RaIDer-X is a new explosive detection device. It has been co-developed by High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) Pune and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. HEMRL Pune is a premier laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). It was unveiled at the National Workshop on Explosive Detection (NWED-2020) in Pune. It has the capability to detect explosives from a stand-off distance.

1st edition of 2-day unique initiative “Nimad Chilli Festival 2020” organised by Madhya Pradesh Government begins at Kasrawad in Khargone district, Madhya Pradesh(MP) on 29th February & 1st March 2020. Mascot named “chilli chacha” was released during the festival for better marketing the famous spice. “gene bank” will be created to save the original varieties of chillies grown in the region. This festival is locally called ‘Mirch Mahotsav’.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to provide a total of $4 million (Rs.29 crore) to the Asia-Pacific countries. The bank aims to help developing countries in Asia and the Pacific to fight the outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Veteran historian Dr S Shettar recently passed away in Bengaluru, at the age of 85. He taught history in many universities for more than twenty-five years.
Shettar completed his Ph.D from Cambridge University in England. He had held several important positions including Director of the Institute of Indian Art History at Karnatak University, Dharwad, and Chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), an autonomous body tasked with regulating and promoting the insurance, has formed a 9-member committee led by Mr. G. Srinivasan, Director of National Insurance Academy to examine the possibility of allowing life insurers offer indemnity based health policies.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recently launched the ‘Suposhit Maa Abhiyan’ from Kota, Rajasthan. The main objective of this campaign is to maintain the health of pregnant women and newborns. According to the scheme, 1000 pregnant women will be given nutritious food kits for nine months

India’s fiscal deficit touched 128.5 per cent of the whole year budget target at January-end (2020).
The deficit during the same period during 2018-19 was 121.5% of that year’s Revised Budget Estimate (RE).
In actual terms, the fiscal deficit or gap between the expenditure and revenue stood at Rs 9,85,472 crore.

Rare Disease Day is observed every year on the last day of February.
This year in 2020 it fell on February 29, 2020.
It is observed to raise awareness for rare diseases and improve access to treatment and medical representation for individuals with rare diseases and their families.
The theme for 2020: “Rare is Many. Rare is Strong. Rare is Proud”.

Ophiuchus galaxy cluster is a large galaxy that contains a supermassive black hole. The source of the gigantic eruption to jets has carved out a large cavity in the hot gas. The amount of energy required to create the cavity in Ophiuchus far exceeded the previous record holder, a cluster known by the designation MS 0735+74. The cluster contains thousands of individual galaxies intermingled with hot gas (plasma) and dark matter.

The RBI has directed banks to link all the new floating-rate loan to medium enterprises with external benchmark.
The direction will be effective from 1st April 2020.
The move is aimed at further strengthening monetary policy transmission so that benefits of reduction in key lending rate can be passed on to medium enterprises.

The Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurating the 11th National Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Conference 2020  in New Delhi. The conference directed KVKs to serve not only the affluent, resourceful and Progressive farmers but also focus on the small and deprived farmers.

Indian Railways launched its first ‘Restaurant on Wheels’ at the Asansol Railway station for the use of Railway passengers as well as the general public of Asansol.
Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change Babul Supriyo, inaugurated it.
He also inaugurated two new air-conditioned Retiring Rooms and Electronic Reservation Chart Display System.

The Bihar Legislative Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution requesting the Centre to hold the 2021 census on the basis of caste. This is the second time Bihar has passed a resolution in the recent past.

An inter-ministerial approval committee under the ‘Unit’ scheme of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY) sanctioned 32 projects spread across 17 states. The committee was chaired by the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Chandrashekar Kambar, President of Sahitya Akademi, announced a total of 23 awards for Sahitya Akademi’s Translation Prize for 2019. In the category of translation into English has been awarded to Kannada novel Kusumabale by Devanur Mahadeva, translated into English by Susan Daniel.

World Defence Day is celebrated on 1 March 2020. The day is observed to raise awareness of public protection from natural and technogenic disasters and rescue service work.

The Union Ministry of Corporate affairs recently notified the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 (CARO 2020).
As per the notification, all listed companies should mandatorily disclose all whistle-blower complaints to the auditor and the complaints should be mentioned in the audit reports. This mandate would be applicable to all audits from the financial year starting from April 2019.

Harley-Davidson Inc.’s CEO Matt Levatich stepped down on 28 Feb 2020.
Levatich will be replaced on an interim basis by Jochen Zeitz, a board member credited with reviving the Puma sneaker brand.
Zeitz also was named chairman of the board and will remain chairman once a new CEO is appointed.
Current chairman, Michael Cave, is now presiding director.

“Pension Adalat”  was inaugurated at Convention Centre, Jammu on 29th February 2020. It is a Programme of Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India. Pension Adalat is being conducted outside Delhi for the very first time. This is happening because the government wants to reach every part of society, every part of the country to get the pensioner’s grievances redressed in the real-time. These Pension Adalats will help in on-the-spot redressal of pensioners’ grievances.

Government of India paid tribute to former PM Morarji Desai on his 124th birth anniversary on 29 February. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and State leaders paid tribute the late former PM. His birth anniversary is celebrated every four years. Morarji Desai was born in Bulsar district of Gujarat on 29 February 1896.

The report titled “prospect of regional energy cooperation and cross-border energy trade in the BIMSTEC region” released in 2- day Conference on Enhancing Energy Cooperation in the BIMSTEC region held at Dhaka, Bangladesh. India tops on all energy resources by having 319,020 MT of coal, 600 MT oil, 45.5 TCF gas, 4,150 MT biomass and 145 GW hydro and 1,000 GW renewable energy respectively.

Zero Discrimination Day is observed on 1 March. The day promotes diversity and recognizes that everyone counts. The symbol for Zero Discrimination Day is the butterfly. It is used by people to share their stories and photos as a way to end discrimination and work towards positive transformation.

The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) released NCAER Land Records and Services Index (N-LRSI 2020) recently.
As per the index, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu are the five best-performing states. The index assesses the digitisation of land records and their quality in 33 states and Union Territories (UTs).