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NATIONAL AFFAIRS
MoHUA shortlists 25 Cities for ‘Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge’ Cohort
- The shortlisted cities will receive support & technical assistance for the next 6 months to implement their proposals.
- ‘Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge’ is a 3-year challenge that will help Indian cities to adopt & Implement neighbourhood-level pilot projects in public space, mobility, and access to services to enhance the physical and psychological health of young children (0-5 years old) & their caregivers.
- They will create a childhood-friendly environment by ‘re-imagining parks & open spaces, improving access to early childhood facilities, adapting public space with early childhood-oriented amenities, and creating accessible, safe, walkable streets for young children and families’.
Shortlisted Cities:
- Agartala, Bengaluru, Coimbatore, Dharamshala, Erode, Hubballi-Dharwad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Kakinada, Kochi, Kohima, Kota, Nagpur, Rajkot, Ranchi, Rohtak, Rourkela, Salem, Surat, Thiruvananthapuram, Tiruppur, Ujjain, Vadodara, and Warangal.
About Bernard van Leer Foundation (BvLF):
Executive Director – Cecilia Vaca Jones
Headquarters – The Hague, Netherlands
About World Resources Institute (WRI) India:
CEO – O P Agarwal
<<Read Full News>>
IOC inked SoI with Greenstat Hydrogen India Pvt. Ltd to set up Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen
ii.It will be set up through Indo-Norwegian Hydrogen Cluster companies/organizations which will facilitate the transfer and sharing of technology, know-how and experience for R&D (Research & Development) projects in Green and Blue Hydrogen.
iii.The agreement has been signed by both the companies in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), Ambassador of Norway to India Hans Jacob Frydenlund, and senior officials of MoPNG.
About Indian Oil Corporation(IOC):
Chairman– Shrikant Madhav Vaidya
Headquarter– New Delhi
About Greenstat:
Manager for Greenstat Hydrogen– Tomas Fiksdal
Headquarter– Bergen, Norway
<<Read Full News>>
Dharmendra Pradhan addressed Joint Conference of 11th World PetroCoal Congress 2021 & World Future Fuel Summit 2021 in New Delhi
ii.The 11th World PetroCoal Congress-International Conference and Expo was organized by Energy and Environment Foundation on the theme “Petroleum-Coal-Gas: Towards a Win-Win Strategy for Producer and Consumer”.
iii.The World Future Fuel Summit and Exp 2021 was also organized by Energy and Environment Foundation. It is an annual summit to bring together global business leaders, future leaders (students), government, specialist exhibitors from globally, it showcases state-to-art technologies in clean future energy for globally.
About Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG):
Dharmendra Pradhan Constituency– Madhya Pradesh
Headquarter– New Delhi
<<Read Full News>>
India, Indonesia Navies conduct ‘PASSEX’ exercise in Arabian Sea 
- Indian Navy Ship INS Talwar & Indonesian Navy’s multirole Corvette KRI Bung Tomo participated in the exercise.
- Maritime Cooperation with India & Indonesia is increasing rapidly in the last few years.
- PASSEXs are regularly conducted by Indian Navy with friendly foreign navies while visiting each other’s ports or during an engagement at sea.
PASSEX with other Countries
Russia
Indian Navy undertook a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with Russian Federation Navy (RuFN) in the Eastern Indian Ocean Region (IOR) from December 4-5, 2020.
Vietnam
Indian Navy & Vietnam People’s Navy undertook a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) 2020 in the South China Sea from December 26-27, 2020.
About Indonesia:
President – Joko Widodo
Capital – Jakarta
Currency – Indonesian rupiah
<<Read Full News>>
India hosted Workshop on ‘COVID-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward’
ii.The workshop was addressed by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi where he proposed five measures to cope with future medical emergencies for the countries in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region.
iii.Notably, all countries including Pakistan accepted the measures and proposed a discussion on the same to take them forward.
iv.The key measure includes creating a special visa scheme for doctors and nurses so that medical personnel can travel quickly within the region during health emergencies.
