Current Affairs 1st April 2019

Current Affairs 1st April 2019 - Important Points

• World’s highest polling station is at - Tashigang
• Larus Labs partners with Global Fund for supply of - AIDS drugs
• PFC becomes India’s 2nd largest state-owned  - Financial Firm
• India, US renew triangular cooperation on - 29th March 2019
• India, Bolivia sign 8 Memorandums of Understandings on - 29th March 2019
• Tripura 2nd in child marriage as per  - International Study
• Terror action group for Jand K constituted  on - 29th March 2019
• Rajasthan Day 2019 celebrated on - 30th March 2019

Current Affairs 1st April 2019 - Details

World’s highest polling station is at - Tashigang

Tashigang, a small Himachal Pradesh village has got the difference of the highest polling station worldwide. Tashigang is located at an altitude of 15256 fts.
Tashigang Polling Station

• Tashigang polling station comes under Buddhist-dominated Lahaul-Spiti and formulates part of the
  Mandi  Lok Sabha  seat, the 2nd largest constituency in India.
• Tashigang is located at about 29 kilometres from the Indo-China border and the polling station covers 2 villages including Tashigang and Gete.
• The polling station has 48 voters, out of which 30 are male and 18 are females.
• Even though Tashigang has all essential facilities including power and water supply but do not have mobile connectivity and election officers will utilise a satellite phone during polls on May 19th.
• Primarily, election representatives had intended to form the polling booth at Gete village but transferred it to Tashigang as the building of government school was not found safe.
• Earlier the small settlement of Hikkim in Himachal Pradesh situated at an altitude of about 14400 fts, was the highest polling station in the nation.

Larus Labs partners with Global Fund for supply of - AIDS drugs

Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company Laurus Labs Limited has declared that it has entered into a tactical partnership pact with Global Fund for a term period of 3.5 years. The pact ensures Laurus Labs volume commitments for drugs from the Global Fund for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

• Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria was formed in 2002 to spread, manage and invest the world’s money to respond to 3 of the deadliest infectious diseases the world has ever known. The Global Fund was recognized with an aim to defeat these 3 diseases.
• AIDS, TB and malaria are all preventable and treatable diseases and the tackling of these disease needs the commitment not only of world leaders and decisionmakers but also of those working on the ground level to assist the everyone including children living with these diseases.
• The idea of Global fund was deliberated in the G8 summit in Okinawa, Japan, in 2000 and the real
  commitment started to coalesce at the African Union summit in April 2001.
• The idea sustained doing rounds at the UN General Assembly Special Session in 2001 and finally
  recognized by the G8 at their summit in Genoa, Italy, in July 2001.
• The public sector donations have formed 95% of all financing elevated by the Global Fund and the residual 5% came from the private sector including financing initiatives such as Product Red.

PFC becomes India’s 2nd largest state-owned  - Financial Firm

State-owned Power Finance Corporation has finished the procurement of majority stake in REC Ltd by transferring Rupees 14500 crore to the government.
The union of both the entities is supposed to be completed in the next fiscal year in consultation with the  government. This procurement and fusion will make Power Finance Corporation 2nd-largest government-owned financial player in the nation based on the present market capital after SBI and also Power Finance Corporation will be the 3rd-highest profit-producing financial player in India.
More about the Procurement

• Power Finance Corporation paid Rupees 14500 crore to the Union government for buying 52.63% share in REC.
• This procurement results in an $80-billion lending giant by assets and potentially assists in faster resolution of strained assets in India’s power sector.
• The procurement also assisted the union government exceed its disinvestment target of Rupees 80000 crore for the fiscal year 2018-19.
• The consolidation will assist in raising funds at competitive costs and result in to convergence of lending policies and rates.
• Further, it will also assist in refining asset quality and impress upon state entities to advance their
  performance.
• Power Finance Corporation taking over REC makes it a dominant player not only in the power sector but also in the whole financial market space.
• Power Finance Corporation’s strategic position to the government will further upsurge upon completion of the procurement as the joint entity will become the biggest non-bank finance entity in which the government holds a controlling share.

India, US renew triangular cooperation on - 29th March 2019

India and the US on March 29th, 2019 inked the 1st amendment to the Statement of Guiding Principles on triangular co-operation for universal development.  The Amendment was inked by Devyani Khobragade, Joint Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry’s  Development Partnership Administration-II Division and Mark Anthony White, Mission Director for the US Agency for International Development in India.
Important Highlights

• The Statement of Guiding Principles pact, which was inked in November 2014, underscores the
  involvement of India-US partnership to international stability and prosperity. 
• The pact delivers a framework for encouraging co-operation between the 2 nations to meet the
  developmental aspirations of partner nations, particularly in Asia and Africa. 
• The 1st amendment to the Statement of Guiding Principles pact extends the validity of the pact up to 2021. 
• It expands the scope of capacity building activities undertaken mutually by India and the US under this framework and also delivers a consultative mechanism for joint six-monthly monitoring and review of activities undertaken under the Statement of Guiding Principles.

