Daily Current Affairs, 16th February 2019

1) India’s First Agromet Forecast Centre Inaugurated In Karnataka

•Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, inaugurated the North Karnataka Agromet Forecasting and Research Centre (NKAFC), India’s first agromet forecast centre, at University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Dharwad, Karnataka.

•The main objective of the centre is to give accurate reports on the weather which would enable the farmers to protect the crops and get a good yield. About 25 lakh farmers in the region would be kept updated with information via various platforms like WhatsApp, SMS, social networking sites and community radio stations.

2) NASA To Launch SPHEREx Mission To Investigate Universe

•NASA has announced a new space telescope mission dedicated to understanding the origins of life and the universe. It’s called the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer or SPHEREx, for short. The space agency is aiming for a 2023 launch.

•Once SPHEREx is in orbit, it will observe and collect data on over 300 million galaxies, some as far as 10 billion light-years away from Earth, and 100 million stars in our own Milky Way every six months.

•The space telescope’s main goals, though, are to search for water and organic molecules within the Milky Way. It will also look for those ingredients of life in regions where stars are born.

3) Early Ed Asia 2019 Held In Jaipur

•Early Ed Asia 2019, the two-day event which is Asia’s largest conference on Early Childhood, was held at the City Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The motto of the event was ‘Our Children. Our Future’.

•It was the first time such a conference was held in India with over 6000 eminent early childhood educators, policy-makers, researchers and other stakeholders from India and foreign countries. The latest trends in teaching and research were discussed to provide a stronger foundation to the children.

4) World Sustainable Development Summit 2019 Held At New Delhi

•World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2019, the flagship event of ‘The Energy and Resources Institute’ (TERI), was inaugurated by Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

•The theme of WSDS 2019 was ‘Attaining the 2030 Agenda: delivering on our promise’. Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji was honoured with the Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2019 for his outstanding contributions towards sustainable development in Fiji.

5) 5th India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Committee Meeting Held In New Delhi

•The 5th India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Committee Meeting, co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Affairs Minister of Bangladesh Dr. Abdul Momen was held in New Delhi.

•The last Joint Consultative Committee Meeting between the two countries was held in October 2017 at Dhaka. Earlier, Mrs. Swaraj held a bilateral meeting with Mr. Momen.

6) IWAI Launched Portal ‘LADIS’ For Real Time Information

•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.

•It will ensure real-time data on ship and cargo owners on which they can undertake transportation on National Waterways (NW) in a more planned way. It is a step towards ensuring optimum use of National Waterways.