Current Affairs Current Affairs February 2020

  Ahead of the Conservation of Migratory Species Conference of Parties-13 (CMS COP-13), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has introduced a draft Visionary Perspective Plan (2020-2030) to conserve ecosystems, habitats, avian diversity and landscapes in the country.
Visionary Perspective Plan (2020-2030)
  • According to the draft, there are 1,317 bird species in India. Out of these 72 are endemic, 100 are threatened, 17 are critically endangered, 63 are vulnerable and 20 are endangered. Around 270 species of avifauna fall under “rare” category. It includes pheasants, hornbills, bustards, storks and cranes.
  • The birds are prone to extinction mainly due to poaching, fragmentation of ecosystem, habitat loss and epidemics. The draft also says that stray dog population has increased due to catastrophic decline in population of vultures.
  • The draft says that around 219 bird bio-diversity areas are under severe anthropogenic pressure.
  • The draft also says that 2,01,503 wetlands spread across 2.25 hectares in India are under stress. This is mainly due to agricultural run-offs and urbanization.

BHABHA KAVACH  Lightest level III PLUS BULLET PROOF JACKET DEVELOPED BY INDIA BARC TO PROTECT CISF.  The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre developed a new bullet proof jacket called Bhabha Kavach. The jackets are to be used by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
  • Highlights
Around 5 pieces of Bullet proof jackets were handed over to the CISF. The nominal weight of the jacket is 6.8kg. It is the lightest level-3 plus jacket. It has been produced based on carbon nanotube and hot- pressed boron carbide technologies The product is a substitute for imports and has been introduced under Make in India initiative. It has been approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and National Institute of Justice. The Jacket is capable of stopping hard steel core bullets that are fired from AK 47 and self-loading rifles and bolt action rifles.
  • About the jacket
The jacket is lightest of its kind as compared to the other jackets that weigh around 17 kgs. The Ministry of Home Affairs has approved to induct the jacket into all Central Armed Police Forces. The jackets will be produced at large scale in Ordnance Factories and MIDHANI (Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited) through transfer of technologies. The ordnance Factories where the jackets are to be produced will be decided by the Ordnance Factory Boards.
 

 Australia was awarded the ICC (International Cricket Council) Women’s Championship trophy 2020, which they maintained by winning victories in the 8-team one-day championship between 2017 and 2020. Australia’s team was led by Meghann Moira Lanning, which also won this trophy last time(ie 1st edition 2014–16). The ICC Women’s Championship has given hosts New Zealand and four top teams a direct place in the World Cup 2021. The remaining teams will play qualifiers through the Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2020 scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka from July 3 – 19,2020.

 Ministry of Coal (MoC) has launched a web portal for star rating of coal mines to promote the green, safe and sustainable mining practices with the help of technology. The web portal for star rating of coal mines enables all operational coal mines across India for self-rating, their subsequent validation by Coal Controller’s Organization (CCO), further evaluation and finally award of star rating. The mines scoring the highest score in the country will be awarded in a public ceremony on the basis of the star ratings obtained on this web portal. Coal Controller’s Organization will also issue an official certificate to all the mines mentioning their star rating. The Star Rating Policy for Coal Mines in India are:

 The Chief National coach for the Indian Badminton team Pullela Gopichand honour with Coaches lifetime achievement award by International Olympic Committee’s (IOC). He is the 1st Indian coach to be Honoured with this Lifetime award by the Olympics Committee. Gopichand is a former Indian Badminton player, he founded the Gopichand Badminton Academy in 2008 where he trained, players like Saina Nehwal (Bronze medalist in 2012 summer Olympics), P.V. Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap, Srikanth Kidambi and etc. Gopichand had received Government of India’s Arjuna award (1999), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2001), Padma Shri (2005), Dronacharya award (2009) and Padma Bhushan (2014).

 The 6th edition of the mega industrial exhibition ‘Engiexpo 2020’ is being organised in Vadodara, Gujarat from February 15 to 17, 2020. The three-day mega exhibition will be organised by the Federation of Small Scale Industries (FSSI), to promote ‘Made in India’ products. Over 10,000 industrial products will be showcased in more than 300 stalls. Several companies from Uzbekistan are also participating in the exhibition.

 National Conference on e-Governance 2020 was held in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The Mumbai Declaration was adopted on the concluding day of the National Conference on e-Governance. The theme of the conference is: India 2020: Digital Transformation. The National e-Governance Awards 2020 were also presented during the conference. The National Conference on E-Governance was organised jointly by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India and Department of Information Technology, Government of Maharashtra. In the National Conference on e-Governance 2020, use of digital technologies in transforming the governance was discussed along the issues, opportunities and challenges faced during this transformation process. During the conference, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh stated that the e-Governance is very essential to achieve good governance.
  • National e-Governance Awards 2020:
The National e-Governance Awards 2020 were also presented during the conference to recognize the exemplary implementation of e-Governance initiatives and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives.
Awards are presented every year:
  • To recognize achievements in the area of e-Governance.
  • To disseminate knowledge on effective methods of designing and implementing sustainable e-Governance initiatives.
  • To encourage incremental innovations in successful e-Governance solutions.
  • To promote and exchange experiences in solving problems, mitigating risks, resolving issues and planning for success.
Awards winners are as follows:
  • Under the category of “Excellence in Government Process Re-engineering for Digital Transformation”, National Health Authority, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was awarded with Gold award for Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
  • IIT Roorkee’s Satellite-Based Agriculture Information System: An Efficient Application of ICT has won the Gold Award for Outstanding Research on Citizen-Centric Services.
  • Under the category of “Excellence in providing citizen-centric delivery”, Antyodaya Saral Haryana of Department of IT, Haryana was awarded with the Gold award.

 Aditya Mehta & Vidya Pillai has won the National Snooker Championship held in pune, Maharashtra. Aditya Mehta defeated the world champion Pankaj Advani to win the men’s title of the National Snooker Championship. While representing the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB), he defeated Pankaj Advani with a score line of 6-2. Vidya Pillai of Karnataka defeated Amee Kamani of Madhya Pradesh to win the women’s title of the National Snooker Championship. She defeated Amee Kamani with a score line of 3-2 to defend her senior ladies snooker title.

 India and the United Kingdom will conduct their 5th edition of joint military exercise ‘Ajeya Warrior-2020’ at Salisbury Plains, the United Kingdom from February 13-26. The exercise is being held from 2005. The exercise will comprise of 120 soldiers each from Indian and United Kingdom Army who would be sharing their experiences gained during conduct of various counter-insurgency and counter-terrorist operations in the past. e. The participants have also been trained in combat shooting, rock craft training, Jungle survival and martial arts for unarmed combat.

  The 1st-ever Hornbill festival of Tripura was celebrated in Agartala. The aim to conserve the striking forest bird “Hornbill” and to boost the livelihood of the people through tourism. Chief Minister (CM) Biplab Kumar Dev inaugurated the festival at Baramura hill (in western Tripura). The “Hornbill” festival, named after the Indian Hornbill, the large and colourful forest bird which is displayed in the folklore of most of the tribals in northeast India, usually takes place in the first week of December every year since 2000 at Naga Heritage village Kisama, about 12 km from Nagaland capital Kohima.


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