Appointments 1. Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust

Appointments

1. Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra Trust elected Mahant Nritya Gopal Das as

its Chairman and vice-president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Champat Rai elected as General Secretary.

 Also, Former principal secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Nripendra
Misra has been chosen as the chairman of the Ram Temple Complex Development Committee
2. Debasish Panda has been appointed as new finance secretary of India, replacing
Rajiv Kumar.
3. Rajiv Bansal is appointed as CMD of Disinvestment bound ailing airline Air India. 4.
UK Govt appointed Indian.
4. Origin person Alok Sharma as minister in charge for UN climate talks in November
2020, known as COP26.
5. Albin Kurti is appointed as new Prime Minister of Republic of Kosovo (Southeast
Europe).
6. Atul Kumar Gupta has been appointed as President of Institute of Chartered
Accountants (ICAI) for 2020-21, with Nihar Niranjan Jambusaria as Vice President.
7. Bhaskar Khulbe & Amarjeet Sinha have been appointed as Advisor to Prime
Minister.
8. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) appointed new members for its 3- member Cricket Advisory Committee(CAC). New Members are Madan Lal, Rudra Pratap Singh and Sulakshana Naik. Kapil Dev had recently resigned as CAC Chairman.
9. Credit information bureau TransUnion Cibil appointed Rajesh Kumar as its new
MD and CEO.
10. Former Indian Cricketer Robin Singh appointed as director of cricket of United
Arab Emirates.
11. Govt. appointed Sanjay Kothari as new Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) and
Bimal Julka as New Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).
12. Incumbent Ashraf Ghani is named winner of Afghanistan Presidential Elections
2019. Voting took place almost five months ago, in September 2019. It is 2nd term for Ashraf Ghani as Afghanistan President.

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13.

Indian-origin Rishi Sunak named as new Finance Minister of United Kingdom

(Chancellor of the Exchequer ). He is son-inlaw of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy.

14.

Misc. Appointments (Feb 2020) –

 Yogesh Kumar Joshi appointed as Army's General Officer-Commanding-in-
Chief (GOC-in-C) of Northern Command.
 Pramod Agrawal is appointed as chairman and managing director of PSU Coal
India.
 Gopal Baglay appointed as New Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.  Ajay Bisaria is appointed as new Indian High Commissioner to Canada.  Ryan Roslansky will be new CEO of Professional Network Linkedin. Former
CEO Jeff Weiner is appointed as Executive Chairman.
 Sanjay Vatsayan appointed as commander of Eastern Fleet of Indian Navy.
Suraj Berry appointed as Chief of Staff of triservices Andaman and Nicobar Command.
 Vinay Dube appointed as CEO of Domestc Airline GoAir.  Ajay H. Patel elected President of All-India Chess Federation (AICF).  Australia appointed Barry O'Farrell as New high commissioner to India.  RBI approved appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as managing director and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank.
 Rajlaxmi Singh Deo re-elected as president of the Rowing Federation of India
(RFI).
 Ms. Padmaja is appointed as next Indian High Commissioner to Oceanian
Nation Vanuatu.
 Jawed Ashraf is appointed as New Indian Ambassador to France.  PSU National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) appointed Abhay
Kumar Singh as its new Chairman & Managing Director.
 SN Shrivastava is appointed as new Chief (Commissioner) of Delhi Police.  Togo (West Africa) President Faure Gnassingbe won his fourth term as
President.
 Abhishek Singh is appointed as New Indian Ambassador to Venezuela.
15. Mohammed Allawi has been appointed as Prime Minister of Iraq (50th). 16. Noted space scientist G Narayanan named as chairman of Indian Space Research

Organisation’s newly formed commercial entity New Space India Ltd (NSIL).

17. Paralympic medal-winner Deepa Malik is elected as president of Paralympic
Committee of India. She had won silver in shot putt F-53 at Rio 2016 Paralympics. Gursharan Singh was elected as secretary general.

 Sports Ministry had ‘de-recognised’ PCI last year after sacking of then-

president Rao Inderjit Singh.
 Election results are to be scrutinised by Delhi HC.
18. Private Bank Indusnd Bank Appointed Sumant Kathpalia as MD and CEO. 19. RBI appointed 5 officials as executive directors - Indrani Banerjee, Saurav Sinha,
Vivek Deep, J.K. Dash and P. Vijayakumar. RBI has 12 executive directors.
20. Riek Machar has been appointed as first vice president in African Nation South
Sudan, to serve 3 years.
21. Supratim Bandyopadhyay has been appointed as chairman of PFRDA (Pension
Fund Regulatory and Development Authority).
22. Tata Trusts named Srinath Narasimhan as its CEO. Tata Trusts owns 66 % stake in Tata Sons, holding company of the group.
 Income-Tax Department in Oct 2019 had cancelled registration of six trusts operating under Tata Trusts, a move that could result in tax liability of about Rs 12,000 crores.
23. UK appointed Philip Barton as New High Commissioner to India. Also, Dame

Karen Pierce is appointed as Britain’s ambassador to US, becoming first woman to

hold the position.
24. Vijay Advani has been appointed by US-India Business Council (USIBC) as new chairman of its Global Board of Directors.

