Karnataka launched Janasevaka programme under the Sakala scheme in a few municipal corporation wards to ensure home delivery of various services like ration cards & senior citizen identity cards. The scheme pertains to 53 services involving 11 departments.
Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa launched the scheme.
The 11th edition of the DefExpo-2020, a flagship biennial event of the Defence Ministry, started in Lucknow.PM Modi inaugurated the 5-day event. India-Africa Defence Ministers Conclave will be organised for the first time with this.
Ministers from over 40 countries will take part in DefExpo.
The world lost as much as USD 232 billion due to natural disasters in 2019, with India leading in casualties with 1,750 deaths, said a recent report by AON, global professional firm which provides risk solutions to insurance firms, among other things.
There was a total of 409 natural disaster events in 2019.
India had an estimated 1.16 million new cancer cases in 2018 & one in 15 will die of the disease, as per the WHO report. WHO & IARC have released 2 reports: one aimed at setting the global agenda on the disease & the other focused on research & prevention.
International Agency for Research on Cancer HQ- Lyon, France.
India & Norway signed 4 MoUs in the field of research & higher education to strengthen bilateral alliance. One was signed between the IIT Delhi & UiT-the Arctic University of Norway, for cooperation in fields such as bio-photonics & diagnostic tools.
Norway Capital-Oslo, Currency- Krone.
State-run power giant NTPC said that it has become the top company in Asia to raise the largest syndicated Japanese yen loan worth USD 750 million. The loan has been raised under the automatic route of RBI's external commercial borrowings regulations.
Facility has door-to-door maturity of 11 years under 2 tranches.
Dr Saima Yunus Khan, Chairperson, Dept of Paediatrics & Preventive Dentistry of Dr Z A Dental College, Aligarh Muslim University became the 1st Indian to be granted with the famous International Association of Dental Research John Clarkson Fellowship.
IADR is headquartered in Alexandria, USA.
In order to check fall in pig population in India, the govt unveiled a new indigenously developed vaccine for controlling classical swine fever, which is a highly contagious fatal pig disease. It is developed by ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute.
It will cost Rs 2/dose compared to existing rate of Rs 15-20.
Moody’s has put real GDP growth during the current fiscal ending March 31 at 4.9%, slightly below the government's forecast of 5%. For the next fiscal, it estimated real GDP growth of 5.5%, lower than 6-6.5% projected by the government's Economic Survey.
Budget expects GDP growth of 12.6% & 12.8% in FY 2022 & 2023.
In order to provide an impetus to tourism, the Ministry of Tourism, under its schemes of Swadesh Darshan & PRASHAD, provides financial assistance to State/ UTs. The ministry has sanctioned 7 projects worth Rs. 594 Cr for J&K and Ladakh under these schemes.
PRASHAD fund is for the development of Hazratbal in Srinagar.
An awareness programme was organized by APEDA with the Directorate of Industries of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in Port Blair to examine ways to promote the exports of Agri products and for the implementation of the Agri Export Policy in the Islands.
APEDA has aided in creating draft state Agri Export action plan.
President Ram Nath Kovind opened the annual Udyanotsav of Rashtrapati Bhavan on 5 February. The Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan will be opened for the general public. Sir Edwin Lutyens had finalized the designs of the Mughal Gardens as early as 1917.
It was only during the year 1928-29 that plantings were done.
Around 38 Crore bank accounts have been opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), till January 2020, Minister of State for Finance- Anurag Thakur announced. No penalty was imposed on Jan Dhan accounts for non-maintenance of minimum balance.
PMJDY was launched on 28th August 2014.
In Weightlifting, former world champion Mirabai Chanu bettered her own national record by two kilogram as she lifted a total of 203 Kg to win the 49 Kg gold in the National Championships in Kolkata. This has put her in fourth place in world rankings.
Jiang Huihua, Hou Zhihui & Ri Song Gum are at the first 3 ranks.
RBI has agreed to allow non-compliant KYC accounts to continue making payments through mobile wallets. This will be done by a mechanism giving customers an option to convert their ‘minimum KYC’ accounts to the RBI’s newly introduced ‘low KYC’ PPI accounts.
know-your- customer (KYC);Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI).
Bhutan has passed a legislation that makes it mandatory for tourists from India, Bangladesh & Maldives to pay a fee of Rs 1,200 per day for developing its tourism facilities. It came after an increase in the number of Indian tourists visiting Bhutan.
New fee will come into effect from July 2020.
L&T’s Metallurgical & Material Handling business & Mitsubishi Corporation have announced the commissioning of a hot strip mill for Steel Authority of India in Rourkela. Plant will be built with the technology from Primetals Technologies & Hitachi Japan.
The mill will have 3 million ton per annum capacity.