FEBRAURY J2020 NANAGANGOTHRI Monthly Current Affairs · FEBRAURY – J2020 NANAGANGOTHRI Monthly...

FEBRAURY – 2020 JNANAGANGOTHRI Monthly Current Affairs

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Sl.No SUBJECT Pg Nos.

1 STATE 03

2 NATIONAL 08

3 INTERNATIONAL 41

4 SPORTS 46

5 SPECIAL DAYS 50

6 OBITUARY 50

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State 1. Praveen Sood is the new DG&IGP of

Karnataka

Praveen Sood, a 1986 batch IPS officer

took charge as the new Director General and

Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) of

Karnataka, following the retirement of

incumbent Neelamani N. Raju.

2. Dr. Siddhalingaiah conferred with pampa

award Dr. Siddhalingaiah conferred with

prestigious pampa Award, awarded by

Karnataka government. The award will be

presented at function to be held at Banawasi

on Feb 08th

.

3. Gurubasavapuraskara for K Sivan

ISRO president K Sivan will be conferred

with Gurubasavapuraskara awarded by

Basavaseva foundation.

4. Karnataka launches Janasevaka scheme About: The Karnataka government

launched the Janasevaka under the Sakala

scheme in a few municipal corporation wards

to ensure home delivery of various services

like ration cards, senior citizen identity and

health cards.

Aim: Sakala aims to ensure in-time delivery of

government services to citizens by practicing

innovative and efficient management systems

through capacity building in government and

empowering citizens to exercise their right to

service.

Chief Minister: B S Yediyurappa

Minister for Sakala and Primary and

Secondary Education: S Suresh Kumar

5. Commercial flight operations at Bidar

Airport in Karnataka begin

About: Post the successful commencement

of flight operations from the Kalaburagi

airport in Karnataka, Ministry of Civil

Aviation (MoCA) flagged off the first direct

flight from Bidar airport (8th airport in the

Karnataka) to Bengaluru in Karnataka under

RCS-UDAN.

UDAN-RCS, UDAN

(UdeDeshkaAamNaagrik): is a regional

airport development and "Regional

Connectivity Scheme" (RCS) of Government

of India, with the objective of "letting the

common citizen of the country fly"

RecentlyUDAN achieved milestone under by

commencing the 250th route. With the

inauguration of the Bengaluru-Bidar route,

MoCA has successfully operationalized 252

routes and 45 airports under this flagship

scheme.

Bidar: region in Karnataka is widely

known for its Bidriware, an ancient metal

handicraft that showcases the fusion of

Persian, Arabic, and local craftsmanship which

is a testimony of the rich heritage and culture

of Bidar.

Important places: such as Bidar fort, and

Mahals like RangeenMahal, TarkashMahal,

GaganMahal, TakhtMahal. Furthermore, the

place is also known for its SolahKhambha

Mosque popularly known as Zanana Masjid.

Chief Minister of Karnataka: B.S.

Yediyurappa


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6. 15th Finance Commission cuts Karnataka‟s

share in Central taxes

About: Based on the criteria and weights

adopted by the 15th Finance Commission,

Karnataka‘s share in Central taxes has been

fixed at 3.646% for 2020-21. This is 1.07

percentage points lower than the share of

4.713% that was applicable during the 14th

Finance Commission‘s award period of 2016-

20.

Up and down: Consequent to the FFC‘s

recommendations, the tax share of southern

States such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil

Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka has come

down, while that of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,

Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat has gone up.

15th Finance Commission chairman: Nand

Kishore Singh

7. KSNDMC to assist Ethiopia on weather

monitoring

About: Karnataka's agro-meteorological

technology to provide real-time weather

updates, which is beneficial especially for

farmers, is all set to make a mark in faraway

Africa.

Collaboration: Ethiopia and Karnataka State

Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre

(KSNDMC) are keen on collaboration for

'knowledge sharing' and 'technical assistance'.

This is expected to be the first international

collaboration for the KSNDMC, which already

provides assistance on local weather

monitoring to states such as Bihar and

Maharashtra.

8. List of Karnataka Cabinet Ministers


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9. Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB)

launches „Vikas Yuva Prerana‟ Vikas Yuva Prerana:

10. A special scheme to encourage students of

polytechnics and Industrial Training Institutes

(ITI) to take up entrepreneurial activities. This

move is expected to help students explore

career opportunities in the field of

entrepreneurship and take up self-employment.

11. UK launches a new £ 2 million challenge

fund in Bengaluru

About: UK has launched a new £ 2 million

challenge fund focused on Artificial

Intelligence (AI) and Data Science innovations

in Bengaluru.

Aim: at advancing research and development

of projects in AI and Data Science as well as

encourage industry and academic collaboration

on tech solutions tackling social, economic and

environmental challenges.

The fund invites proposals in nine challenge

areas: healthcare, environmental protection,

water management, energy, future mobility,

agriculture, education, increasing access to

information and financial inclusion.

Successful bidders will likely have

international partners, including from the UK

UK government also recently launched a £ 2

million Future Mobility Innovation Challenge

Fund in Maharashtra. The overall value of the

Fund is £4 million.

12. Invest Karnataka-Hubballi Conference

Invest Karnataka-Hubballi Conference to

be held in Hubballi on 14th

January.

Aim: of attracting investors to the northern

districts of the State, including Hubballi-

Dharwad.

Minister for Large and Medium

Ministers Portfolio

GovindKarajol PWD, Additional

Charge of Social

Welfare

Ashwath Narayan C N Higher Education, IT,

BT & ST

LaxmanSavadi Transport

K S Eshwarappa Rural Development and

Panchayati Raj

R Ashoka Revenue

JagadishShettar Large & Medium Scale

Industries

B Sreeramulu Health & Family

Welfare

S Suresh Kumar Primary & Secondary

Education

V Somanna Housing

C T Ravi Tourism, Additional

Charge of Kannada &

Culture

BasavarajBommai Home (Excluding

Intelligence)

ShrinivasPoojari Muzrai, Fisheries, Ports

& Inland Transport

J C Madhu Seamy Law, Parliamentary

Affairs & Minor

Irrigation

C CPatil Mines & Geology

H Nagesh Excise

PrabhuChauhan Animal Husbandry

ShashikalaJolleAnnasaheb Women & Children

Welfare

ST Somashekar Co-operation

Ramesh Jarkiholi Water Resources

Anand Singh Forst

K Sudhakar Medical Education

ByrathiBasavaraj Urban Development

A ShivaramHebbar Labor

BC Patil Agriculture

K Gopalaiah Food & Civil Supplies

KC NarayanaGowda Horticulture &

Municipal

Administration

ShrimantBalasahebPatil Textiles, minority

welfare


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Industries:JagadishShettar

Chief Minister: B.S. Yediyurappa

13. . Oscar glory for Karwar man

AmitGanapathiBadkar, the native of Karwar,

did excellent animation works for the

computer-animated comedy fil Toy Story 4,

which bagged the coveted Oscar for Best

Animated Feature Film category

14. Indian Oil to invest 500 crore in Karnataka

About: Indian Oil Corporation will be investing

Rs.500 crore in the State for setting up a

petroleum products receiving, storage, and

distribution terminal under common user

facility on the area of about 120 acres in

Chitradurga.

Memorandum of understanding: Between

Indian oil and state government

Invest Karnataka conference: Hubballi

15. „kambala jockey‟ SrinivasaGowda faster

than Bolt

About: Karnataka‘s SrinivasaGowda ran

in traditional Indian sport called ‗kambala‘- of

142.5 metersin 13.62 seconds, which when

back-calculated, equates to 100m run in

around 9.55 seconds, which is 0.03 seconds

faster than Usain Bolt‘s record time of 9.58

seconds

Kambala: This sport is prevalent in the

coastal areas of Karnataka. It is a source of

entertainment for the rural population in those

areas. Traditionally the Tuluva landlords of the

area sponsor it along with households in the

coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and

Udupi of Karnataka

16. Reserves of lithium found in Mandya

About: Researchers at the Atomic Minerals

Directorate, a unit of India‘s Atomic Energy

Commission, have estimated lithium reserves

of 14,100 tonnes in a patch of land surveyed in

Mandya, 100 km from Bengaluru

Lithium:It is a rare metal, critical for

manufacturing batteries for electric vehicles.

Other major producers: 8.6 million tonnes in

Chile, 2.8 million tonnes in Australia, 1.7

million tonnes in Argentina or 60,000 tonnes

in Portugal

Import of Lithium: India currently imports all

its lithium needs. It imported lithium batteries

worth $1.2 billion in fiscal 2019, up from $384

million in FY17.

17. Global rice milling center to come up in

Mysuru

About: The Global Centre for Rice

Technology (GCRT), the first of its kind in the

country, is coming up in Mysuru


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Aim: To facilitate the rice milling industry

to keep pace with technological advancements

in the field.

Collaborative venture: It will be a

collaborative venture between the Central

Food Technological Research Institute

(CFTRI), Mysuru, Buhler India Pvt. Ltd.,

Bengaluru, and Apit, Bengaluru.

CFTRI: is one of the constituent laboratories

under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and

Industrial Research (CSIR). It was opened on

21 October 1950 in Mysore, Karnataka.

C.F.T.R.I. also has its resource centers in

Hyderabad, Lucknow and Mumbai

18. M.M. Wildlife Sanctuary to be tiger reserve

soon About: The MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary

in Chamarajanagara district will soon get the

status of a tiger reserve, the sixth one in the

state and the 51st in the country.

Highlight: Once notified, Chamarajanagar

district will have the rare distinction in the

country of harbouring three tiger reserves. It

already has Bandipur and BiligiriRanganatha

Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve within its

territorial limits.

Tiger reserves in Karnataka

Nagarahole,

Bhadra,

Anshi-Dandeli,

Bandipur,

BRT Tiger Reserves

The sanctuary will be renamed as

MalaiMahadeshwara Hill Tiger Reserve

(MMH TR) with a core area of 670.95 sq km

spread across MalaiMahadeshwara Reserve

Forest

19. Sangamesh Biradar wins Karnataka Kesari

About: SangameshBiradar (27), wrestler from

Athanitaluk in Belagavi district, won the

Karnataka Kesari title at the State-level

wrestling competitions.

He was awarded ₹ 3.50 lakh in cash and a 1.50

kg silver mace.

Mahila Karnataka Kesari title:LeenaSiddi

from Haliyal in Uttara Kannada defeated her

opponent Shweta from Gadag.

LeenaSiddi bagged a cash reward of ₹ 1.50

lakh, while Shweta received ₹ 1 lakh in cash.

BalKesari: Played for U-14, AdarshTodar of

Bagalkot floored Sachin from Dharwad

Karnatak Kishore: Mahesh Langati of

Belagavi

20. Bandipur Tiger Reserve wins Best National

Park award About: Bandipur National Tiger Reserve

in Chamarajanagar district bagging the Best

National Park award by Outlook Traveller

The Outlook Travellers award is presented

every year under various categories. Bandipur

has been identified under national park

category.

Bandipur Tiger Reserve:This National

Park was formed by including most of the

forest areas of the then Venugopala Wildlife

Park and the area was enlarged in 1985

extending over an area of 874.20 Sq.Km and

named as Bandipur National Park. This reserve

was brought under Project Tiger in 1973.

21. Joint IAF - RAF EX Indradhanush - V 2020

About: The Indian Air Force (IAF) and Royal

Air Force (RAF) of UK jointly commenced the

fifth edition of Ex Indradhanush at Air Force

Station Hindan

Theme: 'Base Defense and Force Protection'.

Ex Indradhanush provides a platform for the


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IAF and RAF to share and jointly validate

strategies and tactics to counter terror threats

to their installations.

22. Akademi award for English translation of

„Kusumabale‟

About: SahityaAkademi‘s Translation Prize

for 2019 in the category of translation into

English has been awarded to Kannada novel

Kusumabale by DevanurMahadeva, rendered

into English by Susan Daniel.

Kusumabale: published in 1988, is a classic in

Kannada literature. Written in a dialect

typically spoken in Chamarajnagar district in

Southern Karnataka, it combines prose and

poetry, mythology and realism to weave a

tapestry of Dalit life.

23. Praveen Sood is the new DG&IGP of

Karnataka

Praveen Sood, a 1986 batch IPS officer took

charge as the new Director General and Inspector

General of Police (DG&IGP) of Karnataka,

following the retirement of incumbent Neelamani

N. Raju.

National 1. Madhya Pradesh bags first position for

implementation of PMMVY

About: Madhya Pradesh has bagged the first

position for the implementation of Pradhan

Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.

Indore district has also bagged the first place

for better performance of the scheme.

Union Minister of Women and Child

Development: Smriti Irani

Matru Vandana Yojana: To provide

incentives of five thousand rupees for the loss

of wages of working women and to ensure

their proper rest and nutrition during

pregnancy. The payment of the incentive

amount is deposited directly into the bank

account.

2. Navy conducts coastal security exercise

'Matla Abhiyaan‟

About: The Indian Navy carried out a five-day

coastal security exercise, 'MatlaAbhiyaan',

with personnel of two naval boats, holding

interactions with all stakeholders along the

riverine border with Bangladesh

Aim: The exercise, named after Matla River,

aimed to interact with coastal communities to

spread awareness on coastal security and

understand the navigational complexities in the

Sunderban deltaic waters.

3. IAF‟S AN-32 Lands at LEH with

Indigenous Bio-Jet Fuel

About: AN-32 aircraft of the Indian Air Force,

powered with a 10% blend of Indian bio-jet

fuel took-off from KushokBakulaRimpochee

Airport, Leh.


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Highlight: This is the first time that both

engines of the aircraft were powered by the

bio-jet indigenous fuel. The aircraft was flight

tested and its performance was validated at

Chandigarh Air Base prior to undertaking the

operational flight to Leh.

The technology to produce this fuel was

developed by CSIR-IIP in 2013. Bio-jet fuel is

produced from non-edible ‗Tree Borne Oils,

grown and procured from the tribal areas of

Chhattisgarh state.

4. First Banana Container Train sent to JNPT

for Exports

About: Agricultural and Processed Food

Products Export Development

Authority(APEDA), along with State

Government of Andhra Pradesh dispatched the

first shipment of 890 MTs of high quality

bananas containers, from Tadipatri, Anantpur

in Andhra Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port

(JNPT) in Mumbai for export to international

markets.