Awards

1. 65th Amazon Filmfare Awards 2020 (hosted in Assam) :-

 Best Film- ‘Gully Boy’  Best Director - Zoya Akhtar for ‘Gully Boy’

 Best Actor In A Leading Role (Male)- Ranveer Singh for ‘Gully Boy’  Best Actor In A Leading Role (Female)- Alia Bhatt for ‘Gully Boy’  Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)- Amruta Subhash for ‘Gully Boy’  Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male)- Siddhant Chaturvedi for ‘Gully Boy’

 Best Music Album- ‘Gully Boy’: Zoya Akhtar-Ankur Tewari and ‘Kabir Singh’:

Mithoon, Amaal Mallik, Vishal Mishra, Sachet–Parampara and Akhil Sachdeva

 Best Lyrics- Divine and Ankur Tewari for “Apna Time Aayega” (Gully Boy)

 Best Playback Singer (Male)- Arijit Singh for “Kalank Nahi Ishq Hai Kajal Piya”

(Kalank)
 Best Playback Singer (Female)- Shilpa Rao for Ke Ghungroo Toot Gaye (War)

 Best Debut Director- Aditya Dhar for ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’  Best Debut Actor- Abhimanyu Dassani for ‘Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota’  Best Debut Actress- Ananya Pandey for ‘Student Of The Year 2’ and ‘Pati Patni
Aur Woh’

 Lifetime Achievement Award- Ramesh Sippy  Excellence In Cinema- Govinda  RD Burman Award For Upcoming Music Talent- Sashwat Sachdev for URI
2. 73rd British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) Winners :-
 Best Film – 1917  Best Director - Sam Mendes (1917)  Best Actor - Joaquin Phoenix (Joker)  Best Actress - Renée Zellweger (Judy)  Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood)  Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Laura Dern (Marriage Story)  Outstanding British Film – 1917  Best Original Score - Hildur Guðnadóttir (Joker)  Best Sound – 1917  Best Film Not (Other than English) - Parasite (South Korean)  Best Documentary - For Sama  Best Animated Film – Klaus  EE Rising Star - Micheal Ward  Joker received most nominations (11 categories).  A new award category was introduced - Best Casting.  1917 won most awards (7), including Best Film, Best British Film and Best
Director.
 English actor Andy Serkis received BAFTA award for outstanding British contribution to cinema.
3. The Banker Magazine named Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta

Das as ‘Central Banker of the Year 2020’ in Asia-Pacific region. He has been

honored for bringing in measures to regulate shadow banking through a restrained approach.

4. Director and producer Priyadarshan conferred with Madhya Pradesh government's National Kishore Kumar Samman for 2018- 19 and Noted Actress Waheeda Rehman has been honored as awardee for 2017-18.
5. Dr Niti Kumar, Senior Scientist at CSIR-CDRI Lucknow received SERB Women
Excellence Award 2020. Award will be conferred by President of India during National Science Day Celebrations on February 28 in Vigyan Bhawan (New Delhi).
6. FIH Awards 2019 by International Hockey Federation :-
 Men's Player of the Year - Manpreet Singh (India). He is first indian to win FIH
Men's Player of the year.
 Women's Player of the Year - Eva de Goede (Netherlands)  Men's Rising Star of the Year - Vivek Sagar (India)

 Women’s Rising Star of the Year - Lalremsiami (India)

7. Forest Man of India Jadav Payeng will be awarded Swami Vivekananda Karmayogi
Award 2020 by My Home India, for his consistent efforts in creating a real manmade forest through massive reforestation. It comprises reward of Rs 1 lakh.
8. Hindi poet-novelist Vinod Kumar Shukla won inaugural Mathrubhumi Book of the
Year award for his translated book Blue Is Like Blue. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.
9. Indian freelance reporter Ahmer Khan named winner of Agence France-Presse
Kate Webb Prize, for his coverage in Kashmir during lockdown of the region after India's decision to abrogate article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
10. Industrial Awards (Feb 2020) :-
 Maharashtra Govt presented lifetime achievement award instituted by
Mantralaya and Vidhimandal Vartahar Sangh, to senior journalist Dinkar Keshav Raikar
 Defence Startup Big Bang Boom Solutions has been awarded SKOCH Award

for “Boron Nitrate Based Personal Hybrid Combat Armour ”.

