |
- The total steel production in the country has increased from 88.98 MT in 2014-15 to 103.13 MT in 2017-18
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of Steel | Birender Singh |
| Constituency | Haryana, Rajya Sabha |
| Minister of State for Steel and Mines | VishnudeoSai |
- The National Green Tribunal imposed a cost of Rs. 25 lakh on the Uttar Pradesh government for failing to stop dumping of sewage and untreated water in the Upper Ganga Canal.
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation launched ShehriSamridhiUtsav initiative
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of State (I\C)Housing and Urban Affairs | Hardeep Singh Puri |
| Constituency | Rajya Sabha (Uttar Pradesh) |
10. India and Germany join hands on water and waste management
| 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
Current Affairs: International
- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has opened a new centre, set up by the government in partnership with the UN to fight climate change and boost sustainable development in Africa. The new centre is located near the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome
| USEFUL INFO |
| Italy Capital | Rome |
| Italy Currency | Euro |
| Italy Prime Minister | Giuseppe Conte |
- The United Nations announced 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of the Chemical Elements
| USEFUL INFO |
| United Nations |
| Headquarters | New York, United States |
| Secretary General | AntónioGuterres |
3. Sri Lanka celebrating its 71st Independence Day on 4 February
| USEFUL INFO |
| Sri Lanka Capital | Colombo, Jayawardenepura Kotte |
| Sri Lanka Currency | Sri Lankan rupee |
| Sri Lanka President | MaithripalaSirisena |
- Pakistan Army successfully test-fired the short range surface-to-surface ballistic missile ”Nasr” with a strike range of about 70 km
| USEFUL INFO |
| Pakistan Capital | Islamabad |
| Pakistan Currency | Rupee |
| PakistanPrime Minister | Imran Khan |
- Thailand makes Siamese fighting fish national aquatic animal
| USEFUL INFO |
| Thailand Capital | Bangkok |
| Thailand Currency | Thai baht |
| Thailand Prime Minister | Prayut Chan-o-cha |
- Macedonia signed an accord to join NATO to become the 30th member of the US-led alliance
| 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 | GjorgeIvanov |
Current Affairs: State
- Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore inaugurated a Passport Service Centre at Kotputli in Rajasthan.
- Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot announced the monthly allowance scheme for educated, unemployed youth.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Rajasthan Capital | Jaipur |
| Rajasthan Chief Minister | Ashok Gehlot |
| Rajasthan Governor | Kalyan Singh |
- Mizoram government has banned import of pigs and piglets
| USEFUL INFO |
| Mizoram Capital | Aizawl |
| Mizoram Chief Minister | Zoramthanga |
| Mizoram Governor | Kummanam Rajasekharan |
4. Indus River Dolphin declared Punjab’s State aquatic animal
| USEFUL INFO |
| Punjab Capital | Chandigarh |
| Punjab Chief Minister | Amarinder Singh |
| Punjab Governor | V P Singh Badnore |
5. Sikkim state government signed MoU with Microsoft for digital learning
| USEFUL INFO |
| Sikkim Capital | Gangtok |
| Sikkim Chief Minister | Pawan Kumar Chamling |
| Sikkim Governor | Ganga Prasad |
- Kerala has become the first State to set up a price monitoring and research unit (PMRU) to track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices
| USEFUL INFO |
| National Pharmaceutical Pricing AuthorityHeadquarters | New Delhi |
| National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority Chairman | Bhupendra Singh |
| Kerala Capital | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Kerala Chief Minister | Pinarayi Vijayan |
| Kerala Governor | P. Sadasivam |
- “Sopan 2019” The Festival of Young Musicians and Dancers held in New Delhi
8. Haryana government approved new MSME, Pharma policies to boost development
| USEFUL INFO |
| Haryana Capital | Chandigarh |
| Haryana Chief Minister | Manohar lal Kathar |
| Haryana Governor | Satyadev Narayan Arya |
- Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone for three highway projects worth over Rs. 2345 crore rupees
| USEFUL INFO |
| Odisha Capital | Bhubaneswar |
| Odisha Chief Minister | Naveen Patnaik |
| Odisha Governor | Ganeshi Lal |
- Madhya Pradesh government makes it mandatory for industries to hire 70% locals
| USEFUL INFO |
| Madhya Pradesh Capital | Bhopal |
| Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister | Kamal Nath |
| Madhya Pradesh Governor | Anandibenpatel |
11. ‘Boori Boot Yullom’ festival begins in Arunachal Pradesh
| USEFUL INFO |
| Arunachal Pradesh Capital | Itanagar |
| Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister | Pema Khandu |
| Arunachal Pradesh Governor | BD Mishra |
12. Maharashtra government sets up panel to review welfare schemes for tribals, the 17-member committee, headed by former MLA VivekPandit
| USEFUL INFO |
| Maharashtra Capital | Mumbai |
| Maharashtra Chief Minister | Devendra Fadnavis |
| Maharashtra Governor | Chinamani Vidyasagar Rao |
Current Affairs: Banking and Finance
- RBI lifted lending curbs on three public sector banks (PSBs), Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce to exit the PCA framework
- The RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of 2 crore each on UCO Bank and Axis Bank, and Rs. 1 crore on Syndicate Bank.
