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  • Current Affairs 13th February 2019

    Updated : 14-Feb-2019

    Current Affairs 13th February 2019 - Important Points

    • Hungary to give life tax exemption to females with 4 children on - 10th February 2019
    • US President signs executive order to prioritise research in Artificial Intelligence on - 11th February 2019
    • Textiles Ministry to organise outreach program for stakeholders on - 13th February 2019
    • Indian Historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam wins the Dan David Prize for - year 2019
    • Defence Innovation Hubs  formed by - Defence Ministry 
    • Himachal’s 1st Mega Food Park initiated in - Una
    • LAWASIA Human Rights Conference 2019 held by - LAWASIA
      Current Affairs 13th February 2019 - Details

    Hungary to give life tax exemption to females with 4 children on - 10th February 2019

    Hungary's PM Viktor Orban on February 10th, 2019 publicized new measures, under which growing financial aid & subsidies will be issued to families that have above 3 children. The new policies are meant at reversing Hungary’s downward demographic trends.
    Important Highlights

    • The Hungarian government has decided to issue a lifetime income tax exemption for females who give birth to at least 4 children.
    • The government has also planned the introduction of a subsidy worth 8825 US dollars towards the purchase of a 7-seat vehicle for families with 3 or above children.
    • It has also publicized a 7-point plan to increase the fertility rate in the nation. It has also promised to outspread home loans to families with minimum 2 children.
    • Besides, a low-interest loan of 35300 US dollars for females under the age of 40 who are marrying for the 1st time has also been planned.
    • The government has also decided to construct 21000 nurseries across the nation in 3 years & issue
      grandparents with free childcare if they are taking care of their children’s children.

    US President signs executive order to prioritise research in Artificial Intelligence on - 11th February 2019

    United States President Donald Trump on February 11th, 2019 inked an executive order guiding federal
    agencies to prioritise research & development in Artificial Intelligence.
    American Artificial Intelligence Initiative

    • The plan, known American Artificial Intelligence initiative, needs the federal agencies to make government information & computing resources more available to Artificial Intelligence specialists while maintaining security & confidentiality.
    • Creating such standards for capturing & sharing enormous troves of data, including medical records, is supposed to lead to breakvias in medical diagnosis & treatment.
    • The order also seeks firms to safeguard civil liberties, privacies & American values in executing Artificial Intelligence technologies & to assist workers gain relevant skills via fellowships, apprenticeships, training programmes & computer science education.
      Funding
    • The decision-making doesn’t include any capital details. As per to the United States government, it would be up to the Congress to apt the money.

    Textiles Ministry to organise outreach program for stakeholders on - 13th February 2019

    The Union Ministry of Textiles would be planning an outreach program for textiles sector MSMEs on February 13, 2019 in New Delhi to hold interactions with the shareholders to assist them avail the support & outreach for 100-day program publicized by the PM.
    Important Highlights 

    • PM Narendra Modi had released the support & outreach 100-days program for MSMEs on November 2nd, 2018 identifying 100 districts in various sectors across the nation. 
    • Among these, 39 districts were recognized for textiles sector, Twelve for handloom, nineteen for handicraft & Eight for power loom.
    • Under the support & outreach 100-days program, different activities have been undertaken in recognized districts for producing synergy for MSMEs in textile sector including holding camps for Mudra Loan in collaboration with local bank, enrolment of recipients on e-dhaga, distribution of toolkits to recipients &  registration & distribution of Pehchan-cards to artisans & weavers.
    • With a view to consolidate progress under the program, district level programs were held in each identified district on February 9th & 10th.
    • Further, an exhibition displaying handloom, handicraft & power-loom products was also planned in the state bhavans of the identified districts in Delhi on February 11th & 12th.

    Indian Historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam wins the Dan David Prize for - year 2019

    Indian historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam has secured prestigious Dan David Prize of Israel for the year
    2019 for his work on inter-cultural encounters between Asians, Europeans &  people of North as well as South America during the early modern era.
    Sanjay Subrahmanyam shares the prize in the category of “Past Time Dimension” with Professor Kenneth Pomeranz, the University of Chicago.
    Dan David Prize
    The Dan David Prize is a combined international prize given by the Dan David Foundation HQ at Tel Aviv University. The prize was instituted by late Dan David, an international businessperson & philanthropist who intended a project that would extend beyond traditional academic categorisations.
    The Dan David Prize is prized under three categories namely:
    1. Past category is usually drawn from the fields of history, archaeology, palaeontology & biography.
    2. Present from arts, media, policy & economics.
    3. Future from one of the precise/natural sciences.
    For the Year 2019, the prizes were selected from the 3 categories for their work:
    1. Macro-history: Past category
    2. Defending democracy: Present
    3. Combating climate change: Future
    The prize in the ‘Present: Defending Democracy’ category has been secured by Reporters without
    Borders & Professor Michael Ignatieff.
    The prize in the ‘future’ category for fighting against climate change has been secured by Christina
    Figueres, a Costa Rican diplomat.

