♦ Ministry of Textiles and Government of India launched 'Artisan Speak'  at Elephanta Caves (UNESCO heritage site)

♦ The Aim is to strengthen the handlooms and textiles sector of India.

♦ It is organized by the Ministry of Textiles, in partnership with Reliance.

♦ The event has been held to showcase the GI Textiles of India, through a confluence of fashion, music and dance.

♦ Many textiles companies signed an agreement with the Office of Development Commissioner (Handlooms). Ministry of Textiles on the occasion.

♦ Maharashtra government has launched a Special scheme to curb infant deaths.

♦ Infant mortality is the death of young children under one year.

♦ Child Development Minister Pankaja Mundle distributed baby-care kits to the children born in primary health centers and government hospitals.

♦ The kit costs around Rs 2,000.

♦ The scheme is applicable only for the first child.

♦ The government allocated Rs.20 crore for the scheme.

♦ It will benefit around 4 lakh women across the state.

♦ Scientists developed an 'Artificial Pancreas' smartphone App for Diabetics.

♦ The app will help to analyze blood sugar levels in diabetes patients.

♦ This app is formed with the capacity to connect with glucose monitors, insulin pump devices, and decision-making algorithms.

♦ The central banks of UAE and Saudi Arabia launched a common digital currency called 'Aber'.

♦ It will be used in financial settlements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies.

♦ Both Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and the United Arab Emirates Central Bank (UAEIB) are studying the impact on the improvement and reduction of remittance costs and the assessments of risks through digital currency 'Aber'.

♦ LT Gen Rajeev Chopra took charge as the Director General of NCC (DGNCC).

♦ He has been awarded Ati Vishisht Seva Medal for his distinguished service in January 2018.

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♦ Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has launched the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP) to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country.

♦ It is inaugurated at the fourth Convention of 2-day "Agrivision-2019" organized by Vidyarthi Kalyan Nyas in Pusa, New Delhi.

♦ This project (Rs 1100) is to be funded by the World Bank and the Indian Government on a 50:50 basis.

♦ To enhance the participation of students in agricultural business, READY (Rural Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana) is also provided to the UG students.

♦ Israel Aerospace Industries signed an agreement with Indian Navy and Cochin Shipyard for providing Naval Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MRSAM) system in India.

♦ The agreement worth $93 million. Under the contracts, Israel Aerospace Industries will provide complementary systems for the air defense system.

♦ Gorkha Brigade received the best marching contingent trophy of the Republic Day parade.

♦ The CRPF won the best marching contingent prize for the para-military forces.

♦ Senior diplomat Sunjay Sudhir has appointed as Ambassador of India to the Maldives.

♦ He is a 1933 batch Indian Foreign Service officer.

♦ He currently works as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

♦ Interim Budget was presented in Parliament on 1st February 2019 by Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal. Goyal was appointed as the interim finance minister & corporate affairs minister because of Arun Jetly's health issues. The government has presented the vote on account. It was the last budget of the Modi government 2019 before the general election. A full-fledged budget will be presented after the House reassembles after the general election. The Interim Budget mainly focused on supporting needy farmers, workers in the unorganized sector, and salaried employees. An Interim Budget is a presented in the election year when the government is about to face general elections.

♦ Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio inaugurated first Astro Turf Football Pitch of the state at Indra Gandhi Stadium in Kohima.

♦ The pitch was inaugurated on the occasion of 100th birth anniversary of the legendary footballer Dr. T. Ao.

♦ The size of the playfield is 105x66 meters which is FIFA approved size.

The second edition of 'Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0' held at Taikatora Stadium in New Delhi.

The programme was organized by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

In this programme, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi interacted with students, teachers and parents and shared his personal experiences with students and suggested means to handle exam stress. 

In the event 2200 students, parents, teacher and college students from 24 states and Union Territories took part.

Rajiv Nayan Choubey named as the member of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The oath was administered by Shri Arvind Saxena, Chairman of UPSC.

A member of the UPSC can have a maximum of six-year tenure or till an incumbent attains the age of 65.

 He was in June 2015 named as the Civil Aviation Secretary.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) consists of one Chairman and 10 members, with Choubey's appointment, the commission be its full strength.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry approved nearly 4 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), taking the total numbers of houses to about 71.5 lakh.

The government has set a target of one crore houses to be constructed in urban areas in the country over a period of seven years from 2015 to 2022.

PMAY(U)  is launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015 to ensure Housing for all by 2022.

Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have been sanctioned nearly one lakh houses each.

Punjab government approved a rural development scheme 'Smart Village Campaign' worth Rs 384.40 crore to build village infrastructure and provide essential amenities.

The aim is to improve the condition of rural areas by supplementing the ongoing government scheme for building infrastructure and providing essential amenities.

The scheme was approved by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Reformation and implementation of the scheme would be financed with funds from the 14th Financial Commission and MGNREGA.

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has launched 'Kisan Suvidha Loan; for small and marginal farmers.

Ujjivan becomes the 1st bank to offer loans for allied and agricultural activities.

It provides loans to individuals with an amount ranging from Rs.60,000 to Rs.2 lakh to fulfill the customized needs of the mass market segment.

Kisan Suvidha Loan can be used by farmers for both allied and agricultural activities.

The scheme will specially design to cater to the needs of customers for various allied and agricultural activities.

Kisan Suvidha Loan can be used by farmers for both allied and agricultural activities.

Paytm, Noida based digital payments company acquired hotel booking platform Night Stay.

Night Stay is the Noida-based last minute hotel booking app.

Night Stay founder Nasr Khan will lead the hotel-booking services at Paytm.

Paytm plans to invest Rs 500 crore for growth in the travel operation and has partnered with more than 5,000 hotels across the budget. luxury and business segments.

The managing director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, Punit Goenka has been re-elected as the new chairman of TV viewership measurement company, BARC India.

He succeeded Nakul Chopra.

Punit Goenka was the founder of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC).

The independent member of National Statistical Commission P C Mohanan and J V Meenakshi have resigned over a disagreement with the govt on the release of jobs data.

P C Mohanan was the acting Chairperson of the autonomous body and J V Meenakshi was an NSC member.

The tenure of  Mohanan and Meenakshi was to end in 2020. 

They joined as a member in 2017.

Vani Kapoor has become the first Indian to grab Australian Ladies PGA Tour (LPGA) after securing 12th Rank tied with three others in the first-ever qualifying tournament at Ballarat Golf Club in Australia.

Total 81 players participated in the Qualifying tournament out of which top-20 earned the card for LPGA.

World Wetlands Day is observed on 2nd February every year

The day is observed to raise global awareness of the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet.

The theme of World Wetlands Day 2019 is 'Wetlands and Climate Change'.

Wetlands play a critical role in storing carbon and reducing the impact of extreme weather events associated with climate change.

♦ The government has renamed the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) as Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

♦ DIPP was framing policies only related to foreign direct investment, now DPIIT will also deal with issues concerning the promotion of internal trade, including retail trade; welfare of traders and their employees; matters relating to facilitating ease of doing business and startups.

♦ DPIIT will work under the aegis of Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

♦ INS Dronacharya team won the Regatta trophy 2019 in the Kochi Area Pulling Regatta of the Southern Naval Command held in the Ernakulam Channel.

♦ It is one of the most prestigious and traditional naval sporting activities conducted by the Southern Naval Command.

♦ India's cricket team captain, Mithali Raj has become the first female cricketer to play 200 ODIs during the 3rd and final ODI against New Zealand.

♦ The 36-year-old, Mithali Raj has also scored highest runs in ODIs with 6622 runs at an average of 51.33, including 7 centuries.

♦ She made her ODI debut way back in 1999.

♦ She has played in 200 out of 263 matches that India have played till now.

♦ Football player Ki Sung-Yeung has announced his retirement from the South Korean national team.

♦ The midfielder though decided to retire after the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia yet decided to compete in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, which is held in the United Arab Emirates, under the new national team coach Paulo Bento.

♦ He made his international debut on 5 Sept 2008.

♦ Reserve Bank of India has approved the appointment of Ajai Kumar as the interim CEO of Yes Bank from 1 February 2019, for one month or till Ravneet Gill Assume office as MD and CEO.

♦ Ravneet Gill is at present the head of the German-based Deutsche Bank in India. As per the report, he will take charge on or before 1 March 2019.

♦ Rana Kapoor stepped down as CEO on 31st January.

♦ Ministry of External Affairs appointed Sanjiv Ranjan as new Ambassador to the Republic of Colombia.

♦ Ranjan is the current Ambassador of Argentina.

