Daily Current Affairs, 18th February 2020

1) PM Modi launch 50 development projects worth over Rs 1200 crore in Varanasi

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 50 development projects worth over 1,200 crore rupees at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. These projects include a 430-bed super speciality Government hospital, a 74-bed psychiatry hospital and Centre for Vedic Research at Kashi Hindu Vishwavidyalaya (BHU), at BHU. PM Modi also inaugurate the Chaukaghat Lehartara Overbridge in the city which will ease the traffic near the railway station.

•PM Modi also flagged off the Kashi Mahakaal Express to link Varanasi, Ujjain and Omkareshwar and dedicated to the nation the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Memorial Centre. At Pandav area of Chandauli district, Prime Minister also unveiled the 63 feet Statue of Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya. This is the largest statue of the leader in the country.

2) PM Modi inaugurates ‘Kashi Ek Roop Anek’ exhibition in Varanasi

•Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated cultural arts and handicrafts exhibition named ‘Kashi Ek Roop Anek’ organized at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. ‘Kashi Ek Roop Anek’ showcased products from over 10,000 artisans from all over Uttar Pradesh.

•In this event, the Uttar Pradesh government had launched the ambitious scheme ‘One District, One Product’ (ODOP) in which one craft per district was identified. The state government has established raw material banks, testing labs, common facility centres, and facilitated direct market access to artisans and weavers and helping them improve their income.

3) Pinarayi Vijayan launches ”Yodhavu” mobile app to combat drug menace

•Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched “Yodhav” (Warrior) mobile app (application) at Kochi, Kerala. Through this app, the public can inform police about drug abuse and its distribution. The application was introduced by the Kochi city police and the informer’s identity could be kept secret.

•The chief minister also inaugurated a most modern cyber doom cyber crime police station, the new building of the Infopark police station and regional forensic science laboratory’s upper and lower subordinate quarters at the TCS auditorium at Infopark. The chief minister also unveiled the model of Kochi city police’s new police complex being constructed at Marine Drive.

4) ‘Pyaar ka Paudha’ campaign launched by Bihar govt

•‘Pyaar ka Paudha’ (a plant of love) campaign has been launched by the Bihar government’s Department of Environment and Forest in Patna. This campaign is to encourage the practice of planting trees in the state. Department of Environment, request to gift one plant of love to your closed ones and provide good care. This campaign is a small effort will be a big step towards making the Bihar land green.

5) GoI renames IDSA as ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’

•The Union government has decided to rename ‘The Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’ (IDSA) as ‘Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses’. The decision has been taken to honour late Manohar Parrikar, former defence minister and Padma Bhushan awardee.

•Manohar Parrikar “biggest” contribution was towards the implementation of long-standing One Rank One Pension (OROP) demand for the armed forces. The defence minister chairs the Executive committee of the lnstitute’s society. Mr Parrikar was defence minister from November 9, 2014, to March 14, 2017.

•The IDSA was established as a registered society in New Delhi in 1965, dedicated to objective research and policy-relevant studies on all aspects of defence and security. The Institute aims to promote national and international security through the generation and dissemination of knowledge on defence and security-related issues. To achieve its goals, the institute undertakes scholarly research, policy-oriented research, dissemination of research findings, training and capacity building and public education.

6) ISRO to launch 10 Earth Observation Satellites in 2020-21

•The Indian Space Research Organisation has revealed in its annual report for 2019-20 that it will launch 10 Earth Observation Satellites in 2020-21. The 10 earth observation (EO) satellites will include categories such as the first Geo Imaging Satellite, GISAT-1 along with three communication satellites and two navigation satellites.

•The Indian Space Research Organisation’s annual report for 2019-20 plan also mentions 36 missions including satellites and their launchers.

7) India to have 1st “Integrated Tri-services Command” by year 2020

•The Chief of the Defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat has announced the plan of establishing the first Integrated Tri-Services Command. The Integrated Tri-Services Command will be responsible for handing the air defence of the entire country. The command is expected to be established by June 2020. The planned Integrated Tri-Services command will be headed by an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer.

Objective of Integrated Tri-Services Command:

•The Integrated Tri-Services Command aims is to unite the resources of the three defence services of India under one command to protect the air space of the country. The air defence set-up of the the Army, Air Force and Navy would integrate to provide air defence cover to the country.

•The Department of Military Affairs headed by General Bipin Rawat has been mandated to create joint military commands along with theatre commands, joint peninsula command and a logistics command.

8) Radhakishan Damani becomes India’s 2nd richest person

•Avenue Supermarts, which is doing business as D-Mart, founder Radhakishan Damani has now become the 2nd richest Indian after Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani, with a net worth of $17.8 billion. He has left behind many heavyweights to acquire the coveted spot including the likes of philanthropist Shiv Nadar, banker Uday Kotak, and industrialists Gautam Adani and Lakshmi Mittal.

9) Vinay Dube becomes GoAir new CEO

•GoAir has appointed Vinay Dube, the former chief executive officer (CEO) of Jet Airways, as its new CEO. He will be responsible for the management of the airline and also for meeting the goals and long-term growth objectives of the company. The budget airline did not have a CEO since the departure of Cornelis Vrieswijk in March last year.

•Earlier, Dube has served as Senior Vice President-Asia Pacific at Delta Air Lines, CEO at Delta Technology LLC, Vice President-Consulting & Marketing Solutions at Sabre Airline Solutions, among other positions.

10) 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety 2020

•The 3rd edition of the Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety will be held in Stockholm, Sweden on February 19-20, 2020. The Third Global Ministerial Conference (Ministerial Conference) aims to reach high-level consensus for continued global road safety targets and collaboration up to 2030. The theme of the two-day conference is Achieving Global Goals 2030.

•The event is being co-sponsored by the Government of Sweden with support from the World Health Organization. The Indian delegation will be led by Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Mr Nitin Gadkari.

11) All India Conference of CAT 2020 held in New Delhi

•The annual All India Conference of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) was held in New Delhi. The conference was attended by Judicial and Administrative Members from all 17 Benches of CAT from across the country, members of the CAT Bar Association and eminent Jurists, who deliberated on key issues related to the functioning of the Tribunal and priorities for 2020.

•The Conference was presided over by Union Minister for Law and Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad. It is a platform to discuss issues related to the work of CAT, including structural and institutional issues, the functioning of administrative tribunals in other legal systems and methodology for the functioning of the tribunal among others.

12) India signs USD 450 million loan agreement with World Bank

•The Goverment of India has signed USD 450 million loan agreement with the World Bank. The loan agreement of USD 450 million aims to support the national programme “Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY): National Groundwater Management Improvement Programme“. It will help the Union Government to curb the country’s depleting groundwater levels along with strengthening of the groundwater institutions.

More Details about loan:

•The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will provide the loan amount on behalf of the World Bank. According to the loan agreement signed between Indian Government and the World Bank, the loan amount will be having a grace period of 6 years, along with the maturity period of 18 years.

Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY): National Groundwater Management Improvement Programme

•The Atal Bhujal Yojana aims to provide strength to the institutional framework for participatory groundwater management and to encourage behavioural changes at the community level for sustainable groundwater resource management. With this, it will curb the country’s depleting groundwater levels along with strengthening of the groundwater institutions.

Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) Implementation:

•ABHY will be implemented in 7 states and cover 78 districts. The 7 states are: Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra. The ABHY programme will increase the recharge of aquifers and introduce water conservation practices. It will also promote water harvesting, crop alignment, and water management activities.

•The above targets are expected to be achieved with the use of cutting-edge technology along with Artificial Intelligence and space technology which will further help in better implementation of the programme.