Daily Current Affairs 23 February 2019: We have collected the latest current affairs for 23 February 2019 that are important for all competitive exams like bank, ssc, ibps, sbi exams. The GK current affairs will help you score more in these competitive exams. Improve your general knowledge with our daily online current affairs. You can also read the current affairs on our mobile app.
Current Affairs 23 February 2019
Tamil Nadu becomes first state in India to get 2 Coast Guard district
- Tamil Nadu on February 22, 2019 became the first state in the country to get a second Coast Guard district headquarters at Thoothukudi.
- The first Coast Guard district headquarters was at Chennai.
- Coast Guard DIG Arvind Sharma has taken over charge as the first district Commander of the district headquarters (Tuticorin).
“Ujjwala Didis” identified to promote LPG usage in Odisha
- More than 10,000 Ujjwala Didis have been identified by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to act as the brand ambassador of LPG and promote its usage in the state.
- Ujjwala Didis will act as a bridge between existing and prospective LPG consumers and the distributors in the state.
- The LPG penetration in the state has increased to 73% from 20% in 2014.
Odisha Approves ‘Khushi Yojana’ to Provide Free Sanitary Napkins to School Girls
- The Odisha cabinet has approved ‘Khushi Yojana’ to provide free sanitary napkins to around 17.25 lakh school girls from Class VI to XII across the state.
- The state government has earmarked Rs 466 crore to implement the scheme over a period of five years.
Madhya Pradesh Launches Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana
- Chief Minister of the Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath, has announced the launch of ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’ (मुख्यमंत्री युवा स्वाभिमान योजना) to provide employment to the urban poor of the state. The scheme is similar to the MNREGA scheme.
- The scheme will provide 100 days employment in a year to the urban unemployed youth,. This will include the training period.
- The scheme will include urban youth of the age group of 21 to 30 years whose total families annual income is less than Rs 2 lakhs.
- They will be paid Rs 13,500 in 100 days at the rate of Rs 4,000 per month.
Dr Divya Karnad Becomes First Indian Women to Bag Prestigious Future for Nature 2019 Award
- Dr Divya Karnad, professor at Asoka University has won the prestigious Global Future For Nature Award 2019 for her work on marine conservation that included sustainable fishing of sharks and Olive Ridley sea turtles..
- She is the first Indian woman and the only second Indian to receive this honour. The first Indian to receive the award was Dr Charudutt Mishra.
- The Future For Nature Award is a an international award to recognise tangible achievements in protecting wild animal and plant species.
- The award is presented every year to 3 people. The other two recipients are Fernanda Abra (Brazil) and Olivier Nsengimana (Rwanda).
RBI forms new NBFCs’ category by merging 3 category
- The Reserve Bank of India on February 22, 2019 merged the three categories of NBFCs i.e
- Asset Finance Companies (AFC),
- Loan Companies (LCs) and
- Investment Companies (ICs)
into a new category called NBFC – Investment and Credit Company (NBFC-ICC).
- The aim is to ease operational flexibility of these institutions. The same was announced in the Sixth Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement for 2018-19 dated February 07, 2019 and was brought into effect on February 22, 2019.
CBDT forms panel to bring down tax litigation; Head- Sanjeev Sharma
- The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has formed a four-member committee to address tax related points and reduce the number of tax litigations.
- The committee will be headed by income tax commissioner Sanjeev Sharma.
- The committee is looking to tackle the issue in a two-prong way — addressing some current pain points and recommending some steps borrowed from international best practices.
Hockey India President Mushtaque Ahmad Elected as Vice-President of AHF
- The President of Hockey India, Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad, has been elected as the new Vice-President of the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) for a four-year term.
- Dato Fumio Ogura from Japan has been appointed as the new President of AHF.
- In addition, Asima Ali, Vice-President of Hockey India, has been elected unopposed as one of the executive board members of the AHF.
- The appointments were announced during AHF Congress on February 22 in Gifu, Japan.
Twitter co-founder Evan Williams steps down from company board
- Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter has announced to step down from the board of the company from February 2019 end.
- Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone started twitter in 2006. Evan was the second largest Twitter shareholder on the company’s board behind CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey.
Year-long emergency declared in Sudan
- President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir has declared a year-long state of emergency in Sudan on February 22, 2019 by dissolving the federal and state governments of the country.
- The reason for this is the anti-government protests in the nation since December, 2018. Demonstrators have been agitating against failure of Omar to take the nation out of economic woes ever since South Sudan seceded in 2011.
- His term was about to end in 2020.
Zimbabwe Launches New Currency “RTGS Dollars” to Fight Cash Shortage
- The central bank in Zimbabwe (Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)) has launched a new, devalued currency ‘Real Time Gross Transfer dollars (RTGS dollars)’ to combat a cash shortage.
- Zimbabwe has not had a local currency since 2009 and had adopted a multi-currency system dominated by the U.S dollar.
- The newly introduced currency is combination of Bond notes and electronic funds.
- Each 1 U.S. dollars will be exchanged at 2.5 RTGS dollars, a 60 percent devaluation.