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https://bestlearningcentre.in/ Monthly Current Affairs – February 2020

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INDEX

Sl. No TITLE Page No

1. Science & Technology 4

2. International Current Affairs 12

3. National Current Affairs 15

4. Schemes/Committees By the Union & State Government 28

5. Defense Current Affairs 36

6. Agreement/Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) 41

7. Awards & Recognition 51

8. Appointments/Resignations (National & International) 60

9. Summits and Conferences 72

10. Sports 77

11. Banking and Financial 86

12. Application / Web Portal 93

13. Economy 99

14. Insurance 102

15. Books & Authors 104

16. Obituaries 106

17. Ranks and Reports 110

18. Important Days 115

19. Miscellaneous Current Affairs 125



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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

1. ISRO announced that preparing low-cost satellite launch vehicles

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has announce that it is preparing low-cost

satellite launch vehicles costing around 30-35

crores each. These low-cost launch vehicles can set

into orbit satellites weighing 500 kgs.

This capability will give ISRO a big profitable

boost as it will be able to cater to micro, mini and

medium segments of the market. The main

advantage is that ISRO now can manufacture these

vehicles in a turnaround time of just 3 weeks’ time.

2. IAF AN-32 Lands at LEH by Indigenous Bio-Jet Fuel.

IAF achieve a milestone, when an AN-32 aircraft

of the Indian Air Force, powered with a 10% blend

of Indian bio-jet fuel, took-off from Kushok

Bakula Rimpochee Airport, Leh. It is the first time

that the bio-jet native fuel-powered both engines

of the aircraft. The aircraft be flight tested, and its

presentation be validated at Chandigarh Air Base before responsibility the operational flight to

Leh.

IAF

This successful test flight demonstrates IAF’s capabilities to absorb newer technology while

sponsor indigenization. The technology to manufacture this fuel was developed by CSIR-IIP in

2013 but might not be tested and certified for commercial use due to a lack of simultaneous

aviation test facilities in the country. In 2018, the IAF sponsored this project and channelized its



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human and material resources for the absolute range of fuel testing. Bio-jet fuel is produced from

non-edible ‘Tree Borne Oils,’ grown and procure from the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh state.

IAF’s efforts would assist in reducing carbon footprint and India’s dependence on crude import.

3. NASA and ESA are sent a new probe toward the Sun to map its poles.

The US space agency NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the European

Space Agency (ESA) are sent a new probe toward

the Sun to map its poles. The aim is to help

researchers clutch how the sun's vast bubble of

energy affects Earth and humans in space.

Solar Orbiter:

The Solar Orbiter was launched atop an

Atlas five rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 9.

The satellite deployed an array of solar panels and antennas before setting off on its ten-

year voyage to the Sun.

It has been designed to use the gravitational influence from Earth and Venus to whip

itself as close as 26 million miles from the Sun or 95% of the distance between the Earth

and the sun. The probe will map the sun's poles, which could allow scientists for the first

time to observe the concerted source of solar wind that permeates our solar system.

4. US scientists have developed interactive map to show worldwide of coronavirus.

Scientists in the US have developed an interactive

map of the novel coronavirus spread, that allows

users to see the number of cases worldwide, deaths

and recoveries, as well as trends in real time.

The map every few hours with data from the US

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the

World Health Organization (WHO), Chinese and



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other government agencies, including those in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

According to the researcher, by zooming in on various countries, such as China, users can

see the number of cases, recoveries and deaths, as well as trends over time.

5. DRDO developing new strike ranges Pranash ballistic missile.

The DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) has started developing a 200-km

strike range tactical ballistic missile ‘Pranash’. The missile is an advanced version of the 150-

km strike range Prahar missile which was being

urbanized for tactical missions. The surface – to -

surface ballistic missile will be of use for the Army

and Air Force. It is a solid-propellant surface to a

surface missile which can travel at the speed of

Mach two.

Earlier in December last year, India had also successfully conducted a night trial of its

indigenously developed nuclear-capable Prithvi-2 missile as part of a user trial for the armed

forces from a test range in Odisha coast.

6. The Scientists discovered the nearest known planet “2MASS 1155-7919 b”

The scientists from Rochester Institute of Technology has discovered the nearest-known ‘baby

giant planet’ which is named “2MASS 1155-

7919 b”. The scientists have used the data from

Gaia space observatory to find the baby giant

planet.

The newly exposed baby giant planet which is

named “2MASS 1155-7919 b” lies about 330

light-years from our solar system. The planet is

closer to Earth and is situated in the Epsilon Chamaeleontis Association. This planet orbits a star

that is about five million years old. The planet has only 10 times the mass of Jupiter.



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7. The ISRO to launch 10 Earth Observation Satellites in 2020-2021.

The ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) has revealed in its annual report for 2019-2020

that it will launch 10 Earth Observation Satellites in 2020-2021. The 10 earth observation (EO)

satellites will include categories such as the

first Geo Imaging Satellite, GISAT-1 along

with three communication satellites and two

navigation satellites.

The Indian Space Research Organization’s

annual report for 2019-2020 plans also

mentions 36 missions including satellites and their launchers.

About Earth Observation Satellites:

The Earth Observation Satellites (EO) are basically used for land and agriculture watch and also

helps the military to keep an eye on the borders. The other satellite such as RISATs carries

synthetic aperture radar on them which provides all-weather, 24-hour information to security

agencies.

8. Pakistan successfully tested the Ra'ad-II cruise missile.

Pakistan successfully flights tested the air-launched nuclear-capable cruise missile Ra'ad-II. The

test aimed to boost the military's deterrence

capability on land and at sea. The Ra'ad-II

missile is an attempt to match India's BrahMos

cruise missile.

Ra'ad-II missile:

The range of Ra'ad-II missile is 600

km. This range can enhance air delivered planned standoff capability on land and at sea.

This missile will be attaching to Mirage aircraft or F-16 fighter jets of the Pakistan Air

Force.



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In January 2020, Pakistan successfully conducts training launch of surface-to-surface

ballistic missile Ghaznavi. The missile was able to deliver multiple types of warheads up

to a range of 290 km.

9. Department of Telecommunications launched 5G Hackathon.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched the ‘5G Hackathon’ in association

with the government of India, academia & industry

stakeholders. The aim of 5G Hackathon is

shortlisting India’s focused cutting edge ideas that

can be transformed into workable 5G products and

solutions. The Hackathon will be spread across 3

phases. The event will conclude in a grand

felicitation ceremony at India Mobile Congress on

16th October 2020.

The 5G technology provides a quantum leap over 4G in terms of speed, latency, peak data rate,

spectrum efficiency, and connection density. The Hackathon will convert innovating ideas into

products and solutions in different verticals & develop India specific use cases around 5G.

The DoT (Department of Telecommunications) is a department of the Ministry of

Communications of the executive branch of the GoI (Government of India). Dhotre Sanjay

Shamrao is Minister of State for Communications, Electronics and Information Technology.

10. Indian Space Research Organization to launch geo imaging satellite GISAT-1 on

March 5.

GSLV-F10 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch

Vehicle) will launch Geo Imaging Satellite

(GISAT-1) from the Second Launch Pad of Satish

Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR,

Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively planned at



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1743 Hrs IST on March 05, 2020, subject to weather conditions. Weighing about 2275 kg,

GISAT-1 is a state-of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite that will be positioned in a

Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by GSLV-F10 (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle).

Then, the satellite will reach the final geostationary orbit using its onboard propulsion system.

A Four meter diameter Ogive shaped payload fairing is being flown for the first time in this

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle flight. This is the 14 flight of the GSLV.

Operating from geostationary orbit, GISAT-1 will facilitate near real-time observation of the

Indian subcontinent, under cloud-free conditions, at frequent intervals.

11. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information launched new Alert System.

The Hyderabad based INCOIS (Indian National Centre for Ocean Information) launch a new

alert system that will help decrease damage

and losses to fishermen due to swell surges.

The Swell Surges splash strong waves in the

coast damaging boats and nets. The system

will help fishermen to get preceding alerts

about swell surges and safeguard their boats.

The INCOIS, an autonomous body operating

under Ministry of Earth Sciences launched the

alert system that will help provide early warnings about Swell Surges. This is to be launched

exclusively for coastal population. The Coastlines of Indian Sub-continent after Tsunami has

been experiences damages due to swell waves that originate in distant Southern Indian Ocean.

The Swell Surges are more common in west coast than the east coast.

12. Scientist determine first-ever animal that does not need oxygen to breathe.

Researchers by Tel Aviv University have discovered a unique organism that doesn't need to

breathe. Henneguya salminicola, the tiny parasite, is the first identified multicellular animal that

can survive without oxygen. It lives in an anaerobic environment. The parasite lives in salmon



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tissue along with evolved so that it doesn't need oxygen to produce energy. The researchers made

the discovery by chance while sequencing the

Henneguya genome.

Henneguya salminicola:

H. salminicola is a relation of jellyfish and

corals. It lives contained by the muscle tissue of

salmon. It is relatively harmless. It cause

disease similar to milky flesh or tapioca, which

is named for the white fluid-filled cysts it cause

in the fish. The parasite lacks mitochondrial genes. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. It

capture oxygen to make energy through aerobic respiration.

Researchers are still trying to find how exactly the parasite produce energy. It is supposed that

the parasite can be drawing energy from the surrounding fish cells, or it may contain a different

type of respiration such as oxygen-free breathing, which typically characterizes anaerobic non-

animal organisms.

13. NITI Aayog, NASSCOM launched an AI-based Module for students in Indian schools.

NITI Aayog, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), in collaboration with the National Association of

Software and Services Companies

(NASSCOM), launched an AI-based Module

rolled out for students in Indian schools. The AI

module aims to leverage the full potential of

AIM's Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL).

NITI Aayog (National Institution for

Transforming India) is to introduce the

Learn-It-Yourself module in all 5000

Atal Tinkering Labs, with over 2.5

million students having access to it.



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The hands-on AI module was designed by considering co-scholastic, academic, and other

ATL programs at school.

The section was formulated to encourage young students to contribute to the journey of

nation-building.

It will be a mechanism for the youth to explore, ideate, and learn the latest technologies

and build a generation of innovators at the grassroots level.

The Module contains many experiments, activities, and videos that will enable students to

work through and learn the various concepts of AI.



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INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. Maldives becomes 54th member of the Commonwealth.

Maldives has return to Commonwealth after its exit in 2016 and hence, has become the 54th

member of the global body. The inclusion

of Maldives into Commonwealth turn into

effective from one minute past midnight

on 1 February just following the exit of

United Kingdom from the European

union.

The Commonwealth secretary general Patricia Scotland announce the rejoining of Maldives in

the Commonwealth after ensure Maldives’ alignment with the values and principles of the

Commonwealth and the consultation with the other Commonwealth nations for Maldives’

readmission. Maldives became a part of the Commonwealth for the first time in 1982.

2. Sri Lanka celebrates its 72nd Independence Day on 4th February 2020.

On this day, Sri Lanka became an independent nation after receiving independence from Britain.

Military parades and air show were the

most gorgeous points of the Sri Lankan

Independence Day celebrations held in

Colombo. The major change in the

celebration ceremony was the National

Anthem of Sri Lanka as it was sung only in

Sinhala and not in the Tamil language. The national anthem was used to be sung in both

languages since 2016.

The Currency of Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan rupee.

Prime minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa.

President: Gotabaya Rajapaksa.



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3. Scientists Discover Warm Water in Antarctica under Doomsday Glacier.

Environmental change is quick, affect the living creatures on land and sea the same. Because of

the extraordinary increment in an unnatural

weather change levels, the icy masses are

softening at a higher rate than at any other

time. No big surprise, the ocean levels are

rising, and progressively seaside regions are

getting inclined to the overwhelming impacts

of this incredible wonder. The researchers have just found warm water underneath the Thwaites

Glacier, which earned the epithet Doomsday Glacier for being Antarctica's quickest soften ice

sheets. Estimating 74000 sq mi, these ice sheets evaluate to be the size of Florida in the United

States of America. This disclosure has raised an alert about the icy mass breakdown, which can

prompt almost three ft to ascend in the ocean level. Where the ice sheet is in contact with the

ocean has been recorded as two-degree Celsius over the frosty temperature. The essentialness of

Thwaites lies in the way that it eases back the ice behind it from efficiently going into the sea.

4. The US removed India from the list of the developing nation.

The USTR (United States Trade Representative) removed a number of countries such as Hong

Kong, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa &

Argentina from its list of developing

countries that get trade benefits. United States

removed India from the list because of the

latter’s G-20 membership. “For purposes of

the USTR, US CVD law, so, considers

countries with a share of 0.5 % or more of

world trade to be urbanized countries,” the USTR stated. (India’s share in global exports stood at

1.67% in 2018 although, for global imports, it was 2.57 %.)

Last year, the United States had proposed withdrawal of special rights and exemptions for

emerging economies such as India and China, which are members of the Organization for OECD



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(Economic Cooperation and Development), G20, classified as “high income” by the World Bank

or account for more than 0.5% of global merchandise trade.

5. Donald Trump to inaugurate world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.

The World’s Biggest Cricket Stadium, the

Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad renamed as the

Sardar Vallabhbhai Stadium will be inaugurate

by US President Donald Trump during his visit to

India. The stadium has a capability of 1.10 lakh

people. Sardar Vallabhbhai Stadium emerge as

the World’s Biggest Cricket Stadium after the

earlier 53000-seater Motera Stadium was demolished back in 2015.

6. Sri Lanka Government withdraws from UN Rights Resolution.

Sri Lankan Government formally notified the United Nations that it will withdraw from the

United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)

resolution for investigating alleged war crimes.

The United Nations Human Rights Council

resolution 40/1 was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka

and 11 other countries. The main aim of the

resolution is the investigation of wartime violence against Tamil Tiger rebels. The Tamil Rebels

were demanding separate homelands. They were claiming that they were ethnic Tamil minority

and hence are eligible for a separate homeland.

The currency of Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan rupee.

President of Sri Lanka: Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka: Mahinda Rajapaksa.



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NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. Minister of North East Development chaired Ujh (National) Multipurpose Project,

Jammu Kashmir.

The Minister of North Eastern growth Dr Jitendra Singh chaired the Ujh flexible (National)

Project, Jammu and Kashmir. The meeting be

attended by the Ministry of Jal Shakti,

Ministry of Power and other officers from

state government of Punjab. The Meeting was

held to fast track absolute utilization of India’s

rights under Indus Water Treaty. The project

is to be construct across River Ujh, a tributary

of River Ravi. The project will help India utilizing the waters of Eastern Rivers to the fullest

surviving to the Indus Wa ter Treaty. It will facilitate store 781 million cubic metres of water of

River Ujh.

Indus-Water Treaty

The Indus-Water Treaty was sign between India and Pakistan in 1960. The signing of the treaty

was brokered through the World Bank. According to the agreement, the waters of eastern rivers

Ravi, Beas and Sutlej be given to India and the control more than waters flowing in the western

rivers Indus, Chenab and Jhelum were given to Pakistan.

2. India is developed new Swine Fever Control Vaccines.

The ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Research's) Indian

Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) has built up Swine Fever

immunization.

The vaccination will assist with sparing a few bunnies. This is

because the present vaccine called the Lapinised CSF



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(Classical Swine Fever) being utilized is delivered by relinquishing an enormous number of

hares. The new vaccination concocted gives invulnerability for a long time when contrasted with

the past antibodies that gave insusceptibility to three to a half year.

The CSF is probably the deadliest malady of pigs that is causing a loss of Rs 400 crores to India

every year.

3. Karnataka launched Janasevaka program to provide Government services at Home

Delivery.

The Karnataka government propelled the Janasevaka scheme in a couple of metropolitan

organization wards to guarantee home

conveyance of different administrations

like proportion cards, senior resident

personality, and wellbeing cards.

The plan, which was propelled by Chief

Minister B S Yediyurappa, will relate to

fifty-three administrations, including eleven

divisions. Janasevaka, under the Sakala Plan, is a program to profit the advantages of

government plans at the doorstep, especially for the assistance of Senior Residents. Chief

Minister referenced that the goal is to make the lives of the inhabitants of Karnataka simple by

propelling this plan. A cost-free helpline intended to set up for this plan, which will work from 8

am to 8 pm. A total of Rs 115 charged to give the home delivery administrations.

4. ‘Pink City (Jaipur)’ becomes a certified UNESCO World Heritage City.

Jaipur “The Pink City” has been certified by

the United Nations Educational Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the World

Heritage site. The certification was done by the

United Nations Educational Scientific and



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Cultural Organization Director-General Audrey Azoulay during an event held in Jaipur,

Rajasthan. As part of the certification, the World Heritage City certificate was handover by

UNESCO Director-General to Minister of Urban Development Shanti Dhariwal.

The certification of Jaipur “The Pink City” as the World Heritage site is expected to boost the

tourism division of the state of Rajasthan and also intends to the improvement of Western

Rajasthan for tourism with the support of United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO).

CM of Rajasthan: Ashok Gehlot;

Governor of Rajasthan: Kalraj Mishra;

Capital of Rajasthan: Jaipur.

5. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is set to launch incorporation form "Spice+".

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will launch the new company incorporation form "Spice+".

This is a part of an inclusive package to make life easier for someone starting a business. It will

be launched on 15th February 2020.

"Spice+" form:

The form has at least five new formalities

including EPFO (Employees Provident Fund

Organization), ESIC (Employees State

Insurance Corporation) and professional tax

registration, the opening of bank account and

GST registration.

The new form will reduce the time taken and

the cost of registering a company that was estimated at around four hours in December -

January.

It has been estimated that on average, the name reservation takes around 3 hours.

There are two parts in Spice+ form:

1) The first one deals with name registration.



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2) The second part for a bouquet of services, including incorporation, issue of PAN

(Primary Account Number) and TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account

Number), along with the issue of the director's identification number.

People opting for ESIC and EPFO registration will be directed to the websites of the two

agencies.

6. CM of Karnataka inaugurated the first Commercial flight operations at Bidar Airport.

MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) flagged off

the first direct flight from Bidar airport to

Bengaluru in Karnataka on 7th February 2020.

The flight operation was inaugurated by CM of

Karnataka, Shri B.S. Yediyurappa, and Bidar MP

Shri Bhagwanth Khuba and Secretary, Ministry

of Civil Aviation.

Bidar airport flight operations:

Bidar airport has been remodeled under the RCS-UDAN (Regional Connectivity

Scheme-Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) of the Government.

The airport has been developed at an estimated cost of Rs.11 crores. The financial

support was borne by the State Government with the help of the Central Government.

It is the Eighth airport in the Karnataka region.

TruJet will operate direct daily flights on the Bengaluru-Bidar route.

