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Current Affairs 21 February 2020

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Lays Foundation Stone of Thal Sena Bhawan at Delhi Cantt

The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone of Thal Sena Bhavan at Delhi Cantonment, opposite the Manekshaw Centre, on 21 February 2020.
The Thal Sena Bhavan is the new headquarter of the Indian Army and will bring all Army HQ offices under one roof, including newly created Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) office.
Currently, Indian Army works from eight different locations in the Capital, such as South Block, Sena Bhawan, Hutments Area, RK Puram, Shankar Vihar and other places.
Spread over an area of 39 acres, the project is likely to be constructed in five years.

Cabinet Approves Phase II of Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) at Rs 52,497 crore From 2020-2025

The Centre has approved the second phase of Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural), which will be implemented on a mission mode between 2020-21 and 2024-25.
An estimated budget of Rs 52,497 crore has been allocated for the project, to be shared between the centre and the state.
The Phase II will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and solid and liquid waste management (SLWM).
Fund sharing pattern between the Centre and States will be respectively as given below:
- 90:10 for North-Eastern States and Himalayan States and UT of J&K
- 60:40 for other States
- 100:0 for other Union Territories

Union Cabinet Approves Constitution of 22nd Law Commission of India

The Union Cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the 22nd Law Commission of India for a period of three years, from its date of official constitution.
The Commission will consist of maximum 10 members including one 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.
Role and Responsibility of the Law Commission
- Undertake research in law and review of existing laws in India for making reforms therein and enacting new legislations.

Indian Railways Constructs Country’s Tallest Pier Bridge in Manipur

The Northeast Frontier (NF) Railway Construction Organisation is constructing India’s tallest ever Pier Bridge in Manipur.
The 100 metre tall bridge is being constructed across river Makru in Tamenglong District of Manipur.
The total cost of the 555 metre-long bridge is approximately Rs.283.5 Crores.
The Bridge is a part of 111 km Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal new broad gauge line project of Indian Railways.
The project has total 47 tunnels. The longest tunnel is Tunnel No. 12 with a length of 10.280 Km. It will be the longest railway tunnel in the Northeast.

Third Edition of Chitra Bharati Film Festival organised in Ahmedabad

The third edition of the Chitra Bharati Film Festival (CBFF) will be inaugurated at the Gujarat University in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 21 February 2020 by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Bollywood filmmaker Subhash Ghai.
The three day festival will conclude on 23 February 2020.
Around 140 films falling under four categories, namely short film, documentary, animation and campus film, will be screened at the festival.
The aim of this film festival is to establish a ‘Bharatiya’ narrative in Indian cinema.
The first edition of the festival was held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, in 2016, and the second at Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium in 2018.

First-Ever Bharat-Bangla Paryatan Utsav Organised in Tripura to Promote Tourism

The first-ever 2 days long Bharat-Bangla Paryatan Utsav (Tourism Festival) was inaugurated in Agartala, Tripura on 20 February 2020 by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, to boost the Tripura tourism sector.
The festival was organized by Department of Tourism, Government of Tripura in memories of the contribution of Tripura in 1971 Bangladesh liberation war.

India will switch to world’s cleanest petrol, diesel from 1 April 2020

India is all set to switch to the world’s cleanest petrol and diesel from 1st April 2020, as it will move to Bharat Stage VI-compliant fuel from the current BS-IV grades.
This will make India join the select league of nations using petrol and diesel containing just 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur, whose emission standards are as good as CNG.
Also, India will be the first nation to achieve this feat in just three years which neither of any other large economies around the globe have done in such short time.
India adopted the BS-IV equivalent fuel in 2017, that had a sulphur content of 50 ppm. Shifting from BS-IV to BS-VI, it took just three years.

3350 Tonne Gold Mine Discovered in UP’s Sonbhadra District, 5 Times That of India’s Reserves: GSI

The Geological Survey of India and the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining have discovered two goldmines with around 3,350 tonne gold ore in the Naxalite-affected Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
This gold deposits is around five times the current gold reserves of India, which is around 626 tonne, and estimated at Rs 12 lakh crore.
The Gold deposits have been found at two places namely Sonpahadi and Hardi field.
The estimated gold deposits at Sonpahadi is 2,943.26 tonnes, while 646.15 kilograms in Hardi field.

Indian Railways Launches HRMS Mobile App for its Employees

In order to bring transparency in the administrative functioning of the Indian Railways, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman of Railway Board has launched HRMS Mobile App, for all the employees of Indian Railways.
The HRMS Employee Mobile App has been designed and developed by Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS).
It will act as a single window communication system between Railway employees and Administration.
The app will enable the employees to see data related to their service as well as communicate with administration for any changes, if required.

