Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs Today 2nd to 4th February 2020. These are important for the upcoming Exams. Candidates who were preparing for the examination can use these current affairs and also you can download the same as PDF.
Current Affairs Today – 2nd to 4th February 2020
NEWS AT A GLANCE
- Indian Coast Guard has celebrated its raising day on 1 Feb.
- Celebrated annually on 2 February, World Wetlands Day aims to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and planet.The theme for 2020 WWD is “Wetlands and Biodiversity”.
- World Cancer Day is being observed globally on 4th February. Theme: I am I will
- In a first of its kind initiative in the country, Bihar’s Home Guard wing of armed police force, in association with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), jointly constituted a Special Security Team (SST) with 440 specially trained Home Guard jawans in Bihar.
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that union government plans to sell a partial stake in LIC through IPO or an initial public offer.
- Paytm has launched an Android POS device for small and medium businesses (SMEs) & merchant partners.
- The Union Government has set up a task force which has a target to restrict the Novel Coronavirus in India.
- The union government set a target of union next three years to electrify the tracks of Indian Railways completely.
- Union budget proposed to enable private firms to build data center parks could help India become a major global data center, but only with a supportive policy and infrastructure framework.
- 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).
- Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates the Hubbali-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Karnataka.
- Indian Railways Demands Setting Up Pension Fund To Deal With Rs 50,000 Crore Burden.
- President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will visit Telangana on February 1 and 2, 2020 to inaugurate the new global headquarters Kanha Shanti Vanam of Shri Ram Chandra Mission in Rangareddy District on February 2, 2020.
- The union government proposes a single exam for all government jobs. In the budget 2020, presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the union government intends to introduce major reforms in recruitment to non-gazetted posts in governments and public sector banks.
- Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani presented the award to Madhya Pradesh Minister for Women and Child Development Imarti Devi and Principal Secretary Anupam Rajan for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
- Andhra Pradesh Government has initiated a doorstep pension delivery scheme across the state, under which, various welfare pensions is being delivered at the doorstep of the pensioners.
- Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the Ekushey Book fair.
- Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi appointed as the Iraq President Barham Salih.
- USA declared a public health emergency over the spread of the coronavirus.
- Maldives has returned to Commonwealth after its exit in 2016 and hence, has become the 54th member of the global body.
- Sri Lanka has topped a new survey conducted by the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi).
- India and Maldives signed five MoUs for establishing the Addu Tourism zone in five islands of Addu atoll at a cost of 2.49 million dollars.
- State-owned electricity producer NTPC Ltd today announced it had signed a 750 million dollar syndicated loan in Japanese Yen.
- Ajay Bisaria has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada
- The Government of India appointed M Ajit Kumar IRS (C&CE 84) as chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
- Abidali Z Neemuchwala has quit as the chief executive officer and managing director of Wipro, the IT services company.
- Seasoned diplomat Gopal Baglay was appointed India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
- Pramod Agrawal assumed charge as the new chairman and managing director of Coal India
- The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the appointment of Madan Lal, Rudra Pratap Singh and Sulakshana Naik as Cricket Advisory Committee(CAC).
- Amitabh Bhatt has taken over as Chief Executive Officer of Bengaluru-headquartered safeguard PSU, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s Bangalore Complex.
- Novak Djokovic from Serbia inched closer to Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer from Switzerland on the list of male tennis players with most Grand Slam titles after capturing a record-extending 8th title at Australian Open.
- Olympian Ayonika Paul won the women’s 10m Air Rifle T1 event Vijayveer Sidhu won the men’s 25m Pistol T2 event in the National Shooting trials at Thiruvananthapuram.
- India will meet Pakistan in the first semi-final round in the U-19 World Cup.
- The Indian Navy conducts a coastal security exercise named ‘Malta Abhiyan’ in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- Noted yesteryear actor Waheeda Rehman will be conferred the Madhya Pradesh government’s National Kishore Kumar Samman.
- Noted Hindi poet-novelist and Sahitya Akademi honouree Vinod Kumar Shukla has bagged the inaugural Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award for his translated book “Blue Is Like Blue“.
- The Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das has been named the ‘Central Banker of the Year 2020’ for the Asia-Pacific region by financial intelligence magazine The Banker.
- Saima Yunus Khan, Chairperson, Department of Pediatrics and Preventive Dentistry, Dr. Z A Dental College (ZADC), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) achieved a model accomplishment as she turned into the main Indian to consult with the esteemed IADR Fellowship in the field of dental research, an announcement from the university.