About South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC):
Secretary General– Esala Ruwan Weerakoon (Sri Lanka)
Headquarter– Kathmandu, Nepal
Current Chair– Nepal
Till date India held its chairmanship for 3 times i.e. in 1986-87, 1995-1997, and 2007-2008
<<Read Full News>>
Union Minister Piyush Goyal Delivered Keynote Address At 2nd Meeting of India Singapore CEO Forum
Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs and Food & Public Distribution delivered the keynote address at the Meeting.
Note:
The Forum was first launched in November 2018.
Highlights:
i.The members of the Forum agreed to work on resolving the regulatory issues and process which are affecting the bilateral trade and investment between India and Singapore.
ii.Union Minister Piyush Goyal stated that the expanding relations between India and Singapore greatly depends on people and people relationships and 3 Bs: Buddhism; Bollywood; Business.
The Bilateral Benefits:
i.S Iswaran, Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations Singapore highlighted 3D’s: Development, Diversification and Digital Economy to build the partnership that benefits both the countries.
ii.Union Minister Piyush Goyal stated that the partnership between India and Singapore has supported India to become Atma Nirbhar and provide an opportunity to expand the global footprint of India.
iii.He called out the company to expand their engagement and works on the ways to encourage the young people to use more innovative technology.
iv.Both India and Singapore are working in cybersecurity and disaster relief and education and skills development.
v.India offers a large market for E-commerce, fintech, smart manufacturing and healthcare.
Singapore and the GIFT city, India’s first operational smart city have tied up with Singapore exchange to boost the international investment in India.
vi.He stated that the female entrepreneurs can open up great potential in this area and enhance the relation between both the countries.
vii.India recognises Singapore, the significant member of Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and considers that it will boost India to the region.
India, Nepal sign MoU for Reconstruction of 6 Schools in Nepal
- The MoU was signed by Indian Embassy & Nepal’s Central Level Project Implementation Unit (Education) of Nepal Reconstruction Authority (NRA).
- Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, a leading institute in India in the field of earthquake-resilient reconstruction will provide technical assistance for construction of these schools.
- 6 Secondary Schools to be reconstructed are Kanti Bhairab Secondary School, Champa Devi Secondary School, Dhapasi Secondary School and Bishnu Devi Secondary School, Siddheshwar Secondary School and Harisiddhi Secondary School.
- The signing of the MoU took place at a ceremony for the reconstruction of Shree Kanti Bhairab Secondary School at Kageshwari Municipality in Kathmandu in Nepal, which is being reconstructed at a cost of NPR 266 Million.
About Nepal:
President – Bidya Devi Bhandari
Capital – Kathmandu
Currency – Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
<<Read Full News>>
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Environmental Degradation Poses Triple Threat to Humans: UNEP Assessment
ii.There is a massive need of adopting renewable energy methods and eliminating habitat loss for saving our future generations from unacceptable risks.
iii.The lead author of the report is Robert Watson, Ivar A. Baste.
About United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
Executive Director– Inger Andersen
Headquarters– Nairobi, Kenya
<<Read Full News>>
3rd Quad Ministerial Meeting, FMs reaffirm commitment to strengthen co-op on advancing free and open Indo-Pacific
ii.The QUAD nations reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation including support for freedom of navigation and territorial integrity.
iii.Myanmar was the key focus of the meet.
iv.The Indian side was represented by Union Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
About Quad ministerial:
In 2017, the above mentioned four countries approved the proposal of setting up the “Quad” or the Quadrilateral coalition to counter China’s aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region.
- It is held annually at the Ministerial level and on a regular basis at senior and working levels.
- The first meeting of this framework was held in New York in September 2019.
BANKING & FINANCE
Bank of Maharashtra Partnered with Vayana Network Launches its Mahabank Channel Financing Scheme for MSMEs
ii.This partnership enables BoM to provide short term credit to meet funding requirements of corporate dealers and vendors through its channel.
iii.Under the partnership, Vayana Network will provide SCF solutions to more than 1,870 branches of BoM through its technology and service knowledge. SCF solutions include vendor and dealer financing programs.