♦ He is a 1993 batch Indian Foreign Service officer.

♦ He served as Deputy High Commissioner of India to Mauritius from 2006 to 2009. Apart from this he held diplomatic positions in Indian Embassies in Madrid and Lima.

♦ Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar took over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command.

♦ He succeeded Vice Admiral Girish Luthra.

♦ He has been awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2006, the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2014 and Param Vishist Seva Medal in 2019 by the president of India.

♦ 12th Regional standards conclave held in Bhubaneswar (Odisha) on 1st Feb on the occasion of a 4th day of the trade fair.

♦ The conclave will have onlooker on industry, regulators, and experts sharing their views on the importance of Standards for Global trade, with focus on Odisha.

♦ India's unemployment rate hit a 45 year high of 6.1% in 2017-18, as per the National Sample Survey Office's (NSSO's) periodic labor force survey.

♦ Unemployment is higher in urban areas which is 7.8% as compared to 5.3% in rural areas of the country.

♦ The Unemployment rate is at its highest level as in 1972-73.

2nd Jharkhand International Flim Festival held in Ranchi, Jharkhand by an NGO, Navbharat Nirman Sangh.

Jharkhand International Flim Festival was organized with an aim to present best Indian and International Films as well as Jharkhand Regional Films.

The fest was funded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with a support of 5 lakh.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched the Human Space Flight Centre at ISRO Headquarter campus in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

The space flight centre was inaugurated by K Kasturirangan, former ISRO Chairman.

ISRO is gearing up for its maiden manned mission Gaganyaan.

As per ECA International Survey, Singapore has been rated as the most liveable location for Asian Expatriates for the 14th consecutive year.

Australia's Brisbane and Sydney shared joint second in the rankings.

The ECA's liveability rankings began in 2005.

The survey is done annually based on the evaluation of such factors as climate, health service availability, natural phenomena, personal safety and so on.

Sikkim government signs Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft with the aim to improve the education system in the state.

The MoU was signed between Sikkim HRD minister RB Subba and MD of Microsoft India Manish Prakash.

Microsoft will help the state to upgrade its state curriculum for classes 6 to 10.

The company will build student and teacher capacity in digital skills, boost digital literacy and digital citizenship, and help usher in school reforms.

B.S.Mubarak has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Honduras.

He is an Indian Foreign Service officer of 2001 batch.

He is presently Ambassador of India to the Republic of Guatemala.

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Capital- Tegucigalpa

Currency - Lempira

President - Juan Orlando

Dinesh Bhatia has been appointed as the next  Ambassador of India to the Republic of Argentina.

He is an Indian Foreign Service officer of 1992 batch.

He is presently the Consul General, Consulate of India, Toronto.

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Capital- Buenos Aires

Currency - Argentine peso

President - Mauricio Macri

Rohit Sharma became the 14th Indian cricketer to play 200 ODIs in the 4th match against New Zealand at Hamilton.

Rohit holds the record of highest Individual score (264 runs) and the highest number of double centuries (3 Double Century) in ODIs.

He played his first ODI match against Ireland in Belfast on June 23rd of 2007.

He has scored 7806 runs from 200 matches at an average of 47.88 with 22 centuries and 39 half-centuries.

Former captain of the Pakistan women team Sana Mir became the first Asian woman to play 100 T20Is in the third and final T20Is against West Indies at Karachi.

Mir is the 6th woman in the world to complete 100 T20Is whereas Daendra Dottin of West Indies leads the list with 110 T20Is.

The Reserve Bank of India lifted lending curbs on three banks, Bank of India, Bank of Maharastra and Oriental Bank of Commerce and also allowed them to have an exit from the Prompt Corrective Action framework fully.

Based on the norms of minimum regulatory capital, net NPAs and leverage ratio and marked improvements in asset quality, RBI lifted lending curbs and is allowed to open branches and extend loans freely.

World Cancer Day is observed on 4th February every year.

The day is organized by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), 

This year UICC is launching a new 3 year (2019-2021) campaign.

The theme of the day is "I Am and I Will".

♦ Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed Rishi Kumar Shukla as the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

♦ He will serve for a fixed tenure of two years

♦ He is a 1983 batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, served as the DGP of Madhya Pradesh.

♦ As per ICC Rankings, Smriti Mandhana has become World No.1 Women's ODI Batter after scoring her 4th ODI century and unbeaten 90 in the three-match series in New Zealand.

♦ She moved up three spots in the batters' ranking to reach the top spot.

♦ Australians Elyse Perry and Meg Lanning at No.2 and 3 spots respectively.

♦ Former Law Minister of Nepal Nilambar Acharya has been appointed as Nepal's Ambassador to India in Kathmandu.

♦ Nilambar Acharya's oath of office position was administered by President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

♦ The position of Nepalese Ambassador to India was vacant after Deep Kumar Upadhyay resigned in October 2017. 

♦ Railways Minister Piyush Goyal launched the report "The Future of Rail" of the International Energy Agency's (IEA).

♦ "The Future of Rail" is the first-of-a-kind report that analyses the current and future importance of rail around the world through the perspective of its energy and environmental implications.

♦ The report reviews the impact of existing plans and regulations on the future of rail.

♦ Piyush Goyal is Minister of Railways and Coal.

♦ Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu has inaugurated the Indo-Monaco Business Forum in New Delhi.

♦ Forum initiated to amplify the bilateral relationship between the two countries on various service sector which can further groom the economic relations between India and Monaco.

♦ There is an immense potential to scale up the bilateral trade between India and Monaco. In 2017-18, the bilateral trade between the two nations was USD 3.01 million.

♦ The 37th edition of 'ICT Academy Bridge 2019' Conference inaugurated by Minister for Information Technology, Dr.M. Manikandan in Tamil Nadu.

♦ The theme of the conference is "Fostering India for Industry 4.0".

♦ This conference is conducted every year with a motive to develop a better education system and formulate strategic regulatory framework.

♦ The Kala Ghoda festival, India's largest multi-cultural street festival begins in Mumbai to celebrate it's 20 years of art and culture through cinema, theatre, dance, literature, and sculpture.

♦ The festival hosted the exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and some rich history of Mumbai.

♦ Maneck Davar is Chairman of Kala Ghoda Association.

♦ The theme of the festival for this year is 'A Measure of Time'.

♦ The six-day long Music and Dance festival 'Sopan 2019' held in New Delhi, to encourage young artists to take up traditional art.

♦ It is organized by Sahitya Kala Parishad and the New Delhi government, in partnership with New Delhi Municipal Council.

♦ The festival is an opportunity for upcoming talents from vocals and instruments to dance forms to set an audience base for themselves.

♦ Yes Bank Senior Group President and head of retail and business banking, Pralay Mondal resigned from his post.

♦ He will serve his notice till 31st March 2019.

♦ Pralay Mondal joined Yes Bank in 2012.

♦ The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of a total Rs 5.2 crore on Axis Bank, UCO Bank, and Syndicate Bank for violating the guidelines in regulatory compliance. The segregation of the Penalised amount are as follows:

♦ The segregation of the Penalised amount are as follows: Axis Bank has been imposed with a Penalty of 2.2 crores and 2 crores on UCO Bank and 1 crore on Syndicate Bank for violation of norms.

♦ The RBI has also imposed a penalty of 2 crores each on Axis Bank and UCO Bank for non-compliance of norms related to payment through cheques.

♦ Further Axis Bank has also imposed a penalty of 20 lakhs for the detection and impounding of counterfeit notes.

♦ Syndicate Bank is imposed with a penalty of Rs.1 crore for contradicting the norms in checking norms and Risk Management.

♦ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has bought a 14% stake in micro-financier Annapurna Finance for Rs 137 crore.

♦ The investment by ADB will expand Annapurna's net worth to Rs 580 crore.

♦ ADB brought this stake with a motive of attracting long-term funds from global lenders and investors.

♦ Annapurna Finance Pvt. Ltd is a non-banking financial company-microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI) regulated by RBI.

♦ P V Bharathi appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporation Bank.

♦ P V Bharathi became the first women CEO of the Bank.

♦ Bharathi is former executive director of Canara Bank. she has been executive director of Canara Bank since September and served as the firm's general manager in the risk management wing.

♦ Two regional rural banks (RRB), Pallavan Grama Bank and Pandyan Grama Bank will be amalgamated into a single RRB i.e. Tamil Nadu Grama Bank in Tamil Nadu

♦ Pallavan Grama Bank is sponsored by Indian Bank and Pandyan Grama Bank is sponsored by Indian Overseas Bank, both state-run lenders headquartered in Chennai.

