NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
Haryana Leads while West Bengal Worst State in Direct Benefit Transfer Payouts:
Haryana
has emerged as the best states in India regarding Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
payouts in 2019-20, as per the ratings prepared for the first time by Centre
for the 36 states and UTs. The ratings have ranked states according to DBT
payouts compared to their population. Haryana reported Rs 4,782 crore DBT
payout in over 4 crore transactions. West Bengal was the worst at 36th spot,
reporting DBT payouts of Rs 8,793 crore in 5 crore transactions. The UTs of
J&K and Ladakh together was placed at eight spot reporting DBT payouts
worth Rs 1,190 crore through over 80 lakh transactions. It stands first among
UTs category. The central DBT scheme covers around 439 schemes of 56 ministries
and departments and over Rs 2.25 lakh crore has been paid out in the country in
2019-20.
2.
Indian Railways launches its First “Restaurant on Wheels” at Asansol Station: Indian Railways has
launched its first ‘Restaurant on Wheels’ at the circulating area of Asansol
Railway station (West Bengal) for the use of Railway passengers as well as
general public of Asansol. The inauguration was done by minister of State for
Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Babul Supriyo. The Restaurant on
Wheels at Asansol station circulating area was developed by refurbishing two
over aged MEMU coaches. This unique effort will not only improve the facilities
at Asansol station but also generate non-fare revenue earnings of approximately
Rs 50 lakh in the next five years.
Note: Union Minister of Ministry of
Railways: Piyush Goyal.
3. Om
Birla launches ‘Suposhit Maa Abhiyaan’ in Kota: Lok Sabha Speaker
Om Birla has launched “Suposhit Maa Abhiyan” in his constituency Kota,
Rajasthan. This Abhiyan has been launched to provide nutritional support to
pregnant women and adolescent girls. Under this Abhiyan, 1,000 pregnant women
would be given food items for one month. Union Minister for Women and Child
Development Smriti Irani was also present in the program. Mr Birla appealed to
every section of the society to cooperate in the malnutrition-free India
campaign. Keeping newborn and pregnant women healthy is the main objective of
the 'Suposhit Maa Abhiyaan '.
Note: Chief Minister of Rajasthan: Ashok
Gehlot; Governor of Rajasthan: Kalraj Mishra; Capital of Rajasthan: Jaipur.
4.
Two-day Unique Nimad Chilli Festival 2020 Organised at Khargone district of MP:
In
a first-of-its-kind unique initiative “Nimad Chilli Festival 2020” has being
organised in Kasravad, Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh from 29 February to
1 March 2020. The two-day festival is aimed at promoting Chilli production and
Chilli based industries in the state. It must be noted that Khargone is the
largest chilli producing district in Madhya Pradesh as well as largest chilli
mandi of Asia. Inspired by the famous Corn Festival of Chhindwara district, the
Chilli Festival aims to establish Khargone district as the Chilli Capital of
North and Central India. The Chilli Festival is a big business opportunity for
traders, investors and exporters. It will also help in fulfilling the Central
Government's goal of doubling the income of farmers.
Note: Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Kamal
Nath; Governor: Lal Ji Tandon.
5.
‘Pension Adalat’ inaugurated in Jammu: The Union Minister of State PMO, Personnel,
Public Grievances & Pensions, Jitendra Singh inaugurated the ‘Pension
Adalat’ and National Pension System (NPS) Awareness and Grievance Redressal
Programme. The programme was inaugurated in Jammu. The Pension Adalats will
help in on-the-spot redressal of pensioners’ grievances which has given the
right of ‘Ease of Living’ to the pensioners.
Note: Lt. Governors & Administrators
Jammu and Kashmir: Girish Chandra Murmu.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
ADB to provide $4 million to member countries to contain coronavirus: Asian Development
Bank will provide a total of USD 4 million (about ₹29 crores) to help
developing countries in Asia and the Pacific to fight the outbreak COVID-19.
The ADB had earlier in Feb announced USD 2 mn for fighting the disease. The ADB
has approved a further USD 2 million to help developing countries in Asia and
the Pacific contain the outbreak coronavirus. The funds will be available for
all ADB developing member countries in updating and implementing their pandemic
response plans. The work will be conducted in close collaboration with the
World Health Organization.
Note: President of ADB: Masatsugu Asakawa;
Formation of ADB: 19 December 1966; Headquarters of ADB: Manila, Philippines;
Membership of ADB: 68 countries.
2.
Muhyiddin Yassin sworn in as Malaysia's new Prime Minister: Muhyiddin Yassin
(72-years) took the oath of office as the country's new Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The decision came five days after the resignation of 94-year-old Mahathir, the
world’s oldest head of government, who had been in office since the general
elections of 2018. Muhyiddin had served as deputy Prime Minister under former
premier Najib Razak from 2009 to 2015.
Note: Capital of Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur;
Currency of Malaysia: Malaysian Ringgit.
3.
Ghaziabad tops as most polluted city in the world: World Air Quality Report
2019:
As per the World Air Quality Report 2019 compiled by IQAir Air Visual,
Ghaziabad is the most polluted city in the world. Some other important points
of this report are as under: (1) 21 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities are
in India; (2) Delhi topped the list of most polluted capital cities in the
world in 2019; (3) India ranked fifth in the world’s most polluted countries.
Top is Bangladesh; (4) However, the report also mentions that Indian cities
have shown improvement from last year.
4.
