Textiles Minister launches scheme for development of knitwear sector..... Read other Banking Affairs, Internationl Affairs of 2nd March 2019

Current Affairs

1.Textiles Minister launches scheme for development of knitwear sector

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*Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Zubin Irani on February 28, 2019 launched a comprehensive scheme for the development of knitting and knitwear sector under PowerTex India in New Delhi.
*The Textiles Minister also interacted with industry associations related to knit wear sector in three clusters of Kolkata, Tirupur and Ludhiana through video link. The Minister said that knitting and knitwear sector is predominantly MSME in size and mainly located in decentralised sector and is one of the major employment generator sector.
**The following are the key components of the scheme:
* Creation of new service centers on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model by industry and association in the knitting and knitwear clusters.
* Modernisation and upgradation of existing power loom service Centers (PSCs) and institution run by Textile Research Associations (TRAs) and Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) Association in knitting and knitwear clusters.
*Group work shed scheme.
* Yarn bank scheme.
*Common facility center scheme.
*Pradhan mantra Credit Scheme.
*Solar Energy Scheme.
* Facilitation, IT, awareness, studies, surveys, market development and publicity for knitting and knitwear units.

2.Centre, ADB sign 926 million dollar loan agreement to operationalise two lines of Mumbai Metro

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*The Union Government on March 1, 2019 signed a 926 million dollar loan agreement to operationalise two of the Mumbai Metro Rail System.
*The move will ease the distress of millions of commuters each day and help provide a cleaner and less congested city. The loan agreement was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Additional Secretary (Fund Bank and ADB), Department of Economic Affairs, on the behalf of the Indian Government and Kenichi Yokoyama, Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission on behalf of ADB.
* *Highlight**
*The project loan is the single largest infrastructure loan in ADB history approved by the ADB Board on February 26, 2019.
* It will help fund lines 2A (Dahisar to D.N. Nagar), 2B (D.N. Nagar-Bandra-Mandale), and 7 (Dahisar [East] to Andheri [East]), totaling about 58 kilometers (km).
* The project will fund 63 six-car trains, signaling and safety systems and help establish a new dedicated metro operations organization to manage the entire metro network in Mumbai.
*The project will be implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). It is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.

3.Poshan Pakhwada from 8th to 22nd March
*The Minister for Women and Child Develop- ment, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi announced that the Poshan Pakhwada will be celebrated as part of Jan Andolan under the first anniversary POSHAN Abhiyaan from 08th to 22nd March 2019

4.Ajay Narayan Jha joins as Member Finance Commission
*Ajay Narayan Jha joined the 15th Finance Commission as its Member. He joins in place of Shaktikanta Das who resigned after being appointed as Governor, RBI. The Commission was created by Presidential Order in Nov 2017 under the Chairmanship of N. K. Singh.


5.National Institute of Unani Medicine at Ghaziabad
*Union Minister of State (IC) for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik laid the foundation stone for National Institute of Unani Medicine (NIUM) today at Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh developed with an approximate cost of Rs. 300.00 crore on 10 acres of land.

6.Hasmukh Adhia appointed Non-Executive Chairman of BoB
*The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed former finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia as a part-time non-official director as well as non-executive chairman on the board of Bank of Baroda for a period of three years.


7.PM's Trophy for Excellence in Performance of Integrated Steel Plants
*25th PM's Trophy and Steel Minister's trophy along with other awards for the best performing integrated steel plants for the year 2016-17 was presented in New Delhi by the Union Minister of Steel, Chaudhary Birender Singh.


8.Construction Technology India-2019 Expo-cum-Conference
*Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Construction Technology India-2019 Expo-cum-Conference in New Delhi on 2nd March 2019. It is being organized by the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs from 2 to 3 March

9.Centre for Disability Sports at Gwalior

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*The Government has approved the proposalregarding setting up of a Centre for Disability Sports at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, to be registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 with an estimated cost of Rs 170.99 crore.