♦ The Mizoram Government issued an order to ban the import of pigs and piglets because there is a possibility of an outbreak of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS).

♦ PRRS disease is also called as Swine Flu, the virus of this disease generally transmitted from pigs and affects both pigs and humankind.

♦ Basically, the pigs imported from Myanmar are in suspect point, pigs imported from other countries too have been banned as a move to prevent the outbreak of the PRRS in the state.

♦ Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched a scholarship scheme named "KALIA Chhatravritti Yojana" for farmer's children who are the beneficiaries of Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme.

♦ The scholarship 'KALIA Chhatra Bruti' will be awarded to farmer's children who are planning to pursue higher education.

♦ .Kerala has become the 1st state to set up a Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU) to 

♦ This unit will track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO).

♦ The move comes more than five years after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) proposed such a system for the state and the union territories

♦ Yes Bank Senior Group President and head of retail and business banking, Pralay Mondal resigned from his post.

♦ He will serve his notice till 31st March 2019.

♦ Pralay Mondal joined Yes Bank in 2012.

♦ The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of a total Rs 5.2 crore on Axis Bank, UCO Bank, and Syndicate Bank for violating the guidelines in regulatory compliance. The segregation of the Penalised amount are as follows:

♦ The segregation of the Penalised amount are as follows: Axis Bank has been imposed with a Penalty of 2.2 crores and 2 crores on UCO Bank and 1 crore on Syndicate Bank for violation of norms.

♦ The RBI has also imposed a penalty of 2 crores each on Axis Bank and UCO Bank for non-compliance of norms related to payment through cheques.

♦ Further Axis Bank has also imposed a penalty of 20 lakhs for the detection and impounding of counterfeit notes.

♦ Syndicate Bank is imposed with a penalty of Rs.1 crore for contradicting the norms in checking norms and Risk Management.

♦ The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has bought a 14% stake in micro-financier Annapurna Finance for Rs 137 crore.

♦ The investment by ADB will expand Annapurna's net worth to Rs 580 crore.

♦ ADB brought this stake with a motive of attracting long-term funds from global lenders and investors.

♦ Annapurna Finance Pvt. Ltd is a non-banking financial company-microfinance institution (NBFC-MFI) regulated by RBI.

♦ P V Bharathi appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporation Bank.

♦ P V Bharathi became the first women CEO of the Bank.

♦ Bharathi is former executive director of Canara Bank. she has been executive director of Canara Bank since September and served as the firm's general manager in the risk management wing.

♦ Two regional rural banks (RRB), Pallavan Grama Bank and Pandyan Grama Bank will be amalgamated into a single RRB i.e. Tamil Nadu Grama Bank in Tamil Nadu

♦ Pallavan Grama Bank is sponsored by Indian Bank and Pandyan Grama Bank is sponsored by Indian Overseas Bank, both state-run lenders headquartered in Chennai.

♦ The Mizoram Government issued an order to ban the import of pigs and piglets because there is a possibility of an outbreak of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS).

♦ PRRS disease is also called as Swine Flu, the virus of this disease generally transmitted from pigs and affects both pigs and humankind.

♦ Basically, the pigs imported from Myanmar are in suspect point, pigs imported from other countries too have been banned as a move to prevent the outbreak of the PRRS in the state.

♦ Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched a scholarship scheme named "KALIA Chhatravritti Yojana" for farmer's children who are the beneficiaries of Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme.

♦ The scholarship 'KALIA Chhatra Bruti' will be awarded to farmer's children who are planning to pursue higher education.

♦ .Kerala has become the 1st state to set up a Price Monitoring and Research Unit (PMRU) to 

♦ This unit will track violation of prices of essential drugs and medical devices under the Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO).

♦ The move comes more than five years after the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) proposed such a system for the state and the union territories.

♦ Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, World champion Indian weightlifter won a gold medal at the EGAT Cup in Thailand

♦ Mirabai Chanu won the 48 kg category gold with an effort of 192 kg in the silver level Olympic qualifying event for Tokyo 2020.

♦ The 24-year-old Channu lifted 82 kg in snatch and 110 kg in clean and jerk to finish on top the podium after recovering from the injury in her lower back that kept her away to perform for nine months.

♦ Father Francois Laborde honoured with the Legion d'Honneur, the highest civilian award of France.

♦ The award is to recognize his work for specially-abled children.

♦ He was entitled by the French Ambassador to India, Alexandre Ziegler. 

♦ He is the third person from the state to have been awarded the Legion of Honor after film maestro Satyajit Ray and actor Soumitra Chatterjee.

♦ India has jumped 8 places to rank 36th in the seventh International Intellectual Property (IP) Index 2019.

♦ The Index analyses the IP climate in 50 global economies.

♦ The Index shows India moving 44th position in 2018 to 36th position in 2019 and this is the highest increase among 50 nations ranked in the Index.

♦ The index ranks countries based on 45 indicators that are critical to an innovation-led economy supported by robust patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secrets protection.

♦ United State has topped the Index followed by UK on second.

♦ The Index released by the US Chamber of Commerce's global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC)

International IP Index 2019: List of top 5 countries

♦ Indian Pavilion at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) 2019 inaugurated by Mr. Matthijis Wounter Knol, Director European Film Market (EFM).

♦ An Indian Pavilion is being set-up at the festival to act as a platform to popularize Indian Cinema in the overseas market and facilitate new business opportunities.

♦ Ministry of I&B, in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry, is participating in the Berlin International Film Festival being held from 7th-17th February 2019 at Berlin, Germany.

♦ The 5th India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Committee held in New Delhi.

♦ The meeting is co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Affairs Minister of Bangladesh Dr. A. K. Abdul Momen.

♦ It is the first high-level visit from Bangladesh since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's victory in the parliamentary election in December 2018.

♦ 'Parmanu Tech 2019' conference held in New Delhi.

♦ The conference was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).

♦ The objective of this conference is to showcase India's capabilities in Nuclear Energy with environmental responsibility.

♦ Government e Marketplace (GeM) and Competition Commission of India (CCI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enable a fair and competitive environment in the e-Marketplace.

♦ The MoU was signed on 6th February 2019, GeM's CEO, S. Radha Chauhan and CCI's Chairman, A.K. Gupta were present on the occasion.

♦ GeM is a state-of-the-art national public procurement platform of Ministry of Commerce and Industries that has used technology to remove entry barriers for bonafide sellers and has created a vibrant e-marketplace with a wide range of goods and services.

♦ CCI is a statutory body of the Government of India, responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 throughout India and to prevent activities that have an adverse effect on competition.

♦ Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has slapped Rs 1 crore penalty on State Bank of India (SBI) for not monitoring the end use of funds in respect of one of its borrowers.

♦ RBI has levied a penalty on SBI, by exercising its power under Section 47 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

♦ Fino Payments Bank (FPB) has partnered with Suryoday Small Finance Bank (SSFB) to offer Sweep Account Facility.

♦ As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), payments banks can only take deposits upto Rs 1 lakh per account but this partnership will allow customers to seamlessly transfer the excess amount from their Fino Payments Bank (FPB) account to Suryoday Small Finance Bank (SSFB) account.

♦ Macedonia signed an accord to Join NATO, to become the 30th member of the US-led alliance.

♦ The agreement was signed between Macedonia's Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

♦ Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Airport Authority of India (AAI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an aim to coordinate the aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) operation in congruence with the International Aeronautical Maritime Seach and Rescue (IAMSAR) standards.

♦ The MoU enhances the Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC), Kolkata and Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Port Blair and AAI's mutual interactions, interoperability, and validating procedures on the occasion of SAR operations. 

♦ National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) of India has been named as the winner under the Miniratna Category by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME). 

♦ It is felicitating select central public enterprises for their work towards promotion of SC/ST entrepreneurs.

♦ Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) App has been launched on Google play store.

♦ This scheme aims at making interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both preventive and promotive health, to address healthcare holistically.

February 10, 2019, has been declared by the United Nations to be celebrated as the first ever World Pulses Day.

This day has been built upon the success of the 2016 International Year of Pulses by the United Nations.

The main objective of this day is to raise awareness and promote the consumption of pulses at events around the globe.

♦ The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Invest India signed a MoU to promote foreign investment in India and Indian investments outside India.

♦ The MoU was signed by ICAI President Naveen N D Gupta and Invest India CEO Deepak Bagla.

♦ The Objective is to collaborate and promote foreign investment in India and Indian investments abroad and also intends to promote India as an investment-friendly destination and provide necessary guidance and advice to the potential inbound and outbound investors.

