Daily Current Affairs, 20th February 2020

1) World Day of Social Justice observed globally on 20th February

•The World Day of Social Justice is celebrated annually all over the world on 20 February. The International Labour Organization unanimously adopted the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization on 10 June 2008.

•2020 Theme: “Closing the Inequalities Gap to Achieve Social Justice”

•Social justice is an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.

2) New Delhi hosts Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts

•Symposium on Emerging Opportunities for Indian Textiles and Crafts was held in New Delhi. The symposium was chaired by Union Minister of Textiles and Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani. Senior officers of the Ministries of Commerce & Industry and Textiles, representatives of Export Promotion Council (EPCs), buying offices and buying agents participated in the symposium. They participated in the symposium to discuss the business opportunities emerging in view of the present scenario of ‘CORONA VIRUS” in China.

•The Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Zubin Irani stressed on the need of diversification of the present opportunities along with increasing domestic capabilities. She also stressed on making India a leader in textiles sector.

•The symposium was organized by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts under the aegis of Ministry of Textiles, Government of India.

3) Arunachal Pradesh Statehood Day: 20 February

•Arunachal Pradesh is celebrating its 34th Statehood Day on 20th February. Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged state on February 20, 1987. Till 1972, it was known as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA). It gained the Union Territory status on January 20, 1972, and was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh. On 20th February 1987, Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged State.

•Union Home Minister Amit Shah visit Arunachal Pradesh to attend the 34th Statehood Day function. He lay the foundation stone of the new headquarters of the state police. Industrial Investment Policy, 2020 also be launched by Amit Shah and inaugurate the Joram Koloriang Road constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO).

4) Cabinet approves constitution of 22nd Law Commission of India

•Union Cabinet approved the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission of India. The commission will function for a period of three years from its date of official constitution. The Commission will give recommendations on different aspects of law which are entrusted to it. The 21st Law Commission headed by Justice BS Chauhan (retd).

•The commission shall also undertake studies and research for bringing reforms in the justice delivery systems for elimination of delay in procedures and speedy disposal of cases among others. Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body constituted by the Government from time to time. The term of the previous law panel had ended on August 31 last year.

•The panel will have a full-time chairperson, four full-time members (including a member secretary), and law and legislative secretaries in the law ministry as ex-officio members. The Commission was originally constituted in 1955 and is re-constituted every three years.

5) Union Minister lays foundation stone for lighthouse in Rameswaram

•Union Minister of State for Shipping Mansukh Laxmanbhai Mandaviya laid the foundation stone for a 50-metre high modern lighthouse at Dhanushkodi in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. This is the 5th lighthouse in the region. The light house is to be built at a cost of Rs 7 crore rupees. The lighthouse is to be located opposite to the old church that was destroyed in a cyclone in 1964. It will facilitate navigation to 33 to 37 km from the sea shore.

•The lighthouse will help to guide fishermen and will also act as tourist attraction. The Light house is also important for the naval commands.There are four Naval Commands namely Western Naval Command, Eastern Naval Command, Southern Naval Command and Andaman and Nicobar Naval Command.

•The lighthouse complex would be of reinforcement cement concrete (RCC) structure with an octagonal shape of 50 metre height (including stilt). The lighthouse tower is attached with an annexure building for the provision of powerhouse, auxiliary equipment room, duty operators room and inspection room etc.

6) Ram Mandir Trust elects Nritya Gopal Das as president

•Mahant Nritya Gopal Das was elected as the president of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust.  Champat Rai would be the general secretary of the trust. The first meeting of the Ram Mandir Trust to oversee the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya was held in New Delhi.

•The meeting also decided that Nripendra Mishra, former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will head a committee to make decisions regarding the actual construction of the temple. Swami Govind Dev Giriji Maharaj will be the treasurer of the trust. Delhi-based chartered accountancy firm, V. Shankar Aiyyar and Company will be the accountants for the trust. Senior Uttar Pradesh bureaucrat Awanish Awasthi and Ayodhya district magistrate Anuj Jha would be the State’s representatives in the trust.

•A State Bank of India account (while not explicitly stating that funds for the temple be via public donations or subscriptions) will be opened at the Ayodhya branch of the bank in the trust’s name. Signatures of Swami Govind Dev Giriji Maharaj, Mr Rai or Dr Anil Mishra (two of three) will suffice to operate the account.

7) Kashi Mahakal Express will begin today from Varanasi

•The Kashi Mahakal Express, the 3rd private train of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), will start from today. The train service will link the three Jyotirlinga: Omkareshwar near Indore, Mahakaleshwar, in Ujjain and Kashi Vishwanath in Varanasi. This is also the first overnight journey train run by IRCTC.

•The train will cover 1,131 km between Varanasi and Indore via Lucknow and a distance of 1,102 km between Varanasi and Indore via Prayagraj in approximately 19 hours. Light devotional music, two dedicated private guards in every coach and only vegetarian meals are some of the features of the fully 3-AC service. The train will run thrice a week between Varanasi and Indore.