Government of India under Agri Export Policy

has notified banana cluster in Anantpur and

Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Aim: to provide a good opportunity for India

to increase its share in world trade of banana.

5. Amazon partnered with the Eastern

Railways

About: Amazon India announced to expand

pickup points to Kolkata, with launching a

kiosk at the Sealdah railway station that would

act as a convenient and easy pickup point for

customers.

Previous point: In 2019, the company

partnered the Indian Railways to launch

pickup kiosks at four railway stations in

Mumbai.

Benefit: Sealdah railway station will help

Amazon customers in the region pick up their

packages while commuting to work, home or

even on vacation. Customers can select this

point as a pickup location on the checkout

page of their order while shopping on

Amazon.in

6. Union Budget 2020-21

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman

presented the first Union Budget of the third

decade of 21st century

The government proposes to spend Rs

30,42,230crore in 2020-21, which is 12.7%

higher than the revised estimate of 2019-20.

Three prominent themes of the Budget

Aspirational India - better standards of living

with access to health, education and better jobs

for all sections of the society

Economic Development for all - ―SabkaSaath

,SabkaVikas , SabkaVishwas‖.

Caring Society - both humane and

compassionate; Antyodaya as an article of

faith.

Tax A new tax regime has been announced. Those who

want to be in the old regime with exemptions, can

continue to pay at the old rates.

Income Tax Between ₹5 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh: Tax reduced to

10% from the current 20%

Between ₹7.5 lakh to ₹10 lakh: Tax reduced to


Between ₹10 lakh to ₹12.5 lakh: Tax reduced

to 20% from the current 30%

Between ₹12.5 lakh to ₹15 lakh: Tax educed to



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Above Rs.15 lakh Continue at 30%, but

without exemptions

Over 70 deductions have been removed.

Companies will no longer be required to pay

Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT).

Aadhaar-based verification for GST

compliance to be introduced.

Aadhaar-based quick issuance of PAN

announced.

Economy and Finance: Bank deposit insurance cover had been

increased from ₹1 lakh to ₹5 lakh per

depositor.

Government plans to amend the Companies

Act to decriminalise civil offences.

Government to sell part of its stake in LIC via

public offering.

Agriculture:

A budget allocation of ₹2.83 lakh crore for the

sector comprising agriculture and allied

activities.

Doubling farmers‘ incomes by 2022.

Agri-credit availability set at ₹15 lakh crore

for 2020-21.

Comprehensive measures for 100 water

stressed districts.

Provide 20 lakh farmers to set up standalone

solar pumps. Help another 15 lakh farmers to

solarize their power grid.

Village storage scheme proposed to be run by

women SHGs.

Indian Railways to have refrigerated coaches

capability in ‗kisan trains‘ to carry perishables

and milk.

Krishi UDAN on international and national

routes.

Health and Sanitation: An allocation of ₹69,000 crore for the health

sector.

₹12,300 crore for Swachh Bharat this year.

Proposal to set up hospitals in Tier-II and Tier-

III cities with the private sector using PPP.

Expand Jan Aushadhi scheme to provide for

all hospitals under Ayushman Bharat by 2025.

Education:

Rs.99,300 crore for education sector in 2021

and about Rs.3,000 crore for skill

development.

Urban local bodies to provide internship to

young engineers for a year.

Degree-level full-fledged online education

programmes by institutions ranked in top 100

in NIRF rankings, especially to benefit

underprivileged students.

A national police university and a national

forensic science university are proposed to be

setup.

IND SAT exam for students of Asia and

Africa to promote ―study in India‖ programme.

Infrastructure:

Budget proposes to provide Rs.1.7 lakh crore

for transport infrastructure in 2021

National Logistics Policy to be released soon.

Chennai-Bengaluru Expressway to be started.

Aim to achieve electrification of 27,000 km of

lines.

Plan to have a large solar power capacity for

Indian Railways.

The government also proposes a Bengaluru

suburban rail project at a cost of ₹18,600

crore.

Govt to monetize 12 lots of national highways

by 2024.

100 more airports will be developed by 2024

to support UDAN.

Culture & Tourism Allocation of Rs. 2500 crore for 2020-21 for

tourism promotion.

Rs.3150 crore proposed for Ministry of

Culture for 2020-21.

An Indian Institute of Heritage and

Conservation under Ministry of Culture

proposed; with the status of a deemed

University.

5 archaeological sites to be developed as

iconic sites with on-site Museums:

Rakhigarhi (Haryana)

Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh)

Shivsagar (Assam)

Dholavira (Gujarat)

Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu)


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Re-curation of the Indian Museum in Kolkata,

announced by Prime Minister in January 2020.

Museum on Numismatics and Trade to be

located in the historic Old Mint building in

Kolkata.

Support for setting up of a Tribal Museum in

Ranchi (Jharkhand).

Banking:

Cooperative Banks to be strengthen by

amending Banking Regulation Act for:

Increasing professionalism, enabling access to

capital, Improving governance and oversight

for sound banking through the RBI.

NBFCs eligibility limit for debt recovery

reduced from: Rs. 500 crore to Rs 100 crore

asset size, Rs 1 crore to Rs 50 lakh loan size.

Government to sell its balance holding in IDBI

Bank to private, retail and institutional

investors through the stock exchange.

7. India, Maldives sign MoUs

About: India and Maldives five MoUs for

establishing the Addu Tourism zone in five

islands of Addu atoll at a cost of 2.49 million

dollars

The MOUs were signed between the High

Commissioner of India SunjaySudhir, Minister

of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and Addu

City Council.

Addu: is a city in Maldives that consists of the

inhabited islands of the southernmost atoll of

the archipelago.

1. DefExpo 2020

About: 11th Edition of the Biennial Mega

Defence Exhibition DefExpo2020 at Lucknow,

Uttar Pradesh, on the 5th February 2020.

Theme: ‗India: The Emerging Defence

Manufacturing Hub‘

Aim: To bring the leading technologies in the

defense sector under one roof and provide a

myriad of opportunities for the government,

private manufactures and startups.

Sub theme: ‗Digital Transformation of

Defence‘

8. APEDA-CFTRI Sign MoU for Liason

Office in Guwahati

Memorandum of understanding (MoU): was

signed by CSIR (Council of Scientific &

Industrial Research)-CFTRI (Central Food

Technological Research Institute) with

APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food

Products Export Development Authority) to

set up a Liaison Office in Guwahati, Assam

Aim: To provide technical support to the food

industries in the North East region. It will

benefit the farmers, producers and

entrepreneurs

CFTRI: 1950, Mysore, Karnataka

9. Ninth edition of India-Bangladesh Joint

Military Exercise SAMPRITI-IX

Location: Umroi, Meghalaya

Focus: Focus of this edition of the fourteen

days joint exercise is on Counter Terrorism

Operations in mountainous and jungle terrain.

To achieve interoperability in joint operations,

a Command Post Exercise (CPX) and a Field

Training Exercise (FTX) will be conducted


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simultaneously

10. DST launches SATHI Initiative

About: the Department of Science &

Technology has launched a unique scheme

called ―Sophisticated Analytical & Technical

Help Institutes (SATHI)‖.

Aim: To address the need for building

shared, professionally managed and strong

Science and Technology infrastructure in the

country which is readily accessible to

academia, start-ups, manufacturing, industry

and R&D labs.

11. States/ UTs and Districts Awarded for Best

Performance under PMMVY

About: Union Minister of Women & Child

Development and TextilesSmritiZubinIrani

gave away the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana

Yojana (PMMVY) awards to States, Union

Territories and Districts for best performance

at a function in New Delhi.

Best performance since inception of the

Scheme:

State population more than 1 crore: the first

position was awarded to the State of Madhya

Pradesh, followed by Andhra Pradesh and

Haryana

State population less than 1 crore: Dadra &

Nagar Haveli is in the first position. Himachal

stood second and Chandigarh is at the third

position.

District population more than 1 crore: the

first position went to Indore in Madhya

Pradesh. Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh is in

second position and South SalmaraMankachar

in Assam was third.

Districts of population less than 1 crore: the

first position went to Serchhip in Mizoram,

second position toUnain Himachal Pradesh

and Puducherry was in the third position.

PMMVY: is a maternity benefit programme

being implemented in all districts of the

country from 01.01.2017. Under PMMVY a

cash incentive of Rs. 5000 is provided directly

to the bank/ post office account of Pregnant

Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) for

the first living child of the family subject to

fulfilling specific conditions relating to

maternal and child health.

12. Indian Coast Guard commissions high

speed interceptor boat in Mangaluru

About: Coastal security received a fillip with

the Indian Coast Guard commissioning a high

speed interceptor boat in Mangaluru.

Highlight: The water-jet-propelled vessel will

be deployed for patrolling and rescue

operations. The boat is fitted with state-of-the-

art navigation and communication equipment

designed for high-speed interception close-

coast patrol, low-intensity maritime

operations, search-and -rescue and maritime

surveillance.

13. Kerala govt declares coronavirus outbreak

as state disaster

About: Kerala government has declared the

coronavirus outbreak a 'state disaster'

following three confirmed cases of the deadly

infection in the state.

14. India develops vaccine for swine fever


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IVRI (Indian veterinary research institute)

developed Classical Swine Fever (CSF) cell

culture vaccine

CSF: is one of the most important diseases of

pigs causing high mortality with annual loss of

approx. Rs.4.299 billion.

Previously used: A lapinized CSF vaccine

(Weybridge strain, UK) is being used in India

since 1964 for controlling the disease.The

vaccine is produced by sacrificing large

numbers of rabbits for each batch.

Highlight: This vaccine would be the most

economical CSF vaccine costing around less

than Rs 2/- per dose as against Rs 15-25/- of

lapinized CSF vaccine and Rs.30/dose

(approx) for an imported Korean vaccine being

used in the country. Besides, the new vaccine

gives immunity for two years as compared to 3

to 6 month‘s protection under the vaccines

currently being used

15. Cabinet gives approval for setting up a new

Major Port in Maharashtra

About: The Union Cabinet, chaired by the

Prime Minister NarendraModi, has given its

'in-principle' approval for setting up a Major

Port at Vadhavan near Dahanu in Maharashtra.

Vadhavan port will be developed on "land lord

model". ASpecial Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will

be formed with Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust

(JNPT).

Jawaharlal Nehru Port: the biggest container

port in India is 28th

in the world with a traffic

of 5.1 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent

Units). With the development of Vadhavan

port, India will break into the countries with

top 10 container ports in the world.

16. India becomes second largest steel producer

of Crude Steel

As per World Steel Association data, India

became the second largest steel producer of

crude steel after China in 2018 and 2019, by

replacing Japan.

Top 5 Crude steel producers in the world

2019

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

Union Minister of Steel:DharmendraPradhan

17. Jaipur receives UNESCO World Heritage

City certificate

About: Jaipur (Pink City), as the capital of

Rajasthan is known, renowned for its art,

architecture and culture in the world, when

Auditor General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay

presented the World Heritage City certificate

to Minister of Urban Development Shanti

Dhariwal.

History: The historic walled city of Jaipur in

Rajasthan, was founded in 1727 AD under the

patronage of Sawai Jai Singh II. It serves as

the capital city of the culturally-rich state of

Rajasthan.

UNESCO world heritage sites in India: 1. Agra Fort

2. Ajanta Caves

3. Ellora Caves

4. TajMahal

5. Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram

6. Sun Temple, Konârak

7. Kaziranga National Park

8. Keoladeo National Park


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 14

9. Manas Wildlife Sanctuary

10. Churches and Convents of Goa

11. FatehpurSikri

12. Group of Monuments at Hampi

13. Khajuraho Group of Monuments

14. Elephanta Caves

15. Great Living Chola Temples 13

16. Group of Monuments at Pattadakal

17. Sundarbans National Park

18. Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers

National Parks

19. Buddhist Monuments at Sanchi

20. Humayun's Tomb, Delhi

21. QutbMinar and its Monuments, Delhi

22. Mountain Railways of India

23. Mahabodhi Temple Complex at Bodh

Gaya

24. Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka

25. Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park

26. ChhatrapatiShivaji Terminus (formerly

Victoria Terminus)

27. Red Fort Complex

28. The JantarMantar, Jaipur

29. Western Ghats

30. Hill Forts of Rajasthan

31. Great Himalayan National Park

Conservation Area

32. Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen‘s Stepwell) at

Patan, Gujarat

33. Archaeological Site of NalandaMahavihara

at Nalanda, Bihar

34. Khangchendzonga National Park

35. The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier,

an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern

Movement

36. Historic City of Ahmadabad

37. Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles

of Mumbai

38. Jaipur City, Rajasthan

18. IOCL signs first Term contract for

importing Russian crude oil to India

The Minister of Petroleum & Natural

Gas and Steel:Dharmendra Pradhan

About: First-ever Term Contract between

IOCL (Indian Oil Corporation)and Rosneft for

importing 2 Million Metric Tonnes of Urals

grade crude oil during the year 2020 to

Indiawas signed.

Sourcing of Russian crude oil through long

term contracts is a part of India‘s strategy for

diversifying the country‘s crude oil supplies

from non-OPEC countries.

Rosneft: is the leader of the Russian oil

sector and the largest global public oil and gas

corporation

19. Fourth East Asia Summit (EAS) Conference

on Maritime Security Cooperation

About: The Ministry of External Affairs

(MEA) in partnership with the Governments of

Australia and Indonesia will organize the

fourth EAS Conference on Maritime Security

Cooperation in Chennai on 6-7 February 2020.

The first Conference was organized in New

Delhi in November 2015, the second in Goa in

November 2016 and the third in Bhubaneswar

in June 2018.

Experts from the EASparticipating countries

will deliberate upon various aspects of

maritime security cooperation under five

thematic sessions; namely Holistic Maritime

Security, Maritime Safety, Transition to a

Regional Blue Economy, India's Indo-Pacific

Oceans' Initiative and the Way Forward.

20. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das is Asia

Pacific central banker of the year

About: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor

Shaktikanta Das has been named the Central


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 15

Banker of the Year, Asia-Pacific 2020, by the

Banker magazine, a unit of Financial Times

(FT).