♦ 2nd ASEAN-India Youth Summit held in Guwahati to strengthen the mutual cooperation among ASEAN countries.

♦ The Summit was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Tourism KJ Alphons and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

♦ The theme of the Summit was 'Connectivity: Pathway to Shared Prosperity'.

♦ Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani has launched the India Size project in Mumbai with an objective to get a standard Indian Size for the ready-to-wear clothing industry, on the lines of the standardized sizes available in countries such as the USA and the UK.

♦ This project will benefit manufacturers, consumers and generate data which will help tap into the potential of the sector

♦ 13th Conference of Parties of Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) will be hosted by India during 15th-22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

♦ The Conference of Parties of Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) is an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species throughout their range.

♦ India and Bangladesh have signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for training 1800 Bangladesh Civil Servants under the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG).

♦ The MoU was signed between the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) and the Ministry of Public Administrative, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh for the tenure of 6 years.

♦ Biswamohan Mahapatra has been appointed as non-executive chairman of National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for two years with immediate effect.

♦ He succeeded B Sambamurthy who was the interim chairman of NPCI.

♦ Recently Dilip Asbe was appointed as MD of NPCI.

♦ International Day of Women and Girls in Science is celebrated on 11th February to recognize the critical role women and girls play in science and technology.

♦ It was celebrated first time in 2016.

♦ The theme for International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2019 is "Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth".

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani topped the Hurun India Philanthropy list 2018 with a donation amount of 437 crores.

According to the Report, Mukesh Ambani is followed by the chairman of the Piramal Group who donated 200 crores.

39 Indians were included in the list who contributed an overall amount of Rs 1,560 crore even as the average contribution per philanthropist was Rs 40 crore.

Hurun India Philanthropy Top 10 list 2018

Former Captain Ricky Ponting appointed as the assistant coach for Australia's cricket team for 2019 World Cup.

Ponting was appointed after David Saker's resignation from the post.

He had won the world cup three times. He won the World Cup for the 1st time in 1999 before captaining and in 2003 and 2007

The main coach for the Australian Cricket Team is Justin Langer. The current batting coach for the team is Graeme Hicks.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 scheduled to be hosted by England and Wales from 30th May to 14th July 2019.

The Helicopter launched version of the Nag anti-tank guided missile, India test-fired Helina with a hit range of 7-8 km, from the Odisha Coast.

Helina was launched from an Army chopper and the weapon system was tested for its full range at 12:55 PM near the Integrated Test Range in Chandipur in the Balasore District of Odisha.

Acclaimed Indo-Canadian Filmmaker Deepa Mehta will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

This Award is given annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television recognising excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media productions.

Deepa Mehta is best known for her trilogy- "Fire", "Earth" and "Water".

Yes Bank wins Aegis Graham Bell Award 2018 for 'Innovation in Data Science' category for their industry-first project 'Yes EEE (Engage Enrich Excel)' AT Panaji, Goa.

The 8th edition of Aegis Graham Bell Award (AGBA) 2018 was hosted by Government of Goa.

Aegis Graham Bell Award promotes innovations and entrepreneurship in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) domain.

Aegis Graham Bell Award has been rewarding those who made an outstanding contribution to these fields since 8 years with a vision to foster and stimulate innovators, for India to become a nucleus of innovations.

Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 9 lakh on state-owned United India Insurance Co. Ltd for violating certain procedure.

IRDAI imposed a sum of 5 lakh for violation of regulations such as assigning of surveyors and submitting reports, an insurer offering a settlement to the insured as well as paying the claim to the insured. The balance of 4 lakh- 1 lakh each was for violations of circular and guidelines on rates and discounts an insurer can offer.

♦ Radheyshyam Julaniya has been appointed as new Union Sports Secretary.

♦ He is a 1985 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

♦ He succeeded Rahul Bhatnagar.

♦ He had also served as Director General of Sports Authority of India and the National Anti-Doping Agency.

Facebook has acquired US-based virtual search start-up, GrokStyle, at an undisclosed amount.

The objective is to enable users to shop better using Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities.

GrokStyle is in San Francisco, USA, was founded in 2015.

RBI decided to treat deposits to over Rs 2 crore as 'bulk' as they doubled the limit for the same from the earlier Rs 1 crore. This move will enhance the operational freedom of Banks.

RBI also proposed banks would maintain their bulk deposits interest rate cards in the core banking system for supervisory review.

Banks can offer different rates of Interest only on bulk deposits of Rs 1 crore and more for the same maturity period.

Multinational Maritime Exercise 'Aman 19' concluded in Karachi.

The exercise displayed a resolve of 46 countries under the title "Together for peace".

AMAN-19 was conducted in two phases; the harbour phase spanned from 8th to 10th Feb 2019 and the Sea phase from 11th to 12th Feb 2019

Principal aim to conduct this exercise is to facilitate a forum of understanding of each other’s maritime concepts and operation cultures and to produce ways and means to confront common threat at sea.

Ruchira Kamboj has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Bhutan.

She will succeed Jaideep Sarkar.

She is currently serving as the High Commissioner of India to South Africa since 2017.

Shri Sanjay Kumar Verma concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Marshall Islands, with residence in Tokyo.

Shri Sanjay Kumar Verma (IFS:1998), presently Ambassador of India to Japan.

Static Gk

Marshall Islands

President - Hilda Heine

Capital - Majuro

Currency - US Dollar

Japan

Prime Minister - Shinzo Abe

Capital - Tokyo

Currency - Yen

Abu Dhabi has included Hindi as the third official court language with a motive to improve access to justice for foreign workers.

Alongside, the other two official languages are Arabic and English

This move will help the Hindi speakers to learn about litigation procedures, their rights, and duties without a language barrier.

The Chief Justice of India, Shri Ranjan Gogoi released the book "Law, Justice and Judicial Power-Justice PN Bhagwati's Approach" at a function in New Delhi.

The book has been written by Mool Chand Sharma.

The first edition of the book was received by President Ramnath Govind.

Health and Family Welfare Ministry has conducted the 8th round of National Deworming Day (NDD) campaign across the country to reduce the prevalence of parasitic intestinal worms among children.

64% of the Indian population under 14 years are at risk of such infections. Over 24 crore children and Adolescents will be covered under this round.

During this program, Albendazole tablets were orally administered to pre-school going children in the age group of 1 to 19 years.

The third Indo-German Environment Forum held in New Delhi. India, Germany collaborate to combat air pollution.

The theme of the forum is "Cleaner Air, Greener Economy".

It was organized by the two environment ministries in cooperation with the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business and the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

World Radio Day is celebrated on 13th February by UNESCO all over the world.

World Radio Day is celebrated to spread awareness among the public about the importance of radio and how it shapes our lives. Radio informs, transforms and unites us. It brings together people and communities from all backgrounds to foster positive dialogue for change.

The theme of World Radio Day 2019 is "Dialogue, Tolerance, and Peace"..

State-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) signed a term loan agreement for Rs 5000 crore with State Bank of India (SBI).

The loan facility is extended at an interest rate linked to 3-month MCLR of the Bank.

This loan has a door to door tenure of 15 years, which will be utiliSed to part finance the capital expenditure of NTPC.

A term loan agreement for Rs 5000 crore was signed by NTPC's General Manager (Finance), Masood A. Ansari and Deputy General Manager of SBI, Neelabh Sinha.

The 7th session of the World Government Summit held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) with the participation of more than 4,000 people from 140 countries.

The Objective of this summit is to shape the future generation of governments by bringing the public and private sectors together to collaborate with world-renowned experts. 

The 5th International Dam Safety Conference 2019  is being held in Bhubaneswar under the aegis of the ongoing World Bank assisted Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) as a part of institutional strengthening.

The 2-day conference is inaugurated by state Water Resources Minister Niranjan Pujari and Union Water Resources and Ganga Rejuvenation secretary UP Singh.

Disaster Relief Exercise 'Exercise Rahat' concluded in Jaipur, Rajasthan. It was demonstrated in Jaipur, Kota, and Alwar in Rajasthan.

India Army was represented by Jaipur based Sapta Shakti Command. Representatives from Armed Forces, National Disaster Management Response Mechanism (NDMRM), SDMA Rajasthan and DLMAs participated in the exercise.

The 1st LAWASIA Human Rights conference 2019 was held in New Delhi.

LAWASIA, in association with the Bar Association of India, hosted this conference.

The motive of this conference is to explore a broad range of human rights issues of relevance in the Asia Pacific region.