- Noted Punjabi novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana passed away after a brief illness.
- Renowned Odia poet Rabi Singh passed away.
NEWS IN DETAILS
IMPORTANT DAYS AND THEMES
Indian Coast Guard celebrated its Foundation Day
- Indian Coast Guard has celebrated its raising day on 1 Feb.
- ICG is an armed force that protects India’s maritime interests and enforces maritime law, with jurisdiction over the territorial waters of India, including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone.
- The Coast Guard came into being in 1977.
- It operates under Ministry of Defence.
- It works in close cooperation with the Indian Navy, and the Department of Fisheries.
Extra Shots:
ICG: The Indian Coast Guard is an armed force that protects India’s maritime interests and enforces maritime law, with jurisdiction over the territorial waters of India, including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone.
- Motto: वयम् रक्षामः (Sanskrit); Vayam Rakṣāmaḥ (IAST); We protect (English)
- Director General: Krishnaswamy Natrajan
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Additional Director General: Krupa Ram Nautiyal
- Founder: Parliament of India
- Founded: 18 August 1978
World Wetlands Day observed on 2nd Feb
- Celebrated annually on 2 February, World Wetlands Day aims to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and planet.
- The Day also marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
- The theme for 2020 WWD is “Wetlands and Biodiversity”.
World Cancer Day observed globally on 4 February
- World Cancer Day is being observed globally on 4th February.
- The Day aims to create awareness about cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally.
- World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that cancer cases will rise by 81% in low and middle-income countries by 2040 because of a lack of investment in prevention and care.
- Theme: I am I will
- ‘I Am and I Will’ is an empowering call-to-action urging for personal commitment and represents the power of individual action taken now to impact the future.
BANKING AND FINANCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Country’s first special security team for RBI currency chests in Bihar
- In a first of its kind initiative in the country, Bihar’s Home Guard wing of armed police force, in association with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), jointly constituted a Special Security Team (SST) with 440 specially trained Home Guard jawans in Bihar.
- The trained cops of this Special Security Team would be deputed for the safety of RBI’s currency chests within Bihar’s 16 more or less extremist activity-affected districts.
- Director General (DG) of Bihar’s Home Guard Rakesh Kumar Mishra accompanied by deputy general manager (security) of RBI Prashant Kumar Dayal, flagged off the first batch of 440 specially trained HG jawans in different districts.
- An integrated security duty is being developed with RBI for the currency chest security by trained jawans of HM.
Extra Shots:
RBI: The Reserve Bank of India is India’s central banking institution, which controls the issuance and supply of the Indian rupee.
- Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Governor: Shaktikanta Das
- Deputy Governors: B P Kanungo, M K Jain, N S Vishwanathan, Michael Debaprata Patra
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
Union Govt plans to raise funds through LIC IPO
- Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that union government plans to sell a partial stake in LIC through IPO or an initial public offer.
- The union budget she proposed that the government will sell its stake in IDBI Bank to private investors and also amend the Banking Regulation Act to strengthen co-op banks.
- The finance minister that the deposit insurance coverage against bank failure will be increased to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh.
- She proposed to expand exchange-traded funds by floating a Debt ETF, consisting primarily of government securities.
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LIC: Life Insurance Corporation of India is an Indian state-owned insurance group and investment corporation owned by the Government of India. The Life Insurance Corporation of India was founded in 1956 when the Parliament of India passed the Life Insurance of India Act that nationalised the insurance industry in India.
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Owner: Government of India (100%)
- Founder: Government of India
- Founded: 1 September 1956
Paytm launches Android POS device for SMEs & merchant partners
- Paytm has launched an Android POS device for small and medium businesses (SMEs) & merchant partners.
- The android based device will enable the merchants to accept payments in various ways like debit and credit cards, Paytm Wallet, UPI-based apps and cash.
- The device provides the merchants with the facility of producing GST compliant bills, to manage transactions and settlements through ‘Paytm for Business’ app.
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Paytym: Paytm is an Indian e-commerce payment system and financial technology company, based out of Noida, India.
- Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
- Founded: August 2010
- CEO: Renu Satti
- Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Parent organization: One97 Communications
NATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Union Government sets up task force to restrict Novel Coronavirus
- The Union Government has set up a task force which has a target to restrict the Novel Coronavirus in India.