    Defence Innovation Hubs  formed by - Defence Ministry 

    The Innovations for Defence Excellence outline under the Defence Ministry is foreseeing forming of
    independent Defence Innovation Hubs where innovators can get data about requirements & feedback from the Armed Services directly & create solutions for India’s major defence platforms. Defence Innovation Hubs are intended at attracting extra innovators to work for the defence sector in India.
    Guidelines for Forming of Defence Innovation Hubs
    The Outline to Fund Defence Innovation Hubs under Innovations for Defence Excellence has been
    agreed by the Board of Defence Innovation Organisation. The outline prescribes the following least
    criterion for forming Defence Innovation Hubs: Any Central Government Predictable Incubator
    including but not limited to:
    Department of Science &Technology recognized Incubators.
    Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog created Atal Incubation Centres & Established Incubation Centres.
    Ministry of MSME documented incubators.
    Any other incubator documented or funded via any Central government plan.
    The incubator situated in districts mentioned in the list of SME clusters hosted by the Ministry of MSME
    in collaboration with UNIDO.
    Incubator or Hub encouraged by local industry collaborations.
    The Defence Innovation Organisation form under Innovations for Defence Excellence has publicized
    forming of 2 Defence Innovation Hubs in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu & Nashik, Maharashtra.
    Defence Innovation Organisation
    DIO is a non-profit firm under section 8 of the Companies Act. The Defence Innovation Organisation is
    sponsored by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited & Bharat Electronics Limited. The HQs of the Defence Innovation Organisation is situated at Bengaluru.

    Himachal’s 1st Mega Food Park initiated in - Una

    The Union Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal initiated the Cremica Food Park in Una
    which is the 1st mega food park of Himachal Pradesh.
    Cremica Food Park

    • The mega food park form at a cost of Rupees 107.34 crore will profit people of Una district & 
      neighbouring districts of Kangra, Hamirpur & Bilaspur.
    • The Mega Food park issues services including bulk aseptic packaging, 24 MT per hour, Frozen storage about 1000 MT, Deep Freeze, Dry Warehouse, Quality Control Laboratory & other food processing services.
    • The park has a common administrative block for office & other purposes by the entrepreneurs & 3
      Primary Processing Centres at Solan, Mandi, & Kangra with facilities for primary processing & storage near the farms.
    • The mega food park at Una will power an additional investment of about Rupees 250 crores in 25 to 30 food processing units in the park & produce a turnover of approximately Rupees 450-500 crore yearly.
    • The mega food park will also issue direct as well as indirect employment to 5000 individuals & profit about 25000 farmers.
      Mega Food Park Plan
      These mega food parks generate modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along with the value chain from farm to market along with robust forward & backward connections via a cluster-based approach.

    LAWASIA Human Rights Conference 2019 held by - LAWASIA

    The 1st LAWASIA Human Rights Conference was held by LAWASIA, in collaboration with the Bar Association of India. The LAWASIA Human Rights Conference 2019 was held between 9 th -10 th February 2019.
    The conference goals to release a unique opportunity for lawyers & related professional members to exchange insights & expertise on topics of crucial importance to all.
    The theme of the LAWASIA Human Rights Conference 2019 was ‘State Power, Business & Human Rights: Contemporary Challenges’. The conference sightseen a wide range of human rights concerns of
    relevance in the Asia Pacific region, including:
    Gender, Sexuality & Human Rights.
    New-fangled Technologies, Privacy & Mass Surveillance.
    Experiences & Tasks of Human Rights Lawyers.
    Violent Policing & Human Rights.
    Freedom of the Media in the Digital Age.
    Cross-border Migration & its Struggles.
    Climate Change, Water Conflicts & Human Rights.
    Business & Human Rights.
    LAWASIA
    LAWASIA is a regional collaboration of lawyers, judges, jurists & legal firms & it advocates for the interests & concerns of the Asia Pacific legal job.
    LAWASIA releases a platform to encourage the cross-jurisdictional exchange of legal information; as a
    voice of the legal profession; & as a channel for inspiring adherence to mutually-held principles of the rule of law, professional integrity & the protection of human rights.