Important Current Affairs 28th February 2020

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Sri Lanka notifies UN about rights resolution withdrawal

• Sri Lankan Government formally notified the United Nations that it will withdraw from the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) resolution for investigating alleged war crimes. The case was dealing with a decade-old clash with Tamil separatists.

• The UNHRC resolution 40/1 was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka and 11 other countries. The main aim of the resolution is investigation of war time violence against Tamil Tiger rebels. The Tamil Rebels were demanding separate homeland. They were claiming that they were ethnic tamil minority and hence are eligible for separate homeland.

• Important

Currency of Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan rupee.

President of Sri Lanka: Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka: Mahinda Rajapaksa.

NATIONAL NEWS

32 projects sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana

• The Union Government has approved 32 projects in the food processing sector under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY). The projects will be spread across 17 states.

• The government has earmarked funds worth Rs 406 crores for the projects. They were approved during the meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Approval Committee, chaired by Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal in New Delhi on February 26, 2020.

• The main focus area of the projects is to boost employment opportunities in rural areas and create direct and indirect employment for about 15000 people.

Key Highlights

• The government has sanctioned 32 projects under the unit scheme of PMKSY of Ministry of Food Processing Industries. The new projects will cover 17 states with an investment worth Rs 406 crore.

• The projects aim to create employment opportunities and direct and indirect employment for approximately 15000 people in the rural areas.

• The main focus area will be creating more processing and preservation capacities and expansion and modernizing the existing food processing units.

• This will be undertaken to increase the level of processing, resulting in value addition and enhancing the shelf life of the product and reduce wastage.

• What is Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY)?

The PMKSY scheme aims to create processing and preservation capacities and modernise existing food processing units to increase the quality of processing and reduce wastage. The introduction of modern processing techniques is expected to increase the shelf-life of the processed food or agricultural produce. It will ensure steady income to the farmers, reducing farmer distress.

The implementation period of the PMKSY scheme is 2016-20 and it has a total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore. Overall, the scheme has seven component schemes:

1. Mega Food Parks

2. Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure

3. Infrastructure for Agro-Processing Clusters

4. Creation of Backward and Forward Linkages

5. Creation/Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities

6. Food Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure

7. Human Resources and Institutions

BANKING, FINANCE AND ECONOMICS

India surpasses France, UK to become world's 5th largest economy: IMF

• India  became world's fifth largest economy in 2019 in terms of nominal GDP, leapfrogging France and the UK,  according to data from the IMF's October World Economic Outlook.

• India's economy now has a nominal GDP of $2.94 trillion. The report said, "India's economy is the fifth largest in the world with a GDP of $2.94 trillion, overtaking the UK and France in 2019 to take the fifth spot".

• The UK economy amounts to  $2.83 trillion and  France with $2.71 trillion.

Following is the list of the world’s largest economies in 2010 vs 2019:

Rank	2010	2019
1	United States	United States
2	China	China
3	Japan	Japan
4	Germany	Germany
5	France	India
6	United Kingdom	United Kingdom
7	Brazil	France
8	Italy	Italy
9	India	Brazil
10	Russian Federation	Canada

Bank of Baroda launches Start-up Banking initiative

• Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar inaugurated “Baroda Startup Banking”. It is an initiative aimed at making the Bank of Baroda (BoB) a preferred banking partner for the start-up community and establishing connect with at least 2,000 start-ups over the next two years. The initiative was launched simultaneously across 15 cities in the country.

• It will include 15 Baroda Startup branches that will offer a bouquet of tailor-made banking products and services that have been designed keeping in mind the unique and specialized banking requirements of start-ups.

• The products include customised current accounts, state-of-the-art payments gateways, corporate credit cards, corporate salary accounts and credit facilities apart from other existing products of the bank.

• Important

Headquarters of Bank of Baroda: Vadodara, Gujarat.

MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda: Sanjiv Chadha.

Chairman of Bank of Baroda: Hasmukh Adhia.

Tagline of Bank of Baroda: India’s International Bank.

ACQUISITIONS, MERGERS, BUSINESS AND MOU’S

NTPC, CPCB MoU to set up air quality monitoring stations

• The NTPC Ltd has signed an agreement with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). According to an agreement, NTPC Ltd will provide financial support of Rs 80 Crore for installation and commissioning of Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS).

• A total of 25 Air Quality Monitoring Stations will be installed across six states and three Union Territories. The states include Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. The three Union Territories includes Daman & Diu, Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

• The Air Quality Index will be evaluated for the respective cities with the help of data collected from these air quality monitoring stations.

SUMMITS AND CONFERENCES

Govt to host Artificial Intelligence-focused Raise 2020 summit for the first time

• The Union Government will organize India’s first Artificial Intelligence summit- “RAISE 2020: Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020” between April 11-12, 2020 in New Delhi. The first-of-its-kind two-day summit will be organized to spearhead social empowerment, inclusion and transformation.

• RAISE 2020 will be organized by the centre in partnership with the industry and academia. The summit will serve as a common platform for people across the world to exchange ideas on how to use AI for social empowerment, inclusion and transformation in key areas and sectors such as agriculture, healthcare, education and smart mobility.