With the Bengaluru-Bidar route, MoCA has successfully operationalized 45 airports and

252 routes under the UDAN flagship scheme.

7.Uttar Pradesh Govt to launched internship scheme for school college students.

Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath has announce an internship scheme for the

tenth, 12th and graduate students of the state to open up employment forecast. Addressing a job

fair organized by the Department of Labour and Employment Exchange in Gorakhpur, Yogi

Adityanath stated that the state government will bring the internship scheme this year itself.



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Under the scheme, these students will be

linked to various technical institute and

industry. During the internship of a period of

six months or a year, each participate youth

will be given 2500 rupees as honorarium

every month. Absent of this, rupees 1500 will

be given by the Central Government and 1000

rupees by the State Government.

8. Jammu govt to announce new horticulture policy.

The Jammu and Kashmir government is to announce a horticulture policy with an aim to begin

future marketing challenges and increase the

manufacture manifold. The announcement be

made by Secretary, J&K Agriculture invention

and Horticulture Department, Manzoor Ahmad

Lone.

New Policy for Horticulture:

♦ The new policy will focus on increasing production and undertake climate change, given the

unique temperature of the place.

♦ The innovative Horticulture Policy is expected to increase horticulture revenue in Jammu and

Kashmir from current Rs.8,000 crore to Rs.50,000 crore per annum.

♦ Horticulture sector contribute immensely to strengthen the financial condition of J&K and in

employment generation. Over 33 lakh population livelihoods depend on Horticulture in the

Union Territory of J&K.

Around seven lakh families are directly or indirectly concerned and depend on the Horticulture

sector in J&K.



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9. Government of India released Draft Visionary perception Plan (2020-30) to conserve

Avian Ecosystem further on of CMS COP-13.

In front of the Conservation of Migratory Species Conference of Parties-13 (CMS COP-13), the

Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate

Change has introduce a draft Visionary

outlook Plan (2020-2030) to conserve

ecosystems, habitats, avian diversity and

landscape in the country.

Visionary Perspective Plan (2020-2030)

According to the draft, there are 1,317 bird species in India. Out of these 72 are endemic,

100 are threatened, 63 are helpless and 20 are endangered. Approximately 270 species of

avifauna fall below “rare” category. It include pheasants, hornbills, bustards, storks and

cranes.

The birds are prone to extermination mainly due to poaching, fragmentation of

ecosystem, habitat loss and epidemics. The draft also says that stray dog inhabitants has

increased due to catastrophic decline in population of vultures.

The draft say that around 219 bird bio-diversity areas are beneath severe anthropogenic

pressure.The draft also say that 2,01,503 wetlands spread across 2.25 hectares in India are

under stress. This is mostly due to agricultural run-offs and urbanization.

10. Ground Water Act-2020 approved by UP Government.

The Uttar Pradesh government has given its

endorsement to the Ground Water Act-2020. The

Ground Water Act-2020 has been approved with an

purpose of improving the falling groundwater level

in the state. In order to achieve this aim, the state

cabinet chaired by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister

Yogi Adityanath approved the Ground Water Act-2020.



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11. 15th Finance Commission constitutes panel on Defence & Internal security.

The Fifteenth Finance Commission has created a 5-members panel on defence & internal

security. The constituted panel aims to study

whether a divide mechanism should be

organised for the support of defence and

internal security and if yes, then how this

mechanism could be operationalised.

The panel will be head by the Chairman of the

Fifteenth Finance Commission N K Singh,

expenses secretary T V Somanathan, defence

secretary Ajay Kumar, finance commission Member AN Jha and home affairs secretary Ajay

Bhalla as its members.

12. NCERT released curriculum for School Health Ambassador Initiative under

Ayushman Bharat.

Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Union Minister of Human

Resource Development Sh. Ramesh

Pokhriyal “Nishank”, and Shri

Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS

(HFW) released the curriculum for

School Health Ambassador Initiative

under Ayushman Bharat.

The initiative aims to further

strengthen the concept of preventive,

promotive and positive health, which

forms the fundamental cornerstone of the Health & Wellness Centres of Ayushman Bharat

scheme.



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Curriculum for School Health Ambassador Initiative:

♦ The School Health Ambassador Initiative will be linked with other government initiatives such

as the Fit India movement, Eat Right campaign, Poshan Abhiyaan for an all-round and holistic

development model of health for the school children, etc.

♦ The curriculum was developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training

(NCERT).

♦ The training materials for the training of nodal teachers, facilitators guide were developed in

consultation with MoHFW.

♦ The 11 identified themes in the curriculum are growing up healthy, interpersonal relationships,

gender equality, emotional wellbeing, and mental health, values and responsible citizenship,

nutrition, health and sanitation, promotion of healthy lifestyles, reproductive health and HIV

prevention, prevention and management of substance misuse, safety and security against

violence and injuries, and promotion of safe use of internet, media and social media.

♦ A National Resource Group (NRG) of 40 members, who have sound training skills and

experience in Adolescent Health, has been already constituted by NCERT.

♦ The NRG will train the State Resource Group.

♦ The implementation of the first phase will be in all the public upper primary, secondary and

senior secondary schools of aspirational districts.

♦ The remaining districts will be taken up in the second year.

13. Manipur CM launches ‘Anganphou Hunba’ programme in Imphal.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh launched ‘Anganphou Hunba’ (Early Paddy Crop)

programme at Arapti Mayai Leikai in Imphal East. The State government has intended to

provide irrigation water by the Minor Irrigation Department to places having adequate arable

land and a large number of farmers.



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The State government has also taken up steps

to construct a sufficient quantity of fishes by

providing loans to 800 preferred fish farmers.

It is being done with a view to save around

400 crore rupees spent every year in

importing fishes from outside.

14. South Central Railways zone becomes 1st in India to contain energy-neutral stations.

The Indian Railways South Central Railways

(SCR) zone has develop into the 1st zonal railway

in the country to contain functional “energy

neutral” railway station on the network. The

South Central Railways has changed a total of 13

railway stations into “energy neutral” stations,

which is the highest between all the zones across

the Indian Railways network.

The energy-neutral railway stations are

accomplished of meeting 100 per cent energy requirements by tapping into solar power through

solar photovoltaic panels which have been commissioned at the station buildings.

15. The First Inter-City Electric Bus operated between Mumbai and Pune.

The first inter-city electric bus was launched. The bus will transit between Pune and Mumbai

twice every day. It was launched by the Union

Transport Minister Nithin Jairam Gadkari.

The bus seating capacity was 43. It is capable of

running 300-kilometers in a single charge. The

Ministry of Union Transport is working under the

target of convert all the buses into electric

vehicles by 2022. The bus is to run in the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.



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The Government of India is now pushing for the Electric Vehicle transition in the country to

reduce the burden of being created by oil. The Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) transition that

happened in the 2000s is the best lead to take positive hopes over the EV transition. In 1993,

three gas filling stations were opened in Delhi.

16. Government of India to launch “TILHAN Mission” to make India Self Reliant in oil

seed Production.

The Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar announced that the Government of India is to

launch “TILHAN MISSION” to boost the oil seed

production. The declaration was made at an

occasion of Soil Health Card Day. Soil Health

Card Day was celebrated all over India on 19th

February 2020.

The government of India is to increase oil seed

production in order to make the country self-reliant in oil seed production. The Minister also

announced that the Government of India is to create 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations all

over the country. In order to support this, the Government of India is to provide Rs 6,000 rupees.

India is the fourth largest vegetable oil economy in the world after the USA, China, and Brazil.

The oilseeds account for 13% of the cropped area in the country. The National Mission on Oil

Seeds & Oil Palm was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare. The scheme

was to be implemented for 5 years between 2014 - 2015 and 2018 - 2019.

17. Delhi’s IGI Airport becomes India’s first single-use plastic-free airport.

The Delhi International Airport Ltd has

acknowledged “Indira Gandhi International

Airport” of Delhi as India’s first single-use

plastic-free airport. The CII-ITC Centre of

Excellence for Sustainable Development has

certified Delhi International Airport Ltd



25

(DIAL) as the single-use plastic-free airport. The CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable

Development lauded DIAL for its successful voluntary implementation of measures to make IGI

Airports as India’s first single-use plastic-free airport."Delhi International Airport Ltd is

committed to preserving the environment and does its bit," said Delhi International Airport Ltd

(DIAL) Chief Executive Officer Videh Kumar Jaipuriar.

18. Northeast Frontier Railway builds India’s tallest pier bridge in Manipur.

The Northeast Frontier Railway Construction Organisation has built India’s tallest railway pier

bridge 100 m tall corresponding to a 33-storey

building, across Makru river in the Tamenglong

district of Manipur. The Rs 283.5-crore bridge

among a span of 555 m is part of the 111-km

Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal new broad gauge line. It

has 47 tunnels, the longest organism 10.28 km.

A bridge pier is a type of structure that extend

to the ground under or into the water. It is used to support bridge superstructure and transfer the

loads to the establishment. The bridge piers can be construct to be substantially attractive and

strong in order to endure both vertical and horizontal loads.

19. The Government of India successfully installed 10 lakh smart meters under SMNP.

The Government has successfully installed 10

lakh smart meters across India under the

Government of SMNP (India's Smart Meter

National Programme). The announcement was

made by the Union Minister of State (IC) for

Power, New and Renewable Energy R.K. Singh.

The Minister inaugurated commissioning of 100

MW decentralized solar power plants associated with agriculture feeders in Maharashtra.

The smart meters are operational in Delhi, Haryana, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh.



26

The aim of the programme is to bring competence in the distribution system leading to

better service delivery.

In every substation, the capacity of the solar power plants ranges from 0.5 MegaWatt to 10

MegaWatt.

The programme is being implemented through EESL (Energy Efficiency Services

Limited).

The SMNP aims to replace 250 million conventional meters in India with a smart meter.

20. The government of Andhra launched ‘Jagananna Vasthi Deevena’ scheme for students.

Andhra Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched a scheme named ‘Jagananna

Vasthi Deevena’. This scheme is for students to

pursue various post-Intermediate courses to meet

hostel & mess expenses.

Benefits of the scheme:

The scheme would provide financial assistance of

Rs 2,300 cr in total. In total, 11,87,904 students pursuing polytechnic, ITI, under-graduate and

post-graduate education would benefit from the scheme. ITI (Industrial Training Institute)

students would get Rs 10,000 each, polytechnic students would get Rs 15,000 and under-

graduates and post-graduates Rs 20,000 each. The students would get the amount in 2

installments directly in their bank accounts. They will get in February & July every year.

Governor of Andhra Pradesh - Biswabhushan Harichandan.

Capital City of Andhra Pradesh - Amaravati.

21. Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar launches Baroda Startup Banking in 15 cities.

Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar inaugurated “Baroda Startup Banking”. It is an initiative aimed

at making the Bank of Baroda (BoB) a preferred banking partner for the start-up community and

establishing connect with at least 2,000 start-ups over the next two years. The initiative was

launched simultaneously across fifteen cities in the country.



27

The products include customized current accounts, state-of-the-art payments gateways, corporate

credit cards, corporate salary accounts, and credit

facilities apart from other existing products of the

bank. In addition to end-to-end banking solutions

for start-ups, the bank will also ensure that it

meets the subsidiary needs of start-ups by the

partner with marquee service providers to assist

start-ups by way of cloud co-working space,

credits, mentorship, legal/accounting services, and other support services.

The Headquarters of Bank of Baroda: Vadodara, Gujarat.

CEO and MD of Bank of Baroda: Sanjiv Chadha.

Chairman of Bank of Baroda: Hasmukh Adhia.

The tagline of Bank of Baroda: India’s International Bank.

22. The Mumbai airport launched the world's largest temperature-controlled facility.

The Mumbai airport launched the world's largest temperature-controlled facility to store pharma

and agro products. The “Export Cold Zone” launched

is able to hold more than 700 tonnes of cargo.

The terminal connects five Hundred cargo destination

spread across 175 countries. The unit is spread over

6,000 square meters. It is spread across 12 truck

docks equipped with dock-levelers, automated workstations, spacious acceptance and

examination area, X-Ray machines and Ball mat system for Unit Load Device.

The Mumbai Airport is one of the few airports in the world, first in the country and third in Asia

to obtain IATA CEIV PHARMA accreditation.



28

SCHEMES/COMMITTEES BY THE UNION & STATE GOVERNMENT

1. TN Chief Minister unveil Direct CTO scheme for green category industries.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami

announced a new initiative, Direct CTO, to

enable companies working under green

category industries to receive quicker

clearances from the government to commence

operations. The move would primarily benefit

micro, small, and medium enterprise planning

to set up operations in the state. The 125 years of deal body Confederation of Indian Industry

(CII). Ministry of Environment company are classified in red, orange, green, and white

categories based on the pollution. The pollution index of any industrial sector is a number from 0

to 100, and the mounting value of PI refers to the degree of pollution load from the

industries.Red category industries are those who have a pollution index score of 60 and above

orange category are with 41 to 59, green category industrial sector are of 21 to 40, and white

category industry are from 0 to 20. The companies diminishing Land-use re-classification for

non-plan areas will be specified deemed approval, if the application in full shape, cross the

timeline second Global Investors Meet in 2019, 63 new memorandum of understanding worth Rs

the government signed 19,000 crores.

2. 7 schemes below Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD Schemes approved for J and K and

Ladakh Ministry of Tourism.

The Ministry of Tourism advance India as an

all-encompassing goal and as a feature of its

on-going movements, every year discharges

residential and universal print, electronic and

online media crusade under the 'Incredible



29

India' brand-line, to advance different the travel industry goals and items in the various

States/UTs of the nation, including the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Advancement is

additionally attempted through the site and Social Media records of the Ministry. Furthermore,

the India Tourism Offices in India and abroad try different special movements intend to exhibit

the travel industry ability of the various States and Union Territories.

3. The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas bill introduced in Lok Sabha with the Finance

Minister.

The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman projected the scheme Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme in the

Union Budget 2020. In order to execute the

scheme, the minister introduced a bill in Lok

Sabha.

The scheme aims to resolve the pending

cases on direct taxes. The scheme is very

comparable to the “Indirect Tax, Sabka

Vishwas Scheme” introduced by the

minister in her earlier budget in 2019. The Sabka Vishwas scheme aimed to settle down the

dispute related to service tax and excise duty payments.

4. The Government has approved proposals under Atal Bhujal Yojana.

The Government has approved proposals for Atal Bhujal Yojana for sustainable management of

groundwater resources with community

participation in water-stressed blocks of

Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar

Pradesh. The statement was made by the

Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti &

Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Rattan

Lal Kataria.



30

Atal Bhujal Yojana:

Atal Bhujal Yojana is a groundwater management scheme of the Central government.

It was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 December 2019.

The Government allocated Rs.6000 crore for the Scheme.

The scheme will be implemented from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

The financial assistance is provided by the World Bank with a sharing pattern of 50:50

between the World Bank and the Indian Government.

There are two components under the scheme namely:

1) Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building component with an outlay of

Rs.1400 crore

2) The Incentive component with an outlay of Rs.4600 crore

5. Cabinet approves MoU signed between India & Iceland in the field of Fisheries.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) signed between India & Iceland in the field of Fisheries.

The MoU will strengthen the existing friendly

relations between India & Iceland. It will also

enhance consultation and collaboration on

Fisheries including consultation on the

bilateral issues.

The MoU will create facilities for the

exchange of scientists and technical

experts and their proper position, especially in areas of estimate Total Allowable Catches

in offshore and deep-sea areas.

Provision of training to fisheries professionals from key fisheries institutions in the

variety of management aspects on areas of modern fisheries management and fish

processing.



31

Under the MoU, scientific literature research findings and other information will be

exchanged.

It will hold an exchange of experts/expertise to study the prospects of fishing.

6. The Union Cabinet approved on Capital Infusion in three public sectors Units OICL,

UIICL, and NICL.

The Union Cabinet approved on capital infusion in three Public Sector Units namely UIICL

(United India Insurance Company), OICL (Oriental Insurance Company Limited) and NICL

(National Insurance Company Limited).

During the meet, the cabinet also approved

an immediate release of Rs 2,500 crores in

order to address their critical financial

position and also regulate their solvency

requirements. The capital infusion is aimed

at merging the 3 insurance companies in the

future.

Merging the companies will get better their operational efficiency and solvency ratio. The step is

being taken to make these companies meet the solvency ratio criteria of the Insurance Regulatory

Development Authority (IRDA). The Solvency ratio is the key metric used to measure the ability

of a venture to meet its debt compulsion.

7. Cabinet approved amendment of the 2020 Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill.

The Union Cabinet accepted the amendment of

the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020. The

Bill was introduced by Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2020.

The Bill seek to provide resolution for disputed

tax cases that involve Rs.9.32 lakh crore.The



32

amendment will widen the scope to cover litigation pending in various debt recovery tribunals

(DRTs).

Bill Amendment:

♦ The Bill was introduced by an aim to reduce litigation related to direct taxes.

♦ It will cover tax disputes pending at the level of commissioner (appeals), Income Tax

Appellate Tribunals (ITAT), high courts (HCs) and the Supreme Court (SC).

♦ It is predictable that the people will take advantage of the Vivad se Vishwas scheme to settle

the tax disputes before 31 March 2020, as 10% more will be charged for completion of disputes

after that date.

8. The Union Cabinet approved the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission of India.

The Union Cabinet approved the 22nd Law Commission of India. The commission has been

approved for a period of 3 years. The 22nd Law

Commission will consist of a full-time

Chairperson. It has four full-time members. Also,

secretaries from the Department of Legal Affairs

and Legislative department. The Law

Commission will make proposal based on the

aspects of laws entrusted upon it. It will

undertake research works and suggest reforms that are essential to enact new legislation.

Functions

The functions and objectives of the Law Commission are as follows

To identify laws that shall be repealed immediately

To examine the current laws in force and suggest ways to improve them

To respond to requests made by other countries in framing their legal system

To make measures that shall help to serve the poor legally

To revise laws to simplify them.



33

9. Cabinet approved revamping of PMFBY and RWBICS.

The Union Cabinet led with Prime Minister Modi approved revamping of Pradhan Mantri Fasal

Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured

Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme

(RWBCIS). The aim is to deal with the

existing challenges in the implementation of

Crop Insurance Schemes. The changes are

expected to help the farmers to manage risk in

agriculture construction and to succeed in

stabilize the farm income. It also aim to increase coverage in the northeastern region. It will

enable perfect yield estimation leading to faster claims settlement.

Proposed changes:

♦ Business to Insurance Companies for three years must be allocated.

♦ Provide option to States/UTs to decide Scale of Finance or district level Value of Notional

Average Yield (NAY).

