Academic-turned-politician, Krishna Bose, passed away in West Bengal due to cardiac arrest. She was 89 years old. She served as a Member of Parliament elected from the Jadavpur constituency in West Bengal as an All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate

A new species of Lizard – Urban Bent-Toed Gecko has been found in Guwahati, Assam. All bent-toed geckos of northeastern India were considered to be a single species.

Senki River is an important river of North-East Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It flows through Itanagar (the capital of Arunachal Pradesh). On 21st February 2020, the Brahmaputra Board organized a one-day river cleanup programme to clean the Senki River in Itanagar. This was an initiative of Youth Mission for Clean River in collaboration with the District Administration Capital Complex. Around 400 volunteers from all walks of life participated in the river cleanup programme. The programme aimed to sensitize people residing on both sides of the river bank regarding the serious issue of the Senki river. Context : Recently it was in the news due to its shrinking size due to dumping.

Arunachal Pradesh is celebrating its 34th Statehood Day on 20th February.

RailMadad, the grievance redressal portal of Indian Railways, has been awarded Silver under Category II of the National e-Governance Awards – ‘Excellence in providing Citizen-centric Delivery.’
This award was conferred during the 23rd National Conference on e-Governance which was held in Mumbai.
RailMadad is the single portal for grievance, inquiry, and assistance for all railway customers.

Former Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka has been appointed as Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). Bimal Julka is currently serving as the Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.

NITI Aayog recently organised ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Conclave 2020: Partnerships, Cooperation and Development of North Eastern States’ in Guwahati, Assam.
The conclave was organised in association with the North Eastern Council, Government of Assam, Tata Trust, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). The three-day event commenced from February 24th in Guwahati

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NF) Construction Organisation has built India’s tallest railway pier bridge across river Makru in the Tamenglong district of Manipur. The total cost of the bride is Rs.283.5 crore.

On February 21, 2020 Four railway stations in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj will get new names, in order to recognise the identity of the ancient city. The names of the stations were changed by the State and Central Government. Allahabad Junction will now be Prayagraj Junction, Allahabad City will now be known as Prayagraj Rambag, Allahabad Chhioki has been changed to Prayagraj Chheoki & the name of Prayagghat to Prayagraj Sangam.

Theatre Commands by 2022: Instead of having separate commands for every service, the CDS is working on having a joint or theatre command, by the year 2022, that can carry out all war-fighting formations under a single commander. The commander could either be from the Army, Air Force or the Navy. Theaterisation means putting specific units of personnel from the three services (Army, Navy and Air Force) — under a common theatre commander so they fight as a cohesive unit.
Air Defence Command by 2021: The other proposed command is the Joint Air Defence Command that will roll out by 2021. It will have air assets such as missiles from the army. The navy will also be a part of it. Its aim is timely implementation of orders in case of aerial attacks.

Hindi is the 3rd most spoken language of the world in 2019 with 615 million speakers.
The 22nd edition of the world language database Ethnologue stated English at the top of the list with 1,132 million speakers.
Chinese Mandarin is at the second position with 1,117 million speakers.
Bangla has been ranked as the 7th most spoken language of the world. Bangla has 228 million native speakers

Indian athletes finished with three medals in different categories in the World SnowShoe Championship at Myoko, Japan .

The resolution plan of JSW Steel to take over the bankrupt Bhushan Power and Steel has been approved by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has become free of single-use plastic usage. With this feat, GMR-led Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) became the first single-use plastic-free airport in India. The implementation of single-use plastic-free airport measures within IGI Airport’s operations was certified by the Confederation of Indian Industry-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development (CII-ITC CESD)

Sunil Kumar is India’s Greco Roman wrestler. He recently won the Gold Medal in Asian Wrestling Championships in the 87-kg category. He defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Azat Salidinov in the final round.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced two new schemes during its budget presentation. Under the proposed ‘Chief Minister Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (CMAPS)’, youth of the state in MSME units are to given on-job training and employment. A stipend is also to be provided.
Yuva Udyamita Vikas Abhiyan (YUVA) hubs are to be set up, to train two lakh youths under various training programmes of the UP Skill Development Mission. A provision of Rs.100 Cr and Rs.50 Cr are allocated for the schemes respectively.