Global Central Banker of the Year:

Jorgovanka Tabakovi, National Bank of Serbia

21. HAL & Israel Aerospace Industries to

jointly make armed UCAVs

About: In a first, advanced Unmanned

Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs) will be

manufactured in India, with leading

aeronautical entity Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd

(HAL) set to formalize a partnership with an

Israeli firm that specializes in autonomous

weaponry.

HAL is signed a partnership pact with Israel

Aerospace Industries (IAI) at the upcoming

DefExpo 2020 in Lucknow

HAL: Founded in1940 as Hindustan

Aircraft, renamed as Hindustan Aeronautics in

1964, HQ: Bengaluru, chairman: R Madhavan

22. Prez presents International Gandhi Awards

for Leprosy

President RamNath Kovind Presented the

International Gandhi Awards for Leprosy to

Dr N.S. Dharmashaktu and the Leprosy

Mission Trust in New Delhi.

23. India's biggest rural technical festival

'Antahpragnya 2020'

About: M Prashanthi, District Collector of

Nirmal, inaugurated National Level India's

Biggest Rural Technical Festival titled

'Antahpragnya 2020' in the state of Telangana

at Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge

Technologies-Basar (RGUKT-Basar),

Telangana.

Theme:'Spot and encourage rural tech

innovators

Events: Campus Farming competition, Robo

Racing, Robo Soccer, Development of Ideal

Villages, National Science Fair

24. IFS Gopal Baglay Appointed Indian High

Commissioner to Sri Lanka

Gopal Baglay, a 1992-batch officer of

Indian Foreign Service, Baglay succeeds

Taranjit Singh Sandhu in Sri Lanka. Sandhu

has been appointed Indian Ambassador to the

US.

25. Government initiatives for uplift of women

Constitutional Provisions: Articles such

as Article 14, Article 15 (3), Article 39A, and

Article 42 make special provisions for rights of

women to ensure gender equality.

Legislative Provisions: Dowry Prohibition

Act, 1961; Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal

Diagnostics Act (PCPNDT), 1994; Sexual

Harassment of Women and Workplace

(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,

2013; Equal Remuneration Act, 1976;

Minimum Wages Act, 1948 and Maternity

Benefit Act, 1961 (Amended in 2017) aimed at

mandating women‘s rights.

Schemes/Programmes –


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 16

BetiBachaoBetiPadhao (BBBP) ensures the

protection, survival and education of the girl

child.

Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) aims to

empower rural women with opportunities for

skill development and employment.

Working Women Hostel (WWH) ensures the

safety and security for working women.

Mahila Police Volunteers (MPV) envisages

engagement of Mahila Police Volunteers in

States/UTs who act as a link between police

and community and facilitates women in

distress.

RashtriyaMahilaKosh (RMK) is an apex

micro-finance organization that provides

micro-credit at concessional terms to poor

women for various livelihood and income

generating activities.

The National Crèche Scheme ensures that

women take up gainful employment through

providing a safe, secure and stimulating

environment to the children.

PradhanMantriMatruVandnaYojna aims to

provide maternity benefit to pregnant and

lactating mothers.

PradhanMantriAwaasYojana aims to

provide housing under the name of the woman

also.

DeenDayalUpadhyay National Urban

Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) focuses

on creating opportunities for women in skill

development, leading to market based

employment.

PradhanMantriUjjwalaYojana empowers

women and protects their health by providing

LPG cylinder free of cost.

Pradhan Mantri Sukanya Samriddhi

Yojna- Under this scheme girls have been

economically empowered by opening their

bank accounts.

Female Entrepreneurship: To promote

female entrepreneurship, the Government has

initiated schemes like Stand Up India and

Mahila e-Haat (online marketing platform to

support women entrepreneurs/ SHGs/NGOs).

PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)

provides access to institutional finance to

micro/small business.

Educational Attainment:

National Curriculum Framework (NCF)

2005 and flagship programme like

SamagraShiksha and the subsequent Right to

Education Act (RTE).

Kasturba Gandhi BalikaVidyalayas

(KGBVs) have been opened in Educationally

Backward Blocks (EBBs).

Political Participation:

Government has reserved 33% of the seats

in Panchayati Raj Institutions for women.

Capacity Building of Elected Women

Representatives (EWRs) programme by

Ministry of Women and Child is conducted

with a view to empower women to

participate effectively in the governance

processes.

Minister of Women and Child

Development: Smriti Zubin Irani

26. Committee on Malnutrition

About: The National Council on India‘s

Nutritional Challenges has been set up under

the Chairpersonship of Vice-Chairman, NITI

Aayog, Dr. Rajiv Kumar

Aim: To provide policy directions to address

India‘s nutritional challenges through

coordinated inter-sectoral action and review

programmes for nutrition on a quarterly basis.

Executive Committee: has also been set up

under the Chairpersonship of Secretary,

Ministry of Women and Child Development

with representation of line Ministries and States

for nutrition related activities for children and

women to provide direction, policy and

guidelines for implementation of various

programmes/schemes under the POSHAN

Abhiyaan.

Reports: NFHS-4 (National Family Health

Survey) conducted in 2015-16, 35.7% children

under 5 years of age are underweight and

38.4% are stunted.

As per the recent report of Comprehensive

National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) 2016-18,

the prevalence of underweight and stunting


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 17

among children is 33.4% and 34.7%

respectively.

Government scheme: POSHAN Abhiyaan,

PradhanMantriMatruVandanaYojana,

Anganwadi Services and Scheme for

Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated

Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as

direct targeted interventions to address the

problem of malnutrition in the country

including the State of Maharashtra.

POSHAN Abhiyaan: on 18.12.2017. The

goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve

improvement in nutritional status of children

from 0-6 years, adolescent girls, pregnant

women and lactating mothers in a time bound

manner with fixed targets

In tribal areasunder Dr. APJ Abdul

KalamAmrutAaharYojna, 1 square meal is

provided to pregnant and lactating women,

which contains 1215kcal and 39.51g proteins.

27. Govt launched NCAP

Minister of State for Environment, Forest

and Climate Change: Babul Supriyo

About: The Central Government launched

National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a

long-term, time-bound, national level strategy

to tackle the air pollution problem across the

country

Target: To achieve 20 to 30 per cent reduction

in PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations by 2024

keeping 2017 as the base year for the

comparison of concentration.

PM: is particulate matter, and 10 and 2.5 are

diameter measurements: 10 micrometers or

less, and 2.5 micrometers or less. They are

created when chemicals react in the

atmosphere, but others are "emitted directly

from a source, such as construction sites,

unpaved roads, fields, smokestacks or fires".

28. MP govt to use drones for mapping villages

About: In Madhya Pradesh, the state

government has decided to use drones for

mapping villages. So far, land survey work is

being done either manually or with the help of

satellite images in Madhya Pradesh.

The drone technology will be used for the first

time to make maps in the state. 55 thousand

villages of the state have been selected for

mapping.

29. National conference on e-governance 2020

held in Mumbai

The 23rd National Conference on e-

Governance, a platform for policy makers,

practitioners, industry, academia for actionable

strategy in public service delivery.

Theme: India 2020: Digital Transformation.

National e-Governance Awards 2020:

National Health Authority, Ministry of Health

and Family Welfare received Gold for

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya

Yojana

Antyodaya Saral Haryana of Department of IT,

Haryana received the Gold for Excellence in

providing citizen-centric delivery


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 18

IIT Roorkee‘s Satellite-Based Agriculture

Information System: An Efficient Application

of ICT - received the Gold Award for

Outstanding Research on Citizen-Centric

Services.

30. Andhra gets Disha police station to fight

crimes against women and children

About: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S

Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday inaugurated

the first ‗Disha Police Station‘ in Raja

mahendravaram city in East Godavari district

to exclusively deal with crime against women

and children.

The special police station has been established

as part of the Andhra Pradesh Criminal Law

(Amendment) Bill, 2019 (also known as Disha

Act), passed by state assembly on December

13.

Disha Act: The Act envisages the completion

of investigation in seven days and trial in 14

working days, where there is adequate

conclusive evidence, and reducing the total

judgment time to 21 days from the existing

four months.

The AP Disha Act also prescribes life

imprisonment for other sexual offences against

children and includes Section 354 F and 354 G

in IPC.

31. Web Portal Launched for Star Rating of

Mines in India

Union Minister for Coal & Mines:Pralhad

Joshi

About: In order to promote green, safe and

sustainable mining practices using technology

as a tool, Ministry of Coal (MoC) has launched

a web portal for star rating of coal mines.

Benefits: This enables all operational coal

mines across India for self-rating, their

subsequent validation by Coal Controller‘s

Organization (CCO), further evaluation and

finally award of star rating

Star rating criteria under seven broad

modules namely: Mining Operations Related

Parameters, Environment related parameters,

Adoption of Technologies: Best Mining

Practices, Economic performance,

Rehabilitation & Resettlement related

parameters, Worker related Compliance and

Safety and security related parameters.

32. Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat Campaign

launched

Organized by: the Information and

Broadcasting Ministry

Objectives: of Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat

include celebrating the Unity in Diversity of

our nation and promoting the spirit of national

integration through engagement between all

states and union territories.

Jammu and Kashmir has been paired with

Tamil Nadu, Punjab with Andhra Pradesh,

Uttarakhand with Karnataka, Himachal

Pradesh with Kerala, Delhi with Sikkim, and

Rajasthan with Assam in the Ek Bharat

Shreshtha Bharat programme.

33. First 'Jerusalem-Mumbai Festival' to be

held in Mumbai

Objective: To showcase the special links

between the two cities and to promote ties

between India and Israel


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 19

Highlight: This is first such collaborative

cultural event for the Jerusalem municipality

in an Asian city.

Screening: Israeli cinema in 2019, The

Mossad, a hilarious comedy, will be screened

at the festival in the presence of its director

AlonGurArye

The Jerusalem municipality has done such

cultural collaborations in cities like Prague,

Moscow and Brussels in line with its tradition

to expose young artists to different cultures.

34. NarendraModi to inaugurate the key UN

Summit on migratory species

Union Minister for Environment, Forest

and Climate Change:PrakashJavadekar

About: The 13th Conference of Parties (COP)

of the Convention on the Conservation of

Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an

environmental treaty under the aegis of United

Nations Environment Programme, is going to

be hosted by India during 17th to 22nd

February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

Seven species that include Dugong, Whale

Shark, Marine Turtle (two species), have been

identified for preparation of Conservation and

Recovery Action Plan.

Theme: Migratory species connect the planet

and we welcome them home (logo is inspired

by ‗Kolam‘, a traditional artform from

southern India)

Mascot: ―Gibi - The Great Indian Bustard‖ is

a critically endangered species which has been

accorded the highest protection status under

the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Migratory species in India: snow leopard,

Amur falcons, bar headed Geese, black necked

cranes, marine turtles, dugongs, humpbacked

whales, etc. and has signed non legally binding

MOU with CMS on the conservation and

management of Siberian Cranes (1998),

Marine Turtles (2007), Dugongs (2008) and

Raptors (2016).

35. Indian Army develop world's cheapest

gunshot locator

About: 'Parth' gunshot locator device

developed by the Army's College of Military

Engineering jointly with a private firm costs

much cheaper than the imported ones.

Highlight: The device costs around Rs 3

lakhs, and if inducted, would replace a similar

imported item which costs around Rs 65 lakhs.

The device can locate the exact location of a

bullet from a distance of 400m and will help to

locate and neutralize terrorist faster.

Helmet: Major Mishra, who had

developed a bulletproof jacket for protection

against sniper bullets, has developed a helmet

which is claimed to be first such in the world

that can stop an AK-47 bullet round from a

distance of 10 meters.

36. Hunar Haat” to be organised in New Delhi

Theme: ―Kaushal Ko Kaam‖

Organized by: Ministry of Minority

Affairs from 13th February, 2020 at India Gate

Lawns, Rajpath, New Delhi

Union Minister for Minority Affairs:

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi


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HUNAR HAAT: provides platform to the

artisans / crafts-persons from the Minority

communities for marketing their products

37. BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise

in Bhubaneswar

Organized by: the National Disaster

Response Force (NDRF) in Odisha,

BIMSTEC member countries: Sri Lanka,

Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and India

participating in the exercise, Bhutan and

Thailand are not participating this time.

Objective: of this exercise is to test the

existing emergency procedures for

notification, preparedness and emergency

response, during a major earthquake and flood

scenarios and to enhance the coordination and

co-operation involving multi-agency

operations in an earthquake, flooding and

storm surge.

Odisha CM: Naveen Patnaik

38. Mukhya Mantri Parivar Samridhi Yojna

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar

launched a welfare scheme which provided Rs

6,000 per year to families having an annual

income below Rs 1.80 lakh and land holdings

up to five acres.

Only those with 'Parivar Pehchan Patra'

(family identification cards) can avail the

benefits under the 'Mukhya Mantri Parivar

Samridhi Yojna'.

39. India, UK to hold joint military exercise

Military exercise: ''Ajeya Warrior 2020''

Location: Salisbury Plains in the UK

Aim: of the exercise is to conduct

company-level joint training with emphasis on

counter terrorist operations in urban and semi

urban areas. Training on modern weapon

systems, equipment and simulator training has

also been planned.

40. Cabinet approves MoU between India and

Iceland


Prime Minister NarendraModi, was apprised

of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

signed between India and Iceland in the field

of Fisheries. The MoU was signed on 10th

September, 2019.

The salient features of the MoU are:

Creation of facilities for exchange of scientists

and technical experts in areas of estimating

Total Allowable Catches in off shore and deep

sea areas;

Provision of training to fisheries professionals

from key fisheries institutions in the various

management aspects

Exchange of scientific literature research

findings and other information

Exchange of experts / expertise to study the

prospects of fishing

Processing and marketing of products from

high seas fisheries for entrepreneurship

development.

41. National Workshop on Disaster Risk

Financing, Insurance and Risk Transfer

About: A one-day National Workshop on

Disaster Risk Financing, Insurance and Risk

Transfer is being held in Mumbai on February

13, 2020.

Organized by: National Institute of

Disaster Management (NIDM), in partnership

with Insurance Institute of India


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 21

Focus: on the importance of financing

resilience in areas frequently hit by natural

disasters. The workshop will also discuss the

issues and challenges faced by different

stakeholders in assessment of insurance, along

with the capacity gap in undertaking such

initiatives.

