Current Affairs February 06, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of February 06, 2019 in Short Notes form for preparation of IBPS, Banking, CLAT, SSC, Railway, UPSC, IAS/PCS, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC, TNPSC, MPSC, KPSC and all other competitive examinations of India.
1. An acclaimed cinematographer and screenwriter and filmmaker, Govind Nihalani will be honoured with the Kalamaharshi Baburao Painter Award for his contribution to the film industry at the 2019 Kolhapur International Film Festival (KIFF). The 7th edition of the film festival is scheduled to be held from February 7 to 14. The award is named after Painter, a native of Kolhapur who was a painter, sculptor and a filmmaker of the silent film era. More than 50 feature and short films, including those from Japan, South Korea, France and Iran, among others, will be screened at a well-known multiplex here as part of the 2019 KIFF. The country focus will be on Hungarian cinema.
2. Ramesh Bhatkar (70), the veteran Marathi actor, has passed away in Mumbai, Maharashtra on February 4, 2019. He was known for his roles in the TV series "Commander" and "Hello Inspector" and worked for more than 30 years as an actor in mainstream Hindi and Marathi films such as "Aai Pahije", "Kucch To Hai" and "Bhavesh Joshi Superhero". For the last 30 years, Ramesh has played lead roles in such plays as Ooghadale Swargache Daar (1982), Denaryaache Haath Hazaar (1980), Shadyantra (1991), Kevha Tari Pahate, Akher Tu Yeshilach, Rahu Ketu, Mukta, The Boss- Sutradhar, Kinara.
3. In Tamil Nadu, the 37th edition of the ICT Academy Bridge 2019 conference was held in Chennai with theme “Fostering India for Industry 4.0". The event brought together industry experts, academic leaders and government policy-makers to address the challenges faced by India Inc. in the era of Fourth Industrial Revolution & therefore creating a correlated education ecosystem and formulating a strategic regulatory framework. It is the largest Industry-Institute Interaction Event of Asia and is organized by ICT Academy. The city witnessed more than 1,000 participants from government, industry and academia.
4. Indian squash player Ramit Tandon has won the 2019 Seattle Open title by defeating Mohamed El Sherbini of Egypt in the final in USA. It is his fourth title in his career. The Seattle Open is a Professional Squash Association (PSA) challenger squash Tour event.
5. In Keonjhar district, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched the new 'KALIA Chhatravritti Yojana' to facilitate the children of the farmers, who are the beneficiaries of the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme. Under this scholarship scheme, the beneficiaries will be provided scholarships for pursuing higher education in professional courses free of cost. Children of farmers who have taken admission at Government Professional colleges on merit basis will be eligible for the scholarship scheme. The state government has also launched drinking water projects worth Rs 1,050 crore to supply safe drinking water in the district. Patnaik also launched Mission Shakti Conclave dedicated the development projects worth Rs 45 crore.
6. 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 under the Drugs Price Control Order (DPCO). The move comes more than 5 years after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) proposed such a system for the States and the Union Territories. The new watchdog will offer technical help to the State Drug Controllers and the NPPA to monitor notified prices of medicines, detect violation of the provisions of the DPCO, look at price compliance, collect test samples of medicines, and collect and compile market-based data of scheduled as well as non-scheduled formulations.
7. The media-savvy former mayor of San Salvador, Nayib Bukele of the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) has won a landslide victory in 2019 El Salvador presidential election by winning over 53% of the total vote. With this, he brought an end to a two-party system that has held sway over the violence-plagued Central American country for three decades. Bukele will succeed Salvador Sánchez Cerén , after whom the leadership chair was vacant for a period of time. He will assume office on 1 June 2019.
8. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made an unexpected discovery of a new dwarf galaxy in our cosmic neighborhood. Named Bedin 1, the galaxy is approximately 30 million light-years away and 2 million light-years from the nearest plausible large galaxy host ‘NGC 6744’. The object is classified as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy because it measures only around 3,000 light-years at its greatest extent, and it is roughly a thousand times dimmer than our own Milky Way Galaxy. The galaxy is named after discovery team leader Dr. L. R. Bedin of the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova in Italy. The dwarf spheroidal galaxies are not uncommon, Bedin 1 has some notable features. Not only is it one of just a few dwarf spheroidals that have a well established distance but it is also extremely isolated. This makes it possibly the most isolated small dwarf galaxy discovered to date. The Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are defined by their small size, low-luminosity, lack of dust and old stellar populations. 36 galaxies of this type are already known to exist in the Local Group, 22 of which are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. The researchers used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study white dwarf stars within the globular cluster NGC 6752. The aim of their observations was to use these stars to measure the age of the globular cluster, but in the process they made an unexpected discovery of Bedin 1.
9. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is a Cold War-era missile treaty that was a signed in 1987 between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty barred both countries from deploying land-launched cruise missiles in the 500- to 5,500-km range. It was a key to ending the arms race between the (then) two super powers and helped protect the U.S.’s NATO allies in Europe from Soviet missile attacks. The deal addressed Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors such as China. Recently, it is in news because the United States has suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty with Russia effective on 2nd February 2019 and will withdraw from the treaty in six months. Article XV of the treaty mandates a six-month notice period before withdrawal. The reasons for withdrawal are as follows: the Trump and Obama administrations have repeatedly alleged that Russia was violating the treaty by fielding a ground-based cruise missile, the Novator 9M729 (“SSC-8” in NATO terminology) that could strike Europe at a short notice, an allegation that Russia has repeatedly denied. The Russians have raised counter-allegations against the U.S., with regard to launchers for antiballistic missile systems in Europe.
10. Manipur-based filmmaker and music composer Aribam Syam Sharma has decided to return his 2006 Padma Shri award in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that the Centre wants to push through. The 83-year-old filmmaker made the decision after families of around 855 martyrs of the anti-foreigners Assam Agitation of 1979-85 returned the citation that the Sarbananda Sonowal government had given them in 2016. The government had also honored these families with Rs 5 lakh each for the sacrifice of the martyrs. The protests have rocked the entire northeast against the proposal to grant citizenship to non-Muslims from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries. The film fraternity of the region backed the decision of Manipur filmmaker Aribam Syam Sharma to return his Padma Shri in protest against the bill. The Bill seeks to fast-track the process of granting citizenship to non-Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who came to India till December 31, 2014, allegedly because of religious persecution.