♦ Limited Central subsidy for premium rates up to 30% for unirrigated areas/crops and 25% for

irrigated areas/crops.

♦ The scheme should be flexible through the option to select any or many of additional risk

covers/features.

10. TamilNadu CM announced 5 schemes for children living in government-run homes.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K.

Palaniswami announced five schemes for

children living in government-run homes on

the birth anniversary of former Tamil Nadu

CM J. Jayalalithaa.



34

5 Schemes:

The state government announced special financial assistance for girls who face

difficulties after leaving government-run homes on completion of 18 years of age. The

scheme will ensure the social & financial safety of the girls.

The TN State Government has increased the monthly amount paid to the foster parents of

the girls to Rs.4,000 from Rs.2,000.

The state government will deposit Two lakh to an orphan girl residing in government-run

homes when she completes 21 years of age. The aim is to help them get an improved life

in society after they leave government homes.

The government also announced employment for the destitute children from government

homes in social welfare, social justice, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)

departments, the categories of C and D, which would not fall in the purview of the Tamil

Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC). From now, they will also be prioritized in

jobs in noon meal anganwadis and centres.

The government would award gold, silver and bronze medals and certificates to three

district collectorates who improve child sex ratio, given that ratio was lesser than the

average in those districts.

The state has also announced a 50% subsidy for "Ulemas" to buy two-wheelers, &

increase their pension to Rs.3,000.

11. Haryana government is to open Atal Kisan-Majdoor canteens to provide meals.

Haryana government is to open Atal Kisan-Majdoor

canteens in all sugar mills and mandis across the

state. The statement was made by Governor

Satyadeo Narain Arya at the Budget Session of

State Assembly which commenced in Chandigarh.

Atal Kisan-Majdoor canteens:

The aim of the move is to provide affordable



35

and cheap meals to farmers and laborers at a concessional rate of Rs.10 per plate.

Twenty Five Atal Kisan-Majdoor canteens will be established in 2020 in the state.

Haryana government will also provide free & concessional travel facility to 41 different

categories of residents in the ordinary buses of Haryana Roadways.

Also, under a new scheme, the women and girls belonging to 11 lakh BPL (Below

Poverty Line) families will be given sanitary napkins free of cost during the year 2020-

2021.



36

DEFENSE CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. The Indian Navy launched a unique coastal security exercise in Kolkata.

The Indian Navy launched a unique coastal security exercise in Kolkata. The exercise was

conducted to create awareness about coastal security

to the local community.

The Indian Navy conducts the Coastal Security

Exercise, Malta Abhiyan in the Sunderbans region and

the exercise is exclusive of its kind. Two naval boats

were flagged off the Sunderbans till Hemnagar along

the International Trade Protocol route between

Bangladesh and India. The Naval officer formed

awareness to the local community along the route. The route is sensitive as deadly tools can be

dropped off easily and thus it was chosen by the Indian Navy.

The Sunderbans is a Mangrove Delta Forest formed at the confluence of Brahmaputra, Meghna

and Ganga rivers. The Delta is vulnerable for its vastness & complexities. It covers over 10,000

square kilometers in India and 6,017 square kilometers in Bangladesh.

2. India hosted the Ministerial-level Defence dialogue between India & South Korea in New

Delhi.

The Ministerial-level Defence dialogue intended to deepen bilateral defence cooperation between

the two countries. South Korean industries are

also encouraged to invest in Indian Defence

corridors by establishing their manufacturing

units in India by reaping benefits from the

economical and skilled labour force, natural

resources and tailored incentives. During the



37

dialogue, both the countries also intended to leverage mutual strengths in digital applications as

well as other advanced technologies. India Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and South Korea

Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo participated in the Ministerial-level Defence dialogue

between India and South Korea. Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, Army Chief

General Manoj Naravane and Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh were among the other

participants of the dialogue.

3. The Sharang artillery Gun inducted into the Indian Army on February 8, 2020.

The Sharang Artillery Gun is to be inducted into

the Indian Army on February 8, 2020. The artillery

guns are presently produced at the Kanpur

ordnance factory. The Sharang artillery guns have

been upgrade from 130 mm to 155 mm. Also, the

hitting range of the gun system has been increased from 12 kilometers to 39 kilometers. It was

tested at the Balasore DRDO (Defence R & D Organization) facility in January 2019.

In October 2018, the Ministry of Defence and the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board signed

agreements to upgrade the artillery guns. The Sharang upgrade kit costs less than seven lakh

rupees per gun.

4. India and the UK to hold joint military exercise “Ajeya Warrior 2020” from February

13 to 26.

The 5th edition of joint military exercise “Ajeya

Warrior 2020” between the UK and India will be

conducted at Salisbury Plains in the UK from

February 13 to February 26. According to an

authorized release, the exercise will comprise of

120 soldiers each from the 2 armies who would

be sharing their experiences gained during

various counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operation in the past.



38

The aim of the exercise is to conduct company-level joint training with importance on counter-

terrorist operations in urban and semi-urban areas.

Training on modern equipment, weapon systems, and simulator training has also been planned.

In the series of military training exercises undertake by India with various countries, ''Ajeya

Warrior'' with the UK is an important exercise in terms of the security challenges faced by

together nations in the realm of changing facets of global terrorism.

5. The Chief of the Defence Staff has announced the plan of establishing the first Integrated

Tri-Services Command.

The CDS (Chief of the Defence Staff) General Bipin Rawat has announced the plan of

establishing the first Integrated Tri-Services

Command. The Integrated Tri-Services

Command will be responsible for handing the

air defence of the whole country.

The command is likely to be established by

June 2020. The planned Integrated Tri-Services

command will be headed by an IAF (Indian Air

Force) officer.

The objective of Integrated Tri-Services Command:

The Integrated Tri-Services Command aim is to unite the resources of the 3 defence services of

India under one command to protect the air space of the country.

The air defence set-up of the Army, Air Force and Navy would integrate to provide air defence

cover to the country.

The Department of Military Affairs headed by General Bipin Rawat has been mandated to create

joint military commands along with theatre commands, joint peninsula command and a logistics

command.



39

6. Rajnath Singh inaugurate new Helicopter Production Hangar by HAL.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurate the new Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Production

Hangar at Helicopter Division in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Complex at Bengaluru,

Karnataka.

LCH is a 5.5-tonne class combat helicopter designed and developed with HAL. LCH is powered

with 2 Shakti engines and inherit several technical features of the Advanced Light Helicopter.

LCH have the difference of being the first

attack helicopter to land in forwarding Bases at

Siachen, 4,700 mts over sea level with 500kg

load.

India has made important progress towards

manufacturing military equipment indigenously

below the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The defence industry plays a main role in the financial

development of the country. Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) that has helped India

leapfrog six places to develop into the fifth-largest economy in the world.

7. Mansukh Mandaviya launched OPV-6 VAJRA in Chennai.

The 6th Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV-6) 'VAJRA' be launched on 27 February at

Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Union Minister

of State for Shipping(I/C) and Chemicals

and Fertilizers Shri Mansukh Mandaviya

chaired the beginning ceremony.

VAJRA:

The 6th OPV VAJRA will

strengthen the hard work of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) to secure more than 7500 km

of vast coastline.



40

The vessel will secure the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that cover over 20 lakh sq km

and further than one lakh merchant ships transiting per year during Indian waters for

global trade.

6th OPV will enhance the Operation, Surveillance, Search and Rescue of ICG. The vessel

be deliver by M/s L&T Shipbuilding under the Make in India policy.

The ship will be used for day and night patrol or surveillance down with anti-terrorism

and anti-smuggling operations in EEZ and Coastal Security.

The OPV is equipped by 2 Navigation Radars with ultra-modern technology,

Sophisticated navigational, and latest communication systems.



41

AGREEMENT/MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU)

1. India, Maldives signed five MoUs for establishing the Addu Tourism zone.

India and Maldives signed five MoUs for establishing the Addu Tourism zone in 5 islands of

Addu atoll at a cost of 2.49 million dollars.

The MoUs were signed between the High

Commissioner of India Sunjay Sudhir, Addu City

Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla

Shahid.

A Sixth MoU to set up a bottled water plant in

Hoarafushi was also signed. All 6 projects are grant projects falling under India’s High Impact

Community Development Scheme (HICDP). These projects are driven by the needs of the

community on the islands.

2. APEDA signs MoU to set up a Liason Office into Guwahati, Assam.

APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products

Export Development Authority) signed MoU with

CSIR-CFTRI (Council of Scientific and Industrial

Research-Central Food Technological Research

Institute). According to the agreement, the CSIR-

CFTRI will offer technical support to the food

industries in the food industries in the North East

Region. APEDA will set up a Liason Office. A Liason

office connect people and synchronize activities between officers. The newly set up office will

work towards promote organic agricultural exports and food processing. The centre will also

works in augment the export of conventional food products in the region.



42

The APDEA has launch several measures to develop the North East Region. It organized 5

international purchaser seller meets in 2019. The meets were conduct in Assam, Arunachal

Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim. It aimed at show casing the possible of horticulture,

organic foods and agriculture of the region. Several outreach programmes have been organized

to train the stakeholders of the North East region in export process.

3. IOC Signed an Annual Agreement on Rosneft's to Buy Crude.

State-claimed Indian Oil Corp, India's top purifier, has noticeable an arrangement with Russian

oil major Rosneft that gives it an substitute to

purchasing as much as 2 million tons, or

40,000 barrels for each day (BPD) of raw in

2020, the Indian oil serve said on 5th February

2020.

India has been increasing the well springs of

its raw petroleum imports to fence geopolitical dangers that can gag supplies from a specific area

or nation. The purifier will practice its alternative to purchasing Urals rough under this first

yearly agreement with Rosneft at whatever point the value is sufficiently low to make up for

cargo costs.

4. India and Russia signed 14 MoUs at the Fifth round of IRMIC.

The fifth round of India-Russia Military Industrial Conference (IRMIC) was conducted on the

sidelines of Defexpo-2020 at Lucknow on 6

February 2020. The conference was co-chaired by

Indian Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and

Trade of Russian Federation Mr Oleg Ryazantsev

and Deputy Minister of Industry. 14 MoUs were

exchanged between the Indian companies during

the conference and the Russian Original

Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).



43

Conference Highlights:

The Ministers discussed the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on the Joint

manufacturing of spares in India which was signed at Vladivostok, Russia on 4th

September 2019.

The Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) provides a framework for the partnership of

Russian OEMs with the Indian industry for the manufacturing of spare parts of Russian

origin equipment in use by the Indian Defence Forces.

India's efforts to expedite the collaboration between the Russian and Indian Companies

were highlighted.

Russia reaffirmed its active participation in the collaborations under the ambit of the

IGA. It also said that it will take all essential steps to facilitate the manufacturing of parts

in India.

They also discussed the way forward to achieve the objectives of IGA under the Make in

India initiative.

5. DRDO signed a Technology Development Contract with Rosoboronexport Russia.

DRDO's HEMRL (High Energy Materials Research Laboratory) signed a Technology

Development Contract with Rosoboronexport

Russia. The contract was signed during the

DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow. The contract aims

for the development of a spectrum of high

energy materials required for missiles, guns,

and rockets.

Technology Development Contract:

The contract has been signed for the improvement of Advanced Pyrotechnic Ignition

Systems.

The contract will enable advancement in the field of pyrotechnic technology and

energetic materials which will lead to the development of advanced ignition systems.



44

The technology is expected to meet the futuristic necessities of high-performance

propulsion systems.

This technology development will facilitate the development and design of state of art

solid rocket motors for upcoming products as the propulsion systems are the power

behind the missiles and rockets.

6. Andhra government signed MoUs with Agri institutions to provide technical assistance

to farmers.

The Andhra Pradesh State government signed an MoU with 11 premier agricultural institutions

in the country. MoUs were exchanged between the

state Agriculture Department and institutions,

including the Indian Council of Agricultural

Research (ICAR), National Institute of Plant

Health Management, M S Swaminathan Research

Foundation, Central Fertiliser Quality, and

Training Institute, and National Seed Research and

Training Institute, Amaravati. The aim is to usher

in revolutionary changes in the agriculture sector through technology and knowledge transfer to

farmers in the state. Under the MoU, the institutions will provide technical assistance which will

lead to a sustainable increase in farmers' income using organic and natural farming processes.

7. India and Portugal signed a Cooperation Agreement in the field of Maritime Transport

& Ports.

An Agreement was signed between the Republic

of Portugal and India in the field of Maritime

Transport and Ports. The purpose of the

agreement is to strengthen the organization of

Maritime transport between the two countries.



45

Agreement Highlights:

The agreement will open avenues for cooperation to promote Maritime Transport

between Portugal and India for better operation of their merchant fleets.

It will also enhance cooperation to harmonize and unify their position with International

Organization Institution, forums and conferences related to Maritime and Port activities.

It will also help the 2 countries to coordinate accession to international conventions.

8. AAI signs concession agreements by Adani Group for 3 airports.

Airports Authority of India (AAI) sign three concession agreements with Adani Enterprises for

operation, management, and development of Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru airports.

The agreements be signed on Friday with the

group's subsidiary companies, namely Adani

Ahmedabad International Airport Ltd, Adani

Lucknow International Airport Ltd, and

Adani Mangaluru International Airport Ltd.

The concessionaires are required to take-over

the three airports after satisfying certain

conditions precedents within 180 days from febraruy 14.

They will operate, manage, and develop the airports for the next 50 years, by the terms and

conditions specific in the allowance Agreements. BK Mehrotra, Executive Director, signed the

agreements, Strategic Initiative Unit on behalf of AAI, and Behnad Zandi, Chief Executive

Officer Airports Adani Enterprise Ltd at Corporate Headquarters of AAI in the being there of

Chairman, AAI, Board Members and other senior officials of AAI and Adani enterprise Limited.

The International competitive order process for PPP make contact with for six airport

Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Mangaluru Guwahati, Jaipur, and Thiruvananthapuram. The agreement

of the Central Government is awaited. The concessionaires shall pay AAI a per passenger

domestic fee of Rs 177, Rs 171, and Rs 115 for Ahmedabad, Lucknow, and Mangaluru Airports,

respectively (both embarking and disembarking passengers). In the case of international

passengers, the Concessionaire will pay two times per domestic passenger fee.



46

9. India and Portugal sign 14 agreements in areas together by defence, culture and yoga.

India and Portugal signed 14 agreements to boost assistance in a range of areas, including

defense, investment, transport, ports, culture,

and industrial and intellectual assets rights and

yoga. The agreements be signed after extensive

talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de

Sousa in New Delhi.

The visiting dignitary was accorded a

ceremonial welcome at the open space of Rashtrapati Bhavan morning. He also visited Rajghat

and paid tribute to Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi. President of Portugal accompanied by

Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Professor Augusto Santos Silva, Secretary of State for

Internationalization Professor Eurico Brilhante Dias and Secretary of State for National Defence

Jorge Seguro Sanches. The economic ties among India and Portugal are on the rise, and bilateral

trade has crossed a billion dollars.

10. Bangladesh will sign Free Trade Agreement with Nepal.

Bangladesh and Nepal have agreed to sign a Free Trade Agreement to enhance trade among the

two countries. Bangladesh has also decided to allow Nepal to use it Saidpur airport located in its

northernmost district of Nilphamari close to

Nepal.

Bangladesh export commodities worth $38

million to Nepal and imports goods worth around

18 million dollars. Nepal will be able to provide

500 MW of hydroelectric power to Bangladesh

once the Indian Company GMR complete its

project in Nepal.



47

11. India signs USD 450 million loan agreement with the World Bank.

The Government of India has signed a USD 450 million loan agreement with the World Bank.

The loan agreement of USD 450 million aims to support the national program “Atal Bhujal

Yojana (ABHY): National Groundwater Management Improvement Programme“. It will help the

Union Government to curb the country’s

depleting groundwater levels along with the

strengthening of the groundwater institutions.

The IBRD (International Bank for Reconstruction

and Development) will provide the loan amount

on behalf of the World Bank. According to the

loan agreement signed between the Indian

Government and the World Bank, the loan amount will be having a grace period of 6 years,

along with a maturity period of 18 years. The Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to provide strength to the

institutional framework for participatory groundwater management and to encourage behavioral

changes at the community level for sustainable groundwater resource management. With this, it

will curb the country’s depleting groundwater levels along with the strengthening of the

groundwater institutions.

12. Government of Gujarat and SBI sign MoU to facilitate MSME loans.

The Gujarat government signed an MoU among State Bank of India (SBI) to facilitate approval

of loans to entrepreneurs in the MSME sector

with ease and within a short time-frame. Inside

15 days of making an application, the bank will

offer theoretical approval to the project. Start-

ups can propose an application on also the

MSME portal or to the local nodal

agencies.The SBI resolute to help MSME entrepreneurs in Gujarat looking at their high recovery

rate. The Gujarat state announce that MSME units exempt from taking approvals for the first



48

three years can start operation after getting an acknowledgement certificate from the state nodal

agency by submitting ‘declaration of intent.

13. DFCCIL signs MoU by RailTel for maintenance of OFC network.

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of

India (DFCCIL) signed a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) by RailTel for the

maintenance, development, and marketing of

the existing & upcoming telecom

infrastructure comprising of Optical Fibre

Cable (OFC) network. The MoU was sign by

Anurag Sachan MD and Puneet Chawla Chairman & Managing Director Railtel.

MoU:

♦ Underneath the telecom transportation down the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) alignment

consisting of Towers, Telecom Network, OFC, and related equipment will be lease by RailTel to

third parties. Revenue raised from the sale and marketing of the spare OFC capability will be

shared by DFCCIL and Railtel.

RailTel: RailTel company, a Mini Ratna (Category-I), is one of the largest neutral telecom

infrastructure provider in India. The Public sector undertakings (PSU) owns a pan-India OFC

network on exclusive Right of Way (ROW) down the Railway track. RailTel provide nationwide

Broadband Telecom and Multimedia Network connections in all parts of the country. This

facility has been provide in addition to the modernization of Train operations and administration

network systems.

14. US President Donald Trump visits India and Signs Defence Deals.

The US President Donald Trump visited India. He was accompanied with his wife, the first lady,

Melania Trump, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner. Along side his visit, India and

US sign defence deals worth 3 billion USD.



49

The President be welcomed by PM Modi in a traditional way at Ahmedabad airport. Mr Trump

later visited Sabarmati Ashram & Taj

Mahal. The leaders then addressed a great

gathering at Motera stadium. India

celebrated the visit of the US President

bynaming the event as “Namaste Trump”.

Defence Deal India and US will sign two

defence deals for helicopters. About 24 MH-60R helicopters are to be signed for Indian Navy

and six AH-64E helicopters are to be signed for Apache helicopters.