The theme of this conference is "State Power, Business and Human Rights: Contemporary Challenges". It provides the opportunity for lawyers and associated professional members to exchange insights and expertise on topics of significance.

Indian historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam has won the prestigious 'Dan David Prize 2019' 

He has been recognised for his work on inter-cultural encounters between Asians, European, and people of North and South America during the early modern era.

He won Isreal's prestigious USD 1 million dollar award in the category of "Past Time Dimension" for his work in macro-history.

The International Dan David Prize is awarded annually to those who have made outstanding scientific, technological. and humanistic accomplishments in fields representing the past, present, and future of human achievement.

England's Jamie Chadwick made history by becoming the first female driver to win the MRF challenge title after defeating Max Defourny of Belgium. 

She has won three out of five races in the final round in Chennai.

In August, She became the first female driver to win a British F3 race.

The 20 years old Jamie Chadwick has won six out of 15 races in the series which had started in November and included events in Dubai and Bahrain.

The Meghalaya Cabinet decided to rename the DikkiBandi Stadium in Tura town after former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A Sangma.

Purno Agitok Sangma is also a former chief minister of Meghalaya.

The DikkiBandi Stadium was formerly known as MP stadium.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a dedicated 24x7 satelite channel 'DD Arunprabha' Channel for Arunachal Pradesh during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

'DD Arunprabha' is the 2nd channel in the north-eastern region after DD North East.

The project cost is estimated to be 60 crore which is part of Rs 1054.52 crore fund approved by Cabinet.

The NITI Aayog signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) with Michael & Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF) to codify, document and share best practices to improve learning outcomes in public school education through systemic reforms, based on their collective experience of working with the various state governments.

The  Statement of Intent (SoI) was signed by Alok Kumar, Adviser (HRD) of NITI Aayog and Barun Mohanty, MD (International) of MSDF.

National Conference on Unani Medicine organized by the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) in New Delhi, this conference was held as a part of 3rd Unani Day celebration.

The two-day National conference inaugurated by Dr. Najma Heptulla, Governor of Manipur.

The theme of the conference was 'Unani Medicine for Public Health'.

The First Annual Conference of Media Units organized by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting New Delhi with a motive to discuss emerging areas of communication paradigm.

The conference was chaired by Union Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The 3rd edition of CREDAI YouthCon 2019 was held at the Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi.

The event is organized by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Guest of CREDAI YouthCon 2019.

The theme for this YouthCon is 'Next Generation'.

The CREDAI YouthCon was formed to bring together the next generation of real estate builders and developers to enlighten them to become better professional.

Government panel recommended reducing GST on under-construction residential properties to 5%.

The GST rate for under-construction flats earlier was 12%.

The seven-member panel also favoured lowering GST on affordable housing from 8% to 3%.

 The Ministerial panel was set up to analyze tax rates and issues or challenges being faced by the real estate sector under the GST regime.

India tennis player, Prajnesh Gunneswaran has made it to the top-100 of Men's Single Tennis rankings with a jump of 6 places to rank 97.

Prajnesh has become the third Indian player after Somdev Devvarman and Yuki Bhambri to break into the top-100 barrier.

In the Women's Tennis Association charts, Ankita Raina continues to be country's top singles player at number 165.

Minister of State for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik has launched the e-AUSHADHI portal for online licensing of Ayurveda, Sidha, Unani and Homeopathy drugs and related matters at New Delhi.

The portal is intended for increased transparency, improved information management facility, improved data usability, and increased accountability.

The new e-portal is an acronym for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy Automated Drug Help Initiative.

Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park commissioned by Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal via video conferencing at Tunduru Village in Bhimavaram Mandal, West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh.

It will be the first Mega Aqua Food Park operationalized for fish and marine products processing in Andhra Pradesh state.

The Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park Pvt. Ltd has been set up in 57.81 acres of land at a cost of Rs 122.60 crores.

The park is promoted by Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park Pvt. Ltd

The Sports and Youth Ministry in the meeting of Executive Committee of the National Games 2022 has been chosen the 'Smiling Clouded Leopard' to be the Mascot for the National Games 2022.

Meghalaya will host the National Game 2022, which is coinciding with its 50 years of statehood.

Meghalaya will be the third northeastern state after Manipur and Assam hosted the National Games in 1999 and 2007, respectively.

India signed a letter of Intent with Norway to combat marine pollution and establishes the India-Norway Marine Pollution Initiative.

Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) signed a letter of Intent with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In partnership, India and Norway will share experiences and competence, and collaborate on efforts to develop clean and healthy oceans, sustainable use of ocean resources and growth in the blue economy.

Siddhartha Lal MD & CEO of Eicher Motors has been awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 after transforming Eicher Motors and helping the company resurrect the Royal Enfield motorcycle brand in India and making it a global brand icon.

EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 is the 20th edition of the programme.

Lal will now represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY) in Monte Carlo from 6-8 June 2019.

India has withdrawn 'Most Favoured Nation' (MFN) Status to Pakistan just a day after the suicide bombing attack in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir.

India had granted the status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after WTO's formation.

Most Favoured Nation is a status accorded by one country to another country in International trade to ensure non-discriminatory trade between all partner countries of the WTO.

The Indian Government has signed a deal with the US.

India has signed a deal for 'Sig Sauer Assault Rifles with the US under Fast Track Procurement (FTP).

India will get around 73,400 rifles from the US firm SiG Sauer in one year from this day.

These Sig Sauer Assault rifles are 7.62*51 mm which are compact, robust, advance in technology and easy to maintain in field conditions.

These new rifles will come at a cost of around Rs.700 crore and will be used by the army troops deployed along the 3,600 km China's border.

The Government of India, Government of Himachal Pradesh and the World Bank has signed a $40 Million Loan Agreement.

The $40 Million Loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a 4-year grace period and a maturity of 15.5 years.

The motive of this agreement is to help bring clean and reliable drinking water to the citizens of the Greater Shimla area, who have been facing severe water shortages and water-borne epidemics over the last few years.

The Republic of Macedonia has officially changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia, on paper ending a long-running dispute with Greece.

The freshly named country celebrated the event with a flag-raising ceremony marking its prospective-and long-awaited-accession to NATO.

After declaring independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, the country chose the name Macedonia. But that title severely strained relations with neighbor Greece, which also has a region called Macedonia.

Static GK

Macedonia

Capital - Skopje

Currency - Macedonian Denar

President - Gjorge Ivanov

Greece

Capital - Athens

Currency - Euro

President - Prokopis Pavlopoulos

Bradley Cooper has been awarded the 'Oscat' by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The animal rights organization awarded Cooper for casting his own dog, rather than one supplied by animal exhibitors, in his movie 'A Star is Born'

'A Star is Born' has received 8 Oscar nominations including best actor for Bradley Cooper and best actress for Lady Gaga.

Pramod Chandra Mody has been appointed as the new chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

He is a 1982-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Officer.

He will succeed Sushil Chandra.

President Ram Nath Kovind appointed CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra as the new Election Commissioner.

Mr. Chandra was appointed CBDT Chairman on November 1, 2016, and further he got 2 extensions.

Mr. Sushil Chandra ia an IIT graduate and is a 1980-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) Officer.

Ashwani Lohani has been reappointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India for the second time.

He assumed the charge from 14th February 2019, replacing Pradeep Singh Kharola, who is appointed as the new Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Lohani had the previous tenure from August 2015 to August 2017.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana (PM-Kisan) and Annadatha Sukhibhava Scheme amalgamated by Andhra Pradesh.

This move will further allow a fixed amount of Rs. 10,000 per annum to all farmers in the state, irrespective of the size of their land.

The benefits will be facilitated in 2 portions of Rs.5000 before the Kharif and Rabi crop cycle.

Around 70 lakh farmers will be benefited from this merger.

Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar announced a Universal Old Age Pension scheme, named Mukhya Mantri Vriddha Pension Yojana (MMVPY), irrespective for all caste, community, religion, except for those who are retired from government organizations.

The scheme will come into its enforcement from 1st April 2019.

The scheme facilities the amount of 400 rupees monthly pension for all in the state above the age of 60 who are not getting a pension from the government. 

The Chief Minister also announced a pension of 6,000 rupees for journalists above 60 years of age.

The Semi speed Train 18, which has been recently given a new name "Vande Bharat Express".

The semi-high-speed Train 'Vande Bharat Express' was flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15th February 2019, from the New Delhi railway station.

The train will travel from Delhi to Varanasi in 9 hours and 45 minutes, with stoppage time of 40 minutes each at Kanpur and Allahabad (now Prayagraj).

It can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph.

