Daily Current Affairs : February 21, 2020

Dear Bankersdaily Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (Febraury 21, 2020) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

Also, Don’t forget to attend the Daily Current Affairs Quiz – Febraury 21, 2020 now @ our Bankersdaily Tests.

Check Daily CA from Race Youtube Channel

Important Days

International Mother Language Day

• International Mother Language Day has been observed every year since February 21, 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
• 2020 theme is “Languages without borders”. 
• UNESCO Headquarters: Paris, France.

National News

Northern Frontier Railway Construction built India’s tallest pier bridge on February 2020 in Manipur

• Northern Frontier Railway construction has constructed India’s tallest railway pier bridge. It is built across the Makru river in the Tamenglong district of Manipur.
• Structure of the Bridge Total amount spent was Rs283.5 crore.It is 100m tall similar to a 33 storey building. Width 555m is a part of 111km Jiribam-Tupul-Imphal new broad-gauge line.

Manipur

• Capital: Imphal
• Chief Minister: N. Biren Singh
• Governor: Najma Heptulla

Vice President inaugurates four-day Indian Students’ Parliament in New Delhi

• Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has urged the younger generation to join politics in a big way. Inaugurating the four-day Indian Students’ Parliament in New Delhi.

Ganga Kayak Festival celebrated in Uttarakhand

• 8th edition of the “Ganga Kayak festival” was inaugurated by MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) Vinod Kandari in Devprayag, Uttarakhand. The festival was celebrated for 3 days.
• The festival was organized by the Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board and The Adventure Sports Society witnessed participation of 45 males and 6 women athletes from Russia, Australia and Nepal.

Uttarakhand:

• Capital- Dehradun.
• Chief Minister (CM)- Trivendra Singh Rawat.
• Governor- Baby Rani Maurya.

Services of Kashi Mahakal Express begins from Varanasi  

• Services of Kashi Mahakal Express 3rd private train of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) begins from Varanasi. 
• 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. 
• Chief Regional Manager of IRCTC: Ashwini Shrivastava.
• Headquarters of IRCTC: New Delhi.
• Union Minister of Railway: Piyush Goyal.

New Delhi hosts Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts  

• New Delhi hosts the Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts which was chaired by Union Minister of Textiles and Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani. 
• Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts under the aegis of Ministry of Textiles, Government of India organized the Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts.

Smart City Mission: Centre devises 20:20 model to boost laggard cities

• Centre has devised a 20-20 model to pair the top 20 cities with the bottom 20 and help the laggard cities to kick-start the smartening up process by borrowing technical know-how and financial studies before the 5th anniversary of Smart City Mission.
• No.1 Ahmedabad has been paired with Chandigarh, ranked 81

Tamil Nadu govt to celebrate former CM Jayalalitha’s birth anniversary as ‘State Girl Child Protection Day’ on Feb 24

• Tamil Nadu (TN) Chief Minister(CM) ,Karuppa Gounder Palanisamy (known as Edappadi K. Palaniswami),the state government will celebrate the birth anniversary of former CM Jayaram Jayalalithaa on February 24 as ‘State Girl Child Protection Day’ in honor of the passion with which she worked for the well-being of children, especially girls.
• When the orphan girl residing in government-run homes completes 21 years of age, the state government of Tamil Nadu will deposit Rs 2 lakh in the bank in their name to help them get a better life in society after they leave the government homes.
• The state Government also increased the monthly amount paid to the foster parents of the girls to Rs 4,000 from Rs 2,000.
• 50% subsidy for ‘Ulemas’ to buy two-wheelers, pension doubled
• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister (CM) Palaniswami has announced a 50 % subsidy for ‘ulemas’ (Muslim scholars who are recognized as having specialist knowledge of Islamic sacred law) to purchase a new two-wheeler and increase their pension to Rs 3,000 from Rs 1500

Tamil Nadu

• Capital: Chennai
• Chief Minister: Edappadi K. Palaniswami
• Governor: Banwarilal Purohit

EESL, BSNL in MoU for 1000 public EV charging stations 

• State-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has signed an MoU with BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) for installing 1000 public charging stations for Electric Vehicles.
• EESL will set up public charging stations in 1000 BSNL sites in a phased manner & also entire upfront investment on the services pertaining to the MoU, along with the operation and maintenance of the charging infrastructure.