15. NMCG, SPMG-UK, ICT signed an MoU to renovate Ghat at Badrinath.

A tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the National Mission for

Clean Ganga (NMCG), State Program

Management Group-Uttarakhand (SPMG-UK)

and Indorama Charitable Trust (ICT) in Delhi.

The MoU was signed by Ashok Kumar Singh,

Executive Director (ED), National Mission for

Clean Ganga (NMCG); Rajeev Kshetrapal,

Director, Indorama Industries and Uday Raj

Singh, Project Director, SPMG, Government of Uttarakhand.

The Memorandum of Understanding aims to work together to renovate or develop the

Ghat at Badrinath and Ghats and Crematoria at Gangotri in Uttarakhand.

The total cost for the project is Rs.26.64 crore.

The DPR (Detailed Project Report) was developed by M/S WAPCOS, a Government of

India Enterprise.

The activities under the project will include the construction of Bathing Ghats &

Crematoria, repair & modernize the existing Ghats & Crematoria.

Providing public amenities on Ghats, Bank erosion protection works Operation and

Maintenance (O&M) for 5 years.



50

16. India and Myanmar sign 10 MoUs in different sector.

The Myanmar President U Win Myint visited India. During his visit, India and Myanmar sign 10

MoUs in different sector. The leaders signed agreement on Repatriation and Re-integration of

Victims of trafficking, Quick Impact

Projects, Development of Rakhine State, etc.

They also sign Memorandum of

Understandings on construction of schools,

roads, water supply system and solar power

system.The Rakhine State of Myanmar is the

region of ongoing conflict among buddhist

community and Rohingya community. The Conflict began through world war II. During World

War II, the Rohingya Muslims fought along side British against the Rakhine Buddhists in come

back of a separate Muslim state. The present Myanmar Government is facing international

condemnation including the United Nations. And is hence finding way to develop the region.

The agreement aim to help Myanmar develop the state of Rakhine.

17. NTPC signed MoU with CPCB to set up air quality monitoring stations.

NTPC Ltd has signed an agreement with the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board).

According to an agreement, NTPC Ltd will

provide financial support of Rs 80 Crore for

installation and commissioning of

Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring

Stations (CAAQMS). A total of 25 Air

Quality Monitoring Stations will be installed

across six states and 3 Union Territories. The

states include Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu.

The three Union Territories include Daman & Diu, Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Andaman &

Nicobar Islands. The Air Quality Index will be evaluated for the respective cities with the help of

data composed from these air quality monitoring stations.



51

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

1.Shaktikanta Das named best central banker into Asia Pacific.

The Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta

Das has been name the ‘Central Banker of the

Year 2020’ for the Asia-Pacific county by

financial intelligence magazine The Banker. He

won the award for bringing in measures to tighten

the rules around NBFCs and the award is

presented to the bankers who have “best managed

to stimulate growth and stabilise their economy,” according to The Banker.

2. Vinod Shukla win 1st Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award.

Noted Hindi poet-novelist and Sahitya

Akademi honouree Vinod Kumar Shukla has

won the first Mathrubhumi Book of the Year

award for his translated book “Blue Is Like

Blue“.The story in “Blue Is Like Blue”,

translated into English by Arvind Krishna

Mehrotra and Sara Rai. This book is dealing

with common people and their daily struggle. His book, published under Harper Collins India’s

translations imprint Harper recurrent.

3. Salmara Mankachar district received National Award intended for implementing

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.

The district of South Salmara Mankachar of

Assam won National Award for

implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Matru



52

Vandana Yojana below the category of State/Union Territory having a population of more than

one crore. The award was confer by the Union Minister for Women and Child Development

Smriti Irani in a prize distribution assembly held at New Delhi. The award documented the

performance of Assam in implementing the scheme. In April 2019, only 24% of the targeted

beneficiary of the district were covered. The department enhanced its performance to cover 95%

of the targeted beneficiary.

4. FIH has awarded Manpreet Singh with Men’s Player of the Year 2019 award.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has awarded Indian men’s hockey team captain &

midfielder Manpreet Singh by “Player of the Year for 2019” award. India’s another midfielder

Vivek Sagar Prasad has also won the “FIH Male

Rising Star of the Year” award.Manpreet Singh

has become the first Indian to win the “Player of

the Year for 2019” award since its beginning in

1999. Manpreet Singh recieved a total of 35.2%

of the combined votes from media, fans, National

Associations and players. He overcome

Belgium’s hockey player Arthur van Dorren who recieved share of 19.7% votes and Lucas Villa

of Argentina, to win the award. Manpreet Singh made his debut in 2011 and has enjoyed a long

career in the Indian National Team having 260 international appearances under his belt. He has

also represented India at 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics.

5. ESPNcricinfo announced the 13th edition of the Annual ESPNcricinfo Awards 2019.

The ESPNcricinfo (sports news website) announced

the 13th edition of the Annual ESPNcricinfo Awards

2019. The awards were accessible under 12

categories & selected by a jury comprising

ESPNcricinfo senior editors, former cricketers,

writers & global correspondents.



53

The list of winners of ESPNcricinfo Awards 2019:

Sl. No. Category Winner

1. Captain of the year Eoin Joseph Gerard Morgan (England)

2. Test batting performance of the year Kusal Janith Perera (Sri Lanka)

3. Test bowling performance of the year Kemar Andre Jamal Roach (West

Indies)

4. ODI batting performance of the year Benjamin Andrew Stokes (England)

5. ODI bowling performance of the year Matthew James Henry (New Zealand)

6. T20I batting performance of the year Maxwell (Australia)

7. T20I bowling performance of the year Malinga (Sri Lanka)

8. Debutant of the year Jofra Archer (England)

9. Women’s batting performance of the year Meghann Moira Lanning (Australia)

10. Women’s bowling performance of the year Ellyse Alexandra Perry (Australia)

11. Associate batting performance of the year Henry George Munsey (Scotland)

12. Associate bowling performance of the year Bilal Khan (Oman)

6. President Ram Nath Kovind presented the President’s Colours Awards to INS Shivaji.

President Ram Nath Kovind presented the President’s Colours award to INS Shivaji. The Indian

Naval Station Shivaji has completed 75

years of service. Last year, the award be

given to Indian Naval Academy. The

award was presented to the Indian Naval

Station at Lonavala. The station was

commissioned as HMIS (Her Majesty’s

Indian Ship) in 1945. The motto of the ship

establishment is Motto: Karmasu Kaushalam (Skill at Work) The Station has rendered 75

years of service to the country by providing training to the personnel from Coast Guard, Indian



54

Navy and also for Naval employees from other countries. The Courses at INS Shivaji are

conducted by AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education).

7. BioAsia 2020 announced the Genome Valley Excellence Award.

BioAsia 2020 announced the Genome Valley Excellence Award. American immunologist and

oncologist Dr. Carl H June and Novartis CEO Dr. Vasant

Narsimhan will be presented this award for their

contribution to life sciences. The function will be

prearranged by the Telangana government annual global

biotechnology & life sciences forum.

Dr. Carl H June will be awarded for his work in

immunotherapy, research in the development of CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor- T cells)

for treatment of cancer & commercialization of the world’s first FDA (Food and Drug

Administration, United States)- approved gene therapy. Dr. Vasant Narasimhan has been

selected for his new vision in the pharmaceutical business in digital technology and healthcare.

He also worked in the development of 20 novel medicines, including advanced cells, gene

therapy as well as vaccines and also worked on the public health issues particularly in

developing countries.

Chief Minister (CM): Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao.

Governor of Telangana: Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajan.

Capital of Telangana: Hyderabad.

8. Lewis Hamilton & Lionel Messi jointly won the Laureus World Sportsman of the year

award.

British racing driver Lewis Hamilton and

footballer Lionel Messi were acknowledged

the joint winners of the Laureus World

Sportsman of the year award. The two



55

received the similar number of votes. For the first in the 20-year history, the award be split.

Other awardees:

♦ American gymnast Simone Bile established the World Sportswoman of the year award. This is

her third in four years following winning it in 2017 and in 2019. She has win five gold medals at

the 2019 World Championships.

♦ Chloe Kim won the World Action Sportsperson honour. It is her second straight in the equal

category.

♦ Oksana Masters won the Sportsperson of the year with a disability category. She has win five

gold medals and a silver at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships.

♦ The World Team of the Year Award was clinched by the South Africa Rugby team.

♦ Egan Bernal won the World Breakthrough of the Year award. He become the youngest rider to

win the Tour de France at 22.

♦ German basketball player Dirk Nowitzki won the Laureus Lifetime accomplishment Award for

his contribution to the sport of basketball.

♦ Spanish Basketball Federation get the Exceptional Achievement Award

9. RailMadad was received National e-Governance Award.

RailMadad was awarded Silver below Category II of National e-Governance Awards-

"Excellence in providing Citizen-centric

Delivery". The award was accessible at the

23rd National Conference on e-Governance

which was held in Mumbai on 7-8 February

2020.

RailMadad:

♦ RailMadad is the accusation redressal portal of Indian Railways.



56

♦ The portal can be access by Railways customers using RailMadad Helpline 139, website

railmadad.indianrailways.gov.in and RailMadad App.

♦ It provide ease of access, convergence and Integration, fast ahead redressal, accountability, and

citizen empowerment.

National e-Governance Awards:

National e-Governance Awards are presented each year by the Department of Administrative

Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The award aim to recognize and promote excellence

in the implementation of e-Governance initiatives. More than 500 nominations were received. A

total of 20 projects were preferred for e-Governance Awards in six categories.

10. Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank conferred the 2019 Vishwakarma

Awards.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' presents

Vishwakarma Awards 2019 toward the winners

in New Delhi. It was prearranged in the All

India Council for Technical Training. 23 groups

be awarded the Chatra Vishwakarma Awards

(CVA). Six institute were awarded the Utkrisht

Santhan Vishwakarma Award (USVA). The

award recognize college students who have good

potential and are an benefit to the nation. He appreciated NITI Ayog and Indian Institute of

Technology Delhi (IIT-Delhi) to support college students by bringing their concept into

actuality.

Vishwakarma Awards:

Vishwakarma award was instituted with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

since 2017. The awards be instituted for the growth of society by means of the stakeholders of its



57

established institutes. The Awards are aimed to encourage younger people and inspire leaders

and organizations.

Class-I: Chhatra Vishwakarma Awards (CVA) is confer for Excellent Progressive Staff (for

College students & Mentor).

Class-II: Utkrisht Sansthan Vishwakarma Award (USVA) is confer intended for exemplary

Institutional intervention.

The award will boost the competence of their particular domains resulting in vital contributions

in the direction of the development and growth of the Nation as an entire. The winners were

preferred based on the theme "Methods to improve the revenue of Village". Indian Society of

Technical Training (ISTE) and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of NITI Ayog agreed to work

together with AICTE for the Vishwakarma Awards 2019.

11. Dr. Niti Kumar to be honoured by SERB Women Excellence Award-2020.

Dr Niti Kumar has win the SERB Women Excellence Award-2020. She is a Senior Scientist

from Division of Molecular Parasitology

& Immunology, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow.

Her research team is testing the protein

quality control machinery in human

malaria parasite for exploration of another

drug targets for malaria intervention.

President of India will confer the award

through the celebrations of National Science Day. This award is conferred to women scientists

who are under 40 years of age and have received recognition from national academies.

Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science & Technology, Government of

India (SERB-DST) supports the women researchers with a research grant of 5 lakhs per annum

for 3 years.



58

12. Khanderao, Vasudev Kamath be conferred the Raja Ravi Varma Award.

The Raja Ravi Varma State Award for the year 2019 was confer on a veteran painter from

Kalaburagi Prof. J.S. Khanderao and senior

artist from Mumbai, Vasudev Kamath for

the year 2020 at a programme organized in

the institute premises located on Narasaraja

Road in Chamundipuram, Mysore,

Karnataka. Prof. J.S. Khanderao be awarded

for his art that defines the history of human culture as the art is a form of human expression. The

work of art dates back to the age of primitive times. The art form has undergone rapid

transformations above centuries. Vasudev Kamath was award for his more expressive form of

art.

Raja Ravi Varma State Award:

Raja Ravi Varma State Award was instituted with Karnataka's Shri Ravivarma Art Institute. The

award carry a cash prize of Rs.10,000 and a quotation.

13. Jadav Payeng named the 2020 Swami Vivekananda Karmayogi Award.

Padma Shri Jadav Payeng will be conferred with

the Swami Vivekananda Karmayogi Award on

29th February in New Delhi at a function

instituted by My Home India. Jadav Payeng was

awarded the 6th Karmayogi Award for his

consistent efforts in creating a real man-made

forest through massive reforestation. The award is

collected of a trophy, a recitation and a reward of Rs 1 lakh.

Padma Shri Jadav Payeng is an environmental activist & forest worker from Jorhat. In the past

several years, he has planted & tended trees on a sandbar of the river Brahmaputra turning it into

a forest reserve.



59

Swami Vivekananda Smriti Karmayogi Award is prearranged by My Home India in New Delhi.

The award was conferred for the first time in the year 2013. Karmayogi Award is presented to

great personalities from North-Eastern India who dedicate their lives to Nation & promote

Nationalism through art and culture, sports, education, etc. for their contribution to respective

fields.



60

APPOINTMENTS/RESIGNATIONS(NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL)

1. Union Government appoint M Ajit Kumar as chairman of CBIC ahead of Budget.

Central Government appoint M Ajit Kumar as

chairman of the Central Board of Indirect

Taxes and Customs. The appointment come

just two days previous to the Union Budget

presentation.

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and

Customs

Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs is the national nodal organization responsible for

administering Customs, GST, Central Excise, Service Tax and Narcotics in India.

2.ECI appoints Shri B Murali Kumar as Special Expenditure Observer.

Election Commission of India appointed Shri B Murli

Kumar (ex IRS-1983) as Special Expenditure Observer as

also appointed Shri Mrinal Kanti Das (IPS 1977 Retd) as

Special Police Observer for universal Election to the

Legislative Assembly of NCT of D elhi, 2020. Shri Murali,

in conference with the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, will be

supervising and monitoring the work done by the electoral

machinery. Similarly, Shri Das, as the Special Police

Observer, is assigned to oversee the deployment and other

security-related issues. Shri M K Das retired as Director-

General of Manipur Police, was also deputed earlier as Special Police Observer for Tripura and

Mizoram during the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections and even the recently held Jharkhand Assembly

elections. Election Commission of India is an autonomous legitimate right accountable for

administering election processes in India.



61

3. Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi appointed as Iraq Prime Minister.

Mohammed Allawi appointed as the Iraq President Barham Salih. His predecessor Adel Abdul

Mahdi resigned in November anti-

government demonstration.

Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi has a month to

form a new government, which he will lead

until early elections. President Saleh gave

parliament an ultimatum to decide on a new

prime minister before he took the decision

himself after protesters rejected previous candidates.

Allawi promised to hold those responsible for the killing of protesters accountable and to combat

corruption. Mohammed Allawi studied and worked in Lebanon and the UK before entering Iraqi

politics following the 2003 invasion. He served as minister of communications twice.

4. Ajay Bisaria appointed as India’s next Ambassador to Canada.

Ajay Bisaria has been appoints as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada. He is

currently served as High Commissioner of India

to Pakistan. He will replace Vikas Swarup.

Vikas Swarup is now secretary (West) at the

Ministry of external affairs.

An IFS officer of the 1987 batch, Bisaria is

predictable to take up the assignment shortly.

Amid heightened tensions between India and

Pakistan after New Delhi scrap Article 370, a constitutional condition that granted special status

to Jammu and Kashmir last year, Bisaria had returned to New Delhi after Pakistan urge India to

remember its envoy.



62

5. Deepa Malik appointed as president of the Paralympic Committee of India.

India’s lone woman Paralympic medallist Deepa Malik and Para-athlete have been elected as

president of the Paralympic Committee of

India. Deepa Malik was elected unopposed as

president in the PCI polls held in Bengaluru.

Deepa Malik was the successor of the acting

interim president Gursharan Singh. Deepa

Malik was also awarded the Padma Shri award,

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.

Headquarters of Paralympic Committee of India: Bengaluru, Karnataka.

6. Pramod Agrawal assumed charge of Coal India.

Pramod Agrawal assume charge as the new

chairman and managing director of Coal India Ltd.

He was the successor of Anil Kumar Jha who

retire on 31st January 2020. He was a 1991 batch

IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer,

served as the principal secretary for urban

development and housing department in Madhya

Pradesh (MP), Bhopal.

7. World Bank chief economist Pinelopi Koujianou announced resignation.

Chief Economist of the World Bank Pinelopi

Koujianou Goldberg announced her

resignation. Pinelopi will step down from her

post on 1st March 2020 and will be teaching at

Yale University in Connecticut, United States.

World Bank research director Aart Kraay will



63

be the interim World Bank chief economist until the appointment of a new permanent chief

economist. Pinelopi Koujianou took over as the chief economist of World Bank succeeding Paul

Romer at the end of April 2018.

President of World Bank: David Robert Malpass.

Managing Director (MD) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Anshula Kant.

8. Philip Barton has been appointed as High Commissioner to India by the British

government.

Career diplomat Philip Barton has been appointed as High Commissioner to India by the British

government. He will succeed in Dominic Asquith.

Philip Barton is a career diplomat. Philip Barton

studied economics and politics at Warwick

University. He holds a Masters's degree in

economics from the London School of Economics.

Philip Barton joined the Foreign and

Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1986. He served as the British High Commissioner to Pakistan

from 2014 to 2016. Recently, Philip Barton has served as the Acting Chairman of the Joint

Intelligence Committee. He was the Director-General, Consular, and Security at FCO from April

2017 to January 2020.

9. Karen Pierce appoints as UKs ambassador to the US.

Dame Karen Pierce has been appointed Britain's ambassador to the United state. She become the

first woman to hold the position, the most well-

known in the ambassadorial service. She is

presently serving as the UK's permanent agent

to the United Nations. She will replace Kim

Darroch who had resigned in 2019 over his

contentious comments on US President Donald



64

Trump in leak ambassadorial cables.

Dame Karen Pierce: Pierce be post to Tokyo, the Balkans, and Geneva after she connected the

Foreign Office. In 2015-16, she serve as the UK's ambassador to Afghanistan. She thought the

position as political director at the Foreign Office before heading to the UN.

10. Atul Kumar Gupta elected as new President of ICAI.

Atul Kumar Gupta elected as new President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICAI) for

the year 2020-21. Nihar Niranjan Jambusaria has

been selected as the Vice President of the ICAI for

2020-21. They be elected at a meeting of the central

council in New Delhi. Atul Gupta, who has serve the

chartered accountancy profession for regarding two

decades, was the Vice President of ICAI for the term

2019-20. He is commerce & a law graduate with

education.