About Bank of Maharashtra(BoM):
HeadOffice– Pune, Maharashtra
Incorporated on– September 16, 1935
Commenced Operations– February 8, 1936
MD & CEO– A.S Rajeev
About Vayana Network:
Founder & CEO– R. N. Iyer
Headquarters– Pune, Maharashtra
<<Read Full News>>
Indian Bank signs MoU with SID of IISc to Provide Credit Facility to Start-ups and MSME
ii.This initiative is a part of the Bank’s scheme ‘Ind Spring Board for financing Start-ups’
About Society for Innovation and Development (SID):
Chief Executive– Prof B Gurumoorthy
Headquarters– Bengaluru, Karnataka
About Indian Bank:
On April 1, 2020, Allahabad Bank amalgamated with Indian Bank.
MD & CEO– Padmaja Chunduru
Tagline– Your Own Bank
Headquarters– Chennai, TamilNadu
<<Read Full News>>
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Hyderabad, Recognised as the ‘2020 Tree City of the World’ by Arbor Day Foundation & FAO
- Hyderabad became the first and only city in India to be recognised as the 2020 Tree City of the World.
- With the recognition as the 2020 tree city of the world, Hyderabad became a part of the network of cities who recognise the vital role of trees towards building healthy, resilient and happy cities.
- Along with Hyderabad, 51 other cities were recognised as the ‘2020 Tree Cities of the World”, most of which were from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and others.
About Tree Cities of the World:
The tree cities of the world is a programme was inaugurated in 2019 by FAO of UN and Arbor Day Foundation.
Aim:
To call cities to invest in forest-based solutions towards a sustainable and resilient model of urban development.
Highlights:
i.68 cities from 17 countries were recognised in the 1st year of the programme.
ii.2020 ‘Tree cities of the world’ is the 2nd year of the programme.
iii.Presently around 120 cities from 63 countries were assessed as the Tree cities of the World.
Standard of recognition:
- The city should have established responsibility, a tree board responsible for the care of trees within the municipal boundary.
- The city should have a law and official policy that governs the management of forest and trees.
- The city should have updated inventory of the local tress resources which will support the effective long term plans.
- The city should have a dedicated budget for the implementation of tree management.
- The city should hold an annual celebration of trees.
About Arbor Day Foundation:
Arbor Day Foundation is a non profit organization dedicated towards planting trees.
Chief Executive– Matt Harris
Headquarters– Lincoln, Nebraska
Founded in 1972
Team TRIFED led by MD Pravir Krishna bag 4 awards at World Leadership Congress & Awards
- TRIFED won the Collective Award of Excellence in PSU (Public Sector Undertaking) for investment in start-ups under the Organisational Award Category.
- Pravir Krishna won 3 awards in the Individual Category for his leadership – ‘CEO of the year’, ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ (both under ‘Business Leader of the Year’ category) & ‘Brand Builder of the Year’ (under Health Category).
- The Awards are hosted by World Leadership Congress and Awards.
About TRIFED:
TRIFED was established in August 1987 under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984
MD – Pravir Krishna
Headquarters – New Delhi
<<Read Full News>>
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakahria Resigns
Note: The ruling party is expected to nominate a new PM and cabinet members for approval by Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili shortly.
Issue:
Gakahria wanted to avoid arrest of Nika melia. As per him, this will increase the political crisis already underway and destabilize the country.
About Giorgi Gakahria:
Political Career
i.He served as the Business Ombudsman of Georgia(March 2013-July 2016)
ii.He also served as the Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia(November 2016-2017)
iii.From November 13, 2017 to September 2019 he served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Vice Prime Minister of Georgia.
iv.In addition to this, he served as the Secretary of the National Security Council from April 2019 to September 2019.
Professional Career
From November 2008 to February 2013, he served as the Business Development Director for Eastern Europe, CIS and the Russian Federation at Lufthansa Service Holding AG.
About Georgia:
Capital- Tbilisi
Currency- Georgian Lari(GEL)
Japan’s Former Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto Takes Over as 2020 Tokyo Olympic President
- Seiko Hashimoto resigned from the role of Minister of Olympics as she takes over as the president of 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
- She succeeds Former chief Yoshiro Mori following his resignation over the condemned sexist remarks.
