Current Affairs Current Affairs February 2020

  J&K Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Farooq Khan flagged off a group of students from across Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories for a ten-day tour ‘Watan Ko Jano’, a youth exchange programme. This programme has been organised by Jammu and Kashmir Rehabilitation Council, Department of Social Welfare under the aegis of Department of JK Affairs, Government of India. Through this programme, children will get an opportunity to visit monuments and places of historical and cultural significance in Delhi, Jaipur, Ajmer and Pushkar. It is a great opportunity for these children and the unique feature of unity in diversity of great nations like India. This tours expose children to different cultures and areas of the country and go a long way in their overall personality development.

 Cheetah has become extinct in India for more than 70 years now due to over hunting. Hence, several steps are being taken for the reintroduction of the cat in the country. It was brought up at CMS-COP 13 as well.
  • Highlights
On January 28, 2020, the Supreme Court of India cleared way for the reintroduction of Cheetah Project. It is expected that the National Tiger Conservation Authority will reintroduce the mammal in Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary after conducting an assessment. Cheetah is the only flagship species to become extinct in India. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List has categorized Cheetah as Vulnerable.
  • Cheetah in India
Cheetah has become extinct in India mainly because of hunting. The last Cheetah was shot in Chhattisgarh in 1947. In 2000, scientists proposed to clone Asiatic Cheetah from Iran. However, the plan was dropped as Iran demanded for an Asiatic lion in return. After such several hurdles, Cheetah is being reintroduced in the country.

 The Defence Minister Rajanth Singh recently laid foundation stone to construct a new Army Headquarters in Delhi Cantontment. The building has been named “Thal Sena Bhawan”.
  • Highlights
The building is designed as a rising sun and is spread over 39 acres. The new department that integrates army, navy and air force is to be placed under Chief of Defence Staff in the new building. The construction of the building is expected to be completed in 3 to 4 years. Around 1,700 officers and 1,300 sub staffs are to be accommodated in the building. The building has adopted GRIHA-5-rating norms.
  • GRIHA
Griha is Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. These buildings consume resources from municipal wastes or indirectly from emissions of electricity generation. It is basically a rating tool. It gives star rating to the buildings based on their performance in using resources for their design, build, running and demolition provisions.

Image result for ICMR Report says Delhi and Ahmedabad tops in added-fat consumption  The Indian Council of Medical Research conducted study on the food habits of the citizens of the country. The study said that vegetarians consume more fat than that of non-vegetarians. Also, among the metropolitan cities of India, Delhi and Ahmedabad topped the list in average consumption of added fat.
  • Highlights
The survey was conducted by ICMR based on the data provided by the National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau. According to the study, people whose diet relied on deep fried food consumed more added fat than those who ate boiled food. The report also said that highest intake of added fat was in the age group of 36 to 59 years and the least intake was in children under the age of five.
  • GoI on Nutrition
India is a signatory of the resolution “Transforming our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Achieving Inclusive Growth is one of the main targets of Sustainable Development Goals. Under the target, India is stepping towards food security with Nutrition playing the major role.

  Prime Minister of Ireland Leo Varadkar has resigned. Mr. Varadkar staying on as interim leader while the country’s three main parties battle out deadlocked coalition talks after an inconclusive election. Mr. Varadkar has conveyed to the president his resignation from the office. “In accordance with the constitution, the (Prime Minister) and the government will continue to carry on their duties until successors have been appointed.

  The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched the ‘5G Hackathon’ in association with the government of India, academia and industry stakeholders. The aim of 5G Hackathon is shortlisting India’s focused cutting edge ideas that can be converted into workable 5G products and solutions. The Hackathon will be spread across three phases. The event will culminate in a grand felicitation ceremony at India Mobile Congress on 16 October 2020. Winners of the various phases of the 5G Hackathon will share a total prize pool of Rs. 2.5 crore.The 5G technology provides quantum leap over 4G in terms of speed, peak data rate, latency, spectrum efficiency, and connection density. The Hackathon will convert innovating ideas into products and solutions in different verticals and develop India specific use cases around 5G. The 5G Hackathon is open to developers, students, start-ups, SMEs, academic institutions and registered companies in India and Non-resident Indians (NRIs). All Stakeholders can participate as individuals or as a team to present use cases for the 5G network in the Indian context.

  The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Amarjeet Sinha and Bhaskar Khulbe as the Advisers to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The appointments of the retired administrative officers has been made on contractual basis. Both the officers are from the 1983 batch, Bhaskar Khulbe from the West Bengal Cadre while Amarjeet Sinha from the Bihar Cadre.

 The ‘Historical Gastronomica – The Indus Dining Experience’ exhibition was held at the National Museum in New Delhi. This is a unique exhibition based on India’s ancient food history that goes back to over 5000 years ago. The ‘Historical Gastronomica – The Indus Dining Experience’ exhibition was jointly organized by the National Museum along with One Station Million Stories (OSMS). The evolution of food habits, food processing techniques and related architecture of the Harappans were demonstrated at the ‘Historical Gastronomica – The Indus Dining Experience’ exhibition.

  BCCI has announced the schedule for the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League 2020. The tournament is set to commence on March 29 with a game between the four-time and defending champions Mumbai and Chennai at the Wankhede Stadium. The final is set to be played on May 24 as the cash-rich league will span for a duration of 57 days this year.
8 Teams for IPL 2020
  • Chennai Super Kings
  • Delhi Capitals
  • Kings XI Punjab
  • Kolkata Knight Riders
  • Mumbai Indians
  • Rajasthan Royals
  • Royal Challengers Bangalore
  • Sunrisers Hyderabad
Unlike previous seasons, the BCCI has decided to reduce the number of doubleheaders this year. This time around, two matches will be played only on Sundays and the number of doubleheaders has come down to only six.

  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.


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