11. The RBI has appointed five officials to the executive director’s post.

The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has appointed five officials to the executive director’s post.

The officials will take charge in 2020. Currently,

the RBI has 12 ED (executive directors). Out of

12, five of them are due to retire in 2020.

The officials are:

1) Indrani Banerjee, Regional Director,

Nagpur

2) Saurav Sinha, chief general manager-in-charge

3) Vivek Deep, CGM in-charge

4) J.K. Dash, CGM in-charge

5) P. Vijayakumar, the senior-most RBI ombudsman



65

12. GoAir has appointed Vinay Dube as its new CEO.

GoAir has appointed Vinay Dube, the former CEO (chief executive officer) of Jet Airways, as its

new CEO. He will be responsible for the

management of the airline and also for meeting

the goals & long-term growth objectives of the

company. The budget airline did not have a chief

executive officer since the departure of Cornelis

Vrieswijk in March last year.

Previously, Dube has served as CEO at Delta

Technology LLC, Senior Vice President-Asia Pacific at Delta Air Lines, Vice President-

Consulting and Marketing Solutions at Sabre Airline Solutions, among other positions.

GoAir Managing Director: Jeh Wadia.

GoAir Headquarters: Mumbai.

13. Australia appoints Barry O'Farrell as the next high commissioner to India.

Australia appointed former New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell as the after that high

commissioner to India. O'Farrell will

succeed Harinder Sidhu. The declaration

was made by the Australian Minister for

Foreign Affairs Marise Payne. Mr. O'Farrell

will also have non-resident authorization to

Bhutan.

Mr. O'Farrell serve in the New South Wales

Parliament from 1995-2015. It is the 43rd Premier of the region. He has served as New South

Wales' Special Envoy for India. During his tenure, he through a significant contribution as the

Deputy Chair of the Australia-India Council Board.



66

India is one of Australia's closest and most significant partners in the Indo-Pacific. The mutual

investment among the two countries, valued at $30.7 billion and the contribution of around

700,000 people of Indian Origin living in Australia.

14. Sanjay Kothari is appoint as the new Chief Vigilance Commissioner.

Sanjay Kothari has been selected as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner with a high-

powered committee headed by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi. He is presently serve as the Secretary

to the President. The Central Vigilance Commission

is an-corruption watchdog by autonomous status.

Other Appointments:

The committee has also chosen former Information

and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka as the new

Chief Information Commissioner in the Central

Information Commission. He is presently serving as an Information Commissioner. The Central

Information Commission be constituted under the Right to Information Act and has jurisdiction

over all central public establishment. The panel also determined by majority the appointment of

Suresh Patel as Vigilance Commissioner and Anita Pandove as Information Commissioner.

15. Pragyan Ojha announce retirement from all forms of cricket.

Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha announced

retirement from international & first-class cricket. He

played his last match for India in 2013 through Sachin

Tendulkar’s farewell Test next to the West Indies in

Mumbai.

He played 24 Tests among 2009 and 2013 in which he

took 113 wickets. From 18 ODIs, he grabbed 21

wickets. He moreover played six T20 Internationals.



67

16. RBI appoint Sunil Gurbaxani as MD and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved the

appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as Managing

Director and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank. Prior to this

appointment, he was working with Axis Bank. He

will serve for a period of three years from the date

of taking charge.Dhanlaxmi Bank was removed

from the RBI PCA framework as it was subject to

certain conditions and continuous monitoring. The bank reported a 26% rise in net profit to

Rs.21.28 crore for the third quarter ended December 2019. The bank had registered a net profit

of Rs.16.90 crore during the corresponding period in previous fiscal. Also, the total income of

the bank rose to Rs.285.85 crore from Rs.272.16 crore in October-December 2018-19.

17. Bhaskar Khulbe and Amarjeet Sinha appointed as Advisors to PM Narendra Modi.

Retired IAS officers Amarjeet Sinha & Bhaskar

Khulbe has appointed as Advisors to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi. The ACC (Appointments Committee

of the Cabinet) has approved the appointments in the

PMO in the rank and scale of Secretary. The

appointments of the retired administrative officers

have been made on a contractual basis.

Bhaskar Khulbe:

Khulbe is an Indian Administrative Service officer from the 1983 batch. Bhaskar was from West

Bengal cadre. Khulbe has served in the PMO (Prime Minister's Office).

Amarjeet Sinha:

Sinha is an Indian Administrative Service officer from the 1983 batch. Amarjeet Sinha was from

the Bihar cadre. Amarjeet Sinha retired as the Rural Development Secretary in 2019.



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18. USIBC appointed Vijay Advani as the new Chairman of the Global Board.

The US-India Business Council (USIBC) has appointed Vijay Advani as the new Chair of its

Global Board of Directors. Prior to this, Vijay

Advani served as Executive Chairman of the Board

in January 2020. The council also announces two

new members of the Global Board of Directors

Lockheed Martin International Senior Vice President

Tim Cahill and GE South Asia President and CEO

Mahesh Palashikar. USIBC (US India Business

Council) represents top global companies operating

across India, an United States, and Indo-Pacific.

Headquarters of USIBC: Washington, D.C., United States.

US-India Business Council founded: 1975.

19. South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar sworn in as first vice president.

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar have been

sworn in as first vice president. He is formally

rejoining the government in the latest attempt to

bring peace to a nation ravaged with war. The

rebel leader returns as first vice president in a

changeover government which will serve for 36

months. President Salva Kiir hail the official

ending of the war.

20. Rajlaxmi Singh Deo again selected as president of Rowing Federation of India.

Rajlaxmi Singh Deo have been re-elected as the president of the Rowing Federation of India

(RFI). The election were conducted below the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) observer K

Govindraj.



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Other Appointments:

Rajpal Singh, G Bhasker, Souvik Ghose, and Sreekunara Kurup were selected as vice-

presidents.

MV Sriram be voted as secretary-general

of the RFI.

Krishna Kumar Singh and Chirajit Dhukan

be selected as joint-secretaries of the

federation.

Jasbir Singh, Venkateshwara Rao, Ismail

Baig, Jacob, and Manjunatha be elected as

the executive committee member.

21. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad resigns.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad has announced his resignation over political

issues. He will act as an interim Prime Minister. It

is not clear who will be the next Prime Minister

(PM). Mahathir Mohamad has submitted his

resignation to the king of Malaysia. Mahathir

Mohamad has also resigned from Bersatu, the

political party of which he was chairman.

Bersatu had been the division of the governing

Pakatan Harapan alliance, which he joined in 2018 together with Mr. Anwar, and which won the

2018 vote, ending more than 6 decades of rule by the BN (Barisan Nasional) coalition. Mahathir

Mohamad was Malaysia’s prime minister from 1981 to 2003. Mahathir became premier again

after winning the 2018 general elections against the coalition he once led, Barisan Nasional.

The Capital of Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur.

The Currency of Malaysia: Malaysian Ringgit.



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22. Maria Sharapova announce retirement from tennis.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova has announced her leaving from tennis. The

Russian won her first Grand Slam at Wimbledon in 2004 aged 17 and finished the career slam,

all four major titles, by winning the French Open in 2012. She became world number one in

2005 & won the US Open the next year. she won the 2004 WTA Tour Championships, the 2008

Fed Cup and a silver medal by the 2012

London Olympics.

In 2016, she serve a 15-month ban after testing

positive for meldonium. After returning from

her ban in 2017, Sharapova struggle to

recapture her best form and suffered from a

number of injuries. She has dropped to 373 in

the world, her lowest ranking while August 2002, and has lost in the first round of her past three

Grand Slam tournaments.

23. Rajesh Kumar becomes new MD and CEO of CIBIL.

Trans Union Cibil, the biggest credit information bureau appointed Rajesh Kumar of HDFC

Bank as its new managing director & chief

executive. He will succeed Satish Pillai who

has moved to become the president of Asia

region business of the US-based company.

Prior to joining Cibil, Kumar be the group head

for retail credit and risk at HDFC Bank. He will

be in charge for steering Cibil India’s business

into the next phase with ensuring it continues to carry the domestic finance industry and

consumers.



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24. Jawed Ashraf appoints as Indias next Ambassador to France.

Diplomat Jawed Ashraf has been appoint as India's next Ambassador to France. The declaration

was made by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He will take up the assignment shortly.

The appointment comes in view of rising strategic ties among India and France.

Jawed Ashraf:

Jawed Ashraf be a 1991- batch Indian Foreign

Service (IFS) officer. He is currently helping as

Indian High Commissioner to Singapore. He will

replace Vinay Mohan Kwatra as India's

Ambassador to France. Kwatra, on the other hand,

has been appointed as India's Ambassador to

Nepal.



72

SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES

1. G7 countries are to conduct a Ministerial level health meeting to discuss measures to

prevent coronavirus.

The Corona Virus death toll has increased to

Three hundred and Sixty. The World Health

Organization (WHO) has also declared

International Health Emergency over the

outbreak of the virus. The G7 countries are to

conduct a Ministerial level health meeting to

discuss measures to prevent the further spread of

the disease.

The health ministers of G7 grouping that comprises of USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany,

Italy, and Japan are to meet to discuss the epidemic being caused by the Coronavirus. The

Ministers will discuss a joint response to the epidemic. The virus has so far reached 24 countries

& infected 14,500 people The four countries Australia, the US, New Zealand, and Israel has

imposed a travel ban on the people who have recently visited China. China’s speed-built hospital

in the city of Wuhan comprises of 1000 beds. The hospital was built in just 8 days.

2. 11th DefExpo 2020 to be held in Lucknow.

The 11th edition of the biennial mega defence

exhibition, DefExpo 2020, will start on 5

February at Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh. The main

theme of DefExpo India-2020 motivation be

“India: the emerging defence industrialized hub”.



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The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is pleasing the lead role in organising the DefExpo-

2020 in Lucknow, in organization with the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The aim of the occasion

is to bring leading technologies in the defence sector under one roof and provide countless

opportunity for the government, private manufacturers and start-ups.

3. The Central Asia Business Council was launched in New Delhi.

The “Central Asia Business Council” launched in Delhi. The event was organized by the

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce &

Industry (FICCI) and addressed by India’s External

Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar. This was the first

instance when the business chambers of all 5

Central Asian states i.e. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,

Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan, were

brought together by India to push trade and

investment partnership.

The Central Asia Business Council is a common platform for the sharing of ideas and the

transformation of goodwill into practical outcomes and seeks to form an India-Central Asia

Development Group. The India-Central Asia Development Group will work to boost the trade by

assessing the feasibility of air corridors between India and Central Asia. These sectors include

agro-processing, energy, pharmaceuticals, urban infrastructure and transport, education and

many other sectors.

4. The AU (African Union) summit was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The AU (African Union) summit was held in

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Heads of state &

government officials from across Africa

gathered in the summit.



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The theme of the African Union summit is "Silencing the Guns: Creating conducive conditions

for Africa's development".

The focus of the summit was to end regional violence, including the conflicts in Libya

and South Sudan.

The summit highlighted three challenges namely tackling the climate crisis, eradicating

poverty, and silencing guns in Africa.

African Union announced that it is to host two summits in May on conflict resolution and

on implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo will replace South Africa as an African Union

chair in 2021.

5. National Conference on Policy Framework for Skilling of Women & Children was held

in New Delhi.

National Conference on Policy Framework for Skilling of Women and Children was held on 14th

February in New Delhi. The Ministries of WCD

(Women & Child Development) joined with

Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to

enable and authorize the women and youth of

India with skilling in every segment where India

is competent to make a mark. The statement

was made by the Union Minister of Women &

Child Development and Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani.

India's demographic extra gives an opportunity for India to be the skill capital of the

world.

Discussion on India's advantage in human capital the Skill India Mission to enable jobs

and entrepreneurial opportunities in sync with the aspiration and abilities of India's youth

was held.

The conference will discuss issues like strengthening skill and entrepreneurship

landscape for women, promoting skills in traditional and non-traditional sectors, creating



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a secure environment for breaking the glass ceiling and promote entrepreneurship for

children from CCIs, women and special individuals.

6. IFAD Governing Council 2020 was held in Rome, Italy.

The 43rd annual Governing Council meeting of the International Fund for Agricultural

Development (IFAD) was held in Rome, Italy. The

43rd sessions will focus on the theme “Investing in

sustainable food systems to end hunger by 2030″.

The theme highlights how IFAD’s role and

experience in supporting sustainable, inclusive,

nutritious and efficient food systems uniquely

place it in a position to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG2).

During the meet, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) stated that the

sequences of climate change and its impacts on agriculture will push around 100 million people

to poverty by 2030.

IFAD Establishment: 1977.

IFAD President: Gilbert F. Houngbo.

IFAD Headquarters: Rome, Italy.

7. NITI Aayog is organizing North East SDG Conclave 2020 in Assam.

NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) is organizing Sustainable

Development Goals Conclave 2020:

Partnerships, Cooperation and Development

of North Eastern states in Guwahati, Assam.

The event will see representations from the

North-Eastern states, civil society, Central

Ministries, academia, and international

development organizations.



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The conclave is to focus on Sustainable Development Goal localization in the northeastern

region. It includes climate adaptive agriculture, education, sustainable livelihoods, health and

nutrition, connectivity, entrepreneurship, skill development, infrastructure development. Every

session is to chaired by respective field specialists.

NITI Aayog: National Institution for Transforming India.

NITI Aayog CEO: Amitabh Kant, Vice Chairman: Rajiv Kumar.



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SPORTS

1. Ayonika Paul and Vijayveer Sidhu won the National Shooting trials.

Vijayveer Sidhu won the men's 25m Pistol T2 event and Olympian Ayonika Paul won the

women's 10m Air Rifle T1 event in the

National Shooting trials at

Thiruvananthapuram.

Ayonika Paul came to a quality eight-woman

field, which had the likes of Tokyo 2020

quota holders Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi

Chandela among competitors. Registered a score of 252.0. Her effort just 0.9 behind the Apurvi

Chandela world record of 252.9.

Apurvi Chandela came third with a rating of 229.8 Zeena won the junior women's trials in the

same event had the best qualifying score on the day with a 630.0 to show after 60 shots.

Chandigarh's Vijayveer Sidhu won the junior men's 25m Pistol with an aggregate score of 585.

The 3 inner 10s, more than 2nd placed Rajkanwar Singh Sandhu of Punjab.

2. Serbia’s Novak Djokovic Wins Australian Open 2020.

Novak Djokovic from Serbia inched closer to Roger Federer and Spain’s Rafael Nadal from

Switzerland on the list of male tennis players with

most Grand Slam titles after capturing a record-

extending 8th title at Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic has become only the third man to

win at least 8 titles. Novak Djokovic beat Austrian

Dominic Thiem in 5 sets to successfully defend

his Australian Open men’s singles title in

Melbourne, Australia.



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Novak has also become 1st tennis player in the Open Era of men’s singles tennis to win a Grand

Slam in 3 different decades.

The Grand Slam is the four most important annual tennis tournaments.

1. Australian Open

2. French Open

3. Wimbledon

4. US Open

3. Bangladesh wins ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2020.

Bangladesh has won the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup 2020 detained in South Africa.

Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team overcome

India Under-19 team by 3 wickets to win the

final of the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup

2020 detained at JB Marks Oval,

Potchefstroom, South Africa. This was the

13th edition of the event in which 16 teams

participated from all over the world.

Bangladesh Under-19 cricket team has won the ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup for the first time in

the event history. Playing 11 from India U-19 team: Priyam Garg (captain), Dhruv Jurel (wicket

keeper), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Divyaansh Saxena, Tilak Varma, Siddhesh Veer, Atharva Ankolekar,

Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Kartik Tyagi, Akash Singh Playing 11 from Bangladesh U-19

team: Akbar Ali (captain, wk), Parvez Hossain Emon, Tanzid Hasan, Mahmudul Hasan Joy,

Towhid Hridoy, Shahadat Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Avishek Das, Rakibul Hasan, Shoriful

Islam, Tanzim Hasan Sakib.

4. Australian Open 2020 tournament announced the List of Winners.

Australian Open is the first of the 4 annual Grand Slam events among the world’s major tennis

championships. The grand slam Australian Open is held yearly at Melbourne Park in Melbourne,



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Australia. The Australian Open was started in

1905 in only Men Singles category, by the Lawn

Tennis Association of Australasia (Now

Australia). The first Australian Open having the

category “Women’s Singles” was held in 1922.

Here is the complete list of winners:

S.No. Category Winner Runner Up

1 Men’s Singles Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Dominic Thiem (Austria)

2 Women’s Singles Sofia Kenin (USA) Garbine Muguruza (Spain)

3 Mixed Doubles

Barbora Krejcikova (Czech

Republic) & Nikola Mektic

(Croatia)

Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)

& Jamie Murray (United

Kingdom)

4 Men’s Doubles Rajeev Ram (USA) & Joe

Salisbury (United Kingdom)

Max Purcell (Australia) & Luke

Saville (Australia)

5 Women’s Doubles

Timea Babos (Hungary) &

Kristina Mladenovic

(France)

Su-Wei Hsieh (Chinese Taipei)

& Barbora Strycova (Czech

Republic)

5. Ladakh Scouts won Khelo India Ice Hockey Championship.

The Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre (LSRC) Red won the first Men’s part Khelo India Ice

Hockey competition 2020. They overcome Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) team 3-2 in a nail-

biting thriller final match. 13 teams participate in the Khelo India Ice Hockey Championship.



80

Khelo India is an proposal taken by the

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports to

attentive people about the importance of

sports and fitness. The ultimate goal of the

agenda is to develop India as a sporting

nation and to promote sports in the country.

6. Vidya Pillai and Aditya Mehta have won the National Snooker Championship.

Vidya Pillai and Aditya Mehta have won the National Snooker Championship held in Pune,

Maharashtra. Aditya defeated the world champion Pankaj

Advani to win the men’s title of the National Snooker

Championship.

While representing the PSPB (Petroleum Sports

Promotion Board), he defeated Pankaj Advani with a

scoreline of 6 - 2. Vidya Pillai of Karnataka defeated

Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh to win the women’s

title of the National Snooker Championship. Vidya Pillai defeated Amee Kamani with a

scoreline of 3 - 2 to defend her senior ladies snooker title.

7. India will host AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2022.

India is set to stage the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup in 2022, the

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announce

this in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The AFC

Women’s Football commission chose India,

which will hold the FIFA Under-17 Women’s

World Cup later this year, ahead of Chinese

Taipei and Uzbekistan.

D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Trans Stadia Arena in Ahmedabad and Fatorda Stadium in

Goa have been preferred to host matches at the expanded 2022 Women’s Asian Cup, due to



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feature 12 teams instead of eight. India hosted the event in 1979, when the event was organized

by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC), a separate body which become part of the

AFC in 1986.