Haryana govt to open Atal Kisan – Majdoor canteens to provide meals at concessional rate

• Haryana government will open Atal Kisan – Majdoor canteens in all mandis and sugar mills across the state to provide affordable and cheap meals to farmers and labourers at a concessional rate of 10 rupees per plate.

Haryana

• Capital: Chandigarh
• Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar
• Governor: Satyadev Narayan Arya
• National Parks (NP)- Sultanpur NP, Kalesar NP
• Dance- Phag, Dhamal, Loor, Khoria.

Tripura Tea Board organizes ‘Run for India Tea’ event  

• Tripura hosts the “Run for India Tea” which was organized in collaboration by Tripura Tea Development Corporation (TTDC) and Tea Board of India. 
• The event aims to further promote and popularise Tripura tea alongside India tea and to boost the tea industry in the state. The event was followed by a colourful tableau procession which featured the participation of large number of tea workers wearing traditional dresses.

Tripura

• Capital: Agartala
• Chief Minister: Biplab Kumar Deb
• Governor: Ramesh Bais

Mansukh Mandaviya lays foundation stone of lighthouse in Rameswaram  

• Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya has laid the foundation stone for a 50-metre high modern lighthouse at Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu.
• 5th lighthouse in the region is located opposite to the old church that was destroyed in a cyclone in 1964.

Center releases Rs 19,950 crore as GST compensation to states, UTs

• Central Government has released 19,950 crore rupees as GST compensation to states which gets to a total of over 1.20 lakh crore rupees paid by the government towards GST compensation to the states during current fiscal
• Minister of State Finance: Anurag Singh Thakur

22 km long India roadshow with 28 stages to welcome US President Trump in Ahmedabad

• US President Donald Trump will begin his first official trip to India from Ahmedabad on 24th February. President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the India roadshow to begin the visit.
• The 22-kilometre route from Ahmedabad airport to the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Gujarat.

Gujarat

• Capital: Gandhinagar
• Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
• Governor: Acharya Devvrat

Railway Board Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav launches HRMS Mobile Application

• Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav launched HRMS Mobile App which has been designed and developed by Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS). 
• All employees of Indian Railways can now see data related to their service and communicate with administration for any changes, if required.
• Mobile Application allows employee to view his historical data since his date of joining in Railways including details related to his Increments, Promotions, Awards, Transfers, Postings, Leave, Training, and composition of Family as per records and Nominations for retirement benefits.

Indian Railways launches joint research initiatives with University of Birmingham

• The programme that has been launched leads to dual M.Sc. that would see NRTI students obtaining two post graduate degrees from both institutions, after spending a year studying at each institution from academic year 2020-2021
• National Rail Transport Institute was set up in 2018 at Vadodara

International News

“Bezos Earth Fund” launched by Jeff Bezos to combat climate change  

• “Bezos Earth Fund” has been launched by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. The fund will aim to to help preserve and protect the natural world against the climate change. He has committed to contribute $10 billion through the fund. 
• CEO of Amazon: Jeff Bezos.
• Amazon was established on 5th July 1994.
• Headquarters: Washington, USA.

Dhaka hosts the Seminar on Indian Defence Equipment  

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

Bangladesh

• Capital: Dhaka
• Currency: Taka
• Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina
• President: Abdul Hamid 

Women entrepreneurship can create 170 million jobs: ‘Women Entrepreneurship in India—Powering the economy’ report

• In accordance with the report titled ‘Women Entrepreneurship in India – Powering the economy with her’ by Bain & Company and Google, Indian women entrepreneurs can generate transformational employment in India with 150–170 million job opportunities, which is more than 25% of the new jobs required for the entire working age population by 2030.
• The report is based on responses from more than 60 female entrepreneurs and a granular survey with more than 1,100 women across rural, semi-urban and urban India.

Banking and Technology

Axis Bank inks pact with Max Life to raise stake

• Axis Bank and Max Financial Services signed a confidentiality & exclusivity arrangement to explore the possibility of the private sector lender entering a long-term strategic partnership with Max Life Company Ltd.