42. Puducherry Assembly adopts resolution

against CAA

About: The Puducherry Legislative Assembly

adopted a resolution against CAA and

demanded the central government to withdraw

the amendments made in the Law.

Chief Minister:Narayana swamy

Other states passed resolution against CAA

are: Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Kerala, Punjab

and Rajasthan.

43. Cabinet approves proposal for capital

infusion for OICL, NICL and UIICL

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime

Minister NarendraModi, has given its in

principle approval for capital infusion for three

Public Sector General Insurance Companies,

namely, Oriental Insurance Company Limited

(OICL), National Insurance Company Limited

(NICL) and United India Insurance Company

Limited (UIICL).

Cabinet has allowed immediate release of Rs.

2500 Crore in the light of the critical financial

position and breach of regulatory solvency

requirements of 3 PSGICs viz. OICL, NICL

and UIICL.

44. Dr.Jitendra Singh launches CPGRAMS

Reforms

About: Minister for Personnel and Public

Grievances DrJitendra Singh inaugurated a

National Workshop on e-office in New Delhi

also launched the Centralized Public

Grievance Redress and Monitoring System,

CPGRAMS.

CPGRAMS: is an online web-enabled

system over NICNET, objective of speedy

redress and effective monitoring of grievances

by Ministries/Departments/Organizations of

Government of India. This system besides

providing a faster access offers the following

facilities to citizens.

Developed by: NIC in association with the

Department of Administrative Reforms and

Public Grievances (DARPG)

45. Cabinet approves Uttar Pradesh

Groundwater Protection Bill

Groundwater Protection Bill: under which

people having submersible pumps will have to

get them registered and houses of over 300 sq

metre area will have to install rainwater

harvesting systems.

The act would also check ground water

pollution and defaulters would be penalized as

per clauses of the Act.

Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath

Governor: Anandiben Patel

46. BARC‟s BhabhaKavach will now protect

the CISF

Director of BARC:Dr. A. K. Mohanty


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 22

Director General of CISF (central

industrial security force): Rajesh Ranjan

BhabhaKavach: developed by Bhabha

Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is the

lightest level III plus bullet proof jacket (6.8

kgs nominal weight) available in India. The

jacket is based on indigenous hot pressed

boron carbide and carbon nanotube

technologies.

7.62 x 39 mm hard steel core bullets fired

from AK 47 rifles, 5.56 x 45mm Ball MK M

bullets of Indian Small Arms System (INSAS)

rifles and Self Load Rifles (SLR)/Bolt action

rifles with a back face signature of less than 15

mm.

47. ONGC highest Profit-making PSUs in FY19

Survey by: The Public Enterprises Survey

2018-19,

Public Enterprises Survey:which maps the

annual financial performance of all central

PSUs

Top three profit making PSUs: Oil and

Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil

Corporation and NTPC contributed 15.3 per

cent, 9.68 per cent and 6.73 per cent,

respectively to the total profit earned by all

profitable CPSEs.

BSNL, Air India and MTNL incurred highest

losses for a third consecutive year, according

to a survey tabled in Parliament on Monday.

48. President of India Presents Color to INS

Shivaji

About: The President of India, Ram

NathKovind, presented ‗Colour‘ to the INS

Shivaji in Lonavala, Maharashtra

President‟s Color: It is the highest honor that

is bestowed upon a military unit. The Indian

Navy was the first of the three Services to be

awarded the President‘s Color on May 27,

1951.

49. Rajiv Bansal becomes Air India's new CMD

About: The government appointed the

1988 batch IAS officer of Nagaland Cadre

Rajiv Bansal as the Chairman and Managing

Director of Air India.

Air India: founded by J. R. D. Tata as

Tata Airlines in 1932, headquartered at New

Delhi.

50. Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi

renamed as Sushma Swaraj Bhawan

About: Government has decided to rename

Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi as

Sushma Swaraj (former External Affairs

Minister)Bhawan and Foreign Service Institute

in the national capital as Sushma Swaraj

Institute of Foreign Service.

51. Jamuna Progresses joint Hydrographic

Operations off Sri Lanka

About: Indian Navy‘s Sandhayak class

Hydrographic Survey Ship, INS Jamuna (J16),

commanded by Captain HA Hardas, arrived in

Colombo, Sri Lanka on 06 Feb 20.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 23

Mutual agreement: The ship has been

deployed to Sri Lanka based on a mutual

agreement to carry out Joint Hydrographic

Survey off the South West Coast of Sri Lanka.

Hydrographic Survey: Over the two months

deployment period, the ship will carry out

detailed hydrographic surveys and several

shore-based survey activities. Sri Lanka Navy

personnel will embark the ship during the

conduct of the Joint Survey.

52. School Health Ambassador Initiative under

Ayushman Bharat

Union Minister of Human Resource

Development: Ramesh Pokhriyal

Union Minister of Health & Family

Welfare: Harsh Vardhanjointly

School Health Programme (SHP): under

Ayushman Bharat was launched on April 14,

2018 by the Prime Minister,

ShriNarendraModi in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh

The initiative targets both Education and

Health implementers and is envisaged to

facilitate an integrated approach to health

programming and more effective learning at

the school level.

“Health and Wellness Ambassadors‖:

will disseminate various key information by

organizing culturally sensitive activity based

sessions for one hour per week for 24 weeks in

a year to promote joyful learning.

Developed by: Ministry of Human

Resource & Development and Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) along

with NCERT has developed curriculum

framework and training material for training of

nodal teachers, in line with Sustainable

Development Goals (SDG- 3)

NitinGadkari Flags off Apiary on

Wheels

Union Minister of MSME: NitinGadkari

Chairman KVIC: V.K. Saxena

Designed by: KVIC (Khadi and Village

Industries Commission)

„Apiary on Wheels‟: a unique concept for

the easy upkeep and migration of Bee Boxes

having live Bee colonies,

It is a platform which can carry 20 Bee

Boxes from one place to another without any

difficulty. Two large wheels on either side of

the Apiary on Wheels and 4 separate

compartments with independent doors, having

5 bee boxes each help the platform to remain

intact without disturbing the live bee colonies.

Honey Mission: KVIC launched Honey

Mission in 2017 and has been training

beekeepers, distributing Bee Boxes and

helping rural, educated but unemployed youth

to earn extra income through beekeeping

activities, at their doorstep.

53. Pesticides Management Bill gets Cabinet

nod

About: The Union Cabinet on had

approved Pesticides Management Bill, 2020.

Pesticide business is regulated by 1968 rules

which have become age old

Objective: To protect the interest of

farmers and ensure they get safe and effective

pesticides.

Farmer now can know about the strength

and weakness of pesticides, the risk and

alternatives and this will be an open data in

digital format also.

If there is any loss because of the spurious

or low quality of pesticides then there is a

provision for compensations. This is unique

feature of this bill.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 24

54. Maharashtra govt announces five-day

working week for its employees

About: The Maharashtra government

announced a five-day working week for its

officers and employees. The new routine

would start from February 29.

Chief Minister:Uddhav Thackeray.

Uddhav Thackeray assumed office on

November 28, 2019 after being elected as

leader of the newly-formed post-poll coalition

MahaVikasAghadi.

55. Manipur CM launches 'Anganphou Hunba'

programme

Chief Minister: N Biren

'Anganphou Hunba' (Early Paddy Crop):To

provide irrigation water by the Minor

Irrigation Department to places having

adequate arable land and large number of

farmers.

56. Portugese Prez, Culture Minister

inaugurate exhibition at National Museum

Portuguese president: Marcelo Rebelo de

Sousa

Minister for Culture and Tourism:Prahlad

Patel

Cha-Chai: an installation of art work of

Portuguse artist Joana Vasconcelos, at the

National Museum

Cha-Chai, a wrought-iron sculpture shaped as

a teapot, and its iron railings represent the

bridge between urban and rural landscape.

The installation by Vasconcelos represents the

tradition of serving tea in Portugal that

originated in the 17th century

57. National organic food festival

Location: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New

Delhi

Organized by: Ministry of Food Processing

Industries (MoFPI)

Aim: 3 day Food Festival Aims to strengthen

Organic Market and Encourage Women

Entrepreneurs

Union Minister for Food Processing

Industries (FPI): Harsimrat KaurBadal,

India‟s Organic Market Potential: With 9th

largest World‘s Organic Agricultural land and

largest number of producers India is fast

growing in the organic food segment.

India produced around 1.70 million MT (2017-

18) of certified organic products which

includes all varieties of food products namely

Oil Seeds, Sugar cane, Cereals & Millets,

Cotton, Pulses, Medicinal Plants, Tea, Fruits,

Spices, Dry Fruits, Vegetables, Coffee etc.

Highlight: Growth in the organic food

segment which is expected to grow at a CAGR

of 10% during the period 2016-21

58. “Know Your Forces” event

Organized by:Air Force Station Sarsawa

Aim: To reach out to the youths of Saharanpur

area and familiarize them with the Indian

Armed Forces in general and Indian Air Force

in particular. More than 3000 school children

of various age group participated in the event.

They were briefed about the role of IAF and

various career opportunities available in the

IAF. They were also apprised about the

importance of maintaining the cleanliness in

the area to avoid birds‘ menace, for safe flying.

59. Indian Railways to launch third corporate

passenger train

About: KashiMahakal Express Premium

Train to be run by IRCTC; the train will

connect three Jyotirlinga – Omkareshwar

(Near Indore), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and

KashiVishwanath (Varanasi)


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 25

Highlight: This will be the first overnight

journey private train in the country.

It will be inaugurated on 16th February, 2020

followed by routine commercial run from 20th

February 2020 onwards. The inaugural run of

the train will be flagged off from Varanasi by

Prime Minister NarendraModi through video

link.

Other corporate trains: Tejas Express

trains operating on the Lucknow-Delhi and

Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes

60. India and Portugal sign 14 agreements

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de

Sousa who is on a four-day visit to India

India and Portugal signed 14 agreements to

boost cooperation in a range of areas including

defense, investment, transport, ports, culture

and industrial and intellectual property rights

and yoga.

61. PM Modi to unveil DeendayalUpadhyaya

statue

PM Modi will be dedicating to the nation

the63-foot tall PanchaLoha Statue of

PanditDeendayalUpadhyaya Memorial Centre

at varanasi.

62. Arvind Kejriwal sworn in as Chief Minister

of Delhi for third time

AamAadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal

took oath as Chief Minister of Delhi for the

third consecutive time. Lieutenant Governor

Anil Baijal administered the oath of office and

secrecy to Mr. Kejriwal and six Cabinet

Ministers at RamlilaMaidan in the national

capital.

The AamAadmi Party swept the Delhi

assembly polls held last week, bagging 62 out

of 70 seats.

24. RBI to sync its accounting year with govt's

fiscal year

About: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

will align the financial year of the RBI,

currently July-June, with the government‘s

fiscal year (April-March) from the year 2020-

21

With this move, the central bank will do away

with nearly eight decades of practice. The RBI,

which was established in April 1935, used to

follow January-December as its accounting

year before it was changed to July-June in

March 1940.

A move that may put an end to the practice

of the exchequer getting interim dividend from

the central bank

Recommended by: Jalan committee, led

by former RBI governor BimalJalan

RBI Governor:Shaktikanta Das

63. CDS aims to set up Air Defense Command

by June 2020

About: Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) Gen

BipinRawat is aiming to set up the first

integrated tri-services command for handing

the air defense of the entire country by June

2020 which will be headed by an Indian Air

Force (IAF) officer.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 26

Aim: To combine the resources of the three

services under one command and activate it to

protect the air space of the country.

Army Chief General:ManojMukundNaravane

and

Air Force Chief: RKS Bhadauria

64. Exercise MILAN 2020

About: The largest gathering of navies from

across the globe will be coming to India for the

next edition of Naval Exercise MILAN 2020

which will be off the coast in Vishakhapatnam.

Participating countries: 41 countries

including Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia,

Bahrain, Bangladesh, South Korea, the US, the

UK, Australia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Sri

Lanka, Thailand among others are going to

participate.

MILAN:The first edition of the MILAN

Exercises was in 1995 when just four countries

from the neighborhood including – Indonesia,

Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand

participated and the focus was on promoting

deeper cooperation in areas like maritime

security and humanitarian assistance and

disaster relief (HADR)

65. NitinGadkari Inaugurates India's First

Inter-City Electric Bus

Union transport minister:NitinGadkari

Operated routes:between Mumbai and Pune

Manufactured by:Mitra Mobility Solution

Highlight: The 43-seater capacity luxury

electric bushas a range of 300 kilometer on a

single charge and would be operated twice

daily between the two cities.

66. Election Commission of India gets „Silver‟

award

About: The Election Commission of India has

been awarded ‗Silver‘ for Excellence in

Government Process re-engineering for digital

transformation for the year 2019-20.

Objective: To recognize the projects that

involved analysis and re-design of workflow

and which resulted in improvement in

outcomes related to efficiency, effectiveness of

process, cost, quality, service delivery or a

combination of these.

23rd National Conference on e-Governance: Mumbai

ERONET: is a common database for all States

and UTs with data of 91 crore electors. It

provides bedrock of electoral roll in providing

various web services to Conduct of Elections

applications of Election Commission of India.

Chief Election Commissioner of India: Sunil

Arora

67. New World Bank Project to Improve

Groundwater Management

About: The Government of India and the

World Bank today signed a $450 million loan

agreement to support the national programme

to improve the management of groundwater

resources in selected states


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 27

Atal BhujalYojana:The World Bank-

supported AtalBhujalYojana (ABHY) –

National Groundwater Management

Improvement Programme will be implemented

in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana,

Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and

Uttar Pradesh and cover 78 districts.

Criteria:States were selected based on several

criteria, including degree of groundwater

exploitation and degradation, established legal

and regulatory instruments, institutional

readiness, and experience in implementing

initiatives related to groundwater management.

68. BioAsia forum 2020 About: Telangana to host the three-day

Bio Asia 2020, Asia‘s largest Biotechnology

and Life Sciences Forum in Hyderabad

Theme: ‗Today for Tomorrow‘

Partner Country: Switzerland

69. India and Norway to work jointly towards

mitigating marine plastic litter and Micro

plastics

About: India marks the beginning of super

year of Biodiversity with the hosting of the

13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the

Convention on the Conservation of Migratory

Species of Wild Animals (CMS), from 17th to

22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in

Gujarat.