The total seating capacity is 1128 passengers

Finance minister has launched a pension scheme named 'Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan Yojana' (PM-SYM) for the labours, associated in the unorganized sector.

The scheme will facilitate the benefits up to 10 crores unrecognized sector workers.

An amount of Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the scheme.

It was announced in Interim Budget 2019.

PM-SYM will provide the pension benefits to the unrecognized sector worker whose monthly income is up to Rs 15000.

Under the Scheme, Only by contributing Rs.100 per month the beneficiary will get is Rs 30000/- per month after attaining the age of 60 years.

The worker whose age is 18 to 40 years may enroll under PM-SYM

Amazon in partnership with Axis Bank launched "Amazon Pay Unified Payments Interface (UPI)" for Android users to facilitate secure payments and financial transactions on its platform.

With this, users will be able to use their Amazon Pay UPI ID to shop on Amazon.in, make payments including recharge and bill payments, without entering bank account or debit card credentials.

India and Sweden signed a security Protection Agreement, which will enable both the countries to share classified information with each other.

Union Minister of Defence, Nirmala Sitharaman and her Swedish counterpart Pater Hultqvist signed the pact in Stockholm.

The agreement will boost 'Make in India' initiative.

The agreement will provide a facilitating for greater cooperation on the high end and cutting edge technology and manufacturing.

The two-day event Early Ed Asia 2019 which is Asia's largest conference on Early Childhood, was held at the City Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

The motto of the event was 'Our Children, Our Future'.

It was presented by Diya Kumari, the Royal Family of Jaipur in association with ScooNews and Early Childhood Association (E.C.A).

It was the first time such a conference was held in India with over 6000 eminent early childhood educators, policy-makers, researchers and other stakeholders from India and Foreign countries.

World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2019, the flagship event of 'The Energy and Resources Institute' (TERI), was inaugurated by Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

The theme of WSDS 2019 was 'Attaining the 2030 Agenda: delivering on our promise'

Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji was honoured with the Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2019 for his outstanding contributions towards sustainable development in Fiji.

The 5th India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Committee Meeting was held in New Delhi.

The meeting was co-chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Affairs Minister of Bangladesh Dr. Abdul Momen.

Four MoUs were signed during this meeting

MoU between National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Mussoorie and Ministry of Public Administration (MOPA), Bangladesh on Training and Capacity building Programme for Bangladesh Civil Servants.

MoU between Hiranandani Group and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority to facilitate investments in Indian Economic Zone in Mongla, Bangladesh.

MoU between the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) and the Ministry of Health of Bangladesh on cooperation in the field of medicinal plants.

MoU between Anti-Corruption Commission of Bangladesh and Central Bureau of Investigation of India (CBI) for cooperation in the flight against graft.

The International Labour Organization has released the World Employment and Social Outlook Trends 2019 report.

Unemployment rates will fall to 4.9% in 2019 and remain steady in 2020 as per the report.

Among the age group 15-24, the global unemployment stood at 11.8% which is much higher than other age groups.

In the global labour market, 2 billion out of 3.3 billion people worked in informal employment, thus risking their economic security

NASA will launch a new space telescope mission SPHEREx with an aim to understand the origins of life and the universe, in 2023.

The word SPHEREx is the abbreviation of Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer.

Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way

SPHEREx will survey 100 of millions of galaxies near and far, some so distant, that their light has taken 10 billion years to reach Earth.

Every six months, SPHEREx will survey the entire sky using technologies adapted from Earth satellites and Mars spacecraft.

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has launched a new portal LADIS for real-time data on available depth on stretches of National Waterways.

Least Available Depth Information System (LADIS) will ensure real-time data on ship and cargo owners on which they can undertake transportation on National Waterways (NW) in a more planned way.

It is a step towards ensuring optimum use of National Waterways.

Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, inaugurated the North Karnataka Agromet Forecasting and Research Centre (NKAFC), India's first Agromet forecast centre at University of Agricultural Science (USA) in Dharwad, Karnataka.

The Objective of the centre is to give accurate reports on weather which would enable the farmers to protect the crops and get a good yield. It will also educate farmers on how to manage the crops in different weather conditions and help them anticipate and plan their actions in advance.

A total of 25 lakh farmers in the region would get information via various platforms like WhatsApp, SMS, social networking sites and community radio stations.

Indian Engineer, Vikas Sathaye, a Pune-born person has been honoured with the Scientific and Engineering Academy Award at Oscars Scientific and Technical Awards 2018 at Beverly Hills in Los Angeles, California.

Sathaye and his team received the award for his contribution towards conceptualization, designing, engineering and the implementation of the 'Shotover K1 Camera System' during his stint at Shotover Camera Systems in Queenstown, New Zealand.

The Scientific and Engineering Academy Award is given for scientific achievements that produce a definite influence on the advancement of the motion picture industry.

Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal from Chandigarh, became the First Indian Woman Flight Engineer of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

Hina was completed the six-month Flight Engineer course from the 112 Helicopter Unit attached to the Air Force Station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru.

She was commissioned in the Engineering batch of the IAF on January 5, 2015.

The Flight Engineer branch was opened to women officers in 2018.

Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal hails from Chandigarh.

UAE based international cooling provider, National Central Cooling Company PJSC (Tabreed) entered into 30-year concession with Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) to build a district cooling system in Amaravati, Hyderabad.

This is the first state capital in India to develop district cooling.

The agreement is for a contracted cooling capacity of 20,000 Refrigeration Tons (RTs).

The district cooling system will save 40% of the energy currently being used and reduce carbon emissions.

District cooling uses only 50% of primary energy consumption for cooling urban building n compared to other cooling systems.

Saina Nehwal won women's singles title at the 83rd Yonex Sunrise Senior Badminton Nationals.

She defeated PV Sindhu.

The 83rd Yonex Sunrise Senior Badminton Nationals held at Guwahati, Assam.

Sourabh Verma defeated Lakshya Sen to win the men's singles crown for the third time (after 2011 and 2017).

The team of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Chirag Shetty claimed the men's doubles title after beating Arjun MR and Shlok Ramachandran.

Bollywood actress Tapsee Pannu has been appointed as the brand ambassador the snack brand 'Kurkure' owned by PepsiCo.

The brand has also launched a television campaign to introduce the new brand positioning 'Khayal toh chatpata hai' celebrating the progressive thinking the young Indian homemakers in traditional Indian families and the breaking conventional barriers.

This is the first time that the brand has attempted to include a social message with its product's marketing.

South African pacer Dale Steyn overtook former Indian captain Kapil Dev to become joint 7th highest wicket-taker after registering figures 4/48 against Sri Lanka.

Dale Stey with 437 wickets to his name in the longest format is now at the joint 7th position in the all-time list of highest wicket-takers in Test cricket.

The 40th International Annual Desert Festival held in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan. It was organized by the Rajasthan tourism and district administration.

The festival was held amidst the beautiful Sam dunes of the Thar Desert.

The 3-day festival, which exhibits the rich cultural heritage of the desert state, commenced with a colourful procession from the Jaisalmer Fort to the Shahid Poonam Singh Stadium.

Eva de Goede from Netherlands and Arthur van Doren of Belgium were named as the International Hockey Federation's Players of the Year for 2018.

Eva de Goede, 29 was named the Female Player of the Year and Arthur van Doren, 24, was picked up as the Male Player of the Year award for the second year in a row.

Other awards given were:

Men's Goalkeeper of the Year - Vincent Vanasch

Male Rising Star of the Year - Arthur de Sloover

Male Coach of the Year - Shane McLeod

Female Coach of the Year - Alyson Annan

Female Goalkeeper of the Year - Maddie Hinch

Female Rising Star Award - Lucina von der Heyde

JP Morgan rolled out the first US bank cryptocurrency. 

The currency is designed to be decentralized so that no one has control over transactions being sent over the network.

Cryptocurrencies are used successfully to move money between the bank and a client which usually runs on a blockchain technology.

JPM Coin is not for retail customers. It will be used internally by the bank to enable instant transfers of payments between institutional accounts.

Infosys has launched 'InfyTQ' a next-generation digital platform to offer the best learning and engagement experiences for engineering students by imparting technical and professional skills.

InfyTQ is a free platform open to all engineering students in their third year and fourth year across India.

InfyTQ will be available on both mobile and desktop, featured with always-on, anytime, anywhere learning created through a continuous transfer of digital skills. 

Infosys is the country's 2nd largest IT firm and Salil Parekh is the CEO of Infosys.

The Government of India has raised Rs.10,000 crore from Bharat-22 Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by additional offering.

