Daily Current Affairs 18 February 2022 | WBCS, WBPSC, WBP

By Sumit Mazumder|Updated : February 18th, 2022

Read Daily Current Affairs at Byju's Exam Prep. Reading Daily Current Affairs will help you in gaining more knowledge and raising awareness levels. Current affairs play a major role in any competitive exams like WBCS, WBP, or other WBPSC Exams. Recent trends have shown that the dynamic portions have significant overlap with the Static subjects.

Here you will get a compact and to the point current affairs for WBCS, WBP, and other WBPSC Exams, that will help you in raising awareness level and in preparation of Current Affairs for your exam effectively.

Daily Current Affairs: 18:02:2022

 Important News: World

 

1. India-UAE Virtual Summit

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Why in News

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE (United Arab Emirates) Armed Forces, H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan will hold a Virtual Summit on February 18, 2022.

Key Points

  • Both Leaders are expected to lay out their vision of the historic and friendly relations between the two countries, at a time when India is celebrating 75 years of its Independence as Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and UAE is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its foundation.
  • The Prime Minister visited UAE in 2015, 2018 and 2019 while the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi visited India in 2016 and 2017.
  • A major initiative in bilateral relations is the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
  • Negotiations for CEPA were launched in September 2021 and have been completed.

Note:

  • UAE is India’s third largest trade partner.
  • UAE hosts a large India community which numbers close to 3.5 million.

Source: PIB

 

2. WHO launches Quit Tobacco App

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Why in News

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) launched  ‘Quit Tobacco App’ to help people kick the cigarette butt and give up use of tobacco in all forms - including smokeless and other newer products.
  • The ‘WHO Quit Tobacco App’, launched during WHO’s year-long ‘Commit to quit’ campaign, is the latest tobacco control initiative by the WHO South-East Asia Region. 

Key Points

  • Tobacco is the world’s leading cause of preventable death, and kills nearly 8 million persons every year. It claims 1.6 million lives in the WHO South-East Asia Region which is amongst the largest producers and consumers of tobacco products. 
  • Tobacco use is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCD) including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, chronic lung diseases and diabetes.

Note:

  • World No Tobacco Day(WNTD) is observed around the world every year on 31 May. 
  • The Government of India launched the National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) in the year 2007-08 during the 11th Five-Year-Plan.
  • India is the second largest producer and consumer of Tobacco products.

Source: Indian Express

 

Important News: India

 

3. Union Cabinet approves setting up of G20 Secretariat for India’s Presidency

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Why in News

  • The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the setting up of a G20 Secretariat and its reporting structures.
  • It will be responsible for implementation of overall policy decisions and arrangements needed for steering India’s forthcoming G20 Presidency.

Key Points

  • India will hold the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023.

About the G20:

  • The G20 is the international forum that brings together the world’s major economies.
  • Its members account for more than 80% of world GDP, 75% of global trade and 60% of the population of the planet.
  • The G20 is made up of 19 countries and the European Union.
  • The 19 countries are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

Source: TOI

 

4. India and Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC)

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Why in News

  • Recently, India lashed out at the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC)for being “communal minded” and “hijacked by vested interests” after the grouping called on the UN Human Rights Council to take “necessary measures” on the issue of Muslim girl students being told not to wear the hijab in Karnataka schools.

Key Points

  • The OIC also urged India to “ensure the safety, security and well being of the Muslim community while protecting their way of life”.
  • India’s response to the OIC statement was that India is a democracy, and issues within the country are resolved “in accordance with our Constitutional framework and mechanism, as well as democratic ethos and polity.

About Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC):

  • It is the world’s second largest multilateral body after the UN.
  • It counts 57 members, all of which are Islamic countries or Muslim majority members.
  • Headquarters: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

India & OIC:

  • As a country with the world’s second largest Muslim community, India had been invited to the founding conference at Rabat in 1969, but was humiliatingly ejected at Pakistan’s behest.
  • But India stayed away because of a multiplicity of reasons, not least of which was that as a secular country, it did not want to join an organisation founded on religion.
  • In 2019, India made its maiden appearance at the OIC Foreign Ministers’ meeting, as a “guest of honour”.

Source: Indian Express

5. Capacity Development Scheme

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Why in News

  • The Cabinet has approved the continuation of the Capacity Development (CD) Scheme till 31.03.2026 or till further review, whichever is earlier, subject to the adherence to Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) recommendations and the financial ceilings etc.
  • The outlay approved for the continuation of the Scheme during 15thFinance Commission cycle is ₹3179 crore.