Tripura 2nd in child marriage as per  - International Study

As per to a new international study on childhood poverty, the north-eastern state of Tripura inhabits the 2nd place in India in terms of child marriages among girls between the age group of 15-19 years.
The study titled “Young lives”, quoting information from the National Family Health Survey 2015-16,
discloses that more than 80%of total child marriages in the state take place in rural areas of 3 districts.
Important Highlights

• As per to the study, Tripura inhabits the 2nd place with respect to highest incidence of child marriage among girls aged between 15-19 years at 21.6%, which is meaningfully higher than the national average of 11.9%.
• The study found 4 districts of Tripura in the list of top 100 districts of the nation, which have the highest incidence of child marriages.
• The report discovered that Tripura’s Dhalai district had 24.7% incidence of child marriages, which was the highest in the state.
• The other districts with a high incidence of child marriage include South Tripura, North Tripura and West Tripura.
• Upon analysis of the number of children born to teenage mothers, the report discovered that 52% of the married teenage girls have given birth to minimum 1 child, 5.5% had 2 children and 1% had above 2 children by the tender age of 19.
• As per to the Chairperson of the Tripura Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Nilima Ghosh, the child marriage incidences are increasing at an alarming pace in the state.

India, Bolivia sign 8 Memorandums of Understandings on - 29th March 2019

India and Bolivia on March 29th, 2019 inked 8 MoUs during President Ram Nath Kovind’s 3 days visit to the nation. During his visit, President Kovind was bestowed with the highest State honour of Bolivia, “Condor de Los Andes en el Grado de Gran Collar” by the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales in Santa Cruz.
President Kovind had delegation-level talks with his Bolivian counterpart on a variety of areas of mutual interest in bilateral, regional and multilateral areas. President Ram Nath Kovind is on a 3 nations visit to Croatia, Bolivia and Chile from March 25th to April 4th, 2019.

Highlights of the Memorandums of Understandings inked

• Both the nations exchanged Memorandums of Understandings in the fields of culture, Visa waiver
  arrangement for diplomats, and the exchange between diplomatic academies.
• The Memorandums of Understandings were also exchanged in the areas of mining, space, traditional medicine, establishment of Centre of Excellence in IT and Bi-Oceanic Railway project.
• Both nations indorsed their commitment to fortify political and economic engagement. India offered USD 100 million Line of Credit to Bolivia for funding development projects. 
• Both nations decided on the necessity for reform of the United Nations Security Council to make it reflective of contemporary realities.

Terror action group for Jand K constituted  on - 29th March 2019

The Government on March 29th, 2019 formed a Multi-Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group to make sure concerted action against terror financing and other terror related activities in the State of Jand K. The group will meet on a weekly durations and will present its action report regularly.

The Additional Director General of Police (CID) of Jammu and Kashmir Police will lead the Multi-Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group. The Multi-Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group will have representatives from the Jand K Police, IB, CBI, NIA and Income Tax Department. 
Terms of Reference of MDTMG

• The Group has been tasked to take action against hardcore followers among government employees  including teachers who are delivering support to terror activities.
• It will locate all Important persons including leaders of the groups who are tangled in supporting terrorism in any form.
• It will take harmonized action in all registered cases that relate to terror/terror financing/terror-related activities and  bring them to logical conclusion.

Rajasthan Day 2019 celebrated on - 30th March 2019

Rajasthan Day is observed every year on March 30th to celebrate the day on which the state of
Rajasthan came into existence. Rajasthan Day celebrates the valour, strong willpower and sacrifice of the people of Rajasthan. Rajasthan earlier called as Rajputana came into existence on March 30th, 1949.
Rajasthan which is the largest state of India in terms of the area, prior to Independence encompassed
about 21 small and big princely states. The generous states were annexed to the union of India on 15th
August 1947 but their unification could be skilled only later.
Rajasthan Union and United State of Rajasthan
Rajasthan Union came into existence by the union of states specifically Banswara, Bundi, Dungarpur,
Jhalawar, Kishangarh, Pratapgarh, Shahpura, Tonk, and Kota on 25 March 1948.
The Maharana of Udaipur finalised to join the Rajasthan Union just 3 days after the formation of
Rajasthan Union. The United State of Rajasthan was initiated by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on 18 April 1948.
Matsya Union and Greater Rajasthan
The 4 princely states of Alwar, Bharatpur, Dhaulpur, and Karauli fashioned the Matsya Union and it was
initiated on 17 March 1948.
States like Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jaipur, and Jodhpur got fused and shaped Greater Rajasthan on 30 March
1949 which was initiated by Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel.