Current affairs notes on 16/02/2019-22/02/2019

1.The MoU between India and Finland on cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of outer space was given approval by the Union Cabinet.It includes provisions for exploring newer research activities and applications in the fields of Remote Sensing of the Earth, Satellite Communication..etc.

2.Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) launched a new portal Least Available Depth Information System (LADIS) for real-time data on available depth on stretches of National Waterways.

3.Meghalaya’s state animal – Clouded Leopard will be the official mascot for the 39th National Games 2022, which is coinciding with the 50th year of the creation of the state.

4.The 5th International Dam Safety Conference – 2019 was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha during 13 and 14 February 2019. It is the joint initiative of the Government of India, Government of Odisha and the World Bank (WB).

5.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.

6.Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal from Chandigarh has scripted history by becoming the first woman to be inducted as a flight engineer in the Indian Airforce in Bengaluru.

7.Vidarbha became the only 3rd team in Indian Domestic Cricket history after Bombay and Karnataka to defend their Irani cup titles at Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur by defeating rest of India. 

8.Eva de Goede from Netherlands and Arthur van Doren of Belgium were titled the International Hockey Federation's Players of the Year for 2018 on 14th February 2019. Eva de Goede, 29, was named the Female Player of the Year and Arthur van Doren, 24, won the Male Player of the Year award for the second year in a row.

9.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.

10.India emerged as winners in the team event of First Mallakhamb World Championship was held in Shivaji Park in central Mumbai in which India became the winner.

11.The 40th International Annual Desert Festival held on the sand dune in Jaisalmer with thousands of tourists participating in the colourful event. The 3-day festival, which exhibits the rich cultural heritage of the desert state.

12.Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first ever diesel to electric converted locomotive twin engine of ten thousand Horse Power at DLW Varanasi.

13.A rare Indian snake species - Red Coral Kukri- has recently sighted in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (U.P) after a gap of 82 years.

14.The World Day of Social Justice is celebrated annually all over the world on 20 February. The theme for WDSJ 2019 is "If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice". 

15.The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to host the 79th session of Indian History Congress (IHC) at Barkatullah University in Bhopal from February 26 to 28, 2019.

16.The Gujarat government has formed a special board for the transgender community to provide social security to the community. As a state-run agency, the 'Transgender Welfare Board (TWB)' will have powers to introduce special schemes for the community. 

17.Novak Djokovic was named World Sportsman of the Year and United State gymnast Simone Biles was named Sportswoman of the Year at the 2019 Laureus World Sports Awards.

18.The Kerala State Police claimed to have created history by becoming one of the world's first and the very first police force in India to induct humanoid robots called 'KP-Bot’.

19.External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj conferred with 'Grand Cross of Order of Civil Merit' award in Spain recently.

20.Amit Phangal won the Gold medal in Men's 49 Kg category in 70th International Boxing Tournament Strandja 2019 held at Sofia, Bulgaria.

21.Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Seoul Peace Prize during his two-day visit to South Korea.

22.Foundation Day of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is being observed on 19th February, 2019. The Commission will be celebrating fifteen years on 19th February, 2019.

23.EXERCISE VAYU SHAKTI-2019 was held recently in Rajasthan by Indian Airforce..

24.14th Agricultural Science Congress is being held at New Delhi.Theme: “Innovations for Agricultural Transformation”.

Thank you..