- RBI imposed a penalty of Rs. 1 crore fine on Union Bank of India
| 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 | RajkiranRai G |
- Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement
| 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% |
- Ujjivan Small Finance Bank (SFB) launched Ujjivan Bank KisanSuvidha loan to offer financial credit services to small and marginal farmers
| USEFUL INFO |
| Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Headquarters | Bengaluru, Karnataka |
| Ujjivan Small Finance Bank MD & CEO | SamitGhosh |
- The government revised its forecast for GDP growth for 2017-18 to 7.2% from the earlier estimate of 6.7%. It also revised the actual growth rate in 2016-17 to 8.2% from the 7.1% estimated earlier
- Delhi based P2P Lending platform, Lendbox has received its NBFC Peer-to-Peer (P2P) certification from the RBI.
- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has bought a 14% stake in micro-financier Annapurna Finance for Rs. 137 crore
| USEFUL INFO |
| Asian Development Bank Headquarters | Mandaluyong, Philippines |
| Asian Development Bank President | TakehikoNakao |
- The Ministry of Finance has announced the amalgamation of two regional rural banks in Tamilnadu- Pallavan GramaBank, sponsored by Indian Bank and Pandyan Grama Bank, sponsored by Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) into a single regional rural bank in the state and name the new entity as Tamil Nadu Grama Bank
- Fitch Solutions, the research arm of Fitch Group, projected the government’s fiscal deficit to overshoot the budgeted target by 0.2 per cent to 3.6 per cent of GDP in 2019-20 fiscal.
11. FDI declines 11% to $22.66 billion during April-September
12. Fino Payments Bank introduced sweep account facility in association with Suryoday Small Finance Bank
| 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 |
- The Indian Banking Association (IBA) issued advisory guidelines requesting banks to waive off the various fees to Kisan Credit Card
Current Affairs: Business
- Indian payments conglomerate Paytm Acquired hotel booking platform Nightstay, launching the domestic hotel bookings on its platform for an undisclosed amount
| USEFUL INFO |
| Headquarters | Noida, Uttar Pradesh |
| Paytm CEO | Renu Satti |
- The Punjab National Bank associated life insurance company, PNB MetLife has introduced the ace shuttler PV Sindhu as its brand ambassador.
| USEFUL INFO |
| PNB MetLife MD & CEO | AK Srivastava |
| Headquarters | Mumbai |
- Indostar Capital Finance to buy India Infoline Finance’s(IIFL Finance) Commercial Vehicle Finance Business
- Swiggyacqui-hires Bengaluru-based AI startup Kint.io, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup, for an undisclosed sum.
