Weekly Current Affairs (25th February 2019 – 02nd March 2019)

National
1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the National War Memorial near India Gate, New Delhi.The memorial is a commemoration of the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers since Independence with the names of 25,942 martyrs (scope to add more names) etched in stone forever.
2. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has launched a dashboard for passengers to keep track of train punctuality as well as other such information from anywhere in the country.
3. The Union Minister for Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu has inaugurated the Aviation Conclave 2019 with an overarching theme of “Flying for All” in New Delhi.
4. The Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has launched the ‘Online Platform for Display and Booking’ of vacant berths after chart preparation in New Delhi.
5. According to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, Southern Coast Railway ((SCoR)will be a new zone of the Indian Railways.
6. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the new premises of the regional unit of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Hyderabad.
7. Abhinandan Varthaman is about to return after being kept in captivity in Pakistan for 2 days

International

1. Afghanistan has begun exports to India through Iran’s Chabahar port, as the landlocked country turns to overseas markets to improve its economy.
2. According to Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari (76-years) has secured a second four-year term in office.
3. The United States has imposed new sanctions on Venezuela.
4. The United Nations Security Council has designated Hamza bin Laden under its sanctions list.
5. The United States and North Korea have failed to reach a formal deal at two-day North Korea– United States Hanoi Summit 2019 held at the Metropole Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Economy and Business

1. Zimbabwe started to trade its new currency, the RTGS dollar, two days after the central bank announced measures to try and resolve a chronic monetary crisis.
2. NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar inaugurated a conference on “The Future of Indian Banking” in New Delhi.
3. The GST Council slashed tax rates on under-construction housing properties to 5% (existing 12%).
4. Britannia Industries will replace Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) in the National Stock Exchange Fifty (NIFTY) 50 index (from 29th March 2019).
5. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar launched the SHREYAS scheme on 27 Feb to provide industry-specific apprenticeship opportunities to fresh graduates.

Sports

1. The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has honoured Indian skipper Manpreet Singh with the 2018 Player of the Year award.
2. Indian Grandmaster ‘Abhijeet Gupta’ lifted the Cannes International Open Chess trophy.
3. Hungary’s Veronika Major has won a gold medal in 10-metre air pistol event at the ongoing ISSF World Cup at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi.
4. Former Sri Lankan Cricket Captain Sanath Jayasuriya (49-years) has been banned from Cricket for two years after he failed to co-operate in a corruption investigation.
5. Indian duo Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker won the Gold medal in 10-metre air pistol mixed team event at the ISSF world cup Shooting in New Delhi.
6. The union cabinet has approved the setting up of a Centre for Disability Sports in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
7. West Indies opener Chris Gayle has become the first batsman ever to smash 500 or more sixes in international cricket.

Awards

1. Olivia Colman won the best actress award for “The Favourite”, at the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
2. The 2018 Gandhi Peace Prize was conferred on Yohei Sasakawa, who is at the forefront of many philanthropic initiatives. His compassionate nature can be seen in the manner in which he has worked to eliminate leprosy in India.
3. Britain’s World War II spy Noor Inayat Khan was confirmed as the first Indian-origin woman to be honoured with a Blue Plaque at her former London home.
4. Eminent Indian playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar has been chosen for this year’s META Lifetime Achievement Award.
5. National Boxing champion Deepak Singh (49kg) was the only Indian boxer to notch up the gold medal, while five others claimed silver medals in the Makran Cup in Chabahar, Iran.

Appointments

1. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (59-years) announced his resignation.
2. India-born former PepsiCo’s CEO Indra Nooyi has joined the online retail giant Amazon’s board of directors.
3. Brijbhushan Sharan Singh (62-years) has been elected unopposed as President of Wrestling Federation of India (WFI).
4. The National Book Trust (NBT) has appointed educationist and author Govind Prasad Sharma as its new Chairman.
5. IDBI Bank has appointed LIC’s Hemant Bhargava as non-executive, Chairman for three years.
6. Jet Airways’ founder Naresh Goyal has agreed to step down as chairman of the airline’s board.
7. Former Indian Chief of Deutsche Bank, Ravneet Gill took charge as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of private sector lender Yes Bank on 1 March 2019.
8. On 1 March 2019, former Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia was appointed as Non-Executive Chairman of Bank of Baroda (BoB) for three years.

Important Days

1. India celebrates National Science Day on 28th February of every year to commemorate the discovery of the Raman effect (in 1928) by Indian physicist Sir C.V. Raman.
2. Zero Discrimination Day is an annual day celebrated by the UN and other international organisations.

Science and Tech
1. Bangalore based fab-less Semiconductor Company, Signalchip launched India’s first Indigenous Semiconductor Chips for 4G/LTE and 5G NR MODEMs in New Delhi.

Defence
1. India successfully test-fired short-range Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile (QRSAM) off Odisha coast on 26 Feb 2019.
2. According to the Defence Ministry, Joint military exercise ‘Sampriti 2019’ between India and Bangladesh has been conducted at Tangail in Bangladesh (2nd-15th March 2019.)

States
1. Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath has launched the state Government’s flagship scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’ to urban youths (21-30 years) from economically weaker sections.
2. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has inaugurated the Assam Employees Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring (PRANAM) Commission.
3. Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced a new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh, that is the Southern Coast Railway and it will be headquartered in Visakhapatnam.
4. The Union Cabinet has approved the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Amendment Order, 2019.

Miscellaneous

1. According to Central Information Commission (CIC) ruled that an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is “information” under the Right to Information Act and can be demanded by an applicant from the Election Commission of India on a payment of Rs 10.
2. Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, inaugurated National Institutes of Design (NID) at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Jorhat in Assam through video conference from New Delhi on 22nd February 2019.
3. The Cabinet on Thursday approved the promulgation of an ordinance which allows children to exit Aadhaar on attaining 18 years of age.
4. A book titled, ‘Mann Ki Baat – A Social Revolution on Radio’ was released by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on 2 March 2019.

Agreements
1. World Bank, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launched new social impact bonds exclusively for women, called Women’s Livelihood Bonds (WLBs), with an initial corpus of Rs 300 crore.