VISION

1) World Day of Social Justice observed globally on 20th February
•The World Day of Social Justice is celebrated annually all over the world on 20 February. The International Labour Organization unanimously adopted the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization on 10 June 2008.

•2020 Theme: “Closing the Inequalities Gap to Achieve Social Justice”

•Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.

2) New Delhi hosts Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts
•Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts was held in New Delhi. The symposium was chaired by Union Minister of Textiles and Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani. Senior officers of the Ministries of Commerce & Industry and Textiles, representatives of Export Promotion Council (EPCs), buying offices and buying agents participated in the symposium. They participated in the symposium to discuss the business opportunities emerging in view of the present scenario of ‘CORONA VIRUS” in China.

•The Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani stressed on the need of diversification of the present opportunities along with increasing domestic capabilities. She also stressed on making India a leader in textiles sector.

•The symposium was organized by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts under the aegis of Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

3) Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Day: 20 February
•Arunachal Pradesh is celebrating its 34th Statehood Day on 20th February. Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged state on February 20, 1987. Till 1972, it was known as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA). It gained the Union Territory status on January 20, 1972, and was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh. On 20th February 1987, Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged State.

•Union Home Minister Amit Shah visit Arunachal Pradesh to attend the 34th Statehood Day function. He lay the foundation stone of the new headquarters of the state police. Industrial Investment Policy, 2020 also be launched by Amit Shah and inaugurate the Joram Koloriang Road constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

4) Cabinet approves constitution of 22nd Law Commission of India
•Union Cabinet approved the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission of India. The commission will function for a period of three years from its date of official constitution. The Commission will give recommendations on different aspects of law which are entrusted to it. The 21st Law Commission headed by Justice BS Chauhan (retd).

•The commission shall also undertake studies and research for bringing reforms in the justice delivery systems for elimination of delay in procedures and speedy disposal of cases among others. Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body constituted by the Government from time to time. The term of the previous law panel had ended on August 31 last year.

•The panel will have a full-time chairperson, four full-time members (including a member secretary), and law and legislative secretaries in the law ministry as ex-officio members. The Commission was originally constituted in 1955 and is re-constituted every three years.

5) Union Minister lays foundation stone for lighthouse in Rameswaram
•Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya laid the foundation stone for a 50-metre high modern lighthouse at Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. This is the 5th lighthouse in the region. The light house is to be built at a cost of Rs 7 crore rupees. The lighthouse is to be located opposite to the old church that was destroyed in a cyclone in 1964. It will facilitate navigation to 33 to 37 km from the sea shore.

•The lighthouse will help to guide fishermen and will also act as tourist attraction. The Light house is also important for the naval commands.There are four Naval Commands namely Western Naval Command, Eastern Naval Command, Southern Naval Command and Andaman and Nicobar Naval Command.

•The lighthouse complex would be of reinforcement cement concrete (RCC) structure with an octagonal shape of 50 metre height (including stilt). The lighthouse tower is attached with an annexure building for the provision of powerhouse, auxiliary equipment room, duty operators room and inspection room etc.

6) Ram Mandir Trust elects Nritya Gopal Das as president
•Mahant Nritya Gopal Das was elected as the president of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust.  Champat Rai would be the general secretary of the trust. The first meeting of the Ram Mandir Trust to oversee the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya was held in New Delhi.

•The meeting also decided that Nripendra Mishra, former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will head a committee to make decisions regarding the actual construction of the temple. Swami Govind Dev Giriji Maharaj will be the treasurer of the trust. Delhi-based chartered accountancy firm, V. Shankar Aiyyar and Company will be the accountants for the trust. Senior Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat Awanish Awasthi and Ayodhya district magistrate Anuj Jha would be the State’s representatives in the trust.

•A State Bank of India account (while not explicitly stating that funds for the temple be via public donations or subscriptions) will be opened at the Ayodhya branch of the bank in the trust’s name. Signatures of Swami Govind Dev Giriji Maharaj, Mr Rai or Dr Anil Mishra (two of three) will suffice to operate the account.