8. Australia presented with ICC Women’s Championship trophy.

Australia be awarded the ICC (International Cricket Council) Women’s Championship trophy

2020, which they maintain by winning victories

in the 8-team one-day championship between

2017 and 2020. Australia’s team was led with

Meghann Moira Lanning, which also win this

trophy last time(ie 1st edition 2014–16).The

ICC Women’s Championship has specified

hosts New Zealand and four top teams a direct

place in the World Cup 2021. The outstanding teams will play qualifiers throughout the

Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2020 scheduled to be detained in Sri Lanka from July 3 –

19,2020.

9. Weightlifter Sambo Lapung win gold with national record of 188kg.

Weightlifter Sambo Lapung has won the gold medal in the men’s 89kg event of the National

Weightlifting Championships detained in Kolkata. He has made a new national record of 188kg

in clean and jerk event in men’s 89kg.

The earlier national record of clean and jerk

was of 187kg. Sambo Lapung is from

Arunachal Pradesh.

In the women’s occasion, Rakhi Halder has

won the gold medal in the 64kg event. She

won the gold medal with a total of 210kg defeat her nearest competitor Harjinder Kaur who

registered 200kg in the event.



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10. Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa clinch 77th Senior National squash

championships.

Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa win the 77th Senior National squash championships in

Man’s and woman’s category correspondingly

in Chennai. The top-ranked Indian players

acceptable their billing to bag the men’s and

women’s titles for a record 13th and 18th time

respectively. Saurav Ghosal clinically dismantle

Abhishek Pradhan 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 in the men’s

final even as Joshna Chinappa overcome a

minor scare to outlast Tanvi Khanna 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 in the women’s summit clash.

11. India get its first Greco-Roman gold medal after 27 years.

Sunil Kumar win India's first Greco-Roman gold medal in Asian Wrestling Championships in 27

years. He overcome Azat Salidinov of Kyrgyzstan

under the 87kg category at the peak. He scored 5-0

in the event to claim the title. The earlier gold was

won by Pappu Yadav in 1993 for India below the 48

kg in the Greco-Roman category. Also, Arjun

Halakurki won bronze at the championship under the 55 Kg category. He defeated Donghyeok

Won of Korea to claim the medal.

12. India will host junior men’s Hockey World Cup 2021.

Federation (FIH) announced this at Lausanne in

Switzerland. The contest will be played towards

the end of 2021. This is the second time that India

will be hosting the important tournament, having

staged it in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in 2016.



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The junior men’s World Cup will see 16 teams compete for the title, out of which six will be

from Europe, four from Asia, together with hosts India, two from Africa, two from Oceania

&two from Pan America. Out of the 16 teams, the six European teams, who have already

qualified for the occasion in India, are Germany, England, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and

France, as they protected their berths during the European Continental Championships which be

held in 2019.

Reigning champions India had overcome Belgium 2-1 in the final match of the 2016 edition at

the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow, which saw them lift their second-ever FIH Junior

Men’s World Cup. India had too hosted the FIH senior men’s Hockey World Cup in 2018 at the

Kalinga Hockey Stadium, Bhubaneswar.

13. The AIFF has received AFC Grassroots Charter bronze level membership.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has receive the Asian Football Confederation’s

“Grassroots Charter Bronze Level” membership.

This will permit the national body to promote its

basic-level events as AFC recognized. This

announcement accords AIFF the right to promote

its grassroots events and activities with the

support and recognition of the AFC in agreement

with the applicable conditions of the AFC

Grassroots Charter.

In 2013, AIFF had achieved a podium finish for its work at the grassroots levels beside among

Japan and Vietnam. In 2014, AIFF established President Recognition Award for grassroots

football alongside Philippines and Tajikistan.

14. FIH names Lalremsiami as 2019 FIH Women’s Rising Star of Year.

The International Hockey confederation has named Indian striker Lalremsiami as 2019 FIH

Women’s Rising Star of Year. Indian ahead player Lalremsiami was awarded after beating

Argentina’s Julieta Jankunas and Frederique Matla of the Netherlands in the competition in



84

which she recieved 40 per cent of all the votes cast. Lalremsiami’s game was recognized first

time in the wider hockey perception during the Hockey Women’s World Cup held in 2018 where

she was one of the stand-out players of the

contest.

She prepared her entrance in 2017 in a test

series against Belarus. She has been the top goal

scorer twice in her career, first in a test series

beside Korea in 2017 and then against the Spain

in 2019. She belongs to Mizoram.

15. India won 11 medals by the Brazil Para Badminton International Championships.

India completed Brazil Para Badminton International Championships among 11 medals in Sao

Paulo, Brazil. With the total are 11 medals, 4

gold, 5 silver, and 2 bronze medals. Indian

shuttler Pramod Bhagat claim two gold medal

in men's singles SL3 & men's doubles SL3-

SL4 category.

With this win, he was eligible for the Tokyo

2020 Paralympic Games. Suhas Lalinakere

Yathiraj won gold in men's singles SL4.

Brazil Para Badminton International Championships:

Brazil Para-Badminton International Championships be held at Sau Paulo, Brazil. It was held

from 10-15 February 2020. The championship was organized through Badminton World

Federation (BWF).

The games included events namely Men's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Singles, Women's

Doubles and Mixed Doubles.



85

16. ICC bans Oman’s Yousuf Al Balushi for seven years.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) banned Oman player Yousuf Abdulrahim Al Balushi

from all form of cricket intended for 7 years.

The player has been reprimand for breaching

the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code as he be

establish guilty for breaching a variety of

counts in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup

qualifiers 2019.

Al Balushi breached Article 2.1.1 of the Anti-

Corruption Code: being party to an agreement

or attempt to fix or contrive in any way the result, growth, behavior or any other aspect of

matches. Besides, he also breached Article 2.1.4, Article 2.4.4 and Article 2.4.7: All relating to

corrupt practice. Below the provision of the code, Al Balushi chose to admit the charges and

decided on the sanction with the ICC in lieu of an Anti-Corruption Tribunal hearing.

17. India’s Grandmaster D Gukesh wins 34th Cannes Open in France.

India’s Grandmaster D Gukesh has win the 34th

Cannes Open in France. He overcome Harutyun

Bargseghyan of France in 50 moves to win the

chess competition. Siva Mahadevan of India

protected the 10th place with six points. D Gukesh

from Tamil Nadu also become the world’s second

youngest Grandmaster ever in 2019 when he won

the Hillerod 110th Anniversary Open event in

Denmark.



86

BANKING AND FINANCIAL

1. BoM and SBI bank have PSB rated good in digital transactions in December.

Bank of Maharashtra and State Bank of India are the only two state-run banks that showed 'good'

presentation in terms of digital transactions in December with a achieve of 77 and 68

respectively, government data showed. The designed rating for an individual bank is given by the

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on a variety of parameters such as

percentage of digital transactions, commercial consumption achieved, system resilience, and

average percentage of technological decline for

UPI or AePS transactions. The union

government give a goal of 4,000 crore digital

transactions for the current fiscal. Banks

performance on a variety of parameters, as well

as digital sales, is track every month.

Bank of Maharashtra

Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) achieved 102.70 percent of the annual target of digital transactions,

the most recent data released by MeitY showed. The union government have set a target of 19.7

crore digital transactions during the present financial year. SBI achieve 99.09 percent of the

annual digital transactions goal in the nine months of the present fiscal. The nine private lenders

and two payments banks established a good rating on digital transactions. In general score of

Yes Bank, Fino Payments Bank, and HDFC Bank was 76 in December. ICICI Bank and IDFC

First Bank score 74 and 73.

2. Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issues clarification on the new provision in

Finance Bill 2020.

CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) confirms the Finance Bill, 2020 proposed that an Indian

citizen deemed to be a resident in India. The new provision in Finance Bill, 2020, proposed to

include in the tax were Indian citizens who are bonafide workers in other countries.



87

Central Board of Direct Taxes issued a

clarification on the new provision where

some Indian citizens shift their stay in low or

no tax jurisdiction countries to avoid payment

of tax in India. The interpretation by some

sections of the media that Indians who are

bonafide workers in other countries,

including in the Middle East.

An Indian citizen who becomes deemed resident of India under this proposed provision, income

earned outside India shall not be taxed in India unless it is derived from an Indian business or

profession.

3. Sebi constitutes Municipal bonds development committee.

Markets controller Sebi has constituted a Municipal Bonds Development Committee head with

Sujit Prasad. This committee will propose on

policy matter pertaining to the development of

municipal liability securities and facilitate

municipalities for issuance of such bonds.

This committee comprises legislature from

municipal corporations, lawyers, professionals

and market practitioners. The panel will advise Sebi on issues connected to regulation and

development of the primary and secondary market of municipal debt securities.

4. RBI says lending from CRR buffer to get the 5-year exemption.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that the special lending window with Cash Reserve

Ratio (CRR) the exemption will be open from the 14th of February and incremental loans

disbursed under this facility will have Cash Reserve Ratio exemption for the next 5 years.



88

The central bank circular issued in Mumbai said that the window will open for six months ending

31st of July this year, but the NDTL (Net

Demand and Time Liabilities) will be

calculated as of the 31st of January. It asked

banks to report the Cash Reserve Ratio

exemption availed at the end of a fortnight

under exemptions/others in the Section 42

return, under the provisions of the master

circular on Cash Reserve Ratio and SLR issued on 1st of July 2015.

5. ADB has approved the funding of USD 2 million to combat the spread of coronavirus.

The ADB (Asian Development Bank) has approved the funding of USD 2 million to combat the

spread of nCoV (novel coronavirus). The funds will support the efforts to stop the outspread of

novel coronavirus (nCoV) by supplementing

ongoing regional technical assistance and

strengthening response capacity in China,

Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and

Myanmar.

Asian Development Bank in collaboration with

the World Health Organization and other regional experts will also recognize the areas for

coordinated responses as well as possible further financial assistance to improve the situation

caused by nCoV.

Asian Development Bank Headquarters: Manila, Philippines;

President of Asian Development Bank: Masatsugu Asakawa.

6. IndusInd Bank tops list of ‘Highest increase in brand value’.

According to ‘The Banker’s Top 500 Banking Brands 2020’ report, IndusInd Bank has topped

the list of ‘Highest increase in brand value’ among global banks. The brand value of Induslnd

Bank has increased by 122% over the past 12 months, making it the highest placed for growth in



89

brand value, across the globe. The bank reported total assets of Rs 3.1 lakh crore at the end of Q3

FY20. As a part of the report, the list “Top 50 By Total Brand Value by Country” has been

topped by China, followed by United States

(US) at 2nd position while Canada and the

United Kingdom (UK) ranked at 3rd and 4th

spots. Japan has moved up to the fifth spot.

India ranked 8th in this list in comparison to

10th place in 2019. India’s brand value is

26,516 $m in 2020 showing an increase of

13% in comparison to 23,409 $m in 2019.

7. SEBI has introduced a system to track client securities.

The SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has introduced an in-house system to track

the movement of client securities that are

collected as collateral by brokers.

New Tracking system:

Securities and Exchange Board of India

has developed the in-house capabilities

to track the movement of client securities

collected by the broker as collateral online.

It will raise alerts with exchanges if diversion of clients' securities is noticed.

So far, 3 “mismatch reports” have been forward to the stock exchanges for reconciliation

with members.

SEBI:

Formed on: 12 April 1988

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

Chairman: Ajay Tyagi



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SEBI is the regulator for the securities market in India. It was established through the

SEBI Act, 1992.

8. RBI’s 6th Bi-monthly Monetary Policy 2019-2020 keeps repo rate, reverse repo rate

unchanged.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy

Committee has released its 6th Bi-monthly

Monetary Policy 2019-2020. The Reserve Bank of

India’s Monetary Policy Committee has decided

to keep the policy repo rate unchanged to 5.15%.

The Monetary Policy Committee has also decided

to maintain the accommodative stance of

monetary policy to revive growth while ensuring that inflation remains within the target.

The decisions taken in the 6th Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting are:

The repo rate under the LAF (liquidity adjustment facility) left unchanged to 5.15%.

The reverse repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility stands the same i.e. 4.90%.

The MSF (marginal standing facility) rate and the Bank Rate also remain the same i.e.

5.40%.

RBI has increased the real GDP growth for the fiscal year 2020-2021 from 5% to 6%.

9. SEBI has decided to permit the use of the regulatory sandbox.

SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has decided to permit the use of regulatory

sandbox, a system that will allow live testing of

new products, services, and business models by

market players on select customers. The decision

was taken at SEBI’s board meeting held in

Mumbai.

The proposed 'regulatory sandbox' is planned to



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serve as a testing ground for new business models and technologies that advantage investors,

Indian markets and the economy at large.

Under this framework, the eligible entities will be granted certain facilities and flexibilities to

experiment with fintech solutions in a live environment and on real customers, while ensuring

that there are essential safeguards for investor protection and risk mitigation.

10. NABARD sanction Rs 400.64 Cr to boost infrastructure in J&K.

National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned 400.64 crore

rupees to the Union Territory of Jammu and

Kashmir. This sanction is for charitable a boost

to the infrastructure in the rural areas of J&K.

An amount of 143.66 crore rupees has been

sanctioned for execution of 38 water supply

schemes. The sanction include expansion of 27

existing water supply schemes and construction

of 11 new water supply schemes. These water supply scheme are aimed at providing safe and

potable drinking water to rural household.

The schemes will advantage over 3.5 lakh people acros s 86 villages in 17 districts. An amount of

47.11 crore rupees has been sanctioned towards civilizing the Animal and Sheep Husbandry

sectors. It includes the construction of livestock Breeding Farm at Chatha Jammu.

NABARD has also sanctioned 209.87 crore rupees for building of 82 rural roads and 3 bridges

earlier this year. The construction of roads and bridges would provide all-weather enhanced

connectivity to 461 remote villages. The financial support is a part of the NABARD’s Rural

Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) which is aimed at augmenting rural infrastructure.

11. Asian Development Bank raised $118 million from rupee-linked bonds.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has raise Rs 850 crore (USD 118 million) from a new

issue of offshore Indian rupee-linked 10-year bonds. This represent ADB’s first new maturity



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raised in Indian rupees since 2017 & contribute to an recognized yield curve which stretches

from 2021 through 2030 with Rs 7,240 crore

(USD 1 billion) of outstanding bonds. ADB’s

India rupee bonds have been a “game-

changer” for local money operation.

The bonds bear a semi-annual voucher of 6.15

per cent and priced to yield 6.19 per cent. The

bonds, which are denominated in Indian

rupees, but settled in US dollars, were

underwritten with JP Morgan and mainly distributed to investor in the Americas (21 per cent)

and Europe (79 per cent).

12. HDFC Bank launched a co-branded credit card with IndiGo.

HDFC Bank joined hands with the country’s largest airline IndiGo to launch a co-branded credit

card, which will effectively work like a loyalty

program for the carrier. Its first travel credit

card named ‘Ka-ching’- powered by

Mastercard.

The credit card customers can get

complimentary air tickets on activation worth

between Rs 1,500 and Rs 3,000 as per the

variant, 14 travel and lifestyle benefits which include cashback of 5 % or reward points on

Indigo bookings, and 3 % on dining, grocery, entertainment. They can also enjoy rich travel

experience with varied benefits & unmatched rewards on domestic/international travel.

Headquarters of HDFC Bank: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Managing Director of HDFC Bank: Aditya Puri.



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APPLICATION / WEB PORTAL

1. Paytm launched an Android POS device for SMEs and merchant partners.

Paytm has launched an Android POS device for merchant partners & small and medium

businesses (SMEs). The android based device

will enable the merchants to accept payments in

various ways like debit and credit cards, Paytm

Wallet, UPI-based apps and cash.

The device provides the merchants with the

facility of producing GST compliant bills, to

manage transactions and settlements through the ‘Paytm for Business’ app. These services will

increase the importance of digital payments in the business of small and medium businesses

(SMEs) & merchant partners and will also bring to them the advantages of the digital economy.

The new facilities include employee salaries and customer refunds. The device will also provide

other advantages like powering the start-ups and the developers to easily integrate their services

with the help of the application program interface of the payment gateway.

2. The NPCI approved WhatsApp to expand its UPI project 10 million users.

NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India)

has permitted the instant messaging platform

WhatsApp to expand its Unified Payment

Interface (UPI) services to 10 million users. The

“WhatsApp Pay”, a payment characteristic of

WhatsApp has been designed to run on Unified

Payment Interface.



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The Unified Payment Interface is developed by the National Payments Corporation of India. This

facility enables users to do business transactions or to pay others directly through their bank

accounts.

Since 2018, WhatsApp is running its pilot project “WhatsApp Pay” for one million users and has

finally got the approval from National Payments Corporation of India to expand its customer

base.

3. Kerala CM launches the "Yodhavu” mobile app to combat drug menace.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched the “Yodhav” (Warrior) mobile app

(application) at Kochi, Kerala. Through this app,

the public can inform police about drug abuse &

its distribution. The application was introduced by

the Kochi police and the informer’s identity could

be kept top secret.

The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also

inaugurated a most modern cyber doom cyber

crime police station, the new building of the Infopark police station and regional forensic science

laboratory’s upper and lower subordinate accommodation at the TCS auditorium at Infopark.

The CM Pinarayi Vijayan also unveiled the model of Kochi city police’s new police complex

being constructed at Marine Drive.

Governor of Kerala: Arif Mohammed Khan.

Capital of Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram.

4. Delhi Police has integrated the “Himmat Plus app” with Uber for passenger’s safety.

The Delhi Police has integrated its “Himmat plus App” with the app of the ride-hailing company

“Uber” to ensure the safety and security of people traveling in cabs. The Himmat plus App was

launched at the IGI (Indira Gandhi International) airport. This app will give the real-time



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location of a driver or a rider during an emergency. In response to it, the Police Control Room

(PCR) van will be assigned to provide

assistance to the rider.

The integration of the App will enhance the

location services and travel information to

save the lives of people traveling in cabs.

The initiative will also improve the

efficiency of the Delhi Police to overcome

emergency situations.

When a rider scans the QR card, the rider can access a driver’s details and vehicle information on

the Himmat App. With the help of the app, the rider can directly report their journey to the

police.

5. NPCI has launched an industry campaign named “UPI Chalega” to promote Instant

mode of payment.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has launched an industry campaign named “UPI

Chalega” to promote UPI as Safe, Easy, and

instant mode of payment. The “UPI Chalega”

campaign is aimed to guide users towards the right

usage of UPI (Unified Payments Interface) and

help create a habitual change, use of Unified

Payments Interface in their daily life. National

Payments Corporation of India has launched the

campaign in association with the payment ecosystem players.