Current Affairs: Appointments
| Lt Gen Rajeev Chopra | Director General of NCC (DGNCC) |
| Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P | Western Naval Command Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief |
| Ajai Kumar | Interim MD-CEO of YES bank |
| SanjivRanjan | India’s Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia |
| Rishi Kumar Shukla | CBI director |
| NilambarAcharya | Nepal’s ambassador to India |
| Pradeep Singh Kharola | Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation |
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 RashtriyaKamdhenuAayog 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: Committee
- The government has constituted a committee under the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), On the recommendation of Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha, to explore prepaid payments by state electricity distribution companies to power plants
- Punjab government sets up committee to boost dairy sector
Current Affairs: Awards and Honours
- The National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has been named a winner under the ‘miniratna’ category by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
| USEFUL INFO |
| National Film Development Corporation of India Headquarters | Mumbai |
| National Film Development Corporation of India Chairpersons | Ramesh Sippy |
2. SBI UK chief SanjivChadha honoured with ‘Freedom of the City of London’ award
Current Affairs: Summit and Conference
- PETROTECH-2019,the 13th International Oil & Gas Conference & Exhibition, being organised under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India, is all set to be inaugurated on February 10, 2019
| USEFUL INFO |
| Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship | Dharmendra Pradhan |
| Constituency | Deogarh, odisha |
2. 37thedition of ‘ICT Academy Bridge 2019’ conference inaugurated in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Theme of the event – “Fostering India for Industry 4.0”,
- International Spice Conference 2019 held in Hyderabad. Theme of the conference is “Challenges of Change: Redefining the Value Chain”
4. 67th Annual Armed Forces Medical Conference organised by AFMC, Pune
5. WLPGA 2019 ASIA LPG summit held in New Delhi
6. BPRD organized 2nd National Conference of Micro Missions of National Police Mission in New Delhi
Current Affairs: Mobile Application
1. National Testing Agency (NTA) launched mobile application for mock tests
2. PradhanMantri Jan ArogyaYojana App launched on Google play store
Current Affairs: Ranking
- According to Transparency International, Assam occupied the top slot in the ranking of best practices followed by states in Budget formulation,
| USEFUL INFO |
| Transparency International Headquarters | Berlin, Germany |
| Transparency International Managing Director | Patricia Moreira |
Current Affairs: MOU
- Ministry of Coal entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Ministry of Energy, Republic of Poland.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Poland Capital | Warsaw |
| Poland Currency | Polish złoty |
| Poland President | AndrzejDuda |
2. Indian Coast Guard signed MoU with AAI for maritime search and rescue
| USEFUL INFO |
| Indian Coast Guard Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Indian Coast Guard Director General | Rajendra Singh |
| AAI Headquarters | New Delhi |
| AAIChairman | GuruprasadMohapatra |
Current Affairs: Defence
- The Defence Acquisitions Council, DAC chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman approved indigenous construction of six submarines worth 40,000 crore rupees.
- Israel Aerospace Industries announced entering into agreements worth $93 million for providing Naval MRSAM (Medium Range Surface to Air Missile) systems to India. The contracts for the air defence system were entered with the Indian Navy and the Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL)
- The Defence Ministry has cleared a long-pending proposal of the Army to procure around 73,000 assault rifles from the US under fast track mode
| USEFUL INFO |
| Defence Minister | Nirmala Sitharaman |
| Constituency | Rajya Sabha, Karnataka |
Current Affairs: Science and Technology
- Scientists have created an artificial intelligence (AI) based system that directly translates thoughts into intelligible, recognisable speech. The technology developed by researchers from Columbia University in the United States
Current Affairs: Sports
- The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced a five year global partnership deal with beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola the exclusive non-alcoholic beverage partners of the ICC until 2023.
| USEFUL INFO |
| ICC Headquarters | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| ICC Chairperson | ShashankManohar |
| ICC CEO | Dave Richardson |
- Mithali Raj, India’s One-day International (ODI) captain becoming the first female cricketer to play 200 ODIs.
- Qatar won its first soccer title by beating four-time champion Japan 3-1 in the Asian Cup final
- VaniKapoor became the first Indian to earn a card for the Australian Ladies PGA Tour (LPGA) after coming through its first-ever Qualifying Tournament at the Ballarat Golf Club in Ballarat, Australia
- INS Dronacharya wins Kochi area boat pulling regatta trophy
6. India’s Smriti Mandhana becomes number 1 in latest ICC women’s ODI rankings
7. Haryana Hammers beat defending champions Punjab Royals to lift (Pro Wrestling League)PWL 4 title
- Pakistan’s Sana Mir becomes first Asian woman to play hundred T20Is
- Indian squash player RamitTandon defeated Egyptian Mohamed El Sherbini in the finals to win the Seattle Open
Current Affairs: Obituaries
| Person | Field |
| HitenBhaya | Former Planning Commission member and ex-director of IIMC |
| Ramesh Bhatkar | Marathi actor |
| PriyanathDey | freedom fighter and former Odisha MLA |
| Harihar Karan | Senior Congress leader and former minister of Odisha |
| Ladu Kishore Swain | Odisha MP |