About Seiko Hashimoto:
Sports:
i.Seiko Hashimoto a former olympian who represente japan in speed skating at 4 winter Olympic games(1984, 1988, 1992 & 1994) and in Track cycling at 3 Summer Games(1988, 1992 & 1996).
ii.She won a bronze in the Women’s 1500 m speed skating in 1992 Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France.
iii.In 1990 she won a medal at the World Championship for speed skate and became the first japanese achieve the feat.
Politics:
i.Seiko Hashimoto of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has served as the Olympic minister from September 2019 to February 2021 and she has also been the Minister In charge of Women’s Empowerment and Minister of State for Gender Equality.
ii.She was the first politician in Japan to take maternity leave while in office and she was also the first upper house lawmaker to give birth while holding the office.
About 2020 Tokyo Olympic:
2020 Tokyo Olympic is officially the Games of the 32nd Olympiad.It is to be held from23 July 2021 to 8 August 2021.
Olympic Mascot– Miraitowa
Paralympic Mascot– Someity
Mohammad Younes Menfi Becomes Interim Head of Presidential Council of Libya & Abdul Hamid Dbeibah as Interim PM of Libya
Other members of the Presidential council include, Abdullah Al-Lafi and Mossa Al-Koni.
Note: Abdul Hamid Dbeibah has to form his government in 21 days. He is the founder of Libya al-Mustakbal (Libya Future) Movement.
Key Points:
i.He will serve as the Interim PM till the National Election that is to be held later 2021.
ii.He also founded Libya al-Mustakbal (Libya Future) Movement and has support from western tribes.
About Libya officially the State of Libya:
Capital– Tripoli
Currency– Libyan Dinar
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
L&T delivers 100th & Final K-9 Vajra Howitzer Gun to Indian Army
- K-9 Vajra has a range of 38 kms and is an indigenized version of K-9 Thunder of South Korea.
- The Howitzers have been produced by L&T with technology transfer from South Korean defence major Hanwha Defense.
- The Howitzers have been delivered with more than 80% indigenous work packages & above 50% indigenisation (by value)
- With this, L&T has successfully completed delivery of all 100 Howitzer guns under the INR 4, 366 Crore contract awarded to it by the Ministry of Defence in May 2017.
Deployment in Ladakh
Three K-9 Vajra Howitzers are set to be deployed for trials in the High Altitude mountainous area of ladakh.
About Larsen & Toubro (L&T):
Chairman – Anil Manibhai Naik
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director – S. N. Subrahmanyan
Headquarters – Mumbai, Maharashtra
<<Read Full News>>
DRDO completes Joint User Trials for HELINA & Dhruvastra versions of ATGM
- The Missiles have been developed indigenously byDRDO.
- The Missiles successfully completed Five Missions for evaluating the missile capabilities in minimum and maximum range.
- As they have completed the trials successfully, they will be ordered by the Indian Air Force & Indian Army for their Combat choppers.
- HELINA has a range of 7 Kms.
HELINA:
- It is a 3rd Generation, Lock on Before Launch (LOBL) Fire & Forget ATGMS.
- They can engage targets both in direct hit mode & top attack mode and is Guided by imaging infrared seekers.
- HELINA is one of the most-advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.
About Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO):
Chairman – Dr G Satheesh Reddy
Headquarters – New Delhi
<<Read Full News>>
SpaceX Launched 60 Starlink Satellites into Space; Missed its Landing Target
i.The rocket’s first stage did not land on SpaceX’s drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ in the Atlantic Ocean as planned.
ii.The first-stage booster is the largest and most expensive portion of the rocket, accounting about roughly 60% of the price of building a new Falcon 9 rocket.
Key Info:
i.In 2015, SpaceX did 1st successful booster landing
ii.Since then, the company has landed 67 boosters out of 107 total Falcon 9 launches, and 50 of those flights have made use of previously flown boosters.
SpaceX Created New World Record by Launching 143 satellites in Single Launch by Falcon 9:
On January 24, 2021, SpaceX successfully created a New World Record by launching 143 Satellites in a single mission. The satellites were launched using the Falcon 9 Reusable rockets from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States of America.
About SpaceX:
Chief Executive Officer – Elon Musk
Headquarters – California, USA
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Peter Mukerjea’s Book, a Memoir Titled “Star Struck: Confessions of a TV Executive” 
The book is published by Westland Books, the publishing arm of Amazon.
