Daily Current Affairs, 21st February 2020

1) International Mother Language Day observed globally on 21st February

•International Mother Language Day has been observed globally on 21 february since February 2000. The main purpose of celebrating this day is to promote the awareness of language, cultural diversity and multilingualism all across the world.

•UNESCO is celebrating International Mother Language Day 2020 under the theme “Languages without borders.”

•The idea to celebrate International Mother Language Day was the initiative of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh 21 February is the anniversary of the day when Bangladeshis fought for recognition for the Bangla language.

•As per the data on un.org “at least 43% of the estimated 6000 languages spoken in the world are endangered. Only a few hundred languages have genuinely been given a place in education systems and the public domain, and less than a hundred are used in the digital world.” Globalisation is one of the factors to blame for increasing threat various languages are under and all of us should strive to save the linguistic diversity of our region, our nation and our world.

History of International Mother Language Day:

•The day has its roots dating back to 1952, when students of Dhaka University in Bangladesh protested and organized rallies to re-instate Bangla, their mother tongue (which was spoken by a majority of people in Bangladesh) as their national language. After the partition of India and Pakistan the Pakistani Government declared Urdu as the sole national of East Pakistan and West Pakistan both. The people of east Pakistan (now Bangladesh) fought and sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue. In 1956, the government granted official status to Bangla or Bengali. Although Bangaldesh became independent in 1971, the country still observes national holiday on 21st February and celebrates the International Mother Language Day.

2) Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission 4th Anniversary being observed today

•The 4th Anniversary of the launch of Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) being observed today. On 21st February 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Mission with the vision to deliver catalytic interventions to rural areas on the threshold of growth.

•The Mission aims at transforming these Rurban clusters by stimulating local economic development, enhancing basic services and creating well planned Rurban clusters. This will lead to the holistic development of the region and encourage integrated and inclusive rural development.

•Under the mission, 300 Rurban clusters are envisaged to be developed in a time-bound manner. Spurred by the success of Rurban clusters, NITI Aayog has recently proposed a new and extended programme for over 1,000 clusters in the next three years.

3) Govt of Haryana to open Atal Kisan – Majdoor canteens

•Haryana government will open Atal Kisan – Majdoor canteens across the state. These canteens provide affordable and cheap meals to farmers and labourers at a concessional rate of 10 rupees per plate in all mandis and sugar mills. 25 such canteens will be established this year.

•This was stated by Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya during his address to the Budget Session of State Assembly. Haryana government will also provide free and concessional travel facility to 41 different categories of residents in the ordinary buses of Haryana Roadways. Under a new initiative, the women and girls belonging to 11 lakh BPL families will be given sanitary napkins free of cost during the year 2020-2021.

4) 1st Bharat-Bangla Paryatan Utsav begins in Agartala

•The 1st-ever Bharat-Bangla Paryatan Utsav-Tourism festival begins in Agartala, Tripura. The aim of the festival is to promote tourism in Tripura and apprise the people of the state and neighbouring Bangladesh of the tourist destinations in this state.




•The State Tourism Department has organized the festival in memories of the contribution of Tripura in 1971 Bangladesh liberation war as well as giving a fillip to the Tripura tourism sector. The states through cultural tourism, health tourism particularly tightening the relationship between two nations.

5) India to switch world’s cleanest petrol and diesel from April 1

•India will switch to the world’s cleanest petrol and diesel from April 1 as it leapfrogs straight to Euro-VI emission compliant fuels from Euro-IV grades now. India will join the select league of nations using petrol and diesel containing just 10 parts per million of sulphur as it looks to cut vehicular emissions that are said to be one of the reasons for the choking pollution in major cities.

•Bharat stage-VI (BS-VI) has a sulphur content of just 10 ppm and emission standards are as good as CNG. State-owned oil refineries spent about 35,000 crore rupees to upgrade plants that could produce ultra-low sulphur fuel.

6) Northeast Frontier Railway builds India’s tallest pier bridge in Manipur

•The Northeast Frontier Railway Construction Organisation has built India’s tallest railway pier bridge 100 m tall equivalent to a 33-storey building, across Makru river in the Tamenglong district of Manipur. The Rs 283.5-crore bridge with a span of 555 m is part of the 111-km Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal new broad gauge line. It has 47 tunnels, the longest being 10.28 km.

•A bridge pier is a type of structure that extends to the ground below or into the water. It is used to support bridge superstructure and transfer the loads to the foundation. The bridge piers can be constructed to be substantially attractive and strong in order to withstand both vertical and horizontal loads.

7) Ahmedabad to host Chitra Bharati Film Festival

•The Chitra Bharati Film Festival will be held at Gujarat University in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and will be organised by Bharatiya Chitra Sadhana. This is the 3rd edition of the film festival having an objective of establishing a ‘Bharatiya’ narrative in Indian cinema. The Chitra Bharati Film Festival will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Gujarat Vijay Rupani and Bollywood filmmaker Subhash Ghai which will feature 140 films to be screened at the festival. The films to be screened at the festival will be categorised as short film, documentary, animation and campus film.

•The key topics of the Chitra Bharati Film Festival includes Indian culture and values, constructive work, Indian family, social harmony, trees and cleanliness, women, national security and education for nation building.

•The previous 2 editions of the Chitra Bharati Film Festival were held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh (2016) and at Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium (2018).

8) Pakistan will remain on the FATF Grey List

•Pakistan will remain on the FATF Grey List till June 2020. The decision was taken by the anti-money laundering watchdog after the conclusion of the February 16-21 group meetings and plenary in Paris. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in October decided to keep Pakistan on its Grey List for failure to curb funnelling of funds to terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and others.

What is the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)?

•The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its Member jurisdictions. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system. The FATF is, therefore, a “policy-making body” which works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory reforms in these areas.

•The FATF monitors the progress of its members in implementing necessary measures, reviews money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures, and promotes the adoption and implementation of appropriate measures globally. In collaboration with other international stakeholders, the FATF works to identify national-level vulnerabilities with the aim of protecting the international financial system from misuse.

9) Pakistan successfully tests air-launched cruise missile Ra’ad-II

•Pakistan successfully completed the flight test of the air-launched cruise missile Ra’ad-II. The Ra’ad-II weapon system is equipped with state of the art guidance & navigation systems ensuring of engagement targets with high precision. Ra’ad-II missile is planned to be attached to Mirage aircraft or F-16 fighter jets of the Pakistan Air Force. The cruise missile with a range of 600 km significantly enhances air delivered strategic standoff capability on land and at sea.

10) Sanjay Kothari becomes new Central Vigilance Commissioner

•Sanjay Kothari has been selected as the new Central Vigilance Commissioner by a high-powered committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is presently served as the Secretary to the President. The Central Vigilance Commission is an-corruption watchdog with autonomous status.