Current Affairs February 19, 2019
In this post, GKToday presents Current Affairs of February 19, 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. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has recently released World Employment and Social Outlook Trends (WESO) 2019 report. As per the report, unemployment rates will fall to 4.9% in 2019 and remains steady in 2020. The new data gathered for the report show that a majority of the 3.3 billion people employed globally in 2018 worked keeping their economic security at risk in informal employment. The quantity of jobless in serious terms is approximated to rise from 172 million to 174 million in that time as the labour market place expands. The report offers worries about the woman workforce participation fee. The considerably lessen labour pressure participation of girls at 48%, as opposed with 75% for adult men signifies that around 3 in 5 of the 3.5 billion persons in the worldwide labour pressure were being guys. The world wide unemployment among younger folks (between 15-24) stood at 11.8%, which is much higher than it is among other age brackets.
2. US space agency NASA has recently unveiled a new space telescope ‘SPHEREx’ that would begin a two-year mission in 2023 to map the entire sky in order to understand the origins of the universe. The acronym SPHEREx stands for ‘Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer’. The spacecraft’s objective is to learn about how our universe evolved and how common the essential ingredients for life in our galaxy's planetary systems. It will survey the sky in optical as well as near-infrared light which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions. It will map the entire sky every six months to create a map in 96 color bands, and will be searching for water and organic molecules like methanol or acetone in regions where stars and being born and new planets are forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way.
3. In badminton, Saina Nehwal won her fourth title at the Yonex-Sunrise 83rd Senior National Badminton Championships 2019 in Guwahati. In the final, she defeated P.V.Sindhu by 21-18, 21-15 in Guwahati. Its her fourth title. Sourabh Verma completed a hat-trick of titles, claiming the men's singles crown after defeating young Lakshya Sen in straight games of 21-18, 21-13. Earlier, the pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Chirag Shetty outclassed top seed duo Arjun M.R and Shlok Ramachandran in straight games of 21-13, 22-20 to clinch the Men's Doubles title.
4. The 40th edition of International Annual Desert Festival 2019 has started in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on February 17. Thousands of tourists are participating in the colourful event. The 3-day festival, which exhibits rich cultural heritage of the desert state, commenced with a colourful procession from Gadsisar lake fort. It will have interesting events like Mr Desert and Ms Moomal competitions, moustache competitions, turban tying, tug of war, musical and cultural performances, among others. The Border Security Force presented a camel tattoo show on the opening day of the festival. Before the inaugural ceremony of the festival, organisers kept a two-minute silence in respect of the 40 CRPF personnel who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack on 14th Feb.
5. In cricket, Ranji champions Vidarbha successfully retained their title and defeated Rest of India (RoI) on first-innings basis to win the 2019 Irani Cup tournament in Nagpur. Vidarbha has now become the third team after Mumbai and Karnataka to clinch two Irani Cup titles in a row. Hanuma Vihari from RoI has also become the first player to score 3 consecutive centuries in Irani Cup. Set to chase a target of 280, Vidarbha were well on course at 269 for five, needing only 11 runs for an outright victory. However, the two teams decided to shake hands and settle for a draw. And in a touching gesture, Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal announced that the entire prize money will be donated to the families of the CRPF personnel martyred in Pulwama terror attack.
6. India emerged as winners in the team event at the first-ever Mallakhamb World Championship at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on February 17. In the two-day tournament, approx 100 participants from 15 countries - Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, USA, Iran, Norway, England, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam, Bahrain, and hosts India – competed. The team championship was won by India with 244.73 points, while Singapore stood second with 44.45 and Malaysia came third with 30.22 points. During the event, German mallakhamb team coach Ruth Anzenberger presented an audio-visual presentation about the workshops and practice of the ancient Indian sport held in his country. The German team also demonstrated their skills on rope as well as pole mallakhamb. The traditional sport is characterised by athletes performing a variety of yogic and gymnastic poses while suspended from a rope or on a pole.
7. Sunil Chhetri, the all-time leading scorer for India in international football, has been conferred the first-ever 'Football Ratna' by Football Delhi, the State Association governing the sport in Delhi. Chhetri was recently named as the 6th Indian Footballer in the elite Padma Shri list of 2019. Popularly known as Captain Fantastic, he scored 2nd highest number of goals in international matches among active players after Cristiano Ronaldo. He has also been named AIFF Player of the Year five times in 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2017.
8. On February 16, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed a Bill to make Sanskrit as the second official language of the state. The Himachal Pradesh Official Language Bill, 2019 (Amendment) was introduced by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Mahender Singh Thakur in the ongoing budget session. The bill was passed without any discussion. The first official language of Himachal is Hindi. The state's name was coined from the Sanskrit—Him means 'snow' and achal means 'land' or 'abode'—by Acharya Diwakar Datt Sharma, one of the state's eminent Sanskrit scholars. According to a survey of CMS - India Corruption Study 2017, Himachal Pradesh is India's least corrupt state.
9. Chandramouli Ramanathan from India has been appointed by the United Nations as Controller & Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Programme Planning, Budget and Finance in the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance (DMSPC). He succeeded Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas of Uruguay. DMSPC, launched on 1st January 2019, provides strategic policy leadership in all areas of management through a clear, integrated global management strategy and policy framework. It will champion, drive and support a results-oriented and risk-aware culture of continuous learning and accountability and promote innovation in business models throughout the Secretariat, with a strong focus on the field.
10. India’s second-largest IT services firm, Infosys has launched a digital platform ‘InfyTQ’ to offer learning and engagement experiences to engineering students in the country. InfyTQ is a free platform open to all engineering students in their 3rd and 4th years across India. The platform encourages holistic development by imparting technical as well as professional skills, helping them become industry-ready. InfyTQ, available on both mobile and desktop, includes content, courses, and news as well as online assessments and certification. Through app, students will benefit from the always-on, anytime, anywhere learning, catered through a continuous transfer of digital skills and expertise from the Infosys innovation ecosystem. In addition, the platform also offers courses on professional skills to help students navigate the art of effective contextual response, inter-personal relationships, communication and e-mail, and etiquette, among others.
