TN and the Karnataka government will celebrate former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s birthday as ‘State Women Children Protection Day’ on February 24.

The 4th anniversary of the launch of Shyama Prasad Mukherji National Rurban Mission (SPMRM) has been celebrated on 21 February . The Mission is launched by Ministry of Rural development which aims to boost the economic development at the local level, as well as to bring about a comprehensive transformation of these rural clusters by increasing basic services and creating well-organized rural clusters.

A National Integration Camp (NIC) was inaugurated at the Indian Himalayan Centre for Adventure and Eco-tourism Institute at Chemchey, South Sikkim on 24 February 2020. The camp is organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan, Sikkim. The camp was inaugurated by Lok Sabha MP from Sikkim Indra Hang Subba

The International Cricket Council has imposed a seven-year ban on  Omani cricketer, Yousuf Abdulrahim Al Balushi. Al Balushi was banned from all forms of cricket after he was found guilty of being involved in match fixing. The Omani cricketer accepted all four charges of breaching ICC’s Anti-Corruption Code.

The Maharashtra government recently ordered the destruction of ‘Thai Magur’ fish breeding centres because of the threat posed to native fishes and the unhygienic conditions. Thai Magur is a type of catfish. It is also known as the exotic African Catfish. The fish species is known to survive in even poor conditions like wet mud and sludge. It is also reported to be unhealthy for human consumption. Thai Magur is not a native species of India.

The US has surpassed China to become India’s top trading partner.
According to the data of the commerce ministry, in 2018-19, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at $87.95 bn.
India’s two-way commerce with China aggregated at $87.07 bn.
During April-Dec 2019-20, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at $68 bn. It stood at $64.96 bn with China in the same period.
USA: Capital – Washington, D.C.
Currency – US Dollar

Microsoft announced the launch of a “100x100x100” programme aimed at the B2B startups in India.
Under the new initiative, Microsoft will bring together 100 companies and 100 “early and growth” startups that have “enterprise-ready solutions” to offer.
Participating companies will commit to spend $100,000 in the next 18 months on solutions offered by the SaaS(Software as a Service) startups.

Actor Manoj Kumar was honored by the World Book of Records London. Kumar was awarded the WBR Golden Arra of Bollywood for his contribution to Indian cinema. Earlier legendary actor Dilip Kumar was also felicitated with the honour

The Home Ministry has amended the Arms Act, 1959 to allow international medalists and renowned shooters to have additional weapons up to a total of twelve under the exempted category, as against earlier seven.

The central Government has come up with a 20-20 model according to which top 20 cities will be paired with the bottom 20 cities. In order to implement this mission in successful way, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched a 100-day challenge for the backward cities to enhance their position by June 25,2020, the 5th anniversary of Smart Cities Mission. The top ranked Ahmedabad has been paired with Chandigarh which is ranked 81st. Port Blair standing on 96th spot has been given Nagpur, which is rank 2.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) discovered gold deposits to the tune of around 3,000 tonnes in Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh. The deposit is almost five times India’s current reserve of gold.

Shri P. Ramakrishnan, speaker of Kerala legislative assembly received the ‘The Ideal Legislative Assembly Speaker/Ideal Legislative Council Chairman Award’. He received this award from the Vice President of India.

India’s new Army Headquarters is christened as ‘Thal Sena Bhawan’. Recently, the Defence Minister laid foundation stone of the new Headquarters at Delhi Cantonment.
The new Army headquarters is to be constructed spanning around an area of 39 acres. The newly created Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) office will also be set up in the building. The multi-storeyed building is scheduled to be constructed in five years and will have all the offices of Army in the complex.

World Bank has released a report titled “Delivering Road Safety in India” during the ongoing ‘Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety’ in the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. As per the report, India has to invest an estimated amount of additional $109 billion in road safety in the next decade. With the investment, economic benefits equivalent to 3.7 per cent of the GDP can be witnessed annually.

There was a newly discovered species of snails which is named as Craspedotropis Gretathunbergae this was in honour of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who has been making efforts to raise awareness about climate change. The Craspedotropis Gretathunbergae has also been described and discussed in the Biodiversity Data Journal. The new species found tropical rainforests and are sensitive to extreme conditions of drought and high temperatures.

The first anniversary of the iconic National War Memorial (NWM) will be observed on 25 February. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the monument to the nation on 25 February 2019. The memorial is a tribute to the fallen heroes in the line of duty during various wars and internal security challenges since Independence.

According to the Union Minister of Minority Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the population of Parsis (Zoroastrians), a notified minority community under National Commission of Minorities Act 1992, increased by 233 since the year 2013, when the government launched the Jiyo Parsi scheme.

India’s D Gukesh won the 34th Cannes Open in France on February 23, 2020, beating his French competitor Harutyun Bargseghyan. The 13-year-old had become the world’s second youngest Grandmaster ever in 2019

Dr Niti Kumar, Senior Scientist from Division of Molecular Parasitology and Immunology, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow has received SERB Women Excellence Award-2020.

India won one silver and two bronze medals on concluding day of Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi.
In 74 kg category, Jitender settled for a silver medal following a defeat by defending champion Kazakhstan’s D Kaisanov.
In 86 Kg category, D Punia defeated Issa Abdulsalam Abdulwahhab secured a bronze medal.
Rahul Aware defeated Iran’s Majid Almas Dastan and settled for a bronze.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) launched a National Level Awareness Programme (NLAP) 2020 from 17-28 February 2020. The main objective of NLAP is to spread awareness about the schemes and activities undertaken by the Ministry of MSME and its attached organizations including Office of Development Commissioner (MSME), MSME Technology Centres, Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), Coir Board, National Small Industries Corporation Limited, National Institute of MSME, and Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Rural Industrialization.

India’s first floating jetty has been inaugurated in Panaji, Goa on the banks of Mandovi River. The jetty is located in the premises of the state port department.
The jetty, which is made of cement concrete, can be built in a short time. Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the jetty as well as the immigration facility at a cruise terminal in Mormugao Port.

The three-day Chitra Bharati Film Festival (CBFF) began on 21 Feb 2020 at Gujarat University in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
This is the third edition of the festival- the first was held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, in 2016, and the second at Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium in 2018.
Around 140 films falling under four categories are to be screened at the festival.

The Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi has approved the acquisition of 24 Sikorsky MH (Maritime Helicopters)-60R(Romeo) seahawk multi-role Helicopters from The United States, worth of USD 2.6 billion (approximately Rs.1871 crores) for Indian Navy.

Indian women team registered its best-ever performance at the Asian Wrestling Championship returning with eight medals in New Delhi.
Sakshi Malik claimed a silver on 21 Feb 2020 while Vinesh Phogat won a bronze medal.
The Indian team had won only one gold medal before this edition but Divya, Pinki and Sarita Mor won three on the opening day while Nirmala Devi came out second best.

The Sivaratri festival, locally called ‘Herath Festival’ is an important Hindu community festival celebrated in Jammu and Kashmir. During the festival, Walnuts and fish dishes are cooked and eaten by the community members. At the end of the festival, a day is observed as ‘Salaam’, which entailed celebrations with the Muslim brethren. During such festivals shops run by Muslims provide paraphernalia for puja.

GoI will set up Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) under the Consumer Protection Act 2019 by the first week of April 2020.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been ranked first in the Nature Ranking Index-2020.
The rankings are based on total research output which the institutions have carried out from December 01, 2018, to 30th November 2019.
Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, has been ranked second.
The third place is secured by Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed Sunil Gurbaxani as MD (Managing Director) and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Dhanlaxmi Bank for a period of 3 years. Sunil was the successor of T.Latha.