7) Kashi Mahakal Express will begin today from Varanasi
•The Kashi Mahakal Express, the 3rd private train of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), will start from today. The train service will link the three Jyotirlinga: Omkareshwar near Indore, Mahakaleshwar, in Ujjain and Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi. This is also the first overnight journey train run by IRCTC.

•The train will cover 1,131 km between Varanasi and Indore via Lucknow and a distance of 1,102 km between Varanasi and Indore via Prayagraj in approximately 19 hours. Light devotional music, two dedicated private guards in every coach and only vegetarian meals are some of the features of the fully 3-AC service. The train will run thrice a week between Varanasi and Indore.

8) Cabinet approves 2nd phase of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen



•Union Cabinet has approved the 2nd Phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen till 2024-25. The program will work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.

•The 2nd phase of the mission will be implemented in a mission mode with a total estimated budgeted financial implication of 52 thousand 497 crore rupees. The 2nd phase of the mission will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). The ODF Plus programme will also converge with MGNREGA, especially for grey water management and will also complement the newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission. More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission.

9) GoI to set up Central Consumer Protection Authority
•GoI will be set up Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) by the first week of April 2020. The CCPA to be set up under the Consumer Protection Act 2019, will address issues related to consumer rights, unfair trade practices, misleading advertisements and impose penalties for selling spurious and adulterated products. CCPA will be formed under the aegis of the authority and it will carry out inquiries in matters related to unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.

10) NITI Aayog organizes meeting on Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients Industry
•National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) has organized a meeting on Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients (API) Industry. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog’s CEO Amitabh Kant to induce growth in the API industry.

Key events of the meeting:

•During the meeting, a detailed presentation on the history and status of the API industry and the challenges faced by it, was presented by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP). It also demonstrated the available options which can make India a powerhouse in Key Starting Materials, Intermediates and Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients (API). It also discussed the recent measures taken to promote the bulk drug parks in the country.

Participants of the Meeting:

•Delegates of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department of Health Research, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals and the Department of Expenditure participated in the meeting organized by NITI Aayog to boost growth in API industry.

11) Nepal celebrates its 70th National Democracy Day
•The government of Nepal has observed the 70th National Democracy Day on 19th February. Nepal celebrates the National Democracy Day every year on Falgun 7 to commemorate the attainment of democracy after the abolition of the 104-year long autocratic Rana Regime. In 2007 Bikram Sambat, on this day, democracy was established in the Himalayan nation ending over a century old autocratic Rana regime.

•Prime Minister Oli paid tribute to the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle for democracy. A contingent of Nepal Army presented a guard of honour to President Bidya Devi Bhandari and cultural processions of various communities were also displayed.

12) Jeff Bezos launches “Bezos Earth Fund” to combat climate change
•Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced the launch of “Bezos Earth Fund” to combat Climate Change. Through this fund, Jeff Bezos has committed to contribute $10 billion to help preserve and protect the natural world against the climate change. The Bezos Earth Fund will fund the scientists, activists, NGOs to save Earth to tackle the issue of climate change.

13) Reference annuals ‘Bharat 2020’, ‘India 2020’ released
•Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar released the Reference Annual Bharat 2020 & India 2020 in New Delhi. E-version of the yearbooks were also released on this occasion.

•The books carry exhaustive and comprehensive information about the country and the activities, progress and achievements of various Central Government Ministries, Departments and Organisations during the year. Publications Division of the Information and Broadcasting ministry compiles the Reference Annual every year.

14) Seminar on Indian Defence Equipment organized in Dhaka
•Seminar on Indian Defence Equipment was organized in Dhaka by the High Commission of India in Bangladesh. 12 Indian firms participated in the Seminar on Indian Defence Equipment. Objective of the seminar was to pursue further cooperation between India and Bangladesh in the field of defence technologies.

•The seminar also provided a great opportunity to defence manufacturers from India in building partnerships with Bangladesh.