The Union Environment Minister Prakash

Javad ekarmet Norwegian Minister of Climate

and Environment, H.E. Mr. SveinungRotevan.

Both the countries agreed to jointly tackle

concerns related to oceans, environment and

climate matters.

70. Filmfare Awards 2020

List of winners:

Best Film- Gully Boy

Best Director- ZoyaAkhtar for Gully Boy

Best Film (Critics) - Article 15

(AnubhavSinha) and Sonchiriya

(AbhishekChaubey)

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male) -

Ranveer Singh for Gully Boy

Best Actor (Critics) -

AyushmannKhurrana for Article 15

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female) -

Alia Bhatt for Gully Boy

Best Actress (Critics) - BhumiPednekar

and TaapseePannu for Saand Ki Aankh

71. Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses

Renamed as ManoharParrikar

About: The Government has decided to

rename 'The Institute for Defence Studies and

Analyses' (IDSA) as ‗ManoharParrikar

Institute for Defence Studies andAnalyses‘.

The decision has been taken to honour the

commitment and legacy of late

ManoharParrikar.

IDSA:An autonomous body under Ministry of

Defense, IDSA was established as a registered

society in New Delhi in 1965, dedicated to

objective research and policy relevant studies

on all aspects of defence and security.

Its aim is to promote national and international

security through the generation and

dissemination of knowledge on defense and

security-related issues.

72. KALA KUMBH – Handicrafts Exhibitions

for promotion of GI Crafts


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 28

Objective: To promote Geographical

Indication (GI) crafts and heritage of India

Organized by: The Ministry of Textiles

The exhibitions are planned in various major

cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata and

Chennai.

GI tag: is used on handicrafts which

correspond to a specific geographical location

or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country). As

on August 2019, 178 GI handicraft products

were registered from all over India.

73. Soil Health Card

About: The Soil Health Card Day Scheme was

launched by the Prime Minister NarendraModi

on February 19, 2015 at Suratgarh, Rajasthan;

the International Year of Soils was celebrated

the same year.

Objectives:To issue soil health cards to

farmers every two years so as to provide a

basis to address nutritional deficiencies in

fertilization practices. Soil testing is developed

to promote soil test based on nutrient

management.

Soil testing reduces cultivation cost by

application of right quantity of fertilizer. It

ensures additional income to farmers by

increase in yields and it also promotes

sustainable farming.

74. Cabinet approves Constitution of 22nd Law

Commission of India for a term of three

years


Prime Minister, NarendraModi has approved

Twenty-second Law Commission of India for

a period of three years from the date of

publication of the Order of Constitution in the

Official Gazette.

Benefits

The Government will have the benefit of

recommendations from a specialized body on

different aspects of law which are entrusted to

the Commission for its study and

recommendations, as per its terms of reference.

The Law Commission shall, on a reference

made to it by the Central Government or suo-

motu, undertake research in law and review of

existing laws in India for making reforms

therein and enacting new legislations.

Background

The Law Commission of India is a non-

statutory body constituted by the Government

of India from time to time. The Commission

was originally constituted in 1955 and is re-

constituted every three years. The tenure of

twenty-first Law Commission of India was

upto 31st August, 2018.

The 22nd Law Commission will be constituted

for a period of three years from the date of

publication of its Order in the Official Gazette.

It will consist of:

a full-time Chairperson;

four full-time Members (including Member-

Secretary)

Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs as ex-

officio Member;

Secretary, Legislative Department as ex officio

Member; and

not more than five part-time Members.

75. Govt to launch Tilhan Mission

About: On the occasion of a Soil Health

Card Day on 19th

February, Agriculture

Minister Narendra Singh Tomar announced to

launch Tilhan Mission to make the country

self-reliant in oilseed production.

76. India to switch to world's cleanest petrol,

diesel from April 1


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 29

About: India will switch to the world's

cleanest petrol and diesel from April 1 as it

shifts to Euro-VI emission compliant fuels

from Euro-IV grades now.

Highlight: India will join the select league

of nations using petrol and diesel containing

just 10 parts per million of sulphur as it looks

to cut vehicular emissions that are said to be

one of the reasons for the choking pollution in

major cities.

India adopted Euro-III equivalent (or

Bharat Stage-III) fuel with a sulphur content of

350 ppm in 2010 and then took seven years to

move to BS-IV that had a sulphur content of

50 ppm. From BS-IV to BS-VI it took just

three years

77. Delhi's IGI Airport becomes first single-use

plastic-free airport of India

Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport has

become first single-use plastic free airport in

India

Prime Minister's vision to abolish all single-

use plastic from India by 2022

In September 2018, World Environment Day

theme of 'Beat Plastic Pollution,' Delhi Airport

was the first Indian airport to make 'single-use

plastic-free' commitment in 2019.

Delhi Airport is a leading Indian airport both

in passenger and cargo capabilities with annual

traffic of 68.5 million passengers per annum in

2019.

78. 11 Indian universities in top 100 of Times

Higher Education Rankings

Ranking by: Times Higher Educations

(THE‘s)

Highlight: The achievement marks the second

time 11 Indian institutions have held top 100

positions since 2015. Overall, 56 Indian

universities appear in the full ranking of the

533 universities in total.

With 30 varsities, China has more universities

in the top 100 than India, from a total of 47

countries and territories included in the

ranking.

Top position among Indian universities:

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore fell by

two places to 16, followed by Indian Institute

of Technology (IIT)-Kharagpur and IIT-

Bombay at 32nd and 34th positions.

79. State of India‟s Birds 2020‟

About: The research titled ‗State of India‘s

Birds 2020‘ (SoIB), put together by over ten

institutions and numerous citizen scientists,

was released at the ongoing United Nations

13th Conference of the Parties to the

Convention on Migratory Species in

Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Highlights:

A first-of-its-kind report on Indian birds

claims that over a hundred species of birds

exhibit a decline in the long term and short-

term, raising their threat of extinction.

The populations of raptors (eagles, hawks,

kites, etc.), migratory seabirds and birds that

live in specialized habitats were the most

affected in the past decades.


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The number of birds in the Western Ghats,

which is considered one of the world‘s

foremost biodiversity hotspots, also declined

by almost 75 per cent since 2000.

Indian Peafowl, the national bird, has shown a

dramatic increase in both abundance and

distribution across the country.

The number of house sparrows has also

stabilized nationwide, although there is still a

marked decline in their population in cities.

For the long-term, over 25 years, the data

found that 52 per cent of 261 species were

projected to decline, while for the short-term;

almost 80 per cent of 146 species were on a

decline.

It categorises 101 species as ‗High

Conservation Concern for India‘ and suggests

many urgent policy measures to be adopted

immediately

319 species are classified under the ‗Moderate

Conservation Concern‘ category. These

species must be carefully monitored to rapidly

detect and act upon signs of continuing decline

126 species, including the peafowl, house

sparrow, Asian Koel, rose-ringed parakeet and

the common tailorbird, are expected to

increase in numbers, primarily due to their

ability to survive in human habitats.

eBird‟app: The data for these birds was

collected through the citizen science app

‗eBird‘, which received a record ten million

entries by approximately 15,500 citizen

scientists. Cornell University‘s Laboratory of

Ornithology hosts the app

80. International protection for Great Indian

Bustard, Bengal Florican and Asian

Elephant

About: India‘s proposal to include Great

Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal

Florican in Appendix I of UN Convention on

migratory species was accepted at the on going

thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the

Convention on MigratorySpecies (CMS) in

Gandhinagar.

Asian Elephant

The Government of India has declared Indian

elephant as National Heritage Animal. Indian

elephant is also provided highest degree of

legal protection by listing it in Schedule I of

the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Great Indian Bustard

The Great Indian Bustard is a Critically

Endangered species with a small population of

about 100–150 individuals that is largely

restricted to TharDesert in Rajasthan,

India.The species has disappeared from 90%

of this range; their population has reduced by

90% within 50 years (six generations); and

their threats are expected to increase in future.

Bengal Florican

The Bengal Florican an iconic, critically

endangered species of topmost conservation

priority, exhibits trans boundary movements,

and its migration exposes it to threats such as

land use changes, collision with power

transmission line at boundary area of India-

Nepal and probable power-line collisions.

Convention on Migratory Species: Adopted

in 1979 and entered in to force in 1983, the

Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) aims

to build and strengthen global conservation

efforts for migratory species in the air, on land,

and in the seas.

Appendix I:The Convention divides species

into two appendices, Appendix I, lists species

that are threatened with extinction and

Appendix II, species that need or would

benefit greatly from international cooperative

conservation efforts.

81. Vinod Kumar Yadav launches HRMS

Mobile App

Chairman, Railway Board: Vinod Kumar

Yadav

All employees of Indian Railways can now

access data related to their service, it is an


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 31

important milestone in computerization of HR

related functions in Indian Railways.

Developed by: Centre for Railway

Information System (CRIS).

HRMS app: This Mobile Application allows

employee to view his historical data since his

date of joining in Railways including details

related to his Increments, Promotions, Awards,

Transfers, Postings, Leave, Training, and

composition of Family as per records and

Nominations for retirement benefits.

82. RailMadad gets Silver award

RailMadad: The grievance redressal

portal of Indian Railways has been awarded

Silver under Category II of National e-

Governance Awards – ―Excellence in

providing Citizen-centric Delivery‖.

23rd National Conference on e-

Governance: Mumbai

Aim: To recognize and promote excellence

in implementation of e-Governance initiatives,

Department of Administrative Reforms and

Public Grievances (DARPG) presents National

e-Governance Awards every year.

RailMadad: is the single portal for

grievances, inquiry & assistance of all

categories of railway customers, this portal can

be accessed by Railways customers using

RailMadad Helpline 139 (with IVRS, voice

and SMS facility), RailMadad website:

railmadad.indianrailways.gov.in &RailMadad

App (on android &iOS).

83. Haryana govt to open AtalKisan - Majdoor

canteens

About: Haryana government will open

AtalKisan - Majdoor canteens in all mandis

and sugar mills across the state

Aim: To provide affordable and cheap meals

to farmers and laborers at a concessional rate

of 10 rupees per plate.

Governor:SatyadeoNarainArya

CM: ManoharLalKhattar

84. India jumps five ranks to 35th in

Worldwide Education for Future Index

2019

Report by: The Economist Intelligence

Unit

Top rank:Finland followed by Sweden

Worldwide Education for Future

Index:The index ranks countries based on

their abilities to equip students with skill-based

education. The report analyses education

system from the perspective of skill-based

education ―in areas such as critical thinking,

problem-solving, leadership, collaboration,

creativity and entrepreneurship, as well as

digital and technical skills.‖

85. CSIR tops scientific research institutional

ranking

About: Council of Scientific and Industrial

Research (CSIR) has been ranked first in the

Nature Ranking Index-2020.

The rankings are based on total research output

which the institutions have carried out from

December 01, 2018 to 30th November, 2019.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 32

Second rank: Indian Institute of Science

(IISc), Bangalore

Third rank: Tata Institute of Fundamental

Research (TIFR-Mumbai)

86. India ranks 131 on flourishing index

Report by: Commission of World Health

Organization (WHO), UNICEF and The

Lancet

India stands at 131 in terms of flourishing and

at 77 on sustainability index.

The report includes a new global index of

180 countries, comparing performance on

child flourishing, including measures of child

survival and well-being, such as health,

education, and nutrition; sustainability, with a

proxy for greenhouse gas emissions, and

equity, or income gaps.

Best performers: The index shows that

children in Norway, the Republic of Korea,

and the Netherlands have the best chance at

survival and well-being.

Least performers:Children in Central

African Republic, Chad, Somalia, Niger and

Mali face the worst odds.

87. NITI Aayog to hold SDG Conclave 2020 in

Guwahati

About: NITI Aayog is organizing

"Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation and

Development of North Eastern States" in

Guwahati,Assam

Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog: Dr. Rajiv

Kumar,

Vice Chairman Chief Ministers of

Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur,

Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and

Tripura would present at the event

Focus: SDG localization in the northeast,

economic prosperity, and sustainable

livelihoods, climate adaptive agriculture,

health and nutrition, education, skill

development and entrepreneurship,

connectivity and infrastructure development &

inequality and exclusion.

Agenda: To achieve the SDGs by 2030

88. Online Chatbot „ASKDISHA‟ upgraded

ASKDISHA: Artificial Intelligence based

chatbot introduced by Indian Railwaysin

October 2018, to resolve queries of railway

passengers over the internet pertaining to

various services offered

Highlight: The ASKDISHA Chatbot was

initially launched in English language, IRCTC

has now powered voice enabled ASKDISHA

to converse with customers in Hindi language

also in the e-ticketing site www.irctc.co.in.

89. Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurates Organic

Food Festivalin New Delhi

Aim: To provide an opportunity to women

entrepreneurs for capacity building and

economic empowerment

MoU: Organic Food Festival is as an outcome

of the MoU signed between the Ministry of

Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) and

Ministry of Women and Child Development

(M/o WCD).

Highlight: India is 9th largest World‘s

Organic Agricultural land and largest number

of producers

Export: India exporting organic products

worth $ 515 million in 2017-18(based on

APEDA report). Organic products mainly oil

seeds, cereals & millets, sugar, fruit juice

concentrates, tea, spices, pulses, dry fruits,

http://www.irctc.co.in/


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 33

medicinal plant products etc. are being

exported to USA, European Union, Canada,

Switzerland, Australia, Israel, South Korea,

Vietnam, New Zealand and Japan.

Union Minister for Food Processing

Industries:HarsimratKaurBadal

Union Minister for Women and Child

Development and Textiles:SmritiZubinIrani

90. Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission

(SPMRM)

Modi launched the Mission with the vision to

deliver catalytic interventions to rural areas on

the threshold of growth.

Rurban Cluster: would be a cluster of

geographically contiguous villages with a

population of about 25000 to 50000 in plain

and coastal areas and a population of 5000 to

15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.

Rurban Mission: follows the vision of

"Development of a cluster of villages that

preserve and nurture the essence of rural

community life with focus on equity and

inclusiveness without compromising with the

facilities perceived to be essentially urban in

nature, thus creating a cluster of "Rurban

villages‖.