Axis Bank

• HQ: Mumbai
• Tagline: Badhti Ka Naam Zindagi
• Chairman: Rakesh Makhija

SEBI redefines ‘pledge’ to protect client securities

• Securities & Exchange Board of India has amended the SEBI (Depositories and Participants) Regulations by including an additional explanation that states that ‘pledge’ would also refer to ‘re-pledge of securities for margin or settlement obligations.’
• SEBI Chairperson: Ajay Tyagi

Appointments

Sunil Gurbaxani’s appointment as Dhanlaxmi Bank MD and CEO

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday approved appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as managing director and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank. He is working with Axis Bank at present.
• “RBI has approved the appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as Managing Director and CEO of the Bank for a period of three years.

Books & Authors

Union Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar unveils an annual reference book India/Bharat 2020

• Union cabinet Minister for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Shri. Prakash Javadekar has released the 64th Edition of the book “The Reference Annual- India/Bharat-2020” in both English and Hindi and released the e-version of the book.
• The book consists of the information about India and its developments, progress and achievements of various Government Ministries, Departments and Organisations during the year 2019.
• The book has been published by the Publications Division (India) along with New Media Wing (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting).

Obituary

Former FICCI president & Executive Chairman of KCP Group V L Dutt passed away at 82

• Velagapudi Lakshmana Dutt former FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) President & Executive Chairman of KCP Group passed away at the age of 82 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. 

Larry Tessler, computer engineer behind ‘cut, copy and paste’, passes away

• Larry Tesler the computer engineer most commonly known as the developer of the ‘cut, copy and paste’ functions, and ‘find and replace’, for user-friendliness in applications like the word processor, passed away at the age of 74

Former Karnataka Minister C Channigappa passes away in Bengaluru

• Former Karnataka Minister and JD(S) leader C Channigappa passed away in Bengaluru on Friday after a prolonged illness at the age of 57. Channigappa was a three-time MLA from Koratagere. Earlier, he served as the Forest Minister of Karnataka
• Karnataka CM: B. S. Yediyurappa
• Governor: Vajubhai Vala

Sports News

Divya Kakran wins a gold medal at Asian Wrestling Championships

• Divya Kakran became only the 2nd Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Asian Wrestling Championships defeating junior world champion Naruha Matsuyuki in New Delhi. 
• Navjot Kaur had become the 1st Indian woman to win a gold medal at 2018 championship
• Pinki, Sarita Mor won gold in 55kg, 59kg respectively

P V Sindhu wins 3rd successive ESPN’s Female Sportsperson of the Year award

• P V Sindhu won the ESPN’s Female Sportsperson of the Year award for a 3rd consecutive time while young shooter Saurabh Chaudhary bagged the honour in the male category. 
• Chess player Koneru Humpy won the award for the Comeback of the Year
• Manu Bhaker-Saurabh Chaudhary grabbed Team of the Year honour

Brazil Para badminton International 2020 in Sao Paulo

• India finish with 11 medals Badminton World Federation (BWF), the international governing body for the sport of badminton has organized Brazil Para badminton International 2020 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• The tournament consists of Men’s Singles, Doubles, Women’s Singles, Doubles & Mixed Doubles play. India ended its campaign with 11 medals (4 Gold, 5 Silver,2 Bronze).
• China emerged the most successful team with 8 gold medals.
• Indian para-badminton player Pramod Bhagat from Odisha claimed 2 gold medals for India at the Championship in men’s singles SL3 and men’s doubles SL3-SL4 categories along with Manoj Sarkar.

Can you score 15/ 15 in Today’s Current Affairs Quiz? Attempt the Current Affairs Quiz of February 21, 2020 now from the link given below. (It took topper to score 15/15 in 7 & 8 minutes 18 seconds, beat that if you can). 

Daily Current Affairs Quiz – February 21 , 2020

Buy the Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning Ability & English Language Topic Wise Tests – Online Tests from the below-given links. 

Aspirants can get the test packages from our Official Bankersdaily Store (https://bankersdaily.testpress.in)

 If you have any doubts regarding the 4 new Topic Wise Test Packages, kindly mail your queries to virtualracetest@gmail.com.