Current Affairs 20 February 2019 with PDF

Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Daily Current Affairs 20 February 2019. These are important for the upcoming NIACL AO and SBI PO 2019 Exams.

Daily Current Affairs 20 February 2019 for Bank, SSC and Competitive Exams

India and states

Rajnath Singh launches pan-India number 112 for women safety

• Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi today launched a range of citizen safety initiatives in New Del
• It includes the Emergency Response Support System, ERSS, for women safety in 16 states and Union territories.
• The states include Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir. The service has already been launched in Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
• Persons in distress can dial a pan-India number: 112. Under this system, all the states have to set up a dedicated Emergency Response Centre, ERC.
• A citizen may Press power button on a smartphone thrice quickly to activate a panic call to ERC. In case of a feature phone, long press on number 5 or 9 on the phone keypad will activate the panic call.

Bill to make Sanskrit second official language of HP passed

• The House on Saturday passed the Himachal Pradesh Official Language (Amendment) Bill, 2019, paving the way for making Sanskrit the second official language of the state.
• The Bill was tabled in the House on February 14 by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur. Once given assent by the Governor, it will amend the Himachal Pradesh Official language Act, 1975.
• The House also passed the Himachal Pradesh University of Health Sciences (Amendment) Bill, 2019. Himachal Pradesh Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2019, and Himachal Pradesh Bovine Breeding Bill, 2019, which were tabled in the Vidhan Sabha on February 13, were also passed after discussion.

Two Day One Health India Conference Inaugurated in New Delhi

• Two day long One Health India Conference, 2019 was today inaugurated in New Delhi.
• It was inaugurated by Dr Harsha Vardhan.
• The Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology in partnership with the Departments of Agriculture Research and Education (DARE) and Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DAHDF), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare; the Departments of Health Research (DHR) and Health & Family Welfare (DHFW), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, is hosting the “One Health India Conference”.
• The conference plans to launch India’s new One Health Initiative – an intersectoral approach to tackling the most urgent health threats in India as well as in low and middle income countries across South and South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

PM flags off 1st ever diesel to electric converted locomotive twin engine at Varanasi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 19, 2019 flagged off the first ever diesel to electric converted locomotive twin engine of ten thousand Horse Power at DLW Varanasi.
• He also inspected an exhibition on locomotives at DLW campus. Such locomotives will be more economical and will increase the speed of goods trains.
• Laying the foundation stone of Ravidas Janmasthali area development project in Varanasi, the Prime Minister said all should get benefits of government schemes irrespective of caste, creed and other factors.

All Indian Cine Workers Association announces total ban on Pakistani artists

• The All Indian Cine Workers Association has announced a total ban on all the Pakistani artists working in the film industry.
• In a statement, the Association’s General Secretary Ronak Jain said that strong action will be taken against the organisation that continues to work with Pakistani artists.
• Condemning the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama, the Association has said that it stands united in confronting such terror and inhumanity.

Economy

Suresh Prabhu clears proposal to encourage investments in Start-Ups

• Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu has cleared a proposal aiming at simplifying the process of exemptions for Start-ups under Section 56 (2) (viib) of Income Tax Act.
• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will be issuing a gazette notification on February 19, 2019 to this effect.
• With this notification, the definition of Start-ups will be expanded. Now an entity will be considered as a Start-ups upto a period of ten years from the date of incorporation and registration in place of the earlier duration of 7 years.
• Similarly, an entity will continue to be recognised as a Start-ups, if its turnover for any of the financial years since incorporation and registration has not exceeded Rs 100 crore in place of Rs 25 crore earlier.

Appointments

Astronomical Society of India gets first woman president

• Dr G C Anupama, Senior Professor (Dean) from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, on Monday became the first woman to be elected president of Astronomical Society of India (ASI), prime association of professional astronomers in the country.
• She is the second Kannadiga after former Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Prof U R Rao.Anupama will be taking over charge on Tuesday.
• Being in-charge of the Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle in Ladakh, she observes supernovae occurring in distant galaxies, millions of light years away — something she has done for several years.

Anuj Sharma replaces Rajeev Kumar as Kolkata Police Commissioner

• Additional Director General of West Bengal Police (law and order) Anuj Sharma was on Tuesday appointed as the new Kolkata Police Commissioner after his predecessor Rajeev Kumar was transferred as ADG & IGP of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
• Kumar recently faced CBI interrogation at Shillong over chit fund scam in West Bengal. He headed the probe instituted by the State Government on the scam.
• The State Government has also transferred few other senior Police officers complying the guidelines of the Election Commission.

Awards

Laureus World Sports Awards 2019 presented

• Laureus World Sports Awards 2019 were announced at the Laureus Awards Ceremony in Monaco.
• The Laureus World Sports Awards is an annual award ceremony honouring individuals and teams from the world of sports along with sporting achievements throughout the year.
• Ace Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian to receive a nomination in the prestigious Laureus World Sports Awards.
• She was nominated for the Laureus World Comeback of the Year.

List of Awardees

I&B minister Rathore presents National Photography Awards

• Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore on Tuesday gave away the 7th National Photography Awards to 13 persons in different categories at a function in New Delhi.
• The theme for the Professional category was Women led Development, while the theme for Amateur category was Fairs and Festivals of India.
• Renowned landscape photographer Ashok Dielwali was conferred with lifetime achievement award. Photojournalist S L Shanth Kumar was awarded in the professional category. Arun Sreedhar, Kailash Mittal, Mihir Singh, Ms Ranita Roy and P V Sunder Rao were honoured with special mention awards.
• Photographer Gurdeep Dhiman was awarded in Amateur category. Avijit Datta, Mahesh Balasaheb Lonkar, Manish Jaisi, S. Neelima and P. Ravi Kumar were given special mention awards in the amateur category.
• Speaking on the occasion, Col. Rathore appreciated the photographers as they not only capture moments but also fill them with a soul. He asked the officials of the Ministry to display the award-winning photographs in schools and colleges so that the youth can take inspiration and learn a lot.

Sunil Chhetri honoured with the first ever Football Ratna award

• India’s national football captain Sunil Chhetri has been conferred the first ever Football Ratna honour by Football Delhi. The governing body for football in the Capital conferred the honour on India’s leading international goal scorer at a glittering ceremony at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.
• Football Delhi president Shaji Prabhakaran, himself a former footballer of repute, presented the Delhi boy with the award.
• Sunil Chhetri, who was conferred the Padma Shri on the Republic Day this year, stressed the need to continue focus on developing talent in India.

Sports

Squash Queen Nicol David to Retire at End of Season

• Eight-time world champion Nicol David has announced she will retire at the end of the 2018-19 squash season, bringing down the curtain on the Malaysian’s illustrious career.
• The 35-year-old is the most successful woman squash player of all time and spent an unprecedented nine years as world number one between 2006-2015.
• David, the darling of Malaysian sports fans, has also won five British Open titles, two Commonwealth Games gold medals, five Asian Games gold medals and three World Games gold medals in a glittering career spanning two decades.

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