• The international summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Objective

a. The RAISE 2020 summit aims to outline India’s vision for using the power of AI responsibly to transform the social landscape for a better future. The summit will enable the smooth exchange of ideas to create mass awareness about the need to ethically develop and practice AI in the digital era.

• Key Highlights

a. The summit is the first of its kind global meeting of minds on Artificial Intelligence. It aims to provide a boost to India's vision and roadmap for social inclusion, empowerment and transformation through the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence.

b. The RAISE 2020 summit will begin with a startup challenge called ‘Pitchfest’, which will be followed by the two-day summit.

c. The event will be organized by the union government in coordination with the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

d. It will witness participation from a large number of global industry leaders, key opinion makers, AI experts, academia and government representatives.

• Significance

a. Artificial Intelligence is a powerful tool, which can be used to create a positive impact in the Indian context, helping it become the AI destination for the world. India has the potential to be the world’s leading AI laboratory that can eventually transform lives globally.

Conference on Enhancing Energy Cooperation in the BIMSTEC region held in Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Two Days Conference on Enhancing Energy Cooperation in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) region held at Bangladesh.

• The bloc of seven countries organised the conference in collaboration with the South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy Integration (SARI/EI) of USAID.

• The Report “prospect of regional energy cooperation and cross-border energy trade in the BIMSTEC region”

• The report showed that the BIMSTEC region has 323,504 million tonnes(MT) of coal, 664 million tonnes of oil, 99 Trillion Cubic Feet(TCF) of gas, 11,346 MT of biomass, 328 Giga Watts(GW) of hydropower and 1,117 GW of renewable energy.

• India tops on all energy resources by having 319,020 MT of coal, 600 MT oil, 45.5 TCF gas, 4,150 MT biomass and 145 GW hydro and 1,000 GW renewable energy respectively.

About BIMSTEC

• BIMSTEC is an International organization formed on June 6, 1997 with seven countries from South and Southeast Asia including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan. It aims to promote regional cooperation for rapid economic development.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Film editor Sreekar Prasad enters Limca Book of Records for editing films in 17 languages

• Sreekar Prasad, a veteran editor has entered the Limca Book of Records for ‘films edited in the most number of languages‘. Sreekar Prasad has received the certification from the Limca Records for editing films in 17 languages. The 17 languages includes: English, Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Odia, Sinhalese, Bengali, Assamese, Nepali, Pangchenpa, Karbi, Mishing, Bodo, and Marathi.

• The veteran video editor also holds eight National Awards including a Special Jury Award and his recent Bollywood projects includes ‘Saaho’ and ‘Super 30.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Next Delhi Police Commissioner : SN Shrivastava to succeed Amulya Patnaik

• SN Shrivastava, a senior IPS officer who was posted in Delhi this week while deadly communal violence broke out in the territory's northeast, is poised to succeed Amulya Patnaik as the Commissioner of Police. He is currently Special CP (Law and Order).

10. Puneet Sharma appointed as CFO of Axis Bank

• Axis Bank announced the appointment of Puneet Sharma as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

• Sharma will replace Jairam Sridharan, who has resigned as the Group Executive and Chief Financial Officer of the bank, with effect from March 5, 2020.

About Axis Bank

• HQ- Mumbai

• CEO-Amitabh Chaudhry

• Tagline-Badhti Ka naam Zindagi

Sumant Kathpalia appointed as new MD and CEO of IndusInd Bank

• Private sector lender IndusInd Bank announced the appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as its new Managing Director and CEO.

• Kathpalia will take over from Romesh Sobti who is set to retire later next month.

• Kathpalia has been with IndusInd Bank since 2008 and currently heads the consumer banking division at the private sector lender, and has been responsible for building the bank’s retail franchise.

About IndusInd Bank

• HQ- Pune

• MD and CEO- Sumant Kathpalia (From March 2020)

• Tagline- We Make You Feel Richer

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Realme X50 Pro 5G world's first phone with India's NavIC navigation system developed by ISRO

• Realme X50 Pro 5G is touted to be the world's first phone with NavIC.

• NavIC is a satellite navigation system developed by India's ISRO.

• Xiaomi previously said it will launch the world's first phone with NavIC.

• Realme X50 Pro 5G - India’s first 5G phone - is also the world’s first smartphone that features the NavIC navigation system. NavIC is the satellite navigation system developed by India’s premiere space agency, Indian Space and Research Organisation.

• The announcement was made by Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth on Twitter, also revealing the Realme 6 series phones, slated to launch on March 5 in India, will also support NavIC. Interestingly, Realme X50 Pro 5G has bagged one too many titles for being the first it is the first 5G phone in India, the first phone in India with a Snapdragon 865 SoC, and now, the first device to support NavIC not only in India but the world.

DAYS

28 February – National Science Day

National Science Day is celebrated every year in India on 28 February to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect by the Indian physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman. He discovered the Raman Effect on 28 February, 1928 and for this discovery, he was honoured by the Nobel Prize in Physics subject in 1930.