15) Govt of Gujarat & SBI sign MoU to facilitate MSME loans
•The Gujarat government signed an MoU with State Bank of India (SBI) to facilitate approval of loans to entrepreneurs in the MSME sector with ease and within a short time-frame. Within 15 days of making an application, the bank will provide theoretical approval to the project. Start-ups can submit an application on either the MSME portal or to the local nodal agencies.

•The SBI decided to help MSME entrepreneurs in Gujarat looking at their high recovery rate. The Gujarat state announced that MSME units exempted from taking approvals for the first three years can start operations after getting an acknowledgement certificate from the state nodal agency by submitting ‘declaration of intent.

16) Hindi ranks 3rd most spoken language in the World
•Hindi is the 3rd most spoken language of the world in 2019 with 615 million speakers. The 22nd edition of the world language database Ethnologue stated English at the top of the list with 1,132 million speakers. Chinese Mandarin is at the second position with 1,117 million speakers. 

•Ethnologue brings out an yearly database of living languages of the world since its establishment in 1951. The current round of the database covers 7,111 living languages of the world. Ethnologue also contains data on languages which have gone out of use in recent history. This edition lists 348 such languages.

17) India will host AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2022
•India is set to stage the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup in 2022, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced this in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The AFC Women’s Football Committee chose India, which will hold the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup later this year, ahead of Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan.

•D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Trans Stadia Arena in Ahmedabad and Fatorda Stadium in Goa have been selected to host matches at the expanded 2022 Women’s Asian Cup, due to feature 12 teams instead of eight. India hosted the tournament in 1979, when the event was organised by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC), a separate body which became part of the AFC in 1986.

📰 Modi govt. in denial of slowdown: Manmohan

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1) Soil Health Card Day being observed on 19th February
•The Soil Health Card Day is being observed on 19th February every year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme on 19th February 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The scheme aims at issuing soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in the soil. The scheme ensures additional income to farmers by an increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.

•The scheme has been introduced to assist State Governments to issue Soil Health Cards to all farmers in the country. It provides information to farmers on nutrient status of their soil along with recommendations on the appropriate dosage of nutrients to be applied for improving soil health and its fertility.

•During Cycle-I (2015 to 17), 10.74 crores Soil Health Cards and during Cycle-II (2017 to 19), 11.74 crores Soil Health Cards have been distributed to farmers. The Government has spent more than 700 crore rupees on the SHC scheme.

2) Bangladesh will sign Free Trade Agreement with Nepal
•External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will inaugurate Indian Pavilion at 70th Berlin International Film Festival in Germany. It aims to establish multiple international collaborations in the space of distribution, production, filming in India and development technology through its participation at Berlinale-2020. India Pavilion will provide a platform to popularize Indian cinema in the overseas market and facilitate new business opportunities.

•This year for the festival, three Indian feature films, as well as one short documentary film, have been selected. These are Pushpendra Singh’s Laipla Aur Satt Geet, Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo!, Akshay Indikar’s – Sthalpuran and Ekta Mittal’s short documentary – Gumnaam Din. Information and Broadcasting Ministry in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry, CII is participating in the event.

4) Moody’s cuts India’s 2020 GDP growth forecast to 5.4%
•Moody’s Investors Service has cut India’s 2020 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast to 5.4% from 6.6% and the next financial year (2020-21) growth rate estimate to 5.8% from 6.7%. According to Moody’s, due to the spread of novel coronavirus outbreak in China, worldwide growth will be affected and hence India’s economic growth recovery will be slow.

•Moody’s also estimates that G20 economies will grow at a rate of 2.4 % in 2020, a sluggish move from 2019. China’s GDP growth estimated at 5.2 % in 2020 & expected to achieve GDP growth at a rate of 5.7 % in 2021.

5) Difficult Dialogues 2020 began in Goa



•The 5th edition of Difficult Dialogues began in Panji, Goa. Difficult Dialogues (DD) is an annual forum examining issues of contemporary relevance in South Asia. Difficult Dialogues 2020 will focus on the “State of Law”.