10.Government to celebrate Poshan Pakhwada'
*The Government of India will celebrate the first anniversary of 'POSHAN Abhiyaan' by organising Poshan Pakhwada across the Country. The Pakhwada will be launched on international Women's Day, 8th March, 2019.The Ministry of Women & Child Development is the nodal ministry for coordinating activities during the month

11. 7th RCEP 1SSM was held in Cambodia
*The 7th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Intersessional Ministerial Meeting (7th RCEP ISSL MM)was held on 2 March 2019 in Cambodia.
*The meeting was chaired by Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Acting Minister of Commerce of Thailand.
*RCEP is a proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between 10 countries of ASEAN and their six FTA partners Cambodia's capital is Phnom Penh.

12.IRCTC launches IRCTC iPay

*The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) launched its own payment aggregator system, iPay.
*It will provide an improved online digital payment convenience and ease of doing business to passengers availing online travel services through the IRCTC website. s will help reduce the gap between
*IRCTC and banks which will lead to a substantial reduction in payment failures


13.SEBI slashes requlatorv fee for brokers

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*The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has lowered the regulatory fee that it charges from market intermediaries.
*The move is expected to bring down the overall trading costs for investors.
*The fee that brokers have to pay to SEBI has been reduced by 33.33%, while the fees levied on agri-commodity brokers has been cut by 93.33%.


14.Manufacturing PMI at a14-month high in Feb

*According to the Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, the manufacturing activity expanded to a 14-month high of 54.3 in February 2019.
*The rise is due to an increase in sales, output, and employment, according to a private sector survey.
*A reading over 50 denotes an expansion in activity and one below 50 shows a Contraction.


15.Gill takesover as MD &CEO of Yes Bank

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*Former Indian Chief of Deutsche Bank, Ravneet Gill took charge as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of private sector lender Yes Bank on 1 March 2019.
*will have a three-year term and it has been approved by the Reserve Bank of India.
*He succeeded Rana Kapoor, the co-founder of the bank, whose term ended on 31 January 2019.

16.Indianeconomy to grow at 7.3% in 2019-20 

*The US-based rating agency, Moody's released the quarterly Global Macro Outlook for 2019 and 2020 on 1 March 2019.
*As per the report, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.3% in the calendar years 2019 and 2020. In 2018-19 fiscal, ending March 2019,
*the Indian economy is estimated to have grown 7%, lower than 7.2% in 2017-18.


17.Avushman Bharat cover for Uber cab drivers
*The Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) has joined hands with Uber to extend health cover to their driver and delivery partners.
*Under the agreement, Uber, under its Uber CARE initiative, will help set up common service centers (CSCs) at Partners Seva Kendras,
*The facility will not be available in Delhi, Odisha, and Telangana.


18.Thanga gets AB Vajpyee Life Time award

*Thanga Darlong was conferred Atal Bihari Vajpayee Life Time Award by the Tripura government on 1 March 2019.
*He is a tribal musician, who plays Rosem, a flute like tribal musical instrument made of bamboo.
*In January 2019, he was conferred the prestigious Padma Shri award for his contribution to the field of music.


19.OSDMA won the SKOCH Award 

*The Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) won the SKOCH Award 2018 for its achievements in the field of disaster management.
*The award covers the areas of finance, governance, banking, disaster management, technology, economics, and inclusive growth.
*The OSDMA also received an Order-of-merit in the Gold category for constructing 879 multipurpose cyclone and flood shelters,

20.Book on Mann Ki Baat' released

*A book titled, 'Mann Ki Baat - A Social Revolution on Radio was released by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi on 2 March 2019.
*The book is a compendium encompassing 50 editions of the 'Mann Ki Baat' programme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on All India Radio.
*The book is published by Rupa, in collaboration with BlueKraft Digital Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.


21.Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue to be held

*The second edition of Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD)- 2019 will be held on 5 and 6 March 2019 in New Delhi.
*The ainm of the IPRD is to focus attention on the Indo-Pacific, as a maritime geographical-entity.
*|t is organised by the Indian Navy and the National Maritime Foundation.
*The IPRD 2019 is based on five themes would be addressed in five sessions spread over two days.