Blue Origin is an American privately-funded spaceflight It was founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000. The vision of Blue’s vision is to have a future where millions of people are living and working in space. Blue Origin Programme aimed to lower the cost of access to space with reusable launch vehicles.

India emerged as the world’s fifth largest economy by overtaking the UK and France in 2019, as per a report.
World Population Review in its report said that India is developing into an open-market economy from its previous autarkic policies.
India’s service sector is the fast-growing sector in the world accounting for 60% of the economy and 28% of employment.

The RBI released “Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies” which stated about Long Term Repo Operations (LTROs) for improving monetary transmission. It is aimed at providing cheaper money to banks at the repo rate so that it can be used to boost credit growth. RBI decided to conduct Long Term Repo Operations (LTROs) for one-year and three-year tenors for up to a total amount of ₹ 1,00,000 crores at the policy repo rate. Simply, RBI is injecting Rs 1 lakh crore into the banking system through auctions with long term maturity periods (compared to one day repos) of 1 year and 3 years. LTRO is in addition to the existing LAF (Liquidity adjustment facility) and MSF (Marginal Standing Facility) operations. The current repo rate is 5.15%.

Simone Biles has won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year 2020 award .

Riding on the ongoing stock rally of Avenue Supermarts, founder Radhakishan Damani has become the second richest in India, behind Reliance Industries’s Mukesh Ambani ($57.4 billion). According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires Index, the total net worth of Damani is at $17.8 billion.

The Ambala city bus stand has been renamed after late External Affairs Minister and BJP veteran Sushma Swaraj.
Swaraj was born in Ambala Cantt and was elected MLA twice from here.
The veteran BJP leader passed away in 2019.
Rs 18 crore had been spent on the construction of the bus stand where all basic facilities would be provided to passengers.

The Ministry of Textiles is organising a Handicraft thematic Exhibition exhibition named ‘Kala Kumbh’, for promoting Geographical Indication (GI) crafts, through the Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts).

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti is celebrated on 19 February. He was an embodiment of courage, compassion and good governance. His life continues to motivate millions. The year 2020 marks the 390th birth anniversary of great Maratha warrior Shivaji. PM Narendra Modi paid his tribute to India’s great hero.

Sachin Tendulkar recently won the Laureus Sporting Moment Award (2000-2020). Tendulkar won this prize for a picture that shows team India carrying him on shoulders after winning 2011 ICC World Cup.

Kevadia safari park is located in Gujarat. It is on the right bank of the Narmada River, downstream the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Dam.  It houses over 170 species of fauna, covering various biomes of Africa, Australia, Asia and America. On 17th February it was opened to the public for a short trial run.

ISRO is set to achieve a major feat as it is working towards launching an unprecedented 10 earth observation satellites into space in 2020-21.
The launches include the first ever Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1’s launch into space.
In the ongoing 2019-20 year, ISRO had planned to launch six earth observation satellites into space, of which two are still to be launched.

PM Modi had laid the foundation stone for Rs. 6,800 crores Zojila tunnel project . This is known as Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel, in Jammu and Kashmir. Zojila tunnel provides for all-year connectivity between Leh and Srinagar. As per the recent reports, tunnels may undergo some design changes to prevent cost escalation.

The Supreme Court-appointed advocate Sanjay Hegde and Sadhana Ramachandran as interlocutors in the Shaheen Bagh case. The apex court has informed that both interlocutors have to submit their report in a week.

India’s Koneru Humpy wins Cairns Cup chess tournament held at St.Louis, US (United States). She won the title after finishing 6 points off 9 rounds.