The Indian Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Vessel ICGS Varad has been commissioned on 28 Feb 2020.
It was inducted into service by Union Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya at a function held in the Chennai Port.
The ship Varad will be based at Paradip in Odisha, under the operational control of the Coast Guard North Eastern Region.

Union Tribal Affairs Minister launched the ‘Programme for Capacity Building of Scheduled Tribe Representatives in Local Self Governments’ at a programme in Bhubaneswar (Odisha) on 27th February 2020. The Minister had also launched ‘1000 Spring Initiatives’ and an online portal on GIS-based Spring Atlas. This atlas is going to have chemical properties and hydrological of the Springs on the occasion.

atherine Johnson, a mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 hit film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering black female aerospace workers, has died. She was 101.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recently notified that 100 per cent FDI is allowed in insurance intermediaries under automatic approval route.
The FDI policy earlier allowed 49 per cent foreign investment in the insurance sector, including insurance intermediaries. Intermediary services comprise of insurance brokers, re-insurance brokers, insurance consultants, third party administrators, loss assessors etc.

The Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) Capri Global Capital Limited (CGCL) has launched an SME (Small and medium-sized enterprises) lending product “UDAAN” for women entrepreneurs to provide secured loans upto Rs.40 lakhs only for Business purpose with the loan repayment period of 10years to 15 years at a competitive interest rate after conducting due diligence.

NITI Aayog, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in collaboration with the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) launched an AI-based Module rolled out for students in Indian schools on 27 February. The aim is to empower the youngest minds of the country with the latest technologies.

Henneguya zschokkei, also known as Henneguya salminicola, is a species of a myxosporean parasite of certain species of salmons of genus Oncorhynchus. Researchers at Tel Aviv University have discovered a unique organism that doesn’t need to breathe. Henneguya salminicola, the tiny parasite, is the first known multicellular animal that can survive without oxygen. It lives in an anaerobic environment. The parasite lives in salmon tissue and evolved so that it doesn’t need oxygen to produce energy. The researchers made the discovery accidentally while sequencing the Henneguya genome.

PM Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the Bundelkhand Expressway at Chitrakoot on 29 Feb 2020.
It will pass through the districts of Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur and Jalaun.
This expressway will link the Bundelkhand area to Delhi through Agra-Lucknow expressway and Yamuna expressway as well as play a vital role in the development of Bundelkhand region.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020. According to the proposed bill, any woman can become a surrogate mother by her own will. Apart from childless Indian couples, widows and divorced women will also get the benefit. The draft of the new bill has included the recommendations of 23-member Committee of the Rajya Sabha headed by BJP MP Bhupender Yadav.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the new Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Production Hangar on 27 Feb 2020.
It was inaugurated at the Helicopter Division in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Complex at Bengaluru, Karnataka.
LCH is a 5.5-tonne class combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL.
It is powered by two Shakti engines.

The biofuel sector could get a boost with the method to improve the growth rate and sugar content of a marine microorganism called Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. This research is conducted at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB).

The Indian Space Research Organisation stated it is scheduled to launch its geo imaging satellite ‘GISAT-1’ onboard the geosynchronous satellite launch vehicle ‘GSLV-F10’ on March 5.

Weighing about 2,275 kg, GISAT-1 is a state-of-the- art agile earth observation satellite which would be placed in a geosynchronous transfer orbit by GSLV-F10.