 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has been awarded with Transport
Minister’s Road Safety Award 2018-19, for its lowest accident rate. Nagaland road transport won under Hill category.
 SCCL CMD N. Sridhar received Bharatiya Mahantam Puraskar 2019-20, at
13th Asian Business and Social Forum conference at Bangkok (Thailand).
 Numaligarh Refinery Ltd MD SK Barua conferred with PSU Leadership Award by Heavy Industries Ministry.

11. 12. 13.
Odia and English writer Manoj Das received Mystic Kalinga Literary Award
(Indian and Global Languages) at Mystic Kalinga Festival (MKF). He was recently conferred Padma Bhushan award in field of literature and education.
President Ram Nath Kovind presented International Gandhi Awards for
Leprosy to Dr N.S. Dharmashaktu, under Indian nomination (individual) category and Leprosy Mission Trust under institutional category.
Sahitya Akademi Awards 2019 for Translation announced for 23 languages.
It contains prize money of 50000 INR. Awardees –

 Assamese - Nava Kumar

 Malayalam - C G Rajagopal

 Manipuri - kh. Prakash Singh  Marathi - Sai Paranjpye  Nepali - Sachin Rai Dumi  Odia - Ajoy Kumar Patnaik  Punjabi - Prem Parkash  Rajasthani - Dev Kothari  Sanskrit - Prem Shankar Sharma  Santhali - Kherwal Saran  Sindhi - Dholan Rahi
Handique
 Bengali - Taran Bandopadhyay  Bodo - Gopinath Brahma  Dogri - Rattan Lal Basotra  English - Susan Daniel  Gujarati - Bakula Ghaswala  Hindi - Alok Gupta  Kashmiri - Ratan Lal Jauhar  Konkani - Jayanti Naik  Maithili - Kedar Kanan  Tamil - K V Jeyasari  Telugu - P Satyavathy  Urdu - Aslam Mirze  Kannada is to be announced later

14.

Sweden created two 1 million USD worth prizes named Food Planet Prize, as

a step is to address climate change threats towards food supply all over world. Prizes are for an existing scalable solution for sustainable foods and innovative initiatives to transform global food sector.

Books

1. Book Chanakya Niti: Verses on life and Living, translated by Aditya Narayan
Dhairyasheel Haksar and comprising famous sayings of ancient master of statecraft Chanakya, has been released.
2. Book Messages from Messengers, written by Priti K Shroff has been released. 3. Book The Thin Mind Map Book, by Dharmendra Rai has been released.

4. Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar released book titled A Commentary & Digest on
The Air, Act 1981, written by K K Khandelwal
5. Kannada version of book who is bharat mata, translated by K E Radhakrishna and titled as Yaaru Bharat Maate has been released by Former PM Mammohan Singh. English version was penned by Purushottam Agarwal.
6. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu released Book titled A Child of Destiny, by Koneru
Ramakrishna Rao (GITAM University).
7. Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu released book titled Death; An Inside Story: A book for all those who shall die, written by Jaggi Vasudev, (generally referred to as Sadhguru).

Committees

1. 15th Finance Commission (Headed by N K Singh) constituted a Group on Defence and Internal Security, headed by N.K. Singh. Its Mandate is to examine whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security ought to be set up.
2. 15th Finance Commission (headed by N K Singh) constituted a High Level Expert
Group on Agriculture Exports, to recommend measurable performance incentives for States to encourage agri exports and promote crops to enable high import substitution. It will be headed by Sanjiv Puri (ITC CMD).
3. 2nd National Judicial Pay Commission submitted its Report, covering the subject of
Pay, Pension and Allowances. It is chaired by Justice P.V. Reddi.
4. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) formed a committee under National Insurance Academy director G Srinivasan, to study feasibility of allowing life insurers to offer Inedmnity based health policies once again. The ban on selling indemnity-based health insurance policies was put Four years ago.
5. Feb 6 is observed as International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital
Mutilation, with 2020 Theme Unleashing Youth Power. It was first introduced in 2003.
6. Feb 11 is observed as UN International Day of Women and Girls in Science, observed since 2015. 2020 Theme is Investment in Women and Girls in Science for Inclusive Green Growth.