CSIR Top Scientific Research Institute in Nature Rankings Index 2020

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has ranked first in the Nature Ranking Index-2020.
The ranking is based on the Nature Index, a database complied by science journal Nature Research.
The institutes are ranked based on total research output which the institutions have carried out from 1 December 2018 to 30 November 2019.
The total research output indicates the counts (which mean total citations in numbers) and shares (which mean the sharing percentage per article).
The top subjects associated with the research work include: Earth and Environmental Sciences, Physical Science, Chemistry, and Life Sciences.
Top 5 institute in the index
1. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
2. Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore,
3. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR-Mumbai)
4. Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI)
5. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-Bombay)

Pakistan Successfully Conducts Testing of Nuclear-Capable Air-launched Cruise Missile Ra’ad-II

The Pakistan Armed Forces conducted a successful flight test of the air-launched nuclear-capable cruise missile Ra’ad-II on recently to boost the military’s “deterrence capability” on land and at sea.
The strike range of the cruise missile is 600 km.
The Ra’ad-II weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance and navigation systems to ensure engagement of targets with high precision.

USD 10bn Jeff Bezos Earth Fund Launched to fight climate change

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced the launch of a $10 billion fund named ‘Bezos Earth Fund’ to combat the effects of climate change.
Bezos Earth Fund will be used to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet.
This global initiative will provide fund to scientists, activists, NGOs or any such effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world.

RBI Approves Appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as MD and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as Managing Director and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank.
Currently Gurbaxani is working with Axis Bank.
Sunil Gurbaxani will be appointed for a period of three years from the date of taking charge.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw wins EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2019

Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon, has been named as the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2019 on 19 February 2020, at the 21st edition of the EY Entrepreneur of The Year India awards.
She will now represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year Award (WEOY) in Monte Carlo from 4–6 June 2020.
Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Winners were also announced over nine other Categories for the Entrepreneur Of The Year Program.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar Steps Down, to Remain in Caretaker Capacity

The Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar has tendered his resignation on 20 February to President Michael Higgins.
However, Leo Varadkar and his government will continue to carry on their duties until successors have been appointed.
Varadkar is Ireland’s first openly gay leader, as well as the youngest person to hold the office at 38 years age.

PV Sindhu & Saurabh Chaudhary Wins ESPN Sportsperson of the Year 2019 Award

The ESPN.in Awards are the annual award to recognise the best individual and team performances in Indian sport on a calendar-year basis expect Cricket.
Cricket is already covered by ESPNcricinfo’s annual awards, and so is not included in these awards.
World Champion shuttler P V Sindhu has won the ESPN’s Female Sportsperson of the Year award for a third consecutive time.
Young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the honour in the male category.
ESPN Multi-Sport Awards recognized achievements across 10 categories.

List of Winners

Lifetime Achievement award: Balbir Singh Sr. (Hockey)
Sportsperson of the Year (Female): PV Sindhu (Badminton)
Sportsperson of the Year (Male): Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting)
Comeback of the Year: Koneru Humpy (Chess)
Emerging Sportsperson of the Year: Deepak Punia (Wrestler)
Coach of the Year: Pullela Gopichand (Badminton)
Team of the Year: Manu Bhaker-Saurabh Chaudhary (Shooting)
Differently-abled Athlete of the Year: Manasi Joshi (Badminton)
Moment of the Year: PV Sindhu’s World Championships final win
The Courage award: Dutee Chand (Athletics)

Pragyan Ojha Announces Retirement from International and First-class Cricket

Slow left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has announced his retirement from international and domestic cricket with immediate effect on 21 February 2020.
The 33-year-old has played 24 Tests, 18 ODIs and 6 T20Is for India between 2008 and 2013.
He last played for India in 2013 during Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell Test against the West Indies in Mumbai.

International Mother Language Day: February 21

The International Mother Language Day (IMLD) is held annually on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and to promote multilingualism.
The day was first announced by UNESCO on 17 November 1999 and was formally recognized by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2002.
The 2020 theme is “Languages without borders”.

Leading Industrialist & Former FICCI President V L Dutt Passes Away

The former chief of FICCI, leading industrialist and Executive Chairman of KCP Ltd, Dr VL Dutt, has passed away.
Dr Dutt was the President of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) during 1991-92.
KCP Ltd is a Chennai-based conglomerate with major interests in heavy engineering, cement , sugar and power generation.

Computer scientist Larry Tesler who invented ‘cut-copy-paste’ command passes away at 74

Larry Tesler, a pioneering US computer scientist known for inventing the widely relied on “cut, copy and paste” command has passed away. He was 74.
He is also credited for inventing find & replace command among others.
Tesler had worked at Xerox PARC, Apple, Amazon, and Yahoo!

Daily Current Affairs – 21 February 2020