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Daily Current Affairs of 25th February 2019

International Current Affairs

US President Donald Trump will reach Hanoi (Capital city of Vietnam) tomorrow for his 2nd summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

The summit is due to take place on Wednesday and Thursday but details of the talks have not been released.
The North Korean President, Kim Jong-Un is going to reach Hanoi by train from Pyongyang.
Note : The Vietnam summit is a follow-up to a meeting in Singapore last June.

Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, a Hindu parliamentarian from Pakistan, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Sushma Swaraj at an event in Delhi.

The MP assured the ministers that Pakistan had no involvement in the Pulwama attack.
Note : Vankwani was part of a foreign delegation invited to India to attend the Kumbh Mela by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

A ceremony was held in Tokyo (Japan) to celebrate 30 years of Emperor Akihito's reign.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Speaker and President of both chambers of the Diet and foreign ambassadors to Japan also attended the event on Sunday.
Note : Emperor Akihito is schedule to abdicate on April 30 and Crown Prince Naruhito's accession is set on May 1.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has declared a year-long state of emergency, dissolving his cabinet and local governments throughout the country.

His announcement followed months of nearly daily protests against his rule, with thousands of people taking to the streets across the country since December 19 to call for him to stand down after nearly three decades in office.

National Current Affairs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the National War Memorial near India Gate in New Delhi today.

The memorial honours soldiers who have laid down their lives in the service for the country since Independence.
Spread over 40 acres, the project has been executed at a cost of Rs 176 crore.
The layout of the Memorial comprises 4 concentric circles :

Amar Chakra - Circle of Immortality
Veerta Chakra - Circle of Bravery
Tyag Chakra - Circle of Sacrifice
Rakshak Chakra - Circle of Protection.

The complex includes a central obelisk, an eternal flame and six bronze murals depicting famous battles fought by Indian Army, Air Force and Navy.
Busts of the 21 awardees of Param Veer Chakra have been installed at Param Yoddha Sthal.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal today launched the 'Rail Drishti Dashboard (e-Drishti)', an online portal containing information related to passenger and freight trains and links to live feeds of IRCTC kitchens.

The Dashboard has been launched to keep people informed about the work going on in the Railways across the country.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women has praised Odisha government for proposing 33% reservation for women in Parliament and Assemblies.

Note : Andhra Pradesh had also passed a proposal for women's reservation in 2016.

The Ministry of Home Affairs increased the Risk and Hardship Allowance for CAPF (Central Armed Police Forces) personnel from ₹9,700 to ₹17,300 per month for those up to the Inspector rank.

For those above Inspector rank, allowance was increased from ₹16,900 to ₹25,000.
Note : Over 88,000 CRPF personnel in the LWE states and J&K will benefit from this move.

Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey launched a national programme aimed at eliminating viral hepatitis, recognized as an important public health problem.

The minister of state for health launched the National Action Plan - Viral Hepatitis at Mumbai in presence of Amitabh Bachchan, the goodwill ambassador for hepatitis, WHO South-East Asia Region.
Aim of this Programme : To combat hepatitis and achieve countrywide elimination of Hepatitis C by 2030.

The government of Himachal Pradesh today announced Monkey as Vermin for the period of one year in 11 districts of the state.

Meaning of Vermin = Wild animals that are believed to be harmful to crops, farm animals, or game, or which carry disease

Gujarat government has launched the 2nd edition of the water conservation scheme Sujalam Sufalam Jal Sanchay Abhiyan.

Aim of this Scheme : To deepen water bodies in the state before monsoon to increase storage of rainwater to be used during times of scarcity.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

The Indian government today declared that the Printing presses and mints as public utility service under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

The units declared as public utility services include the following :

India Security Press (Nashik)
India Government Mints (Kolkata, Noida, Mumbai, Hyderabad)
Security Printing Press (Hyderabad)

Note : The notification is valid for six months and can be reissued after expiry.

The new draft e-commerce policy has proposed a ban on all gifts shipped to India via e-commerce route to prevent misuse of 'gifting' provision.

Indian customs law allows up to ₹5,000-tax exemptions on gifts sent to India from abroad.
Several Chinese e-tailers including SheIn and AliExpress reportedly misused this rule to ship cheaper products to Indian users.

The GST Council announced under construction properties priced over ₹45 lakh will invite 5% GST, instead of 12%.

A residential property priced at ₹45 lakh or below will now be defined as "affordable" and taxed at 1%, from 8% earlier.
Further, a property of 60 square metres in metro cities and 90 square metres in non-metros will be considered "affordable".

Afghanistan has begun exports to India through Iran’s Chabahar port, as the landlocked country turns to overseas markets to improve its economy.

At the inauguration of the new export route in Zaranj city in western Nimroz province, President Ashraf Ghani said Chabahar port is the result of healthy cooperation between India, Iran and Afghanistan.

Haryana Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu presented the Rs. 1,32,165.99 crore tax free budget for 2019-20 in the State Assembly today.

It is 14.73 percent over Budget Estimates and 9.79 percent over revised estimates of 2018-19.
Over Rs. 46, 000 crore have been allocated to 15 Sustainable Development Goals being implemented in the state.
Although no new tax is imposed, Finance Minister has proposed to raise revenue receipts of Rs 82,219.41 crore in 2019-20 through efficient realisation of tax and non-tax receipts over revised estimates of 2018-19 receipts of Rs 76, 828.11 crore.

Multinational professional services network, Deloitte has announced the launch of its global initiative ‘WorldClass’ in India for the empowerment of women.

The initiative was launched by Deloitte’s Global CEO, Punit Renjen in the presence of Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

NITI Aayog co-hosted a conference on “The Future of Indian Banking”, with the Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare (EGROW Foundation).

The conference was inaugurated by Dr Rajiv Kumar (Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog).
Aim of this Conference : Increasing and elevating the discourse on the banking sector in India and help in developing insights to inform the continued evolution of the Indian banking sector for optimally supporting the growing credit needs of the Indian economy.

Awards & Honors

'Green Book' was named Best Picture at Oscars 2019, while 'Roma' director Alfonso Cuarón was named Best Director.

India-based 'Period. End of Sentence.' has won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject.
Oscar 2019 Winners

Best Picture — Green Book
Best Director — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Best Actress in a Leading Role — Olivia Colman, The Favourite
Best Actor in a Leading Role — Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody
Original Song — Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando, and Andrew Wyatt, “Shallow,” A Star Is Born
Original Score — Ludwig Goransson, Black Panther
Best Adapted Screenplay — Spike Lee, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele, BlacKkKlansman
Best Original Screenplay — Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, Green Book
Live Action Short Film — Guy Nattiv and Jamie Ray Newman, Skin
Visual Effects — Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm, First Man
Documentary Short Subject — Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton, Period. End of Sentence.
Documentary (Feature) — Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Free Solo
Animated Short Film — Domee Shi, Bao
Animated Feature Film — Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
Actor in a Supporting Role — Mahershala Ali, Green Book
Actress in a Supporting Role — Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Film Editing — John Ottman, Bohemian Rhapsody
Foreign Language Film — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Cinematography — Alfonso Cuarón, Roma
Sound Mixing — Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin, and John Casali, Bohemian Rhapsody
Sound Editing — John Warhurst, Bohemian Rhapsody
Production Design — Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart, Black Panther
Costume Design — Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther
Makeup and Hairstyling — Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia Dehaney, Vice