17,February, 2019 Current Affairs - Daily Current Affairs
17,February, 2019 Current Affairs - Daily Current Affairs
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1.
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Who will be
awarded the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony for the year 2016?
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Answer: Option C
Explanation:
Indian President
Ram Nath Kovind would be presenting the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony to
Rajkumar Singhajit Singh (for the year 2014), Bangladesh cultural
organisation Chhayanaut (for 2015) and Ram Sutar Vanji (for 2016), on
February 18, 2019. The award was instituted by the Union Government in 2012
to recognise the contributions made by Rabindranath Tagore to humanity. The
award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race, language,
caste, creed or gender.
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2.
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Who was sworn
in as US Attorney General for the second time?
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Answer: Option B
Explanation:
William Barr was
sworn in for second time as the new Attorney General of United States. Barr,
who also served as the Attorney General from 1991 to 1993 during President
George HW Bush's administration, succeeds Jeff Sessions.
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3.
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Which City
topped and won the Swachhata Excellence Awards 2019?
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Answer: Option D
Explanation:
Atal Mission for
Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) cities and municipal
corporations of Raigarh (1st prize), Ambikapur (2nd prize) and Kumbakonam
(3rd prize) won the top Swachhata Excellence Awards 2019. The prizes were
awarded by Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and
Urban Affairs (MoHUA) at the Shehri Samridhi Utsav, an initiative organized
by MoHUA in New Delhi.
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4.
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Who launched
'Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan' Scheme a pension scheme for the labours?
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Answer: Option D
Explanation:
Finance Minister
Piyush Goyal, while presenting Budget 2019, on Friday announced the launch of
a social security pension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector,
called the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan. Under this scheme, workers of
unorganized sectors whose monthly income is less than Rs. 15,000 may avail
the benefits by contributing Rs. 100 per month to further get Rs. 3000 per
month after 60 year of age. An 18 years old worker has to contribute Rs. 55
per month to avail the benefit. The scheme will facilitate the benefits up to
10 crore workers which include lower class workers, labor, plumber, mechanic,
sweeper, construction workers, etc.
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5.
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Indian Air
Force to display firepower in which of the following state?
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Answer: Option A
Explanation:
Indian Air Force
is set to demonstrate its full combat and fire capabilities during 'Exercise
Vayu Shakti-2019' in the Pokharan firing range close to Indo-Pak border in
Rajasthan. Akash missile firing, gun firing from Advanced Light Helicopter
and MiG 29's air-to-ground role will be demonstrated in the exercise. Defence
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to attend the event. Indigenously
developed weapons, aircraft and equipment to be displayed include Akash
midrange surface to air missile, Astra all weather beyond visual range
air-to-air missile, Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, Advanced Light Helicopter
and Airborne Early Warning and Control systems. The fighter planes like MiG
29, Jaguar, Sukhoi-30, Mirage-2000, transport aircraft like AN-32, C 130, Mi-17
VS and MI-35 helicopters will be among other aircraft used during the
demonstration.
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6.
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Who
inaugurated 58th Meeting of Central Geological Programming Board (CGPB) in
New Delhi?
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Answer: Option A
Explanation:
Union Minister
of Mines, Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated 58th meetings of Central
Geological Programming Board (CGPB) held at Pusa in New Delhi. CGPB is under
the nodal department of Geological Survey of India (GSI). During the season
20 mineral exploration reports worth Rs.79560 crore handed over to Odisha,
Rajasthan, Karnataka, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. GSI
declared the launch of its freely downloadable base line data (geological,
geochemical and geophysical) from their web portal from March 1, 2019. For
search of mineral deposits GSI launched 2nd round of multi - sensor National
Aero-geophysical data acquisition in 4 sectors within obvious Geological
Potential (OGP) zones.
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7.
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Which country
recently agreed to join Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to present joint 2030
FIFA World Cup bid?
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Answer: Option A
Explanation:
Chile president
Sebastian Pinera has announced that Chile, along with Argentina, Paraguay and
Uruguay, will bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. Morocco could also bid for
hosting the tournament. The 2022 World Cup is controversially set to be held
in Qatar, with the United States, Mexico and Canada teaming up to host four
years later.
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8.
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Name of the
Union Minister, who launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna - Urban (PMAY-U)
mobile application at New Delhi.
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Answer: Option C
Explanation:
Union Minister
of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri launched the
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna - Urban (PMAY-U) mobile application at New Delhi.
The app will allow the beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna(Urban)
to capture and upload high resolution photographs of completed houses along
with their families and 30 - 60 seconds video clips to share their stories
about owning a house under the scheme. Selected beneficiaries from all
States/UTs would be invited as special guests at the anniversary celebration
of PMAY (U). The PMAY(U) was launched with an aim to provide houses to every
eligible urban household in India by the year 2022 and has achieved a
milestone of approving over 73 lakh houses from about 1 crore validated demand.
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9.
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Which state
assembly has passed bill to end the minimum education criterion for panchayat
and civic poll candidates, recently?