- The task force consists of Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
- The task has a prime aim of stopping the Novel Coronavirus outspread in India.
Union Government plans to electrify all railway tracks in next three years
- The union government set a target of union next three years to electrify the tracks of Indian Railways completely.
- Union Ministry of Finance announced this after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her second budget on 1 February.
- Indian Railways aim to achieve the full electrification of its tracks in the next three years.
- Indian railways about 18 billion units of electricity and 3,069.30 tonne kilolitres of diesel for its traction need.
Extra Shots:
Indian Railways is India’s national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways. It manages the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, with a route length of 67,368-kilometre as of March 2017.
- Customer service: 139
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Founded: 16 April 1853, India
India becomes a global data centre
- Union budget proposed to enable private firms to build data center parks could help India become a major global data center, but only with a supportive policy and infrastructure framework.
- Currently, there is no large-scale foreign investment in data centers in the country.
- There is a policy or framework right now on how these global data centers hubs can be created in India.
- The union government has a clear cut policy around it, India could essentially become a data center hub for global enterprises.
- The global data center market is expected to grow by $284.44 billion during 2019-23, according to market researcher Technavio.
- The budget proposal follows the requirement for data localization for most companies under the Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill 2019, expected to be made into law soon.
- The data localization is the only driving principle for the data center policy, as such parks can generate business worth billions of dollars each year.
India’s biggest rural technical festival Antahpragnya 2020
- 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).
- Rural areas cannot afford to miss the development bus. Most of the developments in the two lakh years have taken place in the last century.
- The fest showcases 300 prototypes, working models, exhibits and technologies such as automatic switch for water, homemade electricity, smoke absorber, automatic street lighting system, smart dustbins, zero budget farming, automatic irrigation and others.
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Telangana:
- Capital: Hyderabad
- Chief Minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao
- Governor: Tamilisai Soundararajan
Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates Hubbali-Dharwad BRT project
- Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates the Hubbali-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Karnataka.
- The exponential increase in the number of vehicles plying on roads every ear has resulted in worsening air quality indices and is adversely affecting people’s health.
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Hubbali-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project
- A proposed BRTS project is built to serve the twin cities of Hubli and Dharwad, located in the North-Western part of Karnataka state in India. Hubli is known as the Commercial center and business hub of the region, and Dharwad is an Administrative seat of the District and Educational hub of the area.
Hubli-Dharwad BRTS Company Limited
- BRTSCO is a BRT Corridor with a length of 22.25 km, originates from Hubli CBT, and ends at Dharwad CBT. It is planned to extend the corridor to Agricultural University, Dharwad.
Indian Railways Demands Setting Up Pension Fund To Deal With Rs 50,000 Crore Burden
- Indian Railways Demands Setting Up Pension Fund To Deal With Rs 50,000 Crore Burden.
- Rs 50,000 crore outgo as pension to more than 15.5 lakh former railway employees, the railways asked the Finance Ministry to set up the pension fund.
- About 25 percent of the railway’s earnings go into paying the pensions to the former railway employees. Amount shoots over Rs 50,000 crore.
Extra Shots:
Indian Railways is India’s national railway system operated by the Ministry of Railways. It manages the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, with a route length of 67,368-kilometre as of March 2017.
- Customer service: 139
- Headquarters: New Delhi
- Founded: 16 April 1853, India
President of India to inaugurate New Global Headquarters of Ram Chanda Mission
- President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will visit Telangana on February 1 and 2, 2020 to inaugurate the new global headquarters Kanha Shanti Vanam of Shri Ram Chandra Mission in Rangareddy District on February 2, 2020.
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Kanha Shanti Vanam
- Kanha Shanti Vanam is the global headquarters of the Heartfulness Institute. It is a spiritual retreat center or Ashram spread across in a sprawling 1,400-acre campus. It is located in Kanha village, near Chegur village of Ranga Reddy district, about 50 km from Hyderabad, India. The retreat center is still under construction set to inaugurate in Feb 2020.
Central Government Proposes Single Exam For All Government Jobs
- The union government proposes a single exam for all government jobs. In the budget 2020, presented by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the union government intends to introduce major reforms in recruitment to non-gazetted posts in governments and public sector banks.
- At present, candidates appear for various exams held under the discretion of the recruiting organization or exam agencies like UPSC and SSC.the government proposes to form a National Recruitment Agency which would also be referred to as NRA.