About the Book:
i.The book is a collection of Peter Mukerjea’s experiences in Star India and his journey to becoming the CEO of Star India.
ii.The book also features the life events that changed his life over the years.
About Peter Mukerjea:
i.Peter Mukerjea joined Star TV in 1993 and he was promoted as the Executive Vice President in 1997 and later appointed as the CEO of Star India in 1999.
ii.He retired from Star India in 2007.
iii.He has served as the Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of INX media from 2007 to 2009(retired from INX media).
iv.He was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) in November 2015, in connection with the Sheena Bora Murder case, in which Indrani Mukerjea his former wife is the main accused.
VP M Venkaiah Naidu Released a Book, ‘Maverick Messiah: A Political Biography of N.T. Rama Rao’
Who is N.T. Rama Rao?
i.Nandamuri Taraka(N.T.) Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996) is widely known as NTR
ii.He is an Indian actor, producer, director, film editor and politician who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh(AP) for 7 years over three terms.
iii.He founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982.
iv.He was the first non-Congress Chief Minister of the state.
Awards:
He received Padma Shri in 1968 for art among others.
Honours:
i.AP Govt in 1996 instituted The NTR National Award in honour of him.
The award recognises notable film personalities for their lifetime achievements and contributions to the Indian film industry.
ii.NTR Vignan Trust instituted NTR National Literary Award, an annual award to recognise people for their lifetime achievements and contributions to Indian literature.
About Ramesh Kandula:
Presently he is serving as the CEO & chief editor of Mahaa News, a Telugu news channel, broadcasting from Hyderabad.
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Click Here View – AC Excluded News 2021
Current Affairs Today (AffairsCloud Today)
| S.no | Current Affairs 20 February 2021 |
|---|---|
| 1 | MoHUA shortlists 25 Cities for ‘Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge’ Cohort |
| 2 | IOC inked SoI with Greenstat Norway to set up Centre of Excellence on Hydrogen |
| 3 | Dharmendra Pradhan addressed Joint Conference of 11th World PetroCoal Congress and World Future Fuel Summit in New Delhi |
| 4 | India, Indonesia Navies conduct ‘PASSEX’ exercise in Arabian Sea |
| 5 | India hosted Workshop on ‘COVID-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward’ |
| 6 | Union Minister Piyush Goyal Delivered Keynote Address At India Singapore CEO Forum |
| 7 | India, Nepal sign MoU for Reconstruction of 6 Schools in Nepal |
| 8 | Environmental Degradation Poses Triple Threat to Humans: UNEP Assessment |
| 9 | 3rd Quad Ministerial Meeting, FMs reaffirm commitment to strengthen co-op on advancing free and open Indo-Pacific |
| 10 | Bank of Maharashtra Partnered with Vayana Network Launches its Mahabank Channel Financing Scheme for MSMEs |
| 11 | Indian Bank signs MoU with SID of IISc to Provide Credit Facility to Start-ups and MSME |
| 12 | Hyderabad, Recognised as the ‘2020 Tree City of the World’ by Arbor Day Foundation & FAO |
| 13 | Team TRIFED led by MD Pravir Krishna bag 4 awards at World Leadership Congress & Awards |
| 14 | Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakahria Resigns |
| 15 | Japan’s Former Olympics Minister Seiko Hashimoto Takes Over as 2020 Tokyo Olympic President |
| 16 | Mohammad Younes Menfi Becomes Interim Head of Presidential Council of Libya & Abdul Hamid Dbeibah as Interim PM of Libya |
| 17 | L&T delivers 100th & Final K-9 Vajra Howitzer Gun to Indian Army |
| 18 | DRDO completes Joint User Trials for HELINA & Dhruvastra versions of ATGM |
| 19 | SpaceX Launched 60 Starlink Satellites into Space; Missed its Landing Target |
| 20 | Peter Mukerjea’s Book, a Memoir Titled “Star Struck: Confessions of a TV Executive” |
| 21 | VP M Venkaiah Naidu Released a Book, ‘Maverick Messiah: A Political Biography of N.T. Rama Rao’ |
