IRDAI Spells out draft norms of standard Mediclaim policy...21,February 2019 : Current Affairs

1.World Day of Social Justice 20 February

*The World Day of Social Justice is annually observed on February 20 to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication. 2019 theme for the day was lf You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice.

2.IRDAI Spells out draft norms of standard Mediclaim policy

*According to the draft guidelines of IRDA, the Mediclaim product will have the basic mandatory covers & no additional/add-on covers will be allowed. The minimum basic sum insured under standard product shall be 50000 with a maximum limit of 10 lakh.



3.India, Saudi Arabia to establish high cooperation council to boost ties

 *India & Saudi Arabia will set up a high cooperation council to provide a huge impetus to bilateral ties between the nations. It would enable the two nations to discuss any problem and engage directly on various aspects including business, politics & defence.


4.HDFC ERGO Launches the First-of-its-kind Trip Protector Policy

*HDFC ERGO announced the launch of Trip Protector insurance policy. It would safeguard travellers against the cost of cancellation levied by Hotels/Airlines. It covers the cancellation of pre-booked flights & hotels for domestic and international travel.



5.Kerala Police introduces country's first humanoid robot into force

*Kerala Police introduced the humanoid robot called 'KP-Bot'. It is designed to provide round-the-clock service, involving public interface and front office administration and overcome human limitations to avoid, to the extent possible, human error.


6.Operation Digital Board (ODB) launched to provide better digital education

*Govt has launched Operation Digital Board on the lines of Operation Blackboard to provide better digital education. Under the program, 7L classrooms of 9th, 1Oth,11th std & 2L classrooms of colleges, Univ will be equipped with digital boards in the next 3 yrs.


7.Department of justice launches tele-law mobile app, Nyaya Bandhu

*Ravi Shankar Prasad launched a tele-law mobile app that is integrated with a dashboard & an application called Nyaya Bandhu. The pro bono legal service was built to accelerate &facilitate practicing advocates to register & connect with the beneficiaries.


8.MoU b/w Environment Ministry and University of British Columbia on forestry Science

*Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change & University of British Columbia, Canada signed an MoU for 10 years in New Delhi to explore opportunities for future collaborations in the field of forestry science through their respective organizations.



9.Rajyavardhan Rathore to inaugurate ISSF Shooting World Cup

*Sports Minister will inaugurate the International Shooting Sports Federation World Cup in New Delhi. The ISSF World Cup is crucial for Indian shooting as it has 16 quotas up for grabs for Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification.


10.Government to start water transport in Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh

*The Govt will start Water transport in the Yamuna river in Uttar Pradesh. A water port will be set up in Baghpat dist. Govt is planning to export sugar from western UP to Bangladesh via Yamuna water transport which will be connected to Allahabad.


11.Cabinet ap proves new Electronics Policy

*The Union Cabinet approved the new National Electronics Policy 2019 on 19 February 2019.
*The aim of the policy is to achieve  turnover of $400 billion for the electron-ics system design and manufacturing (ESDM) sector by 2025.
*The new policy proposes to provide interest subsidy of 4% on loans up to Rs. 1,000 crore for setting up plant and machinery.



12.The international Mother Language Day: 21Feb

*The International Mother Language Day is observed every year on 21 February.
*The aim of the day to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promote multilingualism.
*The day is known as Bhasha Dibas or Shahid Dibas in West Bengal and Bangladesh.
*The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was an initiative of Bangladesh.


13.Government relaxes norms for startups 

*The government of India raised the investment limit for angel tax exemption to Rs 25 crore and extended the period of availing benefits to 10 years for startups.
*Earlier, the investment limit for a startup to seek exemption was Rs 10 crore. An entity will be considered as a startup up to a turnover of Rs 100 crore as against the earlier limit of Rs 25 crore.


14.Rare frog species found in Arunachal Pradesh

*Scientists of the Zoological Survey of India (ZSIl) found a rare frog (Megophrys pachyproctus) from the Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary at Lower Subansiri district in Arunachal Pradesh.
*The medium-sized frog was found from Pange in Tale valley by Dr Bikramjit Sinha and Bhaskar Saikia of the ZSI The frog was discovered in China in 1981.


15.1st Mega Food Park of Tripura inaugurated

*Union Minister of State for Food Pro- cessing Industries Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti inaugurated Sikaria Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd in Agartala on 20 February 2019. This is the first Mega Food Park in the state of Tripura.
*The food park is having facilities of fully operational Dry warehouse, Quality Control, Research and Development Centre etc.
*The food park is the 18th of its kind in the country




16. 7TH NATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS ANNOUNCED


*Union Minister of State (IC) for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore presented the 7th National Photography Awards in a function organized at National Media Centre in New Delhi

*The theme for the Professional category was "Women led Development", while the theme for Amateur category was "Fairs and Festivals of India"

*The list of the Award winners is as under:

*Lifetime Achievement Award - Shri Ashok
Dilwali

*Professional Photographer of the Year - Shri SL Shanth Kumar

*Amateur Photographer of the Year - Shri
Gurdeep Dhiman

*Special Mention Awards (Professional)-Shri Arun Sreedhar, Shri PV. Sunderrao, Shri Kailash Mittal, Shri Mihir Singh, Ms. Ranita Roy.

*Special Mention Awards (Amateur)- Shri V. Ravi Kumar. Ms, S. Neelima, Shri Manish Jajsi,Shri Mahesh Balasaheb Lonkar, Shri Avijit Datta.



17. 8TH WORLD CSR CONGRESS 2019
IN MUMBAI


*World Corporate Social Responsibility Congress is one of the admired meetings which promote Entrepreneurship, Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Social Development, held in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

*Theme of the year 2019 is 'Sustainable Development Goals' to focus on corporate strategies, innovation, and strategic alliances.