- The NRA will be an independent, professional, specialist organization and will conduct an exam, which would be known as the Common Eligibility Test, for selection to government jobs.
STATE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Madhya Pradesh wins award for implementation of PMMVY
- Union Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani presented the award to Madhya Pradesh Minister for Women and Child Development Imarti Devi and Principal Secretary Anupam Rajan for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
- The state has bagged the first position for the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.
- In Madhya Pradesh, more than 14,55,000 beneficiaries have subscribed to the Pradhan Mantri Matra Vandana Yojana.
- Among the districts, Indore was ranked at first place for better performance of the scheme.
Extra Shots
Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana
Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana is a maternity benefit program run by the government of India. It was introduced in 2016. It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years
- Launch year: 2010
Madhya Pradesh:
- Capital: Bhopal
- Chief Minister: Kamal Nath
- Governor: Lalji Tandon
- National Park: Bandhavgarh NP, Fossil NP, Kanha NP, Madhav NP, Panna NP, Pench NP, Sanjay NP, Satpura NP
Andhra govt launches doorstep pension distribution scheme
- Andhra Pradesh Government has initiated a doorstep pension delivery scheme across the state, under which, various welfare pensions is being delivered at the doorstep of the pensioners.
- “YSR Pension Kanuka” initiative to end the struggles of old people who find it difficult to go to the pension office.
- Also, the age for old age pensioners (OAP) has been reduced from 65 to 60 years. With the increase in the pensioners, the list of beneficiaries has gone up to 54.64 lakh this year.
- The Disabled Pensions (DP) will be Rs 3,000 per month, while the CKDU/Dialysis Pensions will receive Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 per month.
- The volunteers equipped with smartphones and with biometric information of the beneficiaries will deliver the pension at the doorsteps for greater transparency.
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Andhra Pradesh:
- Capital: Amravati
- Chief Minister: Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy
- Governor: Biswabhusan Harichandan
- State Formed in: 1 November 1956
- Literacy Rate: 67.4 %
- National Park: Sri Venkateswara National Park, Sri Venkateswara National Park, Papikonda National Park
INTERNATIONAL CURRENT AFFAIRS
Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina inaugurates “Ekushey Book Fair”
- Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the Ekushey Book fair.
- The Ekushey Book fair has been organised at Bangla Academy premises in Dhaka.
- The book fair is annually celebrated to commemorate the martyrs of the language movement which helped in establishing Bangla as the official language of the then East Pakistan.
- The book fair aims to publicize the art, culture and literature of Bangladesh across the globe.
- The Ekushey Book Fair is the longest and biggest book fair of Bangladesh.
- During the event, the Bangla Academy literary award 2019 were presented by the Bangladesh’s Prime Minister to ten eminent poets and writers.
- The cover of a book ‘Amar Dekha Naya Chin’- The New China as I saw, was also unveiled during the event.
- The book is authored by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
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Bangladesh (Capital/Currency): Dhaka/Taka
- Prime Minister: Sheikh Hasina
Mohammed Allawi named as Iraq Prime Minister
- Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi appointed as the Iraq President Barham Salih.
- His predecessor Adel Abdul Mahdi resigned in November anti-government demonstrations.
- He studied and worked in Lebanon and the UK before entering Iraqi politics following the 2003 invasion.
- He served as minister of communications twice.
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Iraq (Capital/Currency): Baghdad/ Iraqi dinar
- Prime Minister: Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi
USA declares public health emergency over spread of coronavirus
- USA declared a public health emergency over the spread of the coronavirus. Foreign nationals who have visited China in the past two weeks.
- US citizens returning from Hubei province, where the outbreak started, will be quarantined for 14 days.
- World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency over the new virus.
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USA (Capital/Currency): Washington, D.C./ United States Dollar
- President: Donald Trump
- Official languages: English
Maldives becomes 54th member of the Commonwealth
- Maldives has returned to Commonwealth after its exit in 2016 and hence, has become the 54th member of the global body.
- The inclusion of Maldives into Commonwealth become effective from one minute past midnight on 1 February just after the exit of United Kingdom from the European union.
- The Commonwealth secretary general Patricia Scotland announced the rejoining of Maldives in the Commonwealth after ensuring Maldives’ alignment with the values and principles of the Commonwealth and the consultations with the other Commonwealth nations for Maldives’ readmission.
