United States surpassed China to become India's top trading partner. According to the Commerce Ministry data, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at nearly USD 88 billion in 2018-19 FY and India's trade with China was at USD 87.1 billion.
US is one of the few nations with which India has trade surplus.
Riek Machar sworn in as 1st Vice President in South Sudan. Transition govt will serve for 36 months. President Salva Kiir called the official ending of the war & said peace is now irreversible as the new govt was formed after more than a year of delays.
South Sudan Capital- Juba, Currency- Pound.
US President Donald Trump will arrive in Ahmedabad on 24 February on a 2-day visit to India. Modi & Trump will jointly address the Namaste Trump event at Motera cricket stadium. A cultural extravaganza will be organised at the stadium during the event.
They will participate in roadshows on the way to stadium.
NITI Aayog is organizing SDGs Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation & Development of North Eastern states, in Guwahati from 24 February. NITI Aayog has the mandate of overseeing the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national level.
NITI Aayog plans to achieve the SDGs by 2030.
The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme completes one year on 24 February. Under the Scheme, an amount of 6000 Rs per year is transferred in three equal instalments of 2000 rupees in every four months directly into the bank accounts of the farmers.
PM Modi launched the scheme on 24 February 2019 at Gorakhpur.
Delhi and Ahmedabad topped the list of 7 metro cities in daily average consumption of added fat in dishes while Hyderabad is at the bottom according to a recent survey conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research on the food habits of citizens.
Men & women daily eat fat at 34.1 & 31.1 gm/person respectively.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, run by a joint venture between Airports Authority of India & GVK, announced the launch of the world’s largest temperature-controlled Terminal for processing and storage of agro and pharma products.
Export Cold Zone can hold over 700 tonnes of cargo at one time.
Dr Niti Kumar, Senior Scientist from Division of Molecular Parasitology & Immunology, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow has received SERB Women Excellence Award-2020. Award will be conferred by the Indian President during National Science Day Celebrations on February 28.
SERB-Science and Engineering Research Board.
The 1st-ever 3-Day Ladakh winter conclave 2020 concluded. Ladakh Lieutenant Governor RK Mathur appealed the tourism industry to strengthen the border villages to showcase the development & also said that 40 tourism themes are possible in the Ladakh region.
Conclave aimed at attracting tourists in the winter season.
To provide a platform for discussions & deliberations on the present status, future prospects & optimum use of EPS, a 3-day international conference on ‘Ensemble Methods in Modelling & Data Assimilation’ is being organised by NCMRWF, MoES in Noida.
EPS- Ensemble Prediction System.
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. 200 students are participating in the ‘Watan Ko Jano’.
Lieutenant Governor of J&K- Girish Chandra Murmu.
Union Minister for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan has said that the government aims to make Chhattisgarh a steel hub of the country. Steel industry has an important role to play in making India a five trillion-dollar economy by 2024.
He said this in the visit to Bhilai Steel Plant, Chhattisgarh.
India won 1 silver & 2 bronze medals on concluding day of Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi on 23 February. India secured total 20 medals including 5 golds, 6 silvers & 9 bronzes-India’s highest tally of medals in the history of the Championship.
Ravi Dahiya's gold in the 57 Kg is the first on the list.
Indian men's doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Gnanasekaran Sathiyan settled for a silver medal at the ITTF World Tour Hungarian Open after losing the summit clash to German combination of Benedikt Duda and Patrick Franziska at Budapest, Hungary.
Sharath won a bronze with Manika Batra in mixed doubles.
In Chess, India's 13-year old Grandmaster D Gukesh emerged champion in the 34th Cannes Open in France. Gukesh defeated Harutyun Bargseghyan of France in finals to end with 7.5 points. Gukesh became the world's 2nd youngest Grandmaster ever, in last year.
He had won Hillerod 110th Anniversary Open event in Denmark.
Central Excise Day is celebrated on 24 February in India, to recognize the contribution of the Central Board of Excise & Customs-at present Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs. The day marks the enactment of the Central Excise & Salt Act in 1944.
Customs and Central Excise department was established in 1855.