Objectives: To transform these Rurban

clusters by stimulating local economic

development, enhancing basic services, and

creating well planned Rurban clusters. This

would lead to holistic development of the

region and encourage integrated and inclusive

rural development.

91. RBI unveils 5-yr financial inclusion strategy

About: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has

come up with a National Strategy for Financial

Inclusion 2019-24, aimed at providing access

to formal financial services in an affordable

manner. It aims to promote financial literacy

among customers.

Recommendations: The Financial Inclusion

Advisory Committee of the RBI in

consultation with the Centre, SEBI, IRDAI

and Pension Fund Regulatory and

Development Authority of India (PFRDA) has

recommended various ways in which the

objective can be fulfilled:

Access to financial service providers in every

village within a range 5-km radius

Every adult registered under the

PradhanMantri Jan DhanYojna (PMJDY)

should be enrolled in insurance, pension

scheme

Public credit registry has to be made fully

operational by March 2022 so that authorized

financial entities can leverage the same for

assessing credit proposals.

Strengthening of digital financial services to

facilitate less cash society

Every new entrant should be given govt

livelihood programme

92. PM-KISAN Scheme completes one year on

February 24, 2020

PM-KISAN Scheme:Under the Scheme an

amount of Rs.6000/- per year is transferred in

three 4-monthly installments of Rs.2000/-

directly into the bank accounts of the farmers,

subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to

higher income status.

The Scheme was formally launched on 24th

February, 2019 by the Prime Minister

NarendraModi at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Aim: The scheme was started with a view to

augment the income of the farmers by

providing income support to all landholding

farmers‘ families across the country

93. US surpasses China to become India's top

trading partner


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 34

About: The United States has surpassed China

to become India's top trading partner. The

bilateral trade between the US and India stood

at nearly 88 billion dollars in 2018-19 fiscal.

During the period, India's trade with China

was at 87.1 billion dollars.

Similarly, during April-December 2019-20,

the bilateral trade between the US and India

stood at 68 billion dollars against a nearly 65

billion dollars trade with China in the same

period.

94. Farooq Khan Flags off youth exchange

programme „WatanKoJano‟

Advisor to Lieutenant Governor

J&K:Farooq Khan

WatanKoJano: A youth exchange

programmeacross Jammu and Kashmir and

Ladakh Union Territories for a ten day tour.

The children will get an opportunity to visit

monuments and places of historical and

cultural significance in Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer

and Pushkar.

95. NF Railway builds India‟s tallest pier

bridge in Manipur

About: The Northeast Frontier Railway

Construction Organization has built India‘s

tallest railway pier bridge — 100 m tall

equivalent to a 33-storey building, across river

Makru in the Tamenglong district of Manipur.

96. 10th edition of BharatiyaChhatraSansad

About: The Vice President, M. Venkaiah

Naidu presenting the Ideal Legislative

Assembly Speaker/Ideal Legislative Council

Chairman Award to the Speaker of the Kerala

Legislative Assembly, P. Ramakrishnan, at the

inauguration of the 10th edition of Bharatiya

Chhatra Sansad, in New Delhi

97. Mahagovt to destroy breeding centers of

Thai Mangur fish

About: The Maharashtra government has

launched a special drive to destroy the

cultivation centers of the exotic Thai Mangur

fish.

Reason: Thai Mangur is cultivated in highly

unhygienic conditions, which may lead to

people falling sick after consuming it

Thai Mangur:The fish is popularly known as

Thai Mangur or African Mangur or foreign

Mangur, as appearances is somewhat like fresh

water Mangur.

Background: The National Green Tribunal

banned it in 2000 and a fresh order was also

issued regarding the same in January last year.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 35

98. Naval special child felicitated for creating

world record

About: MsJiyaRai, an eleven year old

daughter of MadanRai, Master Chief at Arms

II, posted in INS Shikra, created a world

record by becoming the fastest special girl to

swim 14 Km in open water.

The VI standard student of Navy Children

School (NCS), Mumbai swam from Elephanta

Island to Gateway of India, a distance of 14

Km in 03 hours 27 minutes and 30 seconds.

99. Amendments in Arms Act, 1959 and Arms

Rules, 2016

About: The Ministry of Home Affairs has

amended the provisions of the Arms Act, 1959

and the Arms Rules, 2016 to increase the

number of firearms that can be kept by the

shooters and enhanced the quantity of

ammunition fixed for their practice for the

year. These provisions shall greatly facilitate

their shooting practice.

Amendments:

As per the new rules, now International

Medalists/Renowned Shooters are allowed to

keep additional weapons up to a total of

twelve under the exempted category, which

earlier was seven.

If a shooter is renowned in one event, he can

keep maximum eight (previously it was four),

if a shooter is renowned in two events he can

keep maximum ten (previously it was seven)

If a shooter is renowned in more than two

events, he can keep maximum twelve

(previously it was seven) firearms under

exempted category.

The junior target shooter/ aspiring shooter are

now allowed to possess two weapons

(previously one) of any category in which the

person is junior target shooter/aspiring

shooter. This provision shall facilitate shooters

in practicing with various types of fire arms.

Apart from the above exemptions, the shooters

are entitled to possess two firearms as normal

citizens under provisions of the Arms Act,

1959.

100. Ramesh Pokhriyal „Nishank‟ presents

ChatraVishwakarma Awards 2019

Union HRD Minister: Ramesh Pokhriyal

‗Nishank‘

Six institutes were felicitated by the Union

Minister under the

UtkrishtSanthanVishwakarma Award

(USVA).

Organized by: All India Council for

Technical Education

ChatraVishwakarma Award: The awards

have been instituted for promoting innovative

spirit and scientific temperament for holistic

development of society through the

stakeholders of its approved institutes

Aim: The Awards are aimed at motivating

young individuals, inspiring leaders and

institutions/ organizations to raise their

performance in their specific domains leading

to significant contribution towards the growth

and development of the Nation as a whole

Applications were called in 02 categories:

Category-I: ChhatraVishwakarma Awards

(CVA), for Outstanding Innovative Team (for

Students & Mentor).


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 36

Category-II:

UtkrishtSansthanVishwakarma Award

(USVA), for exemplary Institutional

intervention.

Appreciation certificates and cash prices

(Rs 51,000, Rs 31,000 &Rs 21,000) were

awarded to the top three teams in each sub-

category by the Hon‘ble Minister.

101. Five-day training course on Vessel

Search Technique begins in Chennai

Organized by: Indian Coast Guard jointly

with the Australian Border Force began

About: The course by the Mobile Training

Team of the Australian Border Force is being

conducted for the Indian Coast Guard

personnel, Customs officials and Coastal

Security Group members of the Tamil Nadu

Police.

Aim: To bolster efforts of both the

countries for realizing the common national

maritime objectives of ensuring safety and

security at sea.

102. New Army HQ in Delhi Cantt

About: Defense minister Rajnath Singh

laid the foundation stone for the new Indian

Army headquarters of 'ThalSenaBhawan

(TSB)' on at Delhi Cantonment.

Highlight: the new Army headquarters

will accommodate 1,684 officers and 4,330

staff personnel. It will also bring together eight

existing offices of the force from different

parts of the Capital under one single roof.

103. Namaste Trump

About: The 125,000-strong crowd in world‘s

biggest cricket stadium, Motera, had gathered

to welcome to US president Donald Trump on

his first visit to India alongside the Indian

prime ministerModi, at a rally dubbed

―Namaste Trump‖, event organized in

Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Trump announced a deal had been made for

India to purchase $3bn of US

104. Military training exercise Ajeya

Warrior-2020

About: Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR - 2020, a

joint military training exercise between India

& United Kingdom (UK) culminated at West

down Camp, Salisbury Plains Training Area,

UK.

105. Nityanand Rai presides over 1st

„National Conference on Coastal Disaster

Risk Reduction and Resilience (CDRR&R)

– 2020‟

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs:Nityanand Rai

Organized by: the National Institute of

Disaster Management (NIDM), in New Delhi

Aim:To explore and debate the most recent

advances in the discipline, to enhance the

understanding of the issues and solutions on

various facets for coastal disaster risk

reduction and resilience.

106. India and United States finalizedefense

deals worth three billion dollars

India and the United States finalized defense

deals worth three billion dollars and signed

three agreements, including in health and oil

sectors.

The Defense deals include procurement of 24

MH-60 Romeo helicopters by India from the

US at a cost of $2.6 billion. Another contract

to acquire six AH-64E Apache helicopters for

$800 million from the US


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 37

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed

on mental health between the health

departments of the two countries.

Another MoU on the safety of medical

products was signed between the Central

Drugs Standard Control Organization with the

US Food and Drug Administration.

A Letter of Cooperation was signed between

Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Exxon

Mobil India LNG Limited and Chart Industries

Inc, US.

107. MP becomes first state to launch unified

vehicle registration card

Chief Minister: Kamal Nath

Highlight: Madhya Pradesh has become the

first state in the country to introduce the

unified registration card and the second state to

launch the unified driving license after Uttar

Pradesh.

The unified smart cards for driving license and

vehicle registration will each have a QR code

that will help in verifying authenticity of the

data printed on the cards. The unified driving

license card will also have information about

the ability of the driver to drive in hilly and

dangerous areas and an emergency contact

number.

108. RAISE 2020

About: The Government of India (GoI)

announced the event, RAISE 2020-

‗Responsible AI for Social Empowerment

2020,‘ to be held from April 11-12 in New

Delhi.

RAISE 2020: It is a first of its kind, global

meeting of minds on Artificial Intelligence to

drive India's vision and roadmap for social

empowerment, inclusion and transformation

through responsible AI.

The event will start with a Startup Challenge –

Pitchfest followed by the two-day summit,

organized by Government of India along with

Ministry of Electronics and Information

Technology will witness robust participation

from global industry leaders, key opinion

makers, Government representatives and

academia.

109. ISRO to launch GISAT-1

GISAT-1, the country‘s first earth imaging

satellite in a geostationary orbit, will be

launched in the evening of March 5 from the

Sriharikota launch center by Indian Space

Research Organization (ISRO)

GISAT-1 will facilitate near real time

observation of the Indian sub-continent, under

cloud free condition, at frequent intervals.

Weighing about 2275 kg, GISAT-1 is a state-

of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite

which will be placed in a Geosynchronous

Transfer Orbit by Geosynchronous Satellite

Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F10)

It will be the 14th flight of the GSLV. A 4-

metre diameterogive shaped payload fairing is

being flown for the first time in this flight.

110. INCOIS launches three new advance

warning systems

About: The Indian National Centre for

Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has

launched three new products for the benefit of

fishermen, people living in coastal areas of

South India and others


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 38

Warning systems: Small Advisory and

Forecast Services System (SVAS), Swell Surge

Forecast System (SSFS) and Algal Bloom

Information Service (ABIS).

SVAS: is for small vessels operating in

Indian coastal waters warning about potential

sites where vessel overturning can take place,

10 days in advance.

SSFS:It has been designed for forecasting

swell surges occurring in the west coast two-

three days in advance as they generally catch

the local people by surprise.

ABIS: is to help fishermen, fishery

resource managers and ecologists get realtime

information about the spread of phytoplankton

blooms with details of species and size in North

Eastern Arabian Sea, coastal waters off Kerala,

Gulf of Mannar and coastal waters of Gopalpur.

111. Offshore Patrol Vessel-6 (OPV-

6)“VAJRA” is launched at Chennai

Minister of State for Shipping (I/C) and

Chemicals & Fertilizers: MansukhMandaviya

OPV-6 is truly state of the art platform which

will enhance the capabilities of Indian Coast

Guard in terms of Operation, Surveillance,

Search & Rescue.

it will strengthen the efforts Indian Coast

Guard for securing over 7500 km vast

coastline, an exclusive economic zone (EEZ)

of over 20 lakh sqkms and more than one lakh

merchant ships transiting per year through

Indian waters for global trade .

The ship would be utilized for day and night

patrol/surveillance along with anti-terrorist/

anti-smuggling operations in the Exclusive

Economic Zone (EEZ) as well as Coastal

Security.

The OPV will have two Navigation Radars

with ultra-modern technology, sophisticated

navigational and latest communication

systems.

112. Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog

join hands with NASSCOM

About: 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.

Objective:Students to leverage the full

potential of AIM‘s Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL)

and further empowers them to innovate and

create valuable solutions benefiting societies at

large. The module contains activities, videos

and experiments that enable students to work

through and learn the various concepts of AI.

NITI Aayog CEO: Amitabh Kant

NASSCOM President: DebjaniGhosh,

Atal Innovation Mission: housed at NITI

Aayog is the Government of India‘s flagship

initiative to promote a culture of innovation

and entrepreneurship. At the school level, AIM

is establishing ATLs in all districts across

India.

113. India and Myanmar Sign 10 MoUs

About: India and Myanmar signed on 10

agreements with a focus on the socio-

economic development of the Southeast Asian


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 39

nation during Myanmar‘s President U Win

Myint visit to India.

MoU:

'Cooperation for Prevention of Trafficking

in Persons; Rescue, Recovery, Repatriation,

and Re-Integration of Victims of Trafficking'

Indian Grant Assistance for

Implementation of Quick Impact Projects

(QIP) was also signed between the two sides.

Three agreements for development projects

in the conflict-torn Rakhine state of Myanmar.

The Rakhine state has witnessed a lot of

violence in the past and scores of Rohingyas

had fled the state facing persecution.

114. Cabinet approves amendments to give

occupancy rights to scheduled tribes in

Lakshadweep

About: The union cabinet on approved

amendment of the Laccadive, Minicoy and

Amindivi Islands Land Revenue and Tenancy

Regulation, 1965 to confer occupancy rights to

the Scheduled Tribe (ST) population in the

union territory.

The Lakshadweep Island mostly comprises ST

population, previously they did hadoccupancy

rights.

115. Finance Minister unveils EASE 3.0

Union Minister for Finance &

Corporate Affairs: NirmalaSitharaman

Minister of State for Finance and

Corporate

Affairs:Anurag Thakur

With EASE 1.0 and 2.0 laying a firm

foundation of robust banking and

institutionalized systems, PSBs are set to

transform into digital- and data-driven

NextGen banks.

EASE 3.0 emphasizes on the use of digital,

analytics & AI, FinTech partnerships across

customer service, convenient banking, end-to-

end digitalised processes for loan sourcing and

processing, analytics-driven risk management

as well as decision support systems for HR.