- Maldives became a member of the Commonwealth for the first time in 1982.
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Maldives (Capital/Currency): Male/ Maldivian rufiyaa
- President: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
RANKS AND INDICES
Sri Lanka tops in Breast Feeding support Policies and Programs
- Sri Lanka has topped a new survey conducted by the World Breastfeeding Trends Initiative (WBTi).
- The survey was conducted on “Breast Feeding support Policies and Programs”.
- The island country has been placed on top of the chart among 97 countries globally.
- Sri Lanka has received the green color code after scoring 91 points out of 100. With the green color code, Sri Lanka has become the first country to achieve the “Green” nation status in supporting breastfeeding women.
- As per records of 2019, Sri Lanka has scored green code in 7 out of 10 indicators, blue code in 2 indicators and yellow code in one indicator.
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Sri Lanka(Capitals/Currency): Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte/Sri Lankan rupee.
- Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe
- President: Maithripala Sirisena
AGREEMENTS AND MOU SIGNED
India, Maldives sign five MoUs for establishing Addu Tourism zone
- India and Maldives signed 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 Sunjay Sudhir, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and Addu City Council.
- A 6th MoU to set up a bottled water plant in Hoarafushi was also signed. All six projects are grant projects falling under India’s High Impact Community Development Scheme (HICDP).
- These projects are driven by the needs of communities on the islands.
Extra Shots:
Maldives (Capital/Currency): Male/ Maldivian rufiyaa
- President: Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
NTPC signs 750 Million Dollar Worth of the Largest Single Foreign Currency Loan Ever
- State-owned electricity producer NTPC Ltd today announced it had signed a 750 million dollar syndicated loan in Japanese Yen.
- The proceeds will channelize to fund programs to reduce emissions from power plants and hydro projects.
- The loan was issued under the automatic route of the External Commercial Borrowing Regulations of Reserve Bank of India and had an 11-year door-to-door maturity under two tranches.
Extra Shots:
NTPC: NTPC Limited, formerly known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited, is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking, engaged in the business of generation of electricity and allied activities. It is a company incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 and is promoted by the Government of India.
- Founded: 1975
- Headquarters: New Delhi, India
- Owner: Government of India
APPOINTMENT
Ajay Bisaria becomes India’s next Ambassador to Canada
- Ajay Bisaria has been appointed as the next High Commissioner of India to Canada. He is presently served as High Commissioner of India to Pakistan.
- He will replace Vikas Swarup. Vikas Swarup is now secretary (West) at the Ministry of external affairs.
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Canada (Capital/Currency): Ottawa/Dollar
- Prime Minister: Justin Trudeau
M Ajith Kumar IRS appointed as new CBIC Chairman
- The Government of India appointed M Ajit Kumar IRS (C&CE 84) as chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
- The new Chairman’s immediate responsibilities will include accelerating the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues and to deal with the changes introduced in customs duties in the Union Budget for 2020.
Extra Shots:
CBIC: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs is the nodal national agency responsible for administering Customs, GST, Central Excise, Service Tax & Narcotics in India.
- Chairperson: Pranab Kumar Das
- Elected officer responsible: Smt.Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister of India
- Founded: 1 January 1964
- Governing body: Government of India
- Subsidiary: Directorate of Revenue Intelligence
- Headquarters: Ministry of Finance, Secretariat Building, Delhi, New Delhi, India
Abidali Neemuchwala quits as Wipro CEO and MD
- Abidali Z Neemuchwala has quit as the chief executive officer and managing director of Wipro, the IT services company.
- Neemuchwala is leaving due to “family commitments” and will continue to hold office until a successor is appointed.
Extra Shots:
Wipro is an Indian multinational corporation that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. It is headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. In 2013, Wipro separated its non-IT businesses and formed the privately owned Wipro Enterprises
- CEO: Abidali Neemuchwala
- Founder: M.H. Hasham Premji
- Owner: Azim Premji
Gopal Baglay appointed Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka
- Seasoned diplomat Gopal Baglay was appointed India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
- 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. Baglay is currently serving at the Prime Minister’s Office.
- Baglay has held many key positions including spokesperson of the MEA and Deputy High Commissioner of India to Pakistan.
- He had also handled the sensitive PAI (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) division in the MEA.
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Sri Lanka(Capitals/Currency): Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte/Sri Lankan rupee.