The government has absorbed Rs.46000 crore (approx) by way of disinvestment with the successful offering of Bharat-22 ETF.

Bharat-22 is an Exchange Trade Fund (EPF) will closely track the performance of Bharat-22 index.

This would be the second ETF offering by the government of India in the current fiscal offering which ends in March. It was launched by Government of India on 14th November 2017.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund AMC will manage the fund.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted the limit on Corporate Bonds. RBI withdrew 20% limit on investments by FPIs in corporate bonds of an entity. In Order to encourage more foreign investment.

In April 2018, It was stipulated that no Foreign Portfolio (FPI) should have an exposure of more than 20% of its corporate bond portfolio to a single corporate as per the review of FPI investment in corporate.

India has boosted the Customs Duty on all the goods imported from Pakistan to 200% with immediate effect, has followed by a day after India replace Most Famous Nation (MFN) status that it had given its neighbour in 1996.

This punitory move followed by Pulwama Terrorist Attack on 14th Feb 2019 that led to the death of 40 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force)

This 200% tariff rate is higher than the average bound rate of 113.5% for agriculture products and 34.6% for non-agriculture products. The MFN applied rates are 32.8% and 10.7%, respectively for farm and non-farm products..

Six-time world women boxing champion Mary Kom appointed as new brand ambassador of German sports and lifestyle brand PUMA for two years.

Mary Kom is now PUMA India's new ambassador for the company's women's training category and shall represent the brand marketing campaigns in the country.

She will lead PUMA's #DoYou conversation that aims to motivate women across the nation to be strong and accomplish their goals.

The association was facilitated by IOS sports and Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. which primarily entitles Mary Kom.

Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a Sudanese refugee who spent 5 years in the Australian detention centre on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea has won the prestigious Human Rights Prize 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland, for 'the very cruel asylum seeker policy of the Australian Government'.

It was the first time that the prize focused on the plight of refugees and awarded to someone who has suffered violations due to the policies of a Western nation.

Sunil Chhetri, the all-time leading scorer for India in international football, has been conferred the first ever Football Ratna honour by Delhi Football, the state association governing the sport in Delhi.

He is popularly known as Captain Fantastic. He has scored the 2nd highest number of goals in international matches among active players after Cristiano Ronaldo.

The award ceremony took place in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the capital.

Chandramouli Ramanathan has been appointed as Controller, Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Budget and Finance in the management strategy, policy and compliance department.

He succeeded Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas of Uruguay.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has announced his retirement from One Day Internationals (ODI) after the forthcoming World Cup.

The 39-year old Gayle has scored 9727 ODI runs which is only 677 runs less than the highest scorer Brian Lara.

Last year, Gayle had equaled Pakistan star Shahid Afridi's record of most number of sixes in a career in all three international formats combined. Afridi hit 351 sixes in ODIs, 73 sixes in T20Is and 52 in Tests. Gayle, on the other hand, has smashed 275 sixes in ODIs, 103 sixes in T20Is and 98 maximums in the longest format of the game.

He had the first ever World Cup double century against Zimbabwe 4 years ago. Goyle hit 23 ODI centuries in his career.

Indian Air Force has conducted mega exercise 'Vayu Shakti' in Pokhran, Rajasthan.

In 'Vayu Shakti' Exercise, the IAF showcased firepower capability of indigenously developed platforms and efficacy of missile.

For the first time, the Advanced Light Helicopter(ALP) and the Akash surface-to-air missile were deployed in the military exercise. MiG-29 fighter jet also participate in the exercise. The capability of Griffin Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) a laser-guided bomb system was also showcased.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmer's Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh, inaugurated the 4th Agri Leadership Summit 2019 at the India International Horticulture Market (IIHM) in Ganaur, Sonipat district, Haryana.

The theme of the Summit was "Entrepreneurship & Agri-Business; Agri Allied - A Promising Sector and Agri Service-Direct Marketing".

President Ram Nath Kovind address the closing ceremony of the 3-day summit. He launched Digital Kisan Platform. He also conferred Krishi Ratna Puraskar on Vice Chancellor K.P. Singh for Haryana Agriculture University, Hisa and honoured 9 farmers with Kisan Ratna Puraskar. 

India's very first 'Fulldome 3D Digital Theatre' at the Science City in Kolkata, West Bengal was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.

It is fully funded by the Ministry of Culture at a cost of Rs 20 crore.

The 'Fulldome 3D Digital theatre' was the first of its kind in India having a 23 metre titled dome to offer a fully immersive experience to the visitors.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi launched a range of citizen safety initiatives in New Delhi. It includes the Emergency Response Support System, ERSS, for women safety in 16 states and Union territories.

Persons in distress can dial a pan-India number: 112. Under this system, all the states have to set up a dedicated Emergency Response centre, ERC.

A citizen may Press the power button on a smartphone thrice quickly to activate a panic call to ERC.

In case of a feature phone, long press on number 5 or 9 on the phone keypad will activate the panic call.

Israel is to launch its first Moon Mission, sending an unmanned spacecraft to collect data to be shared with NASA.

Israel's non-profit SpaceIL launched its spacecraft from Florida's Cape Canaveral on board a Falcon 9 rocket, in a bid to become the fourth country to make a soft landing on the moon.

The spacecraft called "Beresheet' a reference to the first words of the Bible in Hebrew: "In the beginning...,"

According to a report, the 585-kilogram Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft is to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Mission control will be in Yehud, near Tel Aviv.

AntBot is the first walking robot to have navigational capabilities without GPS or Mapping.

It has been designed by French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Aix-Marseille University researchers at ISM, on lines similar to desert ants who use polarised lights and UV radiation to navigate in space.

It consists of an optical compass which determines its movements by the help of polarised light.

It is lightweight, weighing only around 2.3 kgs.

This robot has six feet for increased mobility and facilities movements in complex environments. It provides a precision of up to 1 cm after covering a total distance of 14 metres.

Elise Merten, world number 21 from Belgium beat world number 3, Simona Halep to win the Qatar Open held in Doha Qatar.

Qatar is the fifth title of her career and first WTA Premier-level crown.

This was her third victory over a top ten player in Doha.

She won 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, braving an eight-minute medical timeout for back pain in the second set which made her lose 18 points in a row at one stage.

Bureaucrat Dhanya Sanal K. became the first woman to climb Agasthyarkoodam peak in Kerala.

There was an unofficial ban for women to trek the peak which was swept aside by Kerala High Court.

Agasthyarkoodam peak is a 1868 metre high mountain peak within Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. It lies on Kerala and Tamil Nadu border.

K.J. Alphons, Union Minister for Tourism inaugurated the project 'Development of Eco Circuit: Pathanamthitta-Gavi-Vagamon-Thekkady' under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme of Ministry of Tourism at Vagamon, Kerala.

The Eco Circuit project was sanctioned for Rs 76.55 crores in December 2015.

Major works carried out under the project includes Eco-Adventure Tourism Park at Vagamon, Cultural Centre at 

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Lieutenant Governor(LG) Anil Baijal inaugurated Cyber Prevention Awareness and Detection (CyPAD) Centre and the National Cyber Forensic Lab (NCFL) in Dwarka, New Delhi.

CyPAD is Delhi Police's cybercrime unit. It will deal with crypto-currency frauds and international tech-supported frauds.

NCFL is a part of Home Ministry's Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), which will monitor social media profiles of suspects to identify them.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has started a popular Twitter handle @CyberDost to spread awareness among school students and teachers.

World Day of Social Justice is observed on 20th February every year all over the world.

The Theme for World Day of Social Justice 2019 IS "If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice".

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched 'KALIA Chhatra Bruti' scholarship in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha for farmers children of the KALIA  scheme beneficiaries.

It aims at providing financial assistance for technical and professional education to farmers' children by creating a provision for the State government to bear all expenses involved in various levels of education.

The scholarship shall be sent directly to the bank accounts of students who require it via. DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer).

The 8th World CSR Congress 2019 held in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

World Corporate Social Responsibility Congress (World CSR Congress 2019) is one of the admired meetings which promote Entrepreneurship, Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Social Development.

The theme of World CSR Congress 2019 is 'Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)' to focus on corporate strategies, innovation, and strategic alliances. 

CEO of Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt Ltd, (Fiinovation), Social Entrepreneur Dr. Soumitro Chakraborty won 'CEO of the year' award at the 8th World CSR Congress.

International Vision Zero Conference inaugurated in Mumbai, Maharastra to promote occupational safety and health.

The conference has been organized by Directorate General Factory Advice and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI), Ministry of Labour and Employment, German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), Germany along with Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay and International Social Security Association-Manufacturing, Construction and Mining.