7. Feb 11 is observed as World Unani Day, to mark birth anniversary of India's noted
Unani scholar and social reformer Hakim Ajmal Khan. He was one of the founders of the Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi.
8. Feb 12 is observed as National Productivity Day in India, with National
Productivity Week observed between February 12 - 18 every year
9. Feb 13 is observed as National Women's Day in India, marking birth anniversary of
Sarojini Naidu. She is known as sobriquet Nightingale of India (Bharat Kokila). She was born on February 13, 1879.
10. Feb 13 is observed as UNESCO World Radio Day. 2020 theme is Radio and
Diversity. It was first celebrated in 2013.

11.

Feb 14, 2020 observed as First Anniversary of Pulwama Attacks on CRPFon

Feb 14, 20219. A Memorial was inaugurated at the Lethpora camp for 40 CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel who were killed in Pulwama Attack.
Feb 15, 2020 is observed as World Pangolin Day, observed every year on third Saturday of February. Pangolin are seeing rapid decline as Pangolin scales are rich in medicinal properties.
12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17.
Feb 21 is observed as UNESCO International Mother Language Day, with
2020 theme Languages without borders. It was Proclaimed by UN in 2002.
Feb 24 is observed in India as Central Excise Day. It commemorates legislation of Central Excise and Salt act on 24 February in 1944.
Feb 29 is Birth Anniversary of Morarji Desai, Former (4th) Prime Minister of
India (1977 and 1979). It is notable as Mr. Desai was born on Feb 29 (leap day).
Feb 4 is observed as World Cancer Day, being observed since 2008. 2010 theme is I am I will (2019 - 2021).
Feb 8 is birth anniversary of Zakir Husain Khan, the third President of India
(1967 - 1969).

Defence

1. India's First CDS (Chief Of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat) stated that newly

created Department of Military Affairs will roll out first ‘theatre command’ by

2022. Also, 2 integrated commands - Air Defence and Peninsular command are being set up immediately.

 Peninsular Command will be formed by merging Western and Eastern
Command of Indian Navy, which will spread from Sir Creek near the Arabian Sea to Sundarbans in the Bay of Bengal. Currently, there are 2 tri-service commands – Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) and Strategic Forces Command (looks after nuclear assets.

 'Theatre command’, also called joint commands, will look to provide all assets

for war under a single commander.
 Aim is to set up Air defence command by June 2020 and Peninsular Command by end of 2021.
2. 5th Joint Air Force Exercie of India and UK - named Ex Indradhanush commened at
Hindon Air Station in Ghaziabad.
3. 5th edition of Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR-2020 between India and United Kingdom
Armies commenced at Salisbury Plains (UK).
4. 6th Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV-6) VAJRA of Indian Coast guard launched.
5. 9th edition of India-Bangladesh joint military exercise Sampriti commenced at
Umroi (Meghalaya).
6. Sharang Artillery Gun has been inducted into Indian Army, produced at Kanpur ordnance factory. These have been upgraded from 130 mm to 155 mm, with hitting range increased from 12 kilo metres to 39 kilo metres.
7. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) handed over 55 Bhabha Kavach bulletproof jackets Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
 It is lightest level III plus bulletproof jacket available in India, weighing 6.8 kgs.  It is based on indigenous hot pressed Boron carbide and carbon nanotube technologies.
 It can stop 7.62 x 39 mm hard steel core bullets fired from AK 47 rifles, 5.56 x
45mm Ball MK M bullets of Indian Small Arms System (INSAS) rifles and Self Load Rifles (SLR)/Bolt action rifles with a back face signature of less than 15 mm.
8. DRDO started developing a 200-km strike range tactical ballistic missile Pranash, with range 200 KM. It will be an advanced version of 150-km strike range Prahar missile.
9. Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) delivered its fourth antisubmarine warfare stealth corvette to Indian Navy, Named Kavaratti.

10.

India will have 10 more defence attaches to 10 different countries, To

promote defence exports and expand its defence diplomacy.

Indian Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Vessel ICGS Varad has been

commissioned into service. Notably, It is first defence ship to clear all acceptance trials in a single go.
11. 12. 13. 14.
Indian Naval Sailing Vessels Mhadei and Tarini set sail for Bay of Bengal
Offshore Sailing Expedition, on a prolonged voyage of 3 months.
Indian Naval Ship (INS) Jamuna reached Sri Lanka to carry out a joint
Hydrographic survey, to be conducted for 2 months.
Indian Navy launched a unique coastal security exercise in Sunderbans region (West Bengal), called Matla Abhiyaan, to create awareness about the coastal security to local community.

15.

Larsen & Toubro's joint venture with European defence major MBDA, called

L&T MBDA Missile Systems (LTMMSL) has set up a missile integration facility (Inert) in Tamil Nadu.
16.