- Prime minister: Ranil Wickremesinghe
- President: Maithripala Sirisena
Pramod Agrawal takes over as Coal India chairman
- Pramod Agrawal assumed charge as the new chairman and managing director of Coal India
- Prior to this appointment, Agrawal, a 1991 batch IAS officer, was principal secretary for departments of technical education, skill development and labour of the Madhya Pradesh
- He also served as principal secretary for urban development and housing department in Madhya Pradesh.
- He took over after A K Jha retired as the CIL chairman on January 31.
- The state-run miner had a target to produce 660 million tonnes of coal in 2019-20 as against 607 million tonnes produced in the last fiscal.
- In January, the miner posted an over 10 per cent on- year growth in production.
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Coal India Limited is an Indian state-owned coal mining and refinery company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, India and the largest coal-producing company in the world and a Maharatna company. The company contributes to around 82% of the coal production in India.
- Headquarters: Kolkata
- CEO: Anil Kumar Jha
- Director: Anil Kumar Jha
BCCI constitutes 3-members in Cricket Advisory Committee
- The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the appointment of Madan Lal, Rudra Pratap Singh and Sulakshana Naik as Cricket Advisory Committee(CAC).
- Madan Lal, the member of the 1983 World Cup-winning team, represented India in 39 Tests and 67 ODIs.
- He was a National selector and also served as coach of the national side.
- P. Singh played for India in 14 Tests, 58 ODIs, 10 T20Is and was part of the Indian team which won the World T20 in South Africa in 2007.
- Sulakshana played two Tests, 46 ODIs and 31 T20Is for India in a career spanning 11 years.
Extra Shots:
BCCI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India is the national governing body for cricket in India. The board was formed in December 1928 as a society, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act.
- Secretary: Jay Shah
- CEO: Rahul Johri
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Abbreviation: BCCI
- Vice president(s): Mahim Verma
- Presidents: C.K. Khanna, Sourav Ganguly
Amitabh Bhatt the New CEO (Bangalore Complex) at HAL
- Amitabh Bhatt has taken over as Chief Executive Officer of Bengaluru-headquartered safeguard PSU, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s Bangalore Complex.
- Prior, he was serving as Executive Director of Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) venture in HAL.
- Bhatt is a Post Graduate in Management and earlier served in SKF India Limited for a long time before joining Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
- With his 32 years of expert involvement with HAL, he led showcasing, arranging, and ventures.
Extra Shots:
HAL: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is governed under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence.
- Headquarters: Bengaluru
- Founder: Walchand Hirachand
SPORTS CURRENT AFFAIRS
Serbia’s Novak Djokovic Wins Australian Open 2020
- Novak Djokovic from Serbia inched closer to Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer from Switzerland on the list of male tennis players with most Grand Slam titles after capturing a record-extending 8th title at Australian Open.
- Novak Djokovic has become only the 3rd man to win at least 8 titles.
- Novak Djokovic beat Austrian Dominic Thiem in five sets to successfully defend his Australian Open men’s singles title in Melbourne, Australia.
Ayonika Paul won the women’s 10m Air Rifle T1 event
- Olympian Ayonika Paul won the women’s 10m Air Rifle T1 event Vijayveer Sidhu won the men’s 25m Pistol T2 event in the National Shooting trials at Thiruvananthapuram.
- She came to a quality eight-woman field, which had the likes of Tokyo 2020 quota holders Apurvi Chandela and Anjum Moudgil among competitors.
- Registered a score of 252.0.
- Her effort just 0.9 behind Apurvi’s world record of 252.9.
- Apurvi came third with a rating of 229.8
Fancied India meet Pakistan in First Semifinal in U-19 World Cup
- India will meet Pakistan in the first semi-final round in the U-19 World Cup.
- India, who are the Continuous Winner of the U-19 World Cup, delivered on Pakistan a 203-run pounding in the last version in 2018.
- Four-time champions India will back themselves to arrive at their third progressive last at the Under-19 World Cup when they face most despised opponents Pakistan.
- The two groups go into the semi-final round unbeaten.
- While India beat Australia in the quarterfinals, Pakistan defeated Afghanistan.