It aims to help the govt. to enhance workplace security and reduce occupational hazards by controlling risks, ensuring safety and health in machines, equipment and workplaces and skill upgradation of the workforce.

Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched a tele-law mobile application 'Nyaya Bandhu'.

The mobile application will enable the para legal volunteers (PVL)'s to perform on-field pre-registration of cases with a facility to seek appointment from the panel lawyer on preferred date and time.

The application will benefit 73,000 paralegal volunteers (PLVs) of National Legal Service Authority and State Legal Servies Authorities (SLSA) in the county who will be associated under Tele-Law service.

The 4th India-ASEAN Expo Summit started in New Delhi, to bring Indian and ASEAN businesses together to work jointly towards integrating them into regional value chains, thereby promoting mutual trade and investment.

This is a flagship event of Department of Commerce, being organized with FICCI to carry forward the momentum and to further strengthen India-ASEAN relations under the Act-East Policy.

A regional conference on 'Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS) was organized in Kolkata, West Bengal.

DDRS is a scheme implemented by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities of Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

DDRS is a Central Sector Scheme of Government of India implemented since 1999 for providing financial assistance to NGOs working for education and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.

Employees' Provident Fund Organisation has hiked interest rate on employees' provident fund to 8.65% from 8.55% for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

The announcement was made by Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar.

The move, once approved by finance ministry will benefit six crores EPFO subscribers.

During two-day PM visit to South Korea, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Seoul Peace Prize.

The Prime Minister was awarded the prize money of $200,000 that he contributed to the Namami Gange fund.

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are among the previous recipient the Seoul Peace Prize.

Malaysian squash queen, 35-year-old and 8 -time World Champion, Nicol David has announced that she will be retiring at the end of the 2018-19 Professional Squash Association (PSA) season in June 2019.

She is one of the most successful squash players of all time and spent an unprecedented 9 years at World No.1 between 2006-2015.

In addition to her 8 World Championship wins, David also lifted 5 British Open titles, 2 Commonwealth Games gold medals, 5 Asia Games gold medals and 3 World Games gold medals.

The Supreme Court appointed former apex court judge Justice D K Jain as the first court-appointed ombudsman for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) under the terms of the newly approved constitution of the cash-rich cricket board.

The ombudsman will be resolving any issue that comes with regards to the players, as also financial issues.

Anirban Mukherjee has appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Naspers-owned PayU India, a leading online payments service provider.

He will succeed Amrish Rau.

Anirban Mukherjee is presently the co-chief executive of Reliance Payments.

Ajay Singh, President of the Boxing Federation of India has been selected as the President of the Foundation Board for Better Boxing of AIBA (International Boxing Association).

He will have a tenure of four years.

AIBA formed the Foundation Board for Better Boxing in the last meeting of its Executive Committee to formulate the action plan for global development of the sport in future.

Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh chaired the fifth meeting of the Island Development Agency (IDA), held in New Delhi.

The meeting was held to review the progress made towards the "Holistic development of islands" program.

Bids for private sector participation in 3 tourism-based projects have been invited by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration, which include Eco-Tourism projects in Smith Island and Long Island and Tent City project in Aves Island.

"The Future of Indian Banking" conference was co-hosted by NITI Aayog along with the Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare (EGROW Foundation) at the Civil Services Officers' Institute (CSOI), New Delhi.

Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, inaugurated the conference.

The conference aims to increase and elevate the discourse on the banking sector in India, and help develop insights to inform the continued evolution of the Indian banking sector for optimally supporting the growing credit needs of the Indian economy.

Union Minister of State (IC) for Information & Broadcasting and Youth Affairs & Sports CoI Rajyavardhana Rathore presented the 7th National Photography Awards in New Delhi. A total of 13 awards were given.

The theme for the Professional category was "Women-led Development" while the theme for Amateur category was "Fairs and Festivals of India".

List of Awards:

1) Lifetime Achievement Award - Ashok Dilwali - cash prize of Rs.3,00,000

2) Professional Photography of the Year - S L Shanth Kumar - cash prize of Rs. 1,00,000

3) Amateur Photographer of the Year - Gurdeep Dhiman - cash prize of Rs. 75,000

4) Special Mention Awards (Professional) - Arun Sreedhar, P.V. Sunderrao, Kailash Mittal, Mihir Singh, Ms. Ranita Roy - cash prize of Rs. 50,000

5) Special Mention Awards (Amateur) - V. Ravi Kumar, Avijit Datta, Mahesh Balasaheb Lonkar, S. Neelima, Manish Jaisi - cash prize of Rs. 30,0000

The  Human Resource Development Minister, Prakash Javadekar launched Operation Digital Board to boost quality education in the country.

The operation aims to cover a classroom into a digital classroom and make available the e-resources at any time and at any place to students.

The government aimed at equipping 9 lakh classrooms in schools and colleges across the country (7 lakh classrooms of 9th, 10th and 11th standards and 2 lakh classrooms of colleges and Universities) with digital facilities for teaching by 2022.

Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, inaugurated India's first Humanoid Police Robot named KP-BOT, ranked as Sub-Inspector (SI), at the Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The robot's gender is declared female keeping in mind women empowerment and gender equality.

She will perform Front Office duties of the police headquarters like receiving visitors and direct them as required

Kerala Police Headquarters has become the first police department in the country to use a robot for police work.

Chinese news agency Xinhua unveiled the world's first female AI news anchor Xin Xiaomeng.

She has been developed by Xinhua in collaboration with Sogou Inc, a search engine company.

Earlier, Xinhua also developed Qiu Hao, the world's first male AI news anchor at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen held in Nov 2018, who is capable of mimicking human facial expressions and mannerisms while reading out news-reports.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated 'Waste to Wonder Park' which houses the replicas of seven wonders of the world at South Delhi.

The park was built by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).

It is the first-of-its-kind tourist attraction in the world, with the replicas of seven wonders of the world.

The replicas of seven wonders of the world have been built with eco-friendly, self-sustainable material, and has its own solar and wind power generation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the Global Business Summit in New Delhi.

He announced that India would be made a 10 trillion-dollar economy-the third largest in the world.

He highlighted the role of his government's policies in establishing a high growth rate and controlling inflation.

Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, inaugurated Tripura's first mega food park named Sikaria Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd at Village Tulakona in Agartala.

This is the first Mega Food Park in the state of Tripura and 17th in the country.

The pood park spread over 50 acres of land has been constructed at a cost of Rs 87.45 crore.

The Central government has accorded approval for financial assistance of Rs 50 crore for the project.

Static GK

Tripura

Capital - Agartala

Chief Minister - Biplab Kumar Deb

Gov - Kaptan Singh Solanki

Bollywood actress, Kareen Kapoor Khan has been named as the brand ambassador of Swasth Immunised India, a year-long campaign initiated by Network18 and Serum Institute of India which promotes immunization of babies under the age of 2 years.

The campaign was launched at Mumbai.

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) was conferred with the prestigious 'FICCI Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award' for Women Empowerment at the 17th edition of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) CSR summit and awards held at New Delhi.

JSPL won this prestigious award for its innovative and high impact women empowerment programmes, implemented by the Company's CSR Arm JSPL Foundation, across its operational areas in India.

Divya Karnad became the First Indian Woman to receive the 'Future for Nature Award' for her work on marine conservation.

She is the second Indian to receive this award after Dr. Charudutt Mishra.

Karnad 33-year-old, who teaches at Ashoka University is also a Wipro Sustainable Fellow.

The award is given to 3 people annually, this year apart from Divya Karnad, Oliver Nsengimana and Fernanda Abra also received it.

The 'Future for Nature Award' is a prestigious international award that celebrates achievements in protecting wild animals and plant species.

The Odisha government approved Khushi scheme in the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, to provide free sanitary napkins to school girls across the state.

The scheme will benefit around 17.25 lakh school girls from Class VI to XII studying in government and government-aided schools.

It will also cover Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawaharlal Navodaya Vidyalayas.

The state government will spend INR 466 crore over a period of 5 years.

In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG).

The scheme focuses on girls aged between 11 to 14 years who left studies and will take steps for proper nutrition and special care for them.

The state government also decided to observe Adolescent girls day on 8th of every month at Anganwadi centres across the state. State Government will also launch Nutrition Campaign for the adolescent girls on 8th March.

The UP Govt will provide them the education with nutrition till graduation level. 

The main objective of UP SAG Scheme is to improve the nutritional, health and development status, promote awareness of health, hygiene, nutrition, and family care.