Key Points

  • The CD Scheme is an Ongoing Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) with an overall objective to augment infrastructural, technical as well as manpower resources for enabling availability of credible and timely official statistics.
  • The Scheme comprises Capacity Development (Main) Scheme and two sub schemes viz. Support for Statistical Strengthening (SSS) and Economic Census (EC).
  • Some of the major statistical products of the Ministry such as Gross Value Added (GVA), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE), Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE), Gross Fixed Capital Formation, Change In Stock (CIS), Index of Industrial Production (IIP), Consumer Price Index (CPI), Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR), Unemployment Rate (UR),Formal Sector Employment Statistics, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Indicator Framework etc., form inevitable part of the economic and social indices utilized for monitoring the Indian economy.

Source: PIB

 

6. Ministry of Power notifies Green Hydrogen/ Green Ammonia Policy

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Why in News

  • The Ministry of Power notified Green Hydrogen/ Green Ammonia Policy.

Key Points

About National Hydrogen Mission:

  • The Prime Minister launched the National Hydrogen Mission on India’s 75th Independence Day (i.e. 15thAugust, 2021).
  • The Mission aims to aid the government in meeting its climate targets and making India a green hydrogen hub.
  • This will help in meeting the target of production of 5 million tonnes of Green hydrogen by 2030 and the related development of renewable energy capacity.
  • Hydrogen and Ammonia are envisaged to be the future fuels to replace fossil fuels, production of these fuels by using power from renewable energy, termed as green hydrogen and green ammonia, is one of the major requirements towards environmentally sustainable energy security of the nation.
  • This will reduce dependence on fossil fuel and also reduce crude oil imports.

Source: Business Standard

 

7. Govt's new rules for kids on two-wheelers

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Why in News

  • The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has amended Rule 138 of Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989 and has prescribed norms related to safety measures for children below four years of age, riding or being carried on a motor cycle.

Key Points

  • This has been notified under Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act, which mandates that the Central Government may, by rules, provide for measures for the safety of children below four years of age, riding or being carried on a motor cycle.
  • Further, it specifies use of a safety harness and crash helmet.
  • It also restricts the speed of such motor cycles to 40 kmph.
  • These rules will come into force after one year from the date of publication of the Central Motor Vehicles (Second Amendment) Rules, 2022.

Source: Business Standard

 

Important News: State

8. Water Taxi Service in Mumbai

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Why in News

  • Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways & AYUSH Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off Water Taxi Service for citizens of Mumbai, from Belapur Jetty.

Key Points

  • The Water Taxi services will commence from the Domestic Cruise Terminal (DCT) and will also connect nearby locations at Nerul, Belapur, Elephanta Island and JNPT.
  • The newly constructed Belapur jetty, built at a cost of Rs. 8.37 crore was funded in the 50-50 model under the Sagarmala scheme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.

About Sagarmala Programme:

  • It is the flagship programme of the Ministry of Shipping to promote port-led development in the country by exploiting India's 7,517 km long coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and its strategic location on key international maritime trade routes.
  • It was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2015.

Source: PIB

Important News: Science

9. Atmospheric pressure on Pluto’s surface 80,000 times less than that on Earth

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Why in News

  • A team of scientists, including Indian and International collaborators, have derived the accurate value of Pluto’s atmospheric pressure at its surface.
  • It is more than 80,000 times less than the atmospheric pressure at mean sea level on Earth.

Key Points

  • The pressure was calculated from data obtained by observation of stellar occultation by Pluto on 6 June 2020 using 3.6-m Devasthal optical telescope(DOT) (India’s largest optical telescope) and 1.3-m Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope (DFOT) telescopes located at Devasthal, Nainital.
  • In astronomy, an occultation happens when a celestial object gets hidden from the view of the observer due to another celestial object passing in between them.
  • A compilation of twelve stellar occultations by Pluto observed between 1988 and 2016 showed a three-fold monotonic increase of atmospheric pressure during this period.
  • The study also confirms earlier findings that Pluto suffers intense seasonal episodes because of large depression on Pluto, known as Sputnik Planitia.
  • Pluto’s poles remain, for decades, in permanent sunlight or darkness over its 248-year long orbital period leading to strong effects on its Nitrogen atmosphere that is mainly controlled by vapour pressure equilibrium with the surface Nitrogen ice.

Source: Indian Express

 

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