•The conference will bring together lawyers, some eminent Chief Justices, civil society, media, academic experts, activists, and people working at the community level [in law, education, health, labour,] with government and non-governmental organisations DD 2019 Summit focused on “Education: Illuminating the myriad facets”. The same was held in partnership with Oxford University, Goa University, ICG, Brookings India, PLAN India, CBPS, NIPFP.

6) India overtakes UK and France to become 5th largest economy
•According to the report of US-based think tank “World Population Review”, India has emerged as the 5th-largest world economy in 2019, overtaking the United Kingdom and France. India’s economy is the fifth-largest in the world with a gross domestic product (GDP) of $2.94 trillion. The size of the UK economy is $2.83 trillion and that of France is $2.71 trillion. These measures have helped India accelerate economic growth

•In purchasing power parity (PPP), India’s GDP is $10.51 trillion, exceeding that of Japan and Germany. Due to India’s high population, India’s GDP per capita is $2,170 (for comparison, the US is $62,794). India’s real GDP growth is expected to weaken for the third straight year from 7.5% to 5%.

•According to the report, India’s service sector is the fast-growing sector in the world accounting for 60% of the economy and 28% of employment. The manufacturing and agriculture are two other significant sectors of the economy.

•The report observed that India’s economic liberalisation began in the early 1990s and included industrial deregulation, reduced control on foreign trade and investment, and privatisation of state-owned enterprises.

7) NCLAT’s allows JSW Steel to acquire Bhushan Power
•The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has approved the Rs 19,700 crore resolution plan of JSW Steel to take over the bankrupt Bhushan Power and Steel. The approval comes with the immunity sought by the new owner against investigations being carried out against the erstwhile promoters of Bhushan Power and Steel.

•This comes after the government recently amended Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, providing immunity to the bidders and the insolvent company’s assets from the investigation.

8) Delhi host Asian Wrestling Championship 2020
•Asian Wrestling Championship 2020 starts in New Delhi. It will be held at the KD Jadhav Hall of Indira Gandhi Stadium. The event will have a total of 30 weight classes, 10 each in Freestyle Men, Women, and Greco Roman.

•Team India will be represented by a 30 member squad with Deepak Punia, Dahiya, Bajrang, and Vinesh leading the pack. India last hosted the championships in 2017. The 2018 edition was held at Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and in 2019, Xi’an province of China.

•Asian Wrestling Championship organized by Asian Associated Wrestling Committee (AAWC). In 1979 men’s tournament began and in 1996 women’s tournament was first staged, after that, it is held every year.

9) ‘United by Emotion’ chosen as Tokyo 2020 Olympics motto
•The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee has revealed the official Games motto: “United by Emotion”. The motto emphasises the power of sport to bring together people from diverse backgrounds of every kind and allow them to connect and celebrate in a way that reaches beyond their differences.

•The official Olympic motto is “Citius, Altius, Fortius” or “Faster, Higher, Stronger”, but each host city chooses its own motto to accompany that edition of the Games. The Games will bring together athletes from more than 200 National Olympic Committees and the Refugee Olympic Team, as well as millions of spectators & media representatives.

10) India will host junior men’s Hockey World Cup 2021
•India will host 2021 Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) announced this at Lausanne in Switzerland. The competition will be played towards the end of 2021. This is the second time that India will be hosting the prestigious tournament, having staged it in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in 2016.

•The junior men’s World Cup will see 16 teams compete for the title, out of which six will be from Europe, four from Asia, including hosts India, two from Africa, two from Oceania and two from Pan America. Out of the 16 teams, the six European teams, who have already qualified for the event in India, are Germany, England, Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and France, as they secured their berths through the European Continental Championships which were held in 2019.

•Reigning champions India had defeated Belgium 2-1 in the final match of the 2016 edition at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Lucknow, which saw them lift their second-ever FIH Junior Men’s World Cup. India had also hosted the FIH senior men’s Hockey World Cup in 2018 at the Kalinga Hockey Stadium, Bhubaneswar.