Key Reform Action Points in EASE 3.0

include:

Dial-a-loan: Digitally-enabled doorstep

facilitation for initiation of retail and MSME

loans. Customers will have the facility to

register loan requests through digitally-enabled

channels

Partnerships with FinTechs and E-

commerce companies for customer-need

driven credit offers

Credit@click: End-to-end digitalised,

time-bound retail and MSME lending by larger

PSBs, leveraging Account Aggregators,

FinTechs and PSBloansin59minutes.com

Cash-flow-based MSME credit by larger

PSBs, using FinTech, Account Aggregator and

other third-party data and transactions-based

underwriting models

Tech-enabled agriculture lending

Palm banking: End-to-end digitalized

delivery of a full bouquet of financial services

in regional languages and with industry-best

service quality

EASE Banking Outlets: On-the-spot

banking at frequently visited places such as

train stations, bus stands, malls, hospitals, etc.

through paperless and digitally-enabled

banking outlets and kiosks

116. Jawed Ashraf has been appointed as the

next Ambassador of India to France


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 40

Jawed Ashraf presently High Commissioner of

India to the Republic of Singapore, has been

appointed as the next Ambassador of India to

France.

117. Prime Minister to launch 10,000 Farmer

Producer Organizations (FPOs) About: Prime Minister NarendraModi shall

launch 10,000 Farmers Producer Organizations

all over the country at Chitrakoot,Uttar

Pradesh on 29th February 2020.

Farmers challenges: Small, marginal and

landless farmers face tremendous challenges

during agriculture production phase such as for

access to technology, quality seed, fertilizers

and pesticides including requisite finances.

They also face tremendous challenges in

marketing their produce due to lack of

economic strength.

FPOs: help in collectivization of Small,

marginal and landless farmers in order to give

them the collective strength to deal with such

issues. Members of the FPO will manage their

activities together in the organization to get

better access to technology, input, finance and

market for faster enhancement of their income.

118. Amit Shah chairs the 24th Meeting of

Eastern Zonal Council at Bhubaneswar

Union Minister for Home Affairs: Amit

Shah

Chief Minister Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik,

as Vice Chairman and host; CM Bihar,

ShriNitish Kumar; CM West Bengal, Ms.

Mamata Banerjee; Finance Minister,

Jharkhand, Ramesh Oraonattended event

Key points discussed:

Issue of increase in royalty on coal

The issue of delay in payments of GST

proceeds and devolution of funds

Formulation of National Silt Management

Policy to take care of floods in Ganga river.

Issues related Phulbari Dam under the

agreement of 1978 signed by the States of

Bihar and West Bengal on Upper Mahananda

Water Scheme

Extension of Nuapada-Gunupur-Therubali

Rail Link Project in northern districts of

Odisha

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) -

land transfer by CPSU,

Speedy investigation of cases of sexual

offence/rape against women and children

Prevention of cattle smuggling/illegal

transportation of cattle to the Indo-Bangladesh

Border

Lack of telecom and bank connectivity in

Odisha

Illegal cultivation and trading of hemp /

cannabis in the State of Odisha.

119. Rajnath Singh inaugurates LCH

Production Hangar at HAL Complex About: RakshaMantriRajnath Singh

inaugurated the new Light Combat Helicopter

Production Hangar at Helicopter Division in

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

Complex at Bengaluru, Karnataka

The new production hangar will augment the

LCH production capacity to reach a peak

production of 30 helicopters per year.

LCH: is a 5.5-tonne class combat helicopter

designed and developed by HAL. It is powered


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 41

by two Shakti engines and inherits many

technical features of the Advanced Light

Helicopter. LCH has the distinction of being

the first attach helicopter to land in Forward

Bases at Siachen, 4,700 mts above sea level

with 500kg load.

HAL:

Founded: 1940 (As Hindustan Aircraft),

1964 (Renamed Hindustan Aeronautics)

Chairman and Managing director: R

Madhavan

Headquarters: Bengaluru

120. Redmi Phone Coming With Support for

ISRO NaVIC Navigation System

About: Manu Kumar Jain, Managing Director

of Xiaomi India, has now announced that the

next Redmi-branded phone set to launch in

India will offer NaVIC support.

Xiaomi will be one of the first brands to

launch a phone powered by the newly

launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G SoC,

which happens to offer NaVIC positioning

system.

NavIC- Navigation with Indian Constellation -

is the regional geo-positioning system

designed in India by ISRO to provide accurate

positioning in India and around the Indian

mainland

NavIC is designed to provide accurate

positioning in India and 1,500km around the

Indian mainland. The system comprises 7

satellites, 3 of which are in geostationary orbit

over the Indian Ocean and 4 in

geosynchronous orbit. NavIC is capable of

providing location positioning accuracy better

than 20 meters.

ISRO: Founded: 15 August 1969

Founder: Vikram Sarabhai

Headquarters: Bengaluru

Chairman: Dr. K Sivan

121. Maharashtra to undertake the genetic

study to conserve the native species of cattle

Aim: To conserve the native species of cattle

and domesticated animals in the Marathwada

region of Maharashtra, the state government is

planning to undertake their genetic study

Under this project, the genetic traits of

Osmanabadi goat, Red Kandhari cow, Deoni

bull, Caravan or Pashmi dogs will be studied.

Their abilities and adaptation capabilities will

also be analyzed.

International 1. Pakistan declares national emergency to

battle locusts

About: Pakistan, which is facing its worst

locust attack in decades, has declared national

emergency to tackle the insects destroying

crops on a large scale in Punjab province.

The swarms of locust are currently on the

Pakistan-India border along Cholistan, insects

had entered Cholistan and Nara from Sindh

and Balochistan.

Locusts used to move to Iran after

sometime, but perhaps this time due to low

temperatures they are still in Pakistan.

Prime Minister: Imran Khan

Locusts:

Scientific name: Acrididae

Type: Invertebrates

Diet: Herbivore

Group name: Swarm


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 42

Locusts are related to grasshoppers and the

two insects look similar. However, locust

behavior can be something else entirely.

Locusts are sometimes solitary insects with

lifestyles much like grasshoppers.

Locust swarms devastate crops and cause

major agricultural damage and attendant

human misery—famine and starvation

The desert locust (Schistocercagregaria) is

notorious. Found in Africa, the Middle East,

and Asia, they inhabit some 60 countries and

can cover one-fifth of Earth's land surface.

WHO declares coronavirus outbreak a

global health emergency

About: The World Health Organization on

declared the outbreak of anovel coronavirus a

global health emergency, an acknowledgement

of the risk the virus poses to countries beyond

its origin in China.

Public health emergency of international

concern, or PHEIC: is meant to help support

less developed countries and to try to prevent

the virus from spreading in those places that

are less equipped to detect the disease and

handle infections.

Coronaviruses, a family that includes SARS

and MERS, are thought to originate in bats and

can jump from there or another animal to

humans. Many of the early cases in Wuhan

were tied to a seafood market that also sold

live animals for meat.

The emergence of a global coronavirus

outbreak from China is reminiscent of the

SARS outbreak of 2002 to 2003, which went

on to kill nearly 800 people

The first PHEIC: was declared for the 2009

H1N1 flu pandemic, and others have included

the 2014-2016 West African Ebola outbreak

and the Zika outbreak in 2016.

Ahead of WHO‘s decision there were two

active PHEICs: the ongoing Ebola outbreak in

the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the

continued transmission of polio.

Mohammed Allawi appointed new Iraq PM

After two months of political deadlock,

Iraqi President Barham Salih appointed

Mohammed Allawi to replace Prime Minister

Adel Abdul Mahdi.

2. Maldives rejoins Commonwealth as UK

leaves EU

About: Maldives was officially readmitted to

the Commonwealth, The island nation had quit

the Commonwealth in October 2016 after

being threatened with suspension over its

human rights record and lack of progress on

democratic reform.

President: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih

Maldives joined the Commonwealth in 1982

and was a member until it withdrew in 2016.

Commonwealth: is a political association of

54 member states, nearly all of them former

territories of the British Empire. Its members

have agreed to shared goals like development,

democracy and peace.

Any country can join the modern

Commonwealth. The last country to join the

Commonwealth was Rwanda in 2009.

3. UAE finds new natural gas field between

Abu Dhabi, Dubai

About: The United Arab Emirates on

announced the discovery of a natural gas field


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 43

containing 80 trillion standard cubic feet of gas

between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Agreement was signed between Abu Dhabi

National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Dubai

Supply Authority for the exploration and

development of the gas resources.

ADNOC and the Dubai Supply Authority

will explore and develop the shallow gas field,

which spans some 5,000 square kilometres

(1,930 square miles)

4. Bhutan ends free entry for Indian tourists

About: Ending decades of free entry to Indian

tourists visiting Bhutan, the government in

Thimphu has decided to levy a daily ₹1,200

($17) fee for ―regional tourists‖ from India, the

Maldives and Bangladesh, beginning July

2020.

Sustainable Development Fee (SDF): The

feeis meant to help the government deal with

burgeoning numbers in tourist traffic, which it

is seeking to regulate through a new tourism

policy.

Countries offer free entry for Indian

tourists:

Indonesia

Maldives

Mauritius

Nepal

SEYCHELLES

Fiji

5. International Intellectual Property Index

2019

Report by: US Chamber of Commerce‘s

Global Innovation Policy Center

India‟s Rank: 40th position (36th

rank in

previous year)

Top ranking: The US, the UK, Sweden,

France and Germany respectively

6. Mumbai girl becomes youngest girl to

summit Mount Aconcagua

About: KaamyaKarthikeyan, a class VII

student of Navy Children School (NCS),

Mumbai, became the youngest girl in the

world to summit Mt. Aconcagua (6962 m

height), the highest peak in South America and

outside of Asia.

7. Solar Orbiter Mission by European Space

Agency's

Solar Orbiter Mission: is a mission carried

out by ESA with collaboration of NASA,

dedicated to solar and heliospheric physics.

The programme outlines key scientific

questions which need to be answered about the

development of planets and the emergence of

life, how the Solar System works, the origins

of the Universe, and the fundamental physics

at work in the Universe.

Launcher: Atlas V 411

Launch site: Cape Canaveral, USA

Launch date: 10 February

Karnataka engineer in mission: An engineer

from Chickmagalur, Sandeep Ramanath plays

a key role behind a unique probe to look under

the 'skin of the Sun' on-board European Space

Agency's Solar Orbiter mission that is

scheduled to be launched on Feb 10th

.


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8. Oscar awards 2020

Best Picture - 'Parasite'(South Korean film,

first time non-English film winning award)

Leading Actress - Renee Zellweger for

‗Judy‘

Leading Actor - Joaquin Phoenix for

‗Joker‘

Best Director - Bong Joon Ho for

‗Parasite‘

Supporting Actor - Brad Pitt for ‗Once

Upon a Time in Hollywood‘

Supporting Actress - Laura Dern for ‗Marriage

Story‘

9. WHO named new coronavirus as Covid-

2019

The UN health agency announced that

"COVID-19" will be the official name of the

deadly virus from China, saying the disease

represented a "very grave threat" for the world.

"co" stands for "corona", "vi" for "virus" and

"d" for "disease", while "19" was for the year,

as the outbreak was first identified on

December 31.

10. Japan's Chitetsu Watanabe confirmed as

the world‟s oldest man living

About: Chitetsu Watanabe from Niigata,

Japan, has been officially confirmed as the

oldest person living (male) at 112 Years 344

days as of 12 February 2020.He was born on

5th March 1907

Oldest woman living:Kane Tanaka (117

years)

11. Narayana Murthy's son-in-law appointed as

UK's new Finance Minister

About: Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy's

son-in-law, Rishi Sunak has been appointed as

UK's Finance Minister. He replaced Pakistani

Chancellor Sajid Javid.

Three Indian origin Members of Parliament are

now a part of Britain's cabinet led by UK

Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Other appointments: The 47-year-old Priti

Patel has been appointed as the Home

Minister. The 51-year-old Alok Sharma has

been appointed as the Business Secretary in

the British Cabinet.

12. Antarctic temperature rises above 20C for

first time on record

About: The Antarctic has registered a

temperature of more than 20C (68F) for the

first time on record, prompting fears of climate

instability in the world‘s greatest repository of

ice.

Previous record: 19.8C, taken on Signy

Island in January 1982.

13. UK to host 2020 UN climate summit,

COP26


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 45

About: The UK has been chosen to host

the major UN climate change summit at the

end of 2020.

UN climate summit: The United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change

(UNFCCC), the UN‘s climate body, holds an

annual summit known as a COP, or

Conference of the Parties, attended by national

ministers and, for the key ones, heads of state.

All of the world‘s countries are 'parties to the

Convention', and the COP is its supreme

decision-making body.

Significance of the 2020 summit: COP26

will take place five years after the landmark

Paris Agreement was reached at COP21, and is

essentially when the Paris Agreement comes

into effect; as such, it will be the most

significant UN climate summit since Paris in

2015.

Why UK: The UK is recognized among

major economies as a leader on climate

change. Bringing in the landmark Climate

Change Act in 2008, which contained the

world's first legally binding national

commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions,

the UK recently committed to reduce

emissions to ‗net zero‘ by 2050, the first G7

economy to do so.

14. Indian scholar Gita Sen wins prestigious

Dan David Prize

About: India‘s pioneering feminist scholar and

activist Gita Sen, has won the prestigious Dan

David Prize for her expansive work in the

fields of population policies, reproductive and

sexual health, women‘s rights, poverty, labour

markets and global governance.

Dan David Prize: The internationally

renowned Dan David Prize annually awards

three prizes of $1 million each to globally

inspiring individuals and organizations

The fields chosen for honoring contributions in

the three categories this year are cultural

preservation and revival (past category),

gender equality (present category), and

artificial intelligence (future category).

Dan David:The prize was established by late

Dan David, an international businessman and

philanthropist whose aim was to reward those

who have made a lasting impact on society and

to help young students and entrepreneurs

become the scholars and leaders of the future.

17. US removed „developing‟ tag for India

About: The U.S. removed more than a

dozen countries, including India, from its list

of countries that are classified as ―developing‖

for trade purposes. These countries will now

be classified instead as ―developed‖

economies, thus stripping them of various

trade benefits.