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Pakistan (Capital/Currency): Islamabad/Pakistani Rupee
- Prime Minister: Imran Khan
- President: Arif Alvi
DEFENCE CURRENT AFFAIRS
Coastal Security Exercise ‘Matla Abhiyaan’ conducted by Indian Navy
- The Indian Navy conducts a coastal security exercise named ‘Malta Abhiyan’ in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- The exercise, named after Malta River, aims to interact with coastal communities to spread awareness on coastal security and understand the navigational complexities in the Sunderban deltaic waters.
- Under the exercise, two naval boats were flagged off to move along the river Malta in the Sundarbans region up to Hemnagar.
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The Indian Navy is the naval branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy.
- Vice Chief of the Naval Staff (VCNS): Vice Admiral G Ashok Kumar, AVSM, VSM
- Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS): Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM, AVSM
- Deputy Chief of the Naval Staff (DCNS): Vice Admiral M. S. Pawar, AVSM, VSM
- Garrison/HQ: Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy)
- Founded: 5 September 1612
- Roles: Naval warfare, Power projection, Sealift, Massive retaliation
AWARDS
Waheeda Rehman to be conferred MP govt’s Kishore Kumar Samman
- Noted yesteryear actor Waheeda Rehman will be conferred the Madhya Pradesh government’s National Kishore Kumar Samman.
- Rehman, one of Hindi film industry’s most successful leading ladies with a string of box office hits and several awards.
- The award, which carries a Rs 2 lakh cash prize and citation, could not be given to Rehman during a function held in October last year as the actor was unwell.
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Madhya Pradesh:
- Capital: Bhopal
- Chief Minister: Kamal Nath
- Governor: Lalji Tandon
- National Park: Bandhavgarh NP, Fossil NP, Kanha NP, Madhav NP, Panna NP, Pench NP, Sanjay NP, Satpura NP
Vinod Shukla bags first Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award
- Noted Hindi poet-novelist and Sahitya Akademi honouree Vinod Kumar Shukla has bagged the inaugural Mathrubhumi Book of the Year award for his translated book “Blue Is Like Blue“.
- The stories in “Blue Is Like Blue”, translated into English by Arvind Krishna Mehrotra and Sara Rai, deal with common people and their daily struggles.
- His book, published under HarperCollins.
- This year’s jury comprised Shashi Tharoor, Chandrashekhara Kambara and Sumana Roy.
Shaktikanta Das named best central banker in Asia Pacific
- The Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das has been named the ‘Central Banker of the Year 2020’ for the Asia-Pacific region by financial intelligence magazine The Banker.
- He won the accolade for bringing in measures to tighten the rules around NBFCs and the award is presented to the bankers who have “best managed to stimulate growth and stabilise their economy,” according to The Banker.
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RBI: The Reserve Bank of India is India’s central banking institution, which controls the issuance and supply of the Indian rupee.
- Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata
- Headquarters: Mumbai
- Governor: Shaktikanta Das
- Deputy Governors: B P Kanungo, M K Jain, N S Vishwanathan, Michael Debaprata Patra
AMU Faculty becomes First Indian to receive a Fellowship from IADR
- Saima Yunus Khan, Chairperson, Department of Pediatrics and Preventive Dentistry, Dr. Z A Dental College (ZADC), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) achieved a model accomplishment as she turned into the main Indian to consult with the esteemed IADR Fellowship in the field of dental research, an announcement from the university.
- The International Association of Dental Research (IADR) John Clarkson Fellowship granted to get preparing and involvement with general dental wellbeing at the Children’s Hospital Research Institute of the University of Manitoba, Canada, for a time of five months.
OBITUARIES
Punjabi novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana passes away
- Noted Punjabi novelist Dalip Kaur Tiwana passed away after a brief illness.
- She was 84.
- Known for ”Teeli da Nishaan” and ”Sooraj te Samandar”, Tiwana was also a former president of the Punjabi Sahit Akademi.
- She won Padma Shri in 2004 for literature and education.
Veteran Odia poet Rabi Singh passes away
- Renowned Odia poet Rabi Singh passed away. He was 89.
- The revolutionary poet had received many awards for his contribution to Odia literature.
- He received Atibadi Jagannath Das Samman in the year 2017.
”Patha Prantara Kabita”, ”Charama Patra”, ”Lal Pagoda ra Preta O Anya Kabita”, ”Bhrukuti”, ”Bidirna”, ”Padatika”, ”Apritikara Kabita”, ”Bishabani”, ”Durgama Giri”, ”Jhada”, ”Sarbahara” and ”Banya” were some of the collections of his poetry.
