Daily Current Affairs, 22nd February 2019

1) President Ram Nath Kovind Promulgates 4 Ordinances

•President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated four Ordinances. These are the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Second Ordinance, the Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Second Ordinance, the Companies (Amendment) Second Ordinance and the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance, 2019.

1. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Second Ordinance has been promulgated to give continued effect to the provisions brought in by the earlier ordinance. This Ordinance declares the practice of instant triple talaq to be void and illegal and also to make it an offence punishable with imprisonment up to three years and fine.

2. The Indian Medical Council (Amendment) Second Ordinance has been promulgated to give continued effect to the work already done by the Board of Governors as per the provisions of earlier Ordinance.

3. The Companies (Amendment) Second Ordinance, has been promulgated with a view, to empower the Central Government to allow certain companies to have a different financial year instead of as determined by the Tribunal.

4. The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Ordinance has been promulgated to have central legislation to tackle the menace of illicit deposits taking activities in the country.

2) Government Launches ‘Operation Digital Board’ To Boost Quality Education

•The Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar launched the ‘Operation Digital Board’ to boost quality education in the country. The Operation Digital Board is a revolutionary step which will make the learning as well as the teaching process interactive and will popularise flipped learning as a pedagogical approach.

•An expert committee has worked out optimum configuration of the Digital Class Rooms under the Operation Digital Board. The operation aims to convert a class room into a digital class room and make available the e-resources at any time and at any place to students.

3) NITI Aayog Organized Conference on Future of Indian Banking

•Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, inaugurated a conference on “The Future of Indian Banking” with the Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare (EGROW Foundation).

•The conference aims to increase and elevate the discourse on the banking sector in India, and help develop insights to inform the continued evolution of the Indian banking sector for optimally supporting the growing credit needs of the Indian economy.

4) PM Modi Conferred With Seoul Peace Prize in South Korea

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Seoul Peace Prize during his two-day visit to South Korea. The award was first announced by the Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation in October 2018.

•Former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among previous recipients of the award.

5) CCEA Approves KUSUM Scheme For Farmers’ Welfare

•The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the launch of ‘Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan’ (KUSUM Yojana) with the objective of providing financial and water security to farmers. The Central Government will provide a total financial support of Rs 34,422 crore for the scheme.

•Components of KUSUM Yojana:

•The Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan scheme consists of three components:

1.Component-A: 10,000 MW of Decentralised Ground Mounted Grid Connected Renewable Power Plants.
2.Component-B: Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.
3.Component-C: Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps.

6) China’s Xinhua Unveils World’s First Female AI News Anchor

•Chinese news agency Xinhua unveiled the world’s first female AI news anchor Xin Xiaomeng. She has been developed in collaboration with Sogou Inc, a search engine company.

•Earlier, Xinhua also developed Qiu Hao, the world’s first male AI news anchor at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen held in November 2018, who is capable of mimicking human facial expressions and mannerisms while reading out news-reports.