International Conference on Standardisation of AYUSH Terminologies, ICoSDiTAUS-2020,
Held in Delhi: The
two-day International Conference on Standardisation of Diagnosis and
Terminologies in Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine,
ICoSDiTAUS-2020, was held in New Delhi. The conference concluded with the
adoption of the “New Delhi Declaration on Collection and Classification of
Traditional Medicine (TM) Diagnostic Data”. 16 countries came together for the
cause of Traditional Medicine at this conference including Sri Lanka,
Mauritius, Serbia, Curacao, Cuba, Myanmar, Equatorial Guinea, Qatar, Ghana,
Bhutan, Uzbekistan, India, Switzerland, Iran, Jamaica and Japan.
ICoSDiTAUS-2020 is the biggest ever international event dedicated to
standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies of Traditional Medicine in terms
of the broad level of participation covering virtually all the continents. The
inaugural address was made by Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director,
WHO – SEARO.
5.
Zero Discrimination Day: 1 March: Zero Discrimination Day is observed
annually on 1 March by the United Nations Programme on HIV & AIDS (UNAIDS).
Zero Discrimination Day highlights how people can become informed about and
promote inclusion, compassion and peace. Zero Discrimination Day is helping to
create a global movement of solidarity to end all forms of discrimination.
Theme of Zero Discrimination Day 2020: Zero Discrimination Against Women And
Girls. The Day was launched by UNAIDS in 2014
Note: United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS) Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland; UNAIDS Executive Director: Winnie
Byanyima; UNAIDS Founded: 26 July 1994.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1.
Rafael Nadal Clinches 2020 Mexican Open: The 2020 Mexican Open professional
tennis tournament was held between 24 and 29 February 2020. The World Number 2
Rafael Nadal won the ATP Mexico Open 2020, defeating unseeded Taylor Fritz in
straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, in the final. This is his first title of the year and
85th ATP Tour title. In the women’s final, seventh-seeded Heather Watson
captured her first WTA title in three years by 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 win over Canadian
teen Leylah Fernandez. Winners List:
Men’s Single – Rafael Nadal (Spain)
defeated Taylor Fritz (USA)
Women’s Single – Heather Watson (UK)
defeated Leylah Annie Fernandez (Canada)
Men’s Double – Łukasz Kubot / Marcelo Melo
defeated Juan Sebastián Cabal / Robert Farah
Women’s Double – Desirae Krawczyk /
Giuliana Olmos defeated Kateryna Bondarenko / Sharon Fichman.
2.
Australia’s Steve Smith Dethrones Virat Kohli to Regain Top Spot in the latest
ICC Test rankings for batsmen: India’s Cricket team Captain Virat Kohli
slipped to No.2 position in the ICC (International Cricket Council) test
rankings for Test batsman with 906 points while Australia’s Steve Smith (911
points) leads Kohli by 5 points & topped the Batting Ranking. Other than
Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane (760), Cheteshwar Pujara (757) and Mayank Agarwal (727)
occupy the next 8th, 9th and 10th positions respectively.
In the Test Bowling Rankings, India's pace
spearhead Jasprit Bumrah climbed 4 spots to 7th after regaining form towards
the end of the Test series. The Test Bowling Rankings is being led by
Australia's Pat Cummins followed by New Zealand's Neil Wagner. Fast bowler Tim
Southee climbed 2 spots into the top 5 after emerging the highest wicket-taker
(14) in the 2-Test series against India.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
IRDAI forms committee to study the feasibility of allowing life insurers to
offer indemnity-based health insurance policies: Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed a 9 member
committee to study the feasibility of allowing life insurers to offer
indemnity-based health insurance policies. The committee is headed by Shri.
M.R. Kumar who is the Chairman of LIC.
Note: Indemnity-based health policies are
basically those insurance policies where the insured is reimbursed the actual
expense incurred during hospitalisation up to the total sum insured agreed
under the policy.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1. Nokia
announces Pekka Lundmark as its new President & CEO: Telecom maker
Nokia has announced that Pekka Lundmark has been named as the new President and
CEO of Nokia and will replace the present incumbent Rajeev Suri. He will take
charge from September 1, 2020 and will be based in Espoo, Finland. Pekka
Lundmark is currently President and CEO of Fortum, an energy company based in
Espoo, Finland. Rajeev Suri will leave his current position on August 31, 2020,
and continue to serve as an advisor to the Nokia board until January 1, 2021.
DEFENCE
1.
Explosive detection device RaIDer-X Co-developed by DRDO & IISc: A new explosive
detection device named RaIDer-X has recently been unveiled with the capability
to detect an explosive from a specific stand-off distance. The launch was done
during the National Workshop on Explosive Detection (NWED-2020) organised by
High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune on March 01, 2020.
RaIDer-X has been co-developed by HEMRL Pune, a premier laboratory of Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and Indian Institute of Science
(IISc) Bangalore. The new device will help the Indian security agencies to work
efficiently and safely to save people from anti-social elements.
Features of RaIDer-X: Detect explosive from
a specific stand-off distance, and inform the operator; Detect bulk explosives
located in a hidden place; Detect various explosives at a time in a pure form
as well as with contaminated objects; It is portable device that can be taken
to any place along with the military contingent.
Note: Chairman of Defence Research &
Development Organisation: G Satheesh Reddy; Headquarters: New Delhi;
Established: 1958.
OBITUARIES
1.
Former India hockey player Balbir Singh Kullar passes away: Former Indian
hockey player and Olympian Balbir Singh Kullar passed away. Kullar was part of
the Indian side which bagged a bronze medal in the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He was
born in the Sansarpur village of the Jalandhar district in 1942. He made his
India debut in 1963 in Lyon, France. Kullar was a member of the Indian team
that won the Asian Games gold in 1966 (Bangkok) and also won the Olympic Bronze
in 1968 (Mexico).
No comments:
Post a Comment