The Unified Payments Interface, which is a real-time fund transfer interface, has significantly

scaled since its launch in August 2016 when 92,000 transactions worth Rs 3.1 crore were

processed on the National Payments Corporation of India operated platform to over 1.3 billion

transactions worth Rs 2.16 trillion in January 2020.



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MD & CEO of NPCI: Dilip Asbe

Headquarters of NPCI: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

NPCI Established: 2008.

6. Harsimrat Kaur Badal launch MIEWS Portal for Monitoring prices of TOP Crops.

Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal has launched the– Market

Intelligence and Early Warning System (MIEWS)

Web Portal. The portal can be accessed at

http://miews.nafed-india.com.

The MIEWS Dashboard and Portal is a ‘first-of-its-

kind’ platform for ‘real-time monitoring’ of prices

of tomato, onion and potato (TOP) and for

simultaneously generating alerts for intervention

under the terms of the Operation Greens(OG) scheme. The portal would disseminate all relevant

information related to TOP crops such as Prices and Arrivals, Area, Yield and Production,

Imports and Exports, Crop Calendars, Crop Agronomy, etc in an easy to use visual format.

7. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched “EASE 3.0” for tech-enabled banking

for aspiring India.

“Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) 3.0” has been launched with Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharaman along with the

EASE 2.0 Annual Report at Indian Banks’

organization function. This have been launched

for smart, tech-enabled banking for aspiring

India.

EASE 3.0 is estimated to provide advanced

solutions to make the public sector banking

smart and technology-enabled. Some key

facilities like Palm Banking for “End-to-end digital delivery of financial service”, “Banking on



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Go” via EASE banking outlets at commonly visited spots like campuses, stations, complexes and

malls will be provided with the EASE 3.0 reforms agenda. It also aims to digitize the customer’s

experience at public sector bank branches.

8. The Airtel Payments Bank has launched the AePS (Aadhaar-enabled Payment System).

The facility has launched by the payment bank at over 2,50,000 banking points across India.

After the launch of AePS, the customers of any bank with Aadhaar-linked bank accounts will be

able to do financial transactions at the

designated banking points of Airtel Payments

Bank. It will also allow the Airtel Payments

Bank’s customers to do financial transactions at

any Aadhaar-enabled Payment System enabled

bank. With the launch of the system, the Airtel

Payments Bank will be able to service

customers of any bank who have an Aadhaar-enabled bank account.

Aadhaar-enabled payment system enables the customers to carry out different types of financial

transactions such as balance enquiries, requesting mini-statements on a micro-ATM and cash

withdrawals with the help of their virtual ID or Aadhaar number to access their Aadhaar-linked

bank account.

9. CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) has launched an Exam center locator

app “CBSE ECL”

The Central Board of Secondary Education

(CBSE) has launched an Exam center locator app

“CBSE ECL” as well as an Online Exam Center

Management System “OECMS”. The “CBSE

ECL” is a mobile application that helps the

students to locate their examination center and see



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the distance between the current location and examination center. Hence this app provides data

about the examination center for the convenience of the students.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has also launched an Online Exam Center

Management System named “OECMS” for the Principals of the school. This system will help

the Principals of the school to get real-time information like the availability of invigilators,

absentee students, Divyanga students, unfair means and various other details in a single click.



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ECONOMY

1. Economic Survey suggest “Assemble In India Model” to create 80 million jobs.

The Economic Survey 2019-20 suggest a new

idea of “Assemble in India” model to create

80 million jobs in the country. The model

will moreover help India achieve its 5 trillion

USD economy target.

The report suggest that India should profit

from the China-US trade war situation by increasing export manufacturing. It also say that China

has been performing well in exports mainly due to large scale labour intensive activities. Chinese

bring in components and assemble in China. This creates immense job opportunities. The

Assemble in India for the world be supposed to be integrated with Make in India. This will

enlarge export market share by 3.5% in 2025 and 6% in 2030.

India contributes only 2% of world trade. With China-US trade war, firms are looking for

substitute locations. Also, labour shortages and increase in income in China are ideal for India to

grab global markets. These opportunities are perfect for India to make similar trajectory as that

of China as its labour-intensive sectors are slowly being vacates.

2. Fitch forecasts India’s GDP growth at 5.6% for Financial Year 2021.

Fitch Ratings has estimated India’s GDP growth of

5.6% in the next FY21 in its India Economic Outlook.

This forecast is lower than the projection made by the

government’s Economic Survey. For the current fiscal

2019-2020 (FY 20), GDP is projected at 4.6%. Fitch

has also estimated that in the fiscal year 2022,

government debt will remain 70% of total GDP.



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CEO of Fitch Ratings: Paul Taylor.

President of Fitch Ratings: Ian Linnell.

Headquarters of Fitch Ratings: New York, USA.

3. India becomes the world's 5th largest economy, overtaking UK, France.

India emerged as the world's 5th largest economy by overtaking the United Kingdom and France

in 2019. A US-based think tank World Population Review in its statement said that India is

developing into an open-market economy from its

earlier autarkic policies.

"India's economy is the fifth-largest in the world

with a Gross Domestic Product of USD 2.94

trillion, overtaking the UK and France in 2019 to

take the fifth spot," it said.

The size of the United Kingdom economy is USD 2.83 trillion and that of France is USD 2.71

trillion. The report further said that in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, India's GDP (PPP) is

USD 10.51 trillion, exceeding that of Germany and Japan. Due to India's high population, India's

Gross Domestic Product per capita is USD 2,170 (for comparison, the US is USD 62,794).

4. The Moody’s cuts India’s 2020 GDP growth forecast to 5.4%.

Moody’s Investors Service has cut India’s 2020 GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth forecast

to 5.4% from 6.6% and the next financial year (2020 -

2021) growth rate estimate to 5.8% from 6.7%.

According to Moody’s, due to the spread of coronavirus

outbreak in China, worldwide growth will be affected and

therefore India’s economic growth recovery will be slow.

Moody’s also estimates that G20 economies will grow at

a rate of 2.4 % in 2020, a sluggish move from 2019.

China’s Gross Domestic Product growth estimated at 5.2



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% in 2020 & expected to achieve Gross Domestic Product growth at a rate of 5.7 % in 2021.

Moody’s founded: 1909.

Moody’s founder: John Moody.

Moody’s headquarters: New York, United States.

Moody’s CEO: Raymond W. McDaniel Jr.



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INSURANCE

1. Reliance General Insurance Company Limited has launched a health insurance plan

“Reliance Health Infinity”.

Reliance General Insurance Company Limited launched a comprehensive health insurance plan

named “Reliance Health Infinity”. The policy offers Ninety days pre and 180 days post

hospitalization cover, along with sum insured ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 1 crore, and free

restore benefits.

This Insurance offers three main benefits under its

Health Infinity plan: ‘more cover’, where the

policyholder will get additional sum insured, along

with ‘more time’, where the policyholder will get

covered for supplementary period, and ‘more global’

wherein the policyholder will be insured not only in

India but also globally for emergency hospitalization.

This insurance plan also offers Ayush benefit, wherein all the expenses incurred are covered on

treatment in a hospital under Ayurveda, Unani, Sidha and Homeopathy.

Reliance General Insurance headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Reliance General Insurance CEO and ED: Rakesh Jain.

Reliance General Insurance founded: 17 August 2000.

2. DICGC increases the insurance coverage for depositors in all insured banks from Rs 1

lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee

Corporation) increases the insurance coverage for

depositors in all insured banks from Rs 1 lakh to

Rs 5 lakh with effect from 4th February 2020, with



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the approval of Government of India. The rate of premium to be paid by the insured banks will

be raised from ten paise per Rs 100 of assessable deposits to 12 paise per Rs 100 of assessable

deposits per annum.

This step is taken with a view to providing a greater measure of protection to depositors in banks

the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the

Reserve Bank of India.

Chairman of Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation: B.P.Kanungo.

DICGC (Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation) came into existence on

15th July 1978.

The Head Office of the Corporation is at Mumbai.

3. Bank of Russia gives license to General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) for

reinsurance business.

India’s reinsurance company, General Insurance

Corporation of India (GIC Re) has received a

license from Central Bank of the Russian

Federation (Bank of Russia) to commence

reinsurance business in Russia. The license enables

the subsidiary to commence transacting domestic

and international reinsurance business in Russia based on the capital investment by the

Corporation.

MD and Chairman of General Insurance Corporation of India: Devesh Srivastava.

Headquarters of General Insurance Corporation of India is in Mumbai.

Vladimir Putin is President of Russia.

Moscow is the capital of Russia.

The Russian ruble is the currency of Russia.



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BOOKS & AUTHORS

1. Vice President release the book ‘A Child of Destiny’.

The Vice President of India Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu released a book titled ‘A Child of

Destiny’ an life story penned by Prof. K.

Ramakrishna Rao. K. Ramakrishna Rao be an

Eminent Scholar, Author, Researcher,

Scientist and Gandhian, He was born in the

coastal region in Vishakapatnam, Andhra

Pradesh. The Government of India award him

“The Civilian Honour of Padma Shri in 2011”.

2. Dharmendra Rai launched his book titled “The Thin Mind Map Book”.

Dharmendra Rai, Mind Map and Brain Literacy Pioneer launched his book “THE THIN MIND

MAP BOOK”. The book aims to give people an experience in mind mapping and making them

specialist through reading and doing all the

experiential exercises mention in the book.

Dharmendra Rai is a mind mapping and

brain literacy pioneer and has a world

record of conduct more than 380 mind

mapping seminars in under 10 years.

Dharmendra Rai was also the first person

in the world to talk on TEDx on Creativity and Mind Mapping.

3. Haryana CM released the book “A Commentary and Digest on The Air, Act 1981”.

The Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, released a book titled “A Commentary and

Digest on The Air, Act 1981” at Chandigarh, Haryana. The book was written by Dr. K K

Khandelwal. The book was in print by The Bright Law House.



105

The books focus on ways of preventing and

controlling air pollution. The book will

enhance the readers to create awareness on air

pollution in society and provides an elaborate

explanation of law devised to prevent air

pollution.

4. Reference annuals ‘Bharat 2020’, ‘India 2020’ released.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar released the Reference Annual Bharat

2020 and India 2020 in New Delhi. E-version of

the yearbooks was also released on this

occasion. The books carry exhaustive and

comprehensive information regarding the

country and the activities, progress and

achievements of various Central Government

Ministries, Departments and Organisations

during the year. Publications Division of the Information and Broadcasting ministry compile the

Reference Annual every year.

5. The Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu released the book titled ‘Death- An

Inside Story’.

The Vice President of India and the Chairman of

the Rajya Sabha M Venkaiah Naidu released the

book titled ‘Death- An inside Story: A book for all

those who shall’ authored by Jaggi Vasudev

generally referred to as Sadhguru, Founder of Isha

Foundation. The book was released on the

occasion of Mahashivaratri celebrations on 21st

February at the Isha Yoga Center, Tamil Nadu, where Vice-President Naidu was the Chief

Guest.



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OBITUARIES

1. Feminist writer and Veteran social activist Vidya Bal passed away.

Social activist, feminist writer and journalist

Vidya Bal passes away. She was

acknowledged for her heroic oppressive

practices involving women. She was a

forefront fighter for women equality through

men. she approach Mumbai High Court

demanding enforcement of the law to allow

women in all Hindu Religious places. Her Public Interest Litigation was against the restriction of

women at Shani Shingnapur temple under Maharashtra Hindu Place of Worship Act, 1956. She

won the case paving way for women’s right inside the temple.

Apart from Shani Shingnapur, she have also fight several legal battles for women to enter

religious places of worship. She has written well-known biographies namely Kamlaki and

Valvantatil.

2.Former Assam Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi passes away.

Former Assam Legislative Assembly Speaker

and session assembly MLA (Member of the

Legislative Assembly) Pranab Kumar Gogoi

passed away. He was first nominated as

Legislator from the Assam Legislative

Assembly from Sivasagar, Assam for 4

consecutive terms. He also serve as minister in

Tarun Gogoi-led cabinet from 2006-2011 and speaker of the Assam legislative assembly in 2011.

In 2015, Pranab Kumar took the definition of the term ‘Assamese’.



107

3. Famous thinker, writer and the founder-director of Bharatiya Vichara Kendram P

Parameswaran passed away in Kerala.

Famous thinker, writer and the founder-director of

Bharatiya Vichara Kendram P Parameswaran has

passed away in Ottapalam, Kerala. He was

91years. Kendram P Parameswaran was awarded

Padma Vibhushan in 2018 and Padma Shri in

2004. P Parameswaran was one of the senior-most

Pracharaks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,

RSS and former leader of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh.

4. Veteran bengali actor and former Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal passes away.

Veteran Bengali actor and former Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal passes away. He through

his debut in Bengali cinema at the age of 22 and

shot to fame with his debut film Dadar Kirti, which

was significantly acclaimed, in 1980.

Pal also worked in Bollywood films. He was also

cast reverse Madhuri Dixit in his first Bollywood

movies “Abodh”. He was a two-term MP from

Krishnanagar and MLA from Alipore, Pal was one of the first actors to add sheen to the TMC by

his star power in the 2009 assembly election in West Bengal.

5. Former Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry president V L Dutt

passes away.

Former FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of

Commerce and Industry) president V L Dutt passes away.

He headed FICCI in 1991-92. He be the chairman of the

India Vietnam Joint Business Council of FICCI. He



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graduate from the Business Institute of Management, London. He serve as the chairman of The

KCP Group of companies. V L Dutt be awarded an honorary degree of doctor of letters with the

Nagarjuna University. The award predictable his outstanding contribution in the area of rural

development, medical care, education, and industry. He also serve as the honorary consul general

of the Republic of Turkey in Chennai.

6. Egypt former President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak passed away.

Egypt’s former President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak passed away. He ruled the country for 30

years. After almost 3 decades in power,

Mohammed Hosni Mubarak was forced to

resign on 11th February 2011, following 18 days

of protests around the country. Mohammed

Mubarak became Vice President of Egypt on

14th October 1981, and just eight days later, he

was sworn in as the President after Islamist

militants assassinated his predecessor Anwar Sadat during a military parade.

Egypt President: Abdel Fattah El-Sissi.

Egypt Currency: Egyptian pound; Egypt Capital: Cairo.

7. Famous NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson passes away.

Famous NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) mathematician Katherine

Johnson passed away by the age of 101.

Johnson’s calculation helped set the first man

on the Moon in 1969, other than she was little

known until the Oscar-nominated 2016 movie

that told the stories of three black women who

worked at NASA.

Johnson and a colleague be the first to

calculate the parameter of the suborbital 1961 flight of astronaut Alan Shepard, the first



109

American in space. She was awarded a “Presidential Medal of freedom” with former President

Barack Obama in 2015. Katherine retire from NASA in 1986.

8. Centenarian vedic scholar Sudhakar Chaturvedi passes away.

Centenarian freedom fighter and Vedic scholar Sudhakar Krishna Rao, widely acknowledged as

Sudhakar Chaturvedi passed away. He was

born in a Madhva family and became a

disciple of Swami Shraddhananda, the disciple

of the founder of Arya Samaj Swami

Dayananda. During the freedom struggle, he

be associated with Mahatma Gandhi and been

imprisoned in different jails across the

country. He had penned regarding 50 books in

Kannada, English and Sanskrit, which include 20 volumes of Veda translation in Kannada.



110

RANKS AND REPORTS

1. Madhya Pradesh topped for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana

Yojana.

Madhya Pradesh has bagged the first position for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru

Vandana Yojana (PMMVY). Union Minister of

Women & Child Development Smriti Irani will

present this award to Madhya Pradesh at a function in

New Delhi.

Madhya Pradesh Minister for Women & Child

Development Imarti Devi and Principal Secretary

Anupam Rajan will receive the award. Indore district

has also bagged the 1st place for better performance of the scheme. The main objective of the

Matru Vandana Yojana is to provide incentives of 5000 rupees for the loss of wages of working

women and to ensure their good rest and nutrition during pregnancy.

In Madhya Pradesh, more than 14 lakh 55 thousand beneficiaries have been registered under the

PMMVY. The first installment has been paid to about 13 lakh 40 thousand women, while the

second installment to around 12 lakh and third installment has been paid to 8 lakh 80 thousand

beneficiaries.

2. Intellectual Property Index: India ranks 40th.

The Global Innovation Policy Centre (GIPC) of

the US Chamber of trade released the

International IP (Intellectual Property) Index.

According the ranking, India be at position 40

of the 53 economies.



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The report released through GIPC says that India remains to be the most challenging but still

promising market for IP-intensive industries. The hurdle mainly stay in patent eligibility and

enforcement. This year India score 16.22 in Intellectual Property Index. India’s score 16.22 in

Intellectual Property Index. India’s score has exposed development by 7% as compared to the

earlier year reporting of GIPC. However, based on relative presentation, India was pushed four

ranks backwards. In 2019, India be at 36th rank civilizing from 44th position in 2018. It was the

uppermost gain for any country in 2019. With a score of 42.66 US rank first followed with UK,

Sweden, France, Germany and Ireland.

3. India ranked second in the producer of Crude Steel.

As per World Steel Association data, India became

the second-largest steel producer of crude steel after

China 2019, by replacing Japan. India’s crude steel

production in 2019 was at 111.2 MT, an increase of

1.7 percent from 109.3 MT in 2018.

List of Top 5 Crude steel producers in the world in

2019:

Rank Country Qty (mt)

1. China 996.3

2. India 111.2

3. Japan 99.3

4. USA 87.9

5. Russia 71.6

4. IMB ranks 3rd in the list of Top Business Schools of 2020.

The Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) has ranked 3rd in MOOCLab’s Business

School Rankings 2020 for its design, provision, and delivery of Massive Open Online Courses



112

(MOOCs). Indian Institute of Management

Bangalore succeeds in HEC Paris (France)

and Wharton School of the University of

Pennsylvania (USA).

The 2020 edition of the rankings has surveyed

16 business schools across the world offering

courses on the 3 leading MOOC platforms:

edX, Coursera and FutureLearn.

The college was ranked based upon four parameters:

School’s performance across the number of MOOCs provided.

Facilities of learning pathways.

Provision of credit-granting credentials.

School’s teaching quality.

5. ONGC, Indian Oil, NTPC topped the 2018 - 2019 Public Enterprises Survey.

Public Enterprises Survey 2018-19 tabled at Parliament stated that Oil and Natural Gas

Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation

and NTPC Limited were the top three profitable

PSUs in 2018 - 2019. Also, Air India, BSNL,

and MTNL incurred the highest losses for a 3rd

consecutive year.

Survey Highlights:

The review mapped the annual financial performance of all central PSUs.