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Answer: Option D
Explanation:
The Rajasthan
Assembly has recently passed two Bills which seek to end the minimum
education criterion for panchayat and civic poll candidates. The House passed
by voice vote the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the
Rajasthan Municipality (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The previous Vasundhara
Raje-led government had introduced education criterion in 2015 which required
a candidate to pass Class X for contesting zila parishad, panchayat samiti
and municipal elections. Defending the bill, Panchayati Raj Minister Sachin
Pilot stated that the previous Act was against the basics of the
Constitution. Society cannot be divided on the basis of education. He further
stated that education criterion should first be introduced for contesting
Assembly and parliamentary elections.
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10.
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Name the Union
Minister who inaugurated the North Karnataka Agromet Forecasting and Research
Centre (NKAFC) in Dharwad, Karnataka.
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Answer: Option B
Explanation:
Union Minister
for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate
Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, inaugurated the North Karnataka Agromet
Forecasting and Research Centre (NKAFC), India's first agromet forecast
centre, at University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Dharwad, Karnataka.
The main objective of the centre is to give accurate reports on weather which
would enable the farmers to protect the crops and get good yield. It will
also educate farmers on how to manage the crops in different weather
conditions and help them anticipate and plan their actions in advance. About
25 lakh farmers in the region would be kept updated with information via
various platforms like WhatsApp, SMS, social networking sites and community
radio stations.
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11.
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The 3rd
Indo-German Environment Forum was held in __________.
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Answer: Option B
Explanation:
The 3rd
Indo-German Environment Forum was held in New Delhi with the theme
"Cleaner Air, Greener Economy". The one-day event focuses on
challenges, solutions and necessary framework conditions of air pollution
control, waste management and circular economy as well as implementation of
NDCs and SDGs based on Paris Agreement and Agenda 2030 of UN respectively.
Around 250 representatives of ministries, business and science as well as
non-governmental organizations participated in the forum, which is organized by
the two environment ministries in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Committee
of German Business and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI). The Forum provided a platform for the bilateral exchange of
high-level policy-makers and other key players on international environmental
and climate policy and cooperation between the two countries.
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12.
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Union Minister
of Defence, Nirmala Sitharaman signed a Security Protection agreement between
India and this country recently.
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Answer: Option A
Explanation:
Union Minister
of Defence, Nirmala Sitharaman signed a Security Protection agreement between
India and Sweden which will enable both the countries to share classified
information each other. India and Sweden have been signing MoU in cooperation
in the area of defence since 2009 and a bilateral meeting was held between
both the nations in December 2018 in New Delhi. The agreement will provide a
facilitating framework for greater cooperation on the high end and cutting
edge technology and manufacturing. The agreement will boost 'Make in India'
initiative by the Government of India. 'Make in India' is a type of Swadeshi
movement launched by Government of India on 25th September 2014.
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13.
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Which among
the following became the First US Bank with Cryptocurrency?
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Answer: Option C
Explanation:
JP Morgan rolled
out as the first US bank with cryptocurrency. The change in opinion of JP
Morgan is the first step in the program of making it more competitive. The
currency is designed to be decentralized so that no one has control over
transactions being sent over the network. JP Morgan will be using the
cryptocurrency to see its potential in using digital coins to reduce risk and
enable instant transfers. Cryptocurrencies are used successfully to move
money between bank and a client which usually runs on a blockchain
technology. JPM Coin is not for retail customers . It will be used internally
by the bank to enable instant transfers of payments between institutional
accounts.
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14.
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India's first
district cooling system to be built in __________, Andra Pradesh.
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Answer: Option B
Explanation:
United Arab
Emirates (UAE) based international cooling provider, National Central Cooling
Company PJSC (Tabreed) entered into a 30-year concession with Andhra Pradesh
Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to build India's first district
cooling system in Amaravati, Hyderabad. The agreement is for a contracted
cooling capacity of 20,000 Refrigeration Tons (RTs) and will cater to the
State's Assembly, High Court, Secretariat and other Government buildings
currently being constructed, for which cooling services will start in early
2021. The district cooling system will help save 40% of the energy currently
being used and reduce CO2 emissions, as it uses only 50% of the primary
energy consumption for cooling urban buildings, thus, improving the air quality
and reducing general noise levels when compared to other traditional air
conditioning systems.
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15.
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Who was the
recepient of Ashoka Chakra for year 2019?
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Answer: Option D
Explanation:
Lance Naik Nazir
Ahmad Wani has been posthumously awarded 'Ashok Chakra', India's highest
peace time gallantry award for his role in a counter-insurgency operation in
Kashmir in 2018. The award was presented by President Ram Nath Kovind to his
wife Mrs. Mahajabeen at the 2019 Republic Day parade. Wani is the first
Kashmiri to be conferred the Ashoka Chakra. He was also awarded Sena Medal
for gallantry twice in 2007 and 2018 for his acts of valour. Wani was once a
terrorist but had later turned in and joined the Army's 162 Infantry
Battalion (Territorial Army) in Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry in 2004. A
resident of Cheki Ashmuji of Kulgam district in J&K, he lost his life in
a counter-terror operation 'Operation Batagund' against six terrorists in Hirapur
village near Batgund in Shopian on 25th November 2018. Ashoka Chakra is the
highest peacetime military decoration for valour, courageous action or
self-sacrifice away from the battlefield.
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