8) Cabinet approves 2nd phase of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen

•Union Cabinet has approved the 2nd Phase of the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen till 2024-25. The program will work towards ensuring that no one is left behind and everyone uses a toilet.

•The 2nd phase of the mission will be implemented in a mission mode with a total estimated budgeted financial implication of 52 thousand 497 crore rupees. The 2nd phase of the mission will focus on Open Defecation Free Plus (ODF Plus), which includes ODF sustainability and Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). The ODF Plus programme will also converge with MGNREGA, especially for grey water management and will also complement the newly launched Jal Jeevan Mission. More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission.

9) GoI to set up Central Consumer Protection Authority

•GoI will be set up Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) by the first week of April 2020. The CCPA to be set up under the Consumer Protection Act 2019, will address issues related to consumer rights, unfair trade practices, misleading advertisements and impose penalties for selling spurious and adulterated products. CCPA will be formed under the aegis of the authority and it will carry out inquiries in matters related to unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.

10) NITI Aayog organizes meeting on Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients Industry

•National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) has organized a meeting on Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients (API) Industry. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog’s CEO Amitabh Kant to induce growth in the API industry.

Key events of the meeting:

•During the meeting, a detailed presentation on the history and status of the API industry and the challenges faced by it, was presented by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP). It also demonstrated the available options which can make India a powerhouse in Key Starting Materials, Intermediates and Active Pharmaceuticals Ingredients (API). It also discussed the recent measures taken to promote the bulk drug parks in the country.

Participants of the Meeting:

•Delegates of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department of Health Research, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals and the Department of Expenditure participated in the meeting organized by NITI Aayog to boost growth in API industry.

11) Nepal celebrates its 70th National Democracy Day

•The government of Nepal has observed the 70th National Democracy Day on 19th February. Nepal celebrates the National Democracy Day every year on Falgun 7 to commemorate the attainment of democracy after the abolition of the 104-year long autocratic Rana Regime. In 2007 Bikram Sambat, on this day, democracy was established in the Himalayan nation ending over a century old autocratic Rana regime.

•Prime Minister Oli paid tribute to the martyrs who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle for democracy. A contingent of Nepal Army presented a guard of honour to President Bidya Devi Bhandari and cultural processions of various communities were also displayed.

12) Jeff Bezos launches “Bezos Earth Fund” to combat climate change

•Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced the launch of “Bezos Earth Fund” to combat Climate Change. Through this fund, Jeff Bezos has committed to contribute $10 billion to help preserve and protect the natural world against the climate change. The Bezos Earth Fund will fund the scientists, activists, NGOs to save Earth to tackle the issue of climate change.

13) Reference annuals ‘Bharat 2020’, ‘India 2020’ released

•Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar released the Reference Annual Bharat 2020 & India 2020 in New Delhi. E-version of the yearbooks were also released on this occasion.

•The books carry exhaustive and comprehensive information about the country and the activities, progress and achievements of various Central Government Ministries, Departments and Organisations during the year. Publications Division of the Information and Broadcasting ministry compiles the Reference Annual every year.

14) Seminar on Indian Defence Equipment organized in Dhaka

•Seminar on Indian Defence Equipment was organized in Dhaka by the High Commission of India in Bangladesh. 12 Indian firms participated in the Seminar on Indian Defence Equipment. Objective of the seminar was to pursue further cooperation between India and Bangladesh in the field of defence technologies.

•The seminar also provided a great opportunity to defence manufacturers from India in building partnerships with Bangladesh.

15) Govt of Gujarat & SBI sign MoU to facilitate MSME loans

•The Gujarat government signed an MoU with State Bank of India (SBI) to facilitate approval of loans to entrepreneurs in the MSME sector with ease and within a short time-frame. Within 15 days of making an application, the bank will provide theoretical approval to the project. Start-ups can submit an application on either the MSME portal or to the local nodal agencies.

•The SBI decided to help MSME entrepreneurs in Gujarat looking at their high recovery rate. The Gujarat state announced that MSME units exempted from taking approvals for the first three years can start operations after getting an acknowledgement certificate from the state nodal agency by submitting ‘declaration of intent.

16) Hindi ranks 3rd most spoken language in the World

•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. 

•Ethnologue brings out an yearly database of living languages of the world since its establishment in 1951. The current round of the database covers 7,111 living languages of the world. Ethnologue also contains data on languages which have gone out of use in recent history. This edition lists 348 such languages.

17) India will host AFC Women’s Asian Cup in 2022

•India is set to stage the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup in 2022, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced this in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The AFC Women’s Football Committee chose India, which will hold the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup later this year, ahead of Chinese Taipei and Uzbekistan.

•D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, Trans Stadia Arena in Ahmedabad and Fatorda Stadium in Goa have been selected to host matches at the expanded 2022 Women’s Asian Cup, due to feature 12 teams instead of eight. India hosted the tournament in 1979, when the event was organised by the Asian Ladies Football Confederation (ALFC), a separate body which became part of the AFC in 1986.