Developing country status:

The office of the United States Trade

Representative (USTR) maintains a list of

countries that it classifies as ―developing‖,

―developed‖, and ―least-developed‖.

Countries that are classified as

―developing‖ are allowed to export certain

goods to the U.S. without being hit by punitive

tariffs that are usually imposed on goods from

―developed‖ countries.

The ―developing country‖ status owes its

origin to the U.S. Trade Act of 1974, which

authorized the Generalized System of

Preferences (GSP) to help poor countries

develop faster.

18. Ashraf Ghani secures 2nd term as President

In Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani has won a second

term as President of the country. His opponent

was Abdullah Abdullah.

19. Hindi is 3rd most spoken language in the

world


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 46

About: Hindi is the 3rd most spoken language

of the world in 2019 with 615 million speakers

Report by: world language database

Ethnologue

Most spoken languages: English at the top of

the list with 1,132 million speakers. Chines

Mandarin is at the second position with 1,117

million speakers.Bangla has been ranked as the

7th most spoken language of the world. Bangla

has 228 million native speakers.

Ethnologue: brings out a yearly database of

living languages of the world since its

establishment in 1951. The current round of

the database covers 7,111 living languages of

the world. In addition to living languages

Ethnologue also contains data on languages

which have gone out of use in recent history.

This edition lists 348 such languages.

20. Malaysia's PM Mahathir resigns

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad

has announced his resignation as Prime

Minister, but was asked to stay on as interim

leader by the country's monarch.

Malaysia king: Abdullah of Pahang

Currency: Malaysian ringgit

Capital: Kuala Lumpur

21. Sri Lanka formally informs UNHRC to

withdraw from co-sponsoring UNHRC

resolution on war crimes

22. Doctors successfully treat brain aneurysm

using a robot

About: Canada doctors have used a robot

to perform a surgery to treat brain aneurysm in

a 64-year-old female patient, an advance that

may lead to improved use of robotic

technology in cardiology and neurology.

The surgeons, including those from the

Toronto Western Hospital in Canada, used

software and hardware adaptations which

enabled them to accommodate guidewires and

other devices used for procedures involving

blood vessels in the brain.

Sports 1. Novak Djokovic wins Australian Open

Men‟s single: In tennis, Serbia's Novak

Djokovic won his record 8th Men's singles title

in Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in

Melbourne.

He beat first-time Australian Open finalist

Dominic Thiemof Austria.

Men's doubles title: Joe Salisbury of UK and

American Rajeev Ram

Australian Open: American Sofia Kenin wins

her first Grand Slam title

Women‟s single: Sofia Kenin (youngest

Australian Open champion) of America (over

Spain's GarbineMuguruza)

2. Rani Rampal wins 2019 World Games

Athlete of the Year award

About: India womens hockey captain Rani

Rampalwon the 2019 World Games Athlete of

the Year award given for outstanding


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 47

performance, along with social commitment

and fair behavior.

3. Deepa Malik elected president of

Paralympic Committee of India

About: Indian Paralympic medal-winner

Deepa Malik has been elected president of the

Paralympic Committee of India. Malik, who

won silver in shot putt F-53 at Rio 2016, was

elected unopposed

4. RakhiHalder bags gold at Senior Women's

National Weightlifting Championships

In Senior Women's National Weightlifting

Championships, Rakhi Halder of Bengal has

bagged gold in the 64kg category of the 35th

edition of the event in Kolkata.

5. Bangladesh beat India to win maiden U19

Cricket World Cup title

Bangladesh beat India by three wickets to win

maiden ICC U-19 World Cup title in

Potchefstroom, South Africa by the

Duckworth-Lewis method.

Player of the Tournament and highest run-

scorer: Yashasvi Jaiswal (India)

Highest wicket-taker in the tournament:

Bishnoi(India)

6. Aditya Mehta defeatedPankajAdvani

About: Aditya Mehta defeated multiple-time

World champion PankajAdvani 6-2 to win the

National snooker championship here.

Women‟s: Karnataka‘s VidyaPillai edged out

AmeeKamani of Madhya Pradesh

7. Pullela Gopichand receives honorable

mention of IOC Coaches Lifetime

Achievement Awards

About: Chief national badminton coach

Pullela Gopichand has received an honorable

mention in the male category of the prestigious

2019 International Olympic Committee's

Coaches Lifetime Achievement Award in

recognition of the role he played in the

development of the game.

IOC Coaches Lifetime Achievement

Awards: is an initiative of the IOC Athletes'

Entourage Commission to recognize

outstanding achievements and contributions a

coach has made to develop and encourage

athletes in line with the Olympic values in

summer or winter Olympic sports.

8. India Striker Lalremsiami Named 2019 FIH

Women's Rising Star of Year


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India forward Lalremsiami has been named as

the 2019 FIH Women's Rising Star of the

Year, the International Hockey Federation

(FIH).

9. Gulmarg to host national winter games

from March 7 About: The Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir

is all set to host a five-day national winter

games from March 7 under the Khelo India

programme.

There will be 30 events under four disciplines

including snowboarding, snow skiing, cross

country and snow show in which players from

across the country would participate.

10. GS Lakshmi becoming first woman referee

to oversee a men's ODI

About: India‘s GS Lakshmi will create history

as the first female match referee to oversee a

men's One-Day International in the opening

match of the third series of the ICC Men‘s

Cricket World Cup League 2 in the United

Arab Emirates.

Lakshmi is first woman appointed to the ICC

International Panel of Match Referees in May.

Claire Polosak: first woman umpire to stand

in a Men‘s One Day International at the final

of the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 in

April 2019.

11. Indian hockey captain Manpreet Singh

named Player of the Year 2019 by IHF About: The Indian men's hockey team captain

Manpreet Singh named Player of the Year for

2019 by the International Hockey Federation.

Highlight: Manpreet, a midfielder, became the

first Indian to win the accolade since the awards

were introduced in 1999.

12. Koneru Humpy wins Cairns Cup Chess

Tournament in US

About: World rapid champion Koneru Humpy

claimed her second title in the last two months

by winning the Cairns Cup Chess Tournament

at St Louis in USA.

Highlight: Humpy was crowned as the world

champion in the last week of December

2019.

13. India to host 2020 junior men's Hockey

World Cup India will host next year's Junior Men's World

Cup. This is the second time that India will be

hosting the prestigious tournament, having

staged it in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in 2016,

where the India lifted the coveted trophy.

The International Hockey Federation

(FIH): Headquartered atSwitzerland

14. Haryana govt announces Rs six crore to

those winning gold medals at Olympics

Chief Minister:ManoharLalKhattar

About: Haryana government has decided to

give 6 crore rupees to players of the state that

bag gold medals at the Olympic Games. 3

crore rupees will be given to those winning

gold medals at Asian Games and 1.5 crore

rupees to the winners of gold medal at

Commonwealth Games.

An amount of 15 lakh rupees will be given to

each player participating in the Olympic

Games.

15. Laureus best sporting moment About: Indian cricketing great Sachin

Tendulkar being carried on the shoulders of his


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 49

team mates following India's world cup

triumph in 2011 was voted as the Laureus best

sporting moment in the past 20 years.

Annual Laureus Sports award:First held in

2000, ithonors the greatest and most

inspirational sporting triumphs of the year. On

the 20th anniversary of the awards, the

Laureus sporting moments award allowed

people to vote for the most inspiring sporting

moment of the past 20 years.

16. India to host U-17 Women's World Cup in

2020

About: India will host the U-17 Women's

World Cup in 2020,this will be the second

FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after

the U-17 Men's World Cup in 2017.

U-17 women's tournament: began in 2008,

when New Zealand hosted it. Spain is the

current champions and they had beaten Mexico

2-1 in the final in Uruguay last year. The

tournament in India will be the seventh

edition.

17. P.V.Sindhu wins ESPN's Female

Sportsperson of the Year award About: World champion shuttler P V Sindhu

won the ESPN's Female Sportsperson of the

Year award for a third consecutive time

Female Sportsperson of the Year: young

shooter SaurabhChaudhary

Courage award: Sprinter Dutee Chand.

Comeback of the Year: Ace chess player

Koneru Humpy

Emerging Sports Person of the Year:

Wrestler Deepak Punia

Coach of the Year: National Badminton

Coach PullelaGopichand

Moment of the Year:Sindhu's World

Championship win, the first by an Indian in

badminton

Team of the Year: Manu Bhaker-

SaurabhChaudhary

Para-Athlete of the Year:Manasi Joshi

Lifetime Achievement award: Hockey

legend Balbir Singh

18. Divya Kakran wins a gold medal at Asian

Wrestling Championships

DivyaKakran became only the second Indian

woman to win a gold medal at the Asian

Wrestling Championships defeating junior

world champion NaruhaMatsuyuki in New

Delhi.

NavjotKaur had become the first Indian

woman to win a gold medal at the Asian

Championships in 2018 in Bishkek,

Kyrgyzstan in 65 kilogram.

19. Ross Taylor becomes first player to play 100

matches in all three formats

New Zealand cricketer Ross Taylor became

the first player in the world to play 100

matches in all three formats of cricket.

The 35-year-old played his 100th T20

International against India last month. He has

also played 231 ODIs for New Zealand. The

right-handed batsman is already his country's

leading run-scorer in Test and ODI.

20. Pragyan Ojha announces retirement from

international cricket


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Indian left-arm spinner PragyanOjha

announced retirement from international and

first-class cricket with immediate effect. The

33-year-old last played for India in 2013

during Sachin Tendulkar's farewell Test

against the West Indies in Mumbai.

In all, he played 24 Tests between 2009 and

2013 in which he took 113 wickets. From 18

ODIs, he grabbed 21 wickets.

21. Prime Minister to Declare Open the First

ever Khelo India University Games

About: The first-ever Khelo India University

Games will take off in Odisha, it is being

launched by the Government of India in

association with the Government of the State of

Odisha.

Highlight: This is the largest ever competition

held at university level in India and will have

about 3500 athletes from over 150 universities

across the country taking part in it.

Khelo India Programme: It was introduced to

revive the sports culture in India at the grass-

root level by building a strong framework for

all sports played in the country and establish

India as a great sporting nation.

22. India to host Commonwealth Shooting and

Archery Championships in January 2022 India will host the Commonwealth Shooting

and Archery Championships in January 2022.

The medals from the two events will be

counted for ranking of competing nations at

the Birmingham Games.

The two events will be held in Chandigarh in

January 2022 while the Birmingham

Commonwealth Games is scheduled from 27th

of July to 7th of August , 2022.

23. Young Indian GM Gukesh wins title at

Cannes Open chess tourney

About: India's 13-year old Grandmaster D

Gukesh emerged champion in the 34th Cannes

Open in Cannes, France, beating Harutyun

Bargseghyan of the host nation in the final

round to end with 7.5 points.

Gukesh (Elo rating 2542), who last year

became the world's second youngest

Grandmaster ever,

24. Sharapova says goodbye to Tennis

About: Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria

Sharapova, announced her retirement from

tennis. The Russian won her first Grand Slam at

Wimbledon in 2004 aged 17 and completed

the career slam, all four major titles, by

winning the French Open in 2012.

Special days 1. World Cancer Day


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 51

World Cancer Day is observed on the 4th of

February every year to create awareness about

cancer and to encourage its prevention,

detection, and treatment.

On February 4, 2000, World Cancer Day was

written into the Charter of Paris Against

Cancer. The document was signed in between

then French President Jacques Chirac and

UNESCO General Director at that time,

Koichiro Matsuura.

Theme: ―I am and I will‖

2. World Radio Day being observed About: World Radio Day is observed

every year on 13 February to raise greater

awareness among the public and the media of

the importance of radio and to encourage

decision makers to establish and provide

access to information through radio.

Theme: World Radio Day is Radio and

Diversity. R

During its 67th Session, the UN General

Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 13

February as World Radio Day.

UN Secretary: General Antonio Guterres

3. National Science Day 2020 About: NSD is celebrated every year on 28

February to commemorate the discovery of the

‗Raman Effect‘. Government of India

designated 28 February as National Science

Day (NSD) in 1986.

Highlight: On this day, Sir C.V. Raman

announced the discovery of the 'Raman Effect'

for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in

1930. On this occasion, theme-based science

communication activities are carried out all

over the country.

Theme: ―WOMEN IN SCIENCE‖

Minister of Science & Technology, Health

and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences

:Harsh Vardhan

Obituary 1. Former Karnataka Minister D. Manjunath

passes away

Former Karnataka Legislative Council

Chairman D. Manjunath, 92, passed away here

after a brief illness.

2. Kenya's former President Daniel arapMoi

dies aged 95

Daniel arapMoiwas Kenya's longest-

serving president. He was in office for 24

years.

Current President:Uhuru Kenyatta

3. RajendraPachauri, dies aged 79

About: The Indian environmentalist Rajendra

Kumar Pachauri, under whose leadership a UN

climate change panel shared the 2007 Nobel

peace prize, has died after recent heart surgery.

He was 79.

Pachauri won civilian awards from India‘s

government in 2001 and 2008.

4. Actor KishoriBallal dead


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About: Veteran Kannada actor

KishoriBallal died in a private hospital.

Ms. Ballal was best known for her role

Kaveriamma in the Hindi film Swades, in

which she acted with Shah Rukh Khan. She

has acted in over 50 movies.

5. Hosni Mubarakdies Hosni Mubarak, the former president of Egypt,

died in Cairo. He was 91.

6. Historian Shettar passes away at 85

He had extensively worked on the Jain practice

of ritual death in Karnataka and Asoka edicts.

He had studied and compiled early edicts in

Kannada and worked extensively on the

growth of Kannada language down the ages.

His 2007 book ―ShangamTamilagam‖ is

considered a seminal work in the study of the

early period of Dravidian languages. It won

him BhashaSamman from Central Sahitya

Akademi. He later wrote two works on

Halegannada, classical Kannada. His most

recent work was ―PrakritaJagadvalaya‖ in

2018.

7. Renowned Vedic Scholar Sudhakar

Chaturvedi passes away

Centenarian freedom fighter and Vedic scholar

Sudhakar Krishna Rao, widely known as

SudhakarChaturvedi died. Rao, an eye-witness

to the Jalianwala Bagh massacre on April 13,

1919. He was said to be 122 year old.


WWW.IASJNANA.COM 53

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