The survey revealed that the top 10 companies claimed 94.04% of the total losses made

by all the 70 loss-making central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) during the year.

The top three profit-making PSUs contributed 15.3%, 9.68%, and 6.73%, respectively to

the total profit earned by all profitable CPSEs.



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MSTC, State Trading Corporation of India, and Chennai Petroleum Corporation incurred

losses in 2018-19. These PSUs are placed among the top 10 loss-making firms.

The total income of all CPSEs during 2018 - 2019 is Rs.24,40,748 cr against

Rs.20,32,001 cr in 2017 - 2018. It shows a growth of 20.12%.

6. Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) tops in Nature Ranking Index-2020.

The CSIR of Delhi topped the National Ranking Index 2020 that position the scientific research

institutes. CSIR was followed by IISc

Bangalore. The Rankings were provide based

on the numbers of research output. It is

indicated with total citations in numbers. It

also includes shares, that is the distribution

percentage of an article. The top research

works in India in the current scenario include

environmental science, physics, chemistry and Life Sciences. Share percentage and score The

first rank holder CSIR had a share percentage of 87.74 and 142 counts. Followed through CSIR,

IISC Bangalore had a share percentage of 83.61 and 211 count. The third rank be won by the

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) among share percentage of 62.18 and 232 count.

7. India Ranked 77th on the Sustainability Index as per UN report.

India has been rank at 77th position in the Sustainability Index 2020 and 131st on the affluent

Index 2020, according to a UN-backed report.

The report commissioned with the World Health

Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund

(UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal.

Norway lead the table for survival, health,

education and nutrition rates – follow with South

Korea and the Netherlands. The central African

Republic, Chad and Somalia come by the bottom .



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The Sustainability Index 2020 take into account per capita carbon emissions and the capability of

children in a nation to live healthy lives. It ranks countries on overload carbon emissions

compare among the 2030 target. The affluent Index 2020 measures the best chance at survival

and well-being for children.

8. ICMR Report said that Delhi and Ahmedabad top in added-fat consumption.

The Indian Council of Medical Research conducted a study on the food habits of the citizens of

the country. The study says vegetarians consume

more fat than that of non-vegetarians. Also, among

the metropolitan cities of India, Ahmedabad and

Delhi topped the list in average consumption of

added fat.

The survey was conducted by ICMR (Indian

Council of Medical Research) based on the data

provided by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau. According to the report, people whose

diet relied on deep-fried food consumed more added fat than those who ate boiled food. The

report also said that the highest intake of added fat was in the age group of 36 to 59 years and the

least intake was in children under the age of 5.



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IMPORTANT DAYS

1. World Wetlands Day is annually celebrated on 2nd February.

World Wetlands Day is annually celebrated on the 2nd of February. The day aims to raise the

alertness about the crucial role played by

wetlands for people and our planet. 2020

Theme: “Wetlands and Biodiversity”.

Wetlands are a habitat for a dense variety of

plant and animal species and also rich with

biodiversity which is declining according to the

researcher’s estimates. These are the land areas

that are saturated or flooded with water either seasonally or perennially.

Types of wetlands:

The Coastal wetlands: saltwater marshes, mangroves, estuaries, lagoons. etc.

The Inland wetlands: swamps, rivers, marshes, fens, lakes, floodplains and ponds.

The Human-made wetlands: saltpans, Fish ponds, and rice paddies.

2. February 4: World Cancer Day.

The World Cancer Day is being noticeable annually

on February 4 by the Union for International Cancer

Control. The day is being marked from 2008. The

day is pragmatic by the United Nations as well. The

theme of this year’s World Cancer Day is “I am I

will” .This theme is being followed for the years of

2019-2021. According to WHO, every year 8.8

million people die of cancer in low- and middle-income country. The World Cancer Day is

marked to decrease illness and death caused by cancer.



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Union for International Cancer Control

It is a Non-Governmental Organization that be formed in 1933. The head quarters of the

organization is located in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization works towards reducing global

cancer trouble and to integrate cancer control measures into world health program. The

organization conduct World Cancer Congress, World Cancer Leaders’ Summit, GAPRI (Global

Access to Pain Relief Initiative), ChiCa (Childhood Cancer), GETI (Global Education and

Training Initiative), GICR (Global Initiative for Cancer Registries).

3. International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation celebrated globally

on 6 February.

International Day of Zero Tolerance for

Female is celebrated globally on 6 February.

This day is sponsor by the United Nations for

its efforts to eradicate female genital

mutilation. It was first introduced in 2003.

2020 Theme: Unleashing Youth Power.

FGM (Female genital mutilation) comprises all actions that involve altering or injuring the

female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is recognized globally as a violation of the human

rights, the health and the integrity of girls & women. Girls who undergo female genital

mutilation face short-term complications such as excessive bleeding, severe pain, shock,

infections, and difficulty in passing urine, as well as long-term consequences for their sexual and

mental health and reproductive health.

4. National Deworming Day observed on 10 February.

The National Deworming Day is observed on 10 February across the country. Children &

adolescents in the age group of 1 to 19 years are being administered a single dose of a safe

medicine Albendazole in all states and Union Territories (UT) on the occasion.



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The purpose of the day is to deworm children

& adolescents to reduce the prevalence of

parasitic worms in the intestine. The Ministry

of Health and Family Welfare initiated the

surveillance of the National Deworming Day.

The first National Deworming Day in India

was observed on 10th February 2015.

5. World Pulses Day observed globally on 10 February.

World Pulses Day proclaim on February 10 of each year since 2019. World Pulses Day is a

designated United Nations global event to

recognize the importance of pulses

(chickpeas, dry beans, lentils, dry peas and

lupins among others) as a global food.

World Pulses Day is a recognition of the

significant role that pulses can play in

achieving the inclusive, far-reaching and

people-centred set of universal and transformative goals and target of the United Nations’ 2030

Agenda for Sustainable Development, a plan of action that seeks to strengthen universal peace.

6. International Day of Women and Girls in Science celebrated globally on 11 February.

International Day of Women & Girls in Science is observed globally on 11 February.

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

to identify the critical role of women and girls

play in science & technology. In December 2015,

the United Nations adopted a resolution to

celebrate February 11 as the International Day of

Women & Girls in Science.



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In 2016 is the 1st time it was celebrated. The idea following this day is to ensure equal

participation and involvement of women and girls in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology,

Engineering, and Mathematics).

7. World Unani Day celebrated globally on 11th February.

The World Unani Day is celebrated globally on 11th February every year. The World Unani Day

is celebrated globally to increase awareness about

health care release with the help of Unani system

of medicine through its preventive and curative

philosophy.

The World Unani Day also marks the birth

anniversary of great Unani scholar Hakim Ajmal

Khan. Hakim Ajmal Khan who was one of the

founder of the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, was an eminent Indian Unani physician. He

was a flexible genius, a great scholar, a social reformer, a noted freedom fighter, a Unani medical

educationist and founder of scientific research in Unani System of Medicine.

8. National Productivity Day observed on 12 February.

National Productivity Day is on 12 February annually. The day is celebrated by the NPC

(National Productivity Council) to promote

efficiency culture in India.

NPC (National Productivity Council) under the

Ministry of Commerce and Industry

Government of India is a premier institution for

propagating productivity movement in India.

National Productivity Council works for providing solutions towards accelerating productivity,

enhancing competitiveness, increasing productivity. The 7 days period from 12th February to 18th

February 2020 as “Productivity Week” all through the country.



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Chairman of National Productivity Council: Guruprasad Mohapatra.

Director-General of National Productivity Council: Arun Kumar Jha.

9. World Radio Day is celebrated globally on 13 February.

World Radio Day is observed on 13 February. The day marks the time where people around the

world rejoice the radio and how it shapes their lives. The day aims to create awareness among

the media and the public about the

significance of radio. It encourages decision-

makers to provide access to information

throughout the radio. The day enhances

networking & international cooperation

among broadcaster.

The theme of 2020 is "Radio and Diversity".

It focuses on diversity. Radio is an important medium to celebrate humanity in all its diversity &

provides a platform for democratic discourse.

10. Observed 9th World Pangolin day on February 15, 2020 .

World Pangolin Day is distinguished on the 3rd Saturday of February. This international attempt

raises awareness about pangolin species and

mobilizes a variety of stakeholders to speed up

protection efforts. The 9th World Pangolin day

be observed on February 15, 2020.

Madhya Pradesh has taken special proposal to

conserve the Indian pangolin (Manis

crassicaudata) which is incorporated in the

highly endangered species. The MP Forest Department and the Wildlife Conservation Trust

(WCT) have embarked on a joint project to understand and effectively conserve the ecology of

the Indian pangolin.



120

In this project, radio-tagging of some pangolins is organism done to study their activities,

accommodation, routines etc. Two Indian pangolins have been successfully reformed in the

jungle.

11. Soil Health Card Day being observed on 19th February.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launch the Soil

Health Card (SHC) Scheme on 19th February 2015 at

Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The scheme aim at issuing

soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to

offer a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in the

soil. The scheme ensure additional income to farmers

with an increase in yields and it also promotes

sustainable farming.

The scheme have been introduced to support State Governments to issue Soil Health Cards to all

farmers in the country. It provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along

with recommendations on the suitable dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health

and its fertility.During Cycle-I (2015 to 17), 10.74 crores Soil Health Cards and during Cycle-II

(2017 to 19), 11.74 crores Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers. The Government

has exhausted more than 700 crore rupees on the SHC scheme.

12. World Day of Social Justice is celebrated globally on 20th February.

The World Day of Social Justice is observed on 20th February. It is observed every year to

encourage people to look at how social justice

affects poverty abolition.

The Theme for the year 2020: "Closing the

Inequalities Gap to Achieve Social Justice". The

theme focuses to uphold the principles of social

justice by promoting gender equality, or the

rights of indigenous peoples & migrants.



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On 10 June 2008, the ILO (International Labour Organization) adopted the ILO Declaration on

Social Justice for a Fair Globalization. It is one of the major principles & policies adopted by the

International Labour Conference. The UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) recognized

that to achieve and maintain peace and security, social development and social justice are crucial.

The World Day of Social Justice was first experiential in 2009.

13. February 21: International Mother Language Day.

UNESCO is celebrating International Mother

Language Day. It is significant to celebrate the

day as globalization progression has put

languages under threat and they are

disappearing altogether. When languages fade

away, the cultural diversity of the world fade

away as well. Every year, UNESCO has been

celebrate International Mother Language Day

since 2000. The main reason of celebrating the day is to promote multilingualism and cultural

diversity. This year the International Mother Language Day is celebrated Languages without

Borders theme.

14. Central Excise Day is observed on 24th February.

Central Excise Day is celebrated on 24th February across India. The day is being celebrated to

honor the service of the Central Board of Excise and Custom (CBEC) to the country. The day is

celebrated to honor the officers associated with

CBEC and their services. This is done to

encourage the officers to carry out their duties

with the utmost honesty.

The officers, every year perform checking of

corruption in goods from the manufacturing

sector. The day is celebrated to commemorate



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the legislation of Central Excise and Salt act on 24 February 1944.

Chairman of Central Board of Excise & Custom: M. Ajit Kumar.

Headquarters of Central Board of Excise & Custom: New Delhi.

15. India’s first ‘Protein Day’ being observed on 27 February.

Right to Protein, a national-level public health scheme has launch India’s first ‘Protein Day’ on

27th February. The aim of the day is to

draw public attention, raise awareness, and

educate India on the health profit of

protein.

The subject of India Protein Day 2020 is

set to act while a reminder for all Indians to

daily ask themselves and others

“ProteinMeinKyaHai”. The key object during the day’s activities and beyond will be to spread

more knowledge regarding protein and bring on a behavioural change by persuading Indians to

eat sufficient protein in every meal – at least a section of a plate.

Globally many countries know February 27 as Protein Day and from this year India will also join

this movement. A nationally distinguished Protein Day will encourage Indian citizens at large to

learn and know more about different types of available sources of plant and animal protein and

their significance in daily meals for enhanced nutrition and health.

16. World NGO Day being observed on 27 February.

World NGO Day is observed on 27 February.

The day aim to raise awareness regarding the

Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) sector.

The day is observed each year to encourage

people worldwide who are involved and

dedicatedly working for a good cause. The day



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aim to highlight the achievement and success of NGOs from all the sectors across the globe. The

day aim to make people understand the role of NGOs in society. The observation of World NGO

Day be found in 2009 by Law student Marcis Liors Skadmanis. The observation of the day be

officially declared with 12 countries on 17 April 2010. It was internationally accepted on 27

February 2014 by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). NGO is a non-profit

association that is self-governing. It is not a state or an international institution. NGOs play a

major role in international development, aid, and philanthropy.

17. National Science Day being observed on 28th February across India.

National Science Day is celebrated all more than India on 28th February. On this day, Sir CV

Raman had announce the discovery of the Raman Effect for which he was award the Nobel Prize

in 1930. Government of India selected 28

February as National Science Day (NSD) in

1986.

The theme for this year’s National Science

Day be ‘Women in Science’. This theme has

been chosen for the purpose of increasing

public appreciation of the scientific issues involved. The main occasion of the National Science

Day will take place at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. President Ram Nath will be present at

the occasion.

On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind will there awards for science communication as

well as for women scientists. A total of 21 awards will be given which will include National

Science and Technology & Communication Awards, Augmenting Writing Skills For

Articulating Research awards and National Award For Young Woman Showing Excellence

Through Application Of Technology For Societal profit.

18. World rare disease day is celebrated on 28/29 (last day of) February.

The day aims to raise consciousness for the millions of people who are impacted by rare

diseases. It aims to educate people about rare diseases & their impacts.



124

The theme of this day is Reframe Rare for Rare Disease Day. The theme encourages everyone to

take steps to clarify many of the misconceptions

that can make people with rare diseases feel

isolated and affect the quality of care and

support they receive.

Any disease that affects fewer than 200,000

people is considered a rare disease in the US

(United States). This definition is derived from

the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. There are more than 7,000 unusual diseases that affect 25-30

million Americans. 1 in 20 people is dealing with a rare disease. These people struggle to receive

a proper diagnosis, find information and get treatment.



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MISCELLANEOUS CURRENT AFFAIRS

1. Kaamya Karthikeyan became the youngest girl in the world to summit.

Kaamya Karthikeyan become the youngest girl to

climb the highest peak in South America, Mt

Aconcagua. Kaamya Karthikeyan be a Class VII

student studying in Navy Children School. She have

set the record of become the youngest in the world

to summit the highest peak of the Andes Mountain

Range, Mt Aconcagua. She has as well summited

Mt Mentok Kangri II in August 2019. She started

mountaineering at the age of 3 with basic trek in Lonavala. When she was 9 years old, she had

finished several high-altitude trek in the Himalayan region. She is as well the youngest

mountaineer to summit Mt Everest. By 2021, she aim to complete “Explorers Grand Slam”.

2. The government has decided to rename the NIFM as Arun Jaitley National Institute of

Financial Management.

The government has decided to rename the National Institute of Financial Management (NIFM)

as Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial

Management (AJNIFM).

NIFM, Faridabad was established in 1993. The

registered society functions under the Department

of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. The main

objective of the Institution is to train officers of

various Finance and Accounts Services recruited

by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) through the Civil Services Examination (CSE)

as also officers of Indian Cost Accounts Service (ICoAS).



126

Late Shri Arun Jaitley was a former Union Finance Minister and Padma Vibhushan awardee. He

served as the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs during the period 26 May 2014

to 30 May 2019. He inspected the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which

brought the country under one tax regime. The merger of the Railway Budget with the general

budget was effected under his supervision. He also introduced the Insolvency and Bankruptcy

Code.

3. The WHO has officially names Coronavirus disease as “Covid-19”.

The WHO (World Health Organization) has officially named the disease caused by the new

coronavirus as “Covid-2019“. The new name of Coronavirus “Covid-2019” has been taken from

the words “disease”, “corona”, and “virus”,

with 2019 representing the year in which it

emerge.

The word coronavirus refers to the

collection of viruses it belongs to. The

naming of the disease was done as the

researchers were calling for an official

name of the disease to avoid confusion and stigmatization of any group or country. The virus

was also nominated as SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland;

Director General of WHO: Tedros Adhanom.

4. Supreme Court permits Permanent Commissioning of Women Officers into Defence.

The Supreme Court of India uphold the judgement

of Delhi High Court over the issue of

commissioning of women officers in Indian Army.

The Supreme Court has decided permission to

commission women officers in the Indian Army.



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Earlier, permanent service commission for women be not allowed, especially in combat units.

They were pertained to combat support unit such as law, education and logistics. Also, women

were not selected at the level of officers in the combat units. The judgement was obvious by

Justice D Y Chandrachud.

5. Radhakishan Damani becomes India’s 2nd richest person.

Radhakishan Damani, the founder of India's most profitable retailer Avenue Supermarts, has

become India’s second-richest person after Mukesh

Ambani, who is not only the richest person in India

but also in Asia with $57.5 billion net worth on

(17th February) as per Forbes' Real-Time

Billionaires Index. According to the index, Damani

net worth surged to $17.8 billion, after more than

5% gain in Avenue Supermarts shares last week,

putting behind HCL Tech's Shiv Nadar, who has a

net worth of $16.5 billion.

Damani is well known in India for his stock investment skills. Radhakishan Damani seed-funded

the DMart chain at the turn of the new millennium when prepared vending had taken only a few

steps in a vast domestic consumer market served by innumerable mom-and-pop outlets.

6. Government of india to rename IDSA as Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies

&Analyses.

The Government has announce that it is to rename the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

(IDSA) as "Manohar Parrikar Institute for

Defence Studies and Analyses". The progress is

to honour the obligation and legacy of late

Manohar Parrikar. The institution will support

the vision and ambition of the premier defence

Institute among the contribution of the former



128

Defence Minister and Padma Bhushan awardee Manohar Parrikar. Defence Minister chairs the

Executive committee of the Institute's society.

Manohar Parrikar serve as the Defence Minister from 9 November 2014–14 March 2017. He

steered the Ministry during the tough challenges of attacks like Pathankot and Uri and respond to

these with exemplary boldness.

India witness a series of decisions that enhanced India's security capacities, bettered the lives of

ex-servicemen and boosted native defence production during his tenure. He gave a significant

contribution to the execution of One Rank One Pension (OROP) demand for the Armed Forces.

He initiate major military reforms to enhance combat capability and rebalancing defence

expenditure.

IDSA is an independent body that functions under the Ministry of Defence. It was recognized in

1965 as a registered society in New Delhi. The institute aims to promote national and

international security throughout defence and security-related issues. IDSA serve as a discussion

to debate important aspect of national and international security.

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