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Important Current Affairs 9th February 2021

INTERNATIONAL

Nigeria’s Okonjo-Iweala set to become first female Chief of WTO

• Nigerian economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been chosen as the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). She would be the first woman as well as the first African nation to lead the organization.

• Okonjo-Iweala, the former finance minister of Nigeria, will succeed Roberto Azevedo, who stepped down in August 2020.

NATIONAL

Film Karavan 'Bandra Film Festibal'

• Online content distribution company FilmKaravan has collaborated with YouTube to launch ‘Bandra Film Festival’, a digital film festival, later this month with a slate of over 50 films from filmmakers across the country and across multiple genres, languages and formats.

• The festival is aimed at helping filmmakers reach large audiences virtually, while providing film aficionados with access to these films. The Bandra Film Festival will also allow viewers to donate funds to support the films and filmmakers of their choice.

• All donations will go towards supporting the chosen film and filmmakers, who are going through these challenging times.

Four more states complete ‘Ease of Doing Business’ Reforms

• As per the recent data by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), four more states have completed the reforms in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’, as stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. The four states are- Assam, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. These states have become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources to the tune of Rs 5,034 crore through open market borrowings.

• Now the total number of state that has undertaken the reforms to promote Ease of Doing Business till now has gone up to 12. The other states are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Reforms of ‘Ease of Doing Business’

• Altogether, these twelve states have been granted additional borrowing permission of Rs 28,183 crore.

• In May 2020, the central government had announced to link grant of additional borrowing permissions to states who undertake the reforms in four citizen-centric sectors to facilitate ease of doing business.

• The four citizen-centric areas for reforms identified were -implementation of one nation one ration card system, ease of doing business reform, urban local body/ utility reforms and power sector reforms.

16th India-US joint military exercise ‘Yudh Abhyas 20’ commenced

• The India-US joint military exercise “Yudh Abhyas 20” commenced in Mahajan Field Firing Range of Bikaner district in Rajasthan. This is the 16th edition of an annual bilateral joint exercise of both the armies. It will continue till the 21st of this month.

• The previous version of the joint exercise was held at Seattle in the United States. This exercise is another step in the growing military cooperation between the two countries, which shows the growth in Indo-US relations. It is also a sign that both India and the US understand the threat of terrorism and are standing shoulder to shoulder in combating the same.

• About 250 US and 250 Indian army soldiers are participating in the exercise. Both the armies will share their war-related techniques, skills and experience with each other during this exercise. The exercise is one of the largest military training and defence cooperation efforts between India and the United States.

SPORTS

Rishabh Pant wins inaugural ICC Player of the Month January 2021

• The Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has won the inaugural ICC Player of the Month award 2021. Pant has been honoured for his superlative performances in the two Tests against Australia in January 2021, wherein he scored a 97 at Sydney and an unbeaten 89 at Brisbane, leading India to an incredible series win.

• Apart from this, Shabnim Ismail of South Africa has been named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month following her performances across three ODIs and two T20Is in January 2021. A fast bowler, Ismail took seven wickets in ODI series against Pakistan to gain victory and five wickets in the second T20 International against the same opposition.

Steve Smith claims Allan Border Medal for third time in his career

• Former Australian captain Steve Smith won the third Allan Border Medal of his career at the Australian Cricket Awards for the period 2020-21. The Allan Border Medal recognises the most outstanding male Australian cricketer of the past season as voted by his peers, the media and umpires.

• Apart from this, Beth Mooney bagged Belinda Clarke Award, the top honour for a female player at the Australian Cricket Awards. This is the maiden Belinda Clarke Award for Mooney.

Joe Root becomes first batsman to score 200 in 100th Test

• Joe Root, the England captain, sent India on a leather hunt, becoming the first player in history to score a double century in his 100th Test match. In the process, Root also surpassed former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq as the player with the highest individual score playing the 100th Test match of his career.

• Inzamam had hit 184 against India in a Test match in Bengaluru in 2005, which Pakistan had won by 168 runs.

OBITUARY

Indian tennis great Akhtar Ali passes away

• Tennis legend Akhtar Ali, a father figure in Indian tennis, passed away. He represented India in eight Davis Cup ties against Pakistan, Malaysia, Iran, Mexico, Japan and Monaco between 1958 and 1964.

• Born on July 5, 1939, Akhtar made his mark in 1955 when he became the National junior champion and reached the junior Wimbledon semifinals. He played alongside stalwarts like Ramanathan Krishnan, Naresh Kumar, Premjit Lall and Jaidip Mukerjea. Akhtar, who was groomed by former Australian Davis Cup coach Harry Hopman, also played in the Wimbledon and French Open grand slam events. He was the winner of the Asian mixed doubles championship. His last ATP tour outing was against Vijay Amritraj in a clay court match in Bombay on November 11, 1974.

Oscar-winning Canadian actor Christopher Plummer passes away

• Oscar-winning actor Christopher Plummer, who rose to prominence for his critically-acclaimed film ‘Sound of Music’, has passed away. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor at the age of 82 for Beginners (2010), becoming the oldest person to win an acting award.

• The prolific and versatile Canadian-born actor has received various awards for his work, which includes Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a British Academy Film Award.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Maersk appoints vikash Agarwal as new MD for South Asia,

• Integrated container logistics firm Maersk has appointed Vikash Agarwal as its new Managing Director for South Asia, according to a company release on Monday.

• Agarwal, who moves to Maersk from CEVA Logistics, will join the company on March 1 and work closely with Steve Felder who will step down at the end of March to explore new opportunities within AP Moller – Maersk, it said.

• He will take full charge of the business for the company in South Asia, covering India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Maldives, from April 1.

Michael Bloomberg Re-Appointed as United Nations Climate Envoy

• The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres re-appointed Michael Bloomberg as his Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. Bloomberg is the founder and owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. He was previously appointed as the U.N. special envoy for climate action between March 2018 and November 2019.

• Bloomberg will work to strengthen the group of governments, companies, cities and financial institutions that are working to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement. He would also work to mobilise stronger and more ambitious climate action in the lead-up to 2021 United Nations Climate Change conference in Scotland in November 2021.

Google Cloud appoints Bikram Singh Bedi as MD for India

• Google Cloud has appointed Bikram Singh Bedi as the new Managing Director for its India Business. He will succeed Karan Bajwa, who has been elevated as Vice president for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region cloud operations at Google Cloud. At Google, Bikram Bedi will be responsible for leading Google Cloud’s sales and operations teams in this dynamic market.

• Google Cloud is also on track to launch its Delhi cloud region in India this year – its second after Mumbai that was launched in 2017.

• Bedi, a senior leader with more than 26 years of leadership experience, will be responsible for leading Google Cloud’s sales and operations teams in this dynamic market. He joined Google Cloud from Indian online grocery delivery startup, Grofers where he served as President Strategy and New Initiatives. Prior to that, he set up the AWS business in India and was the head of India and South Asia for six years. He also held various leadership positions at IBM and Oracle.

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