1) National Science Day celebrated on 28th February across India
•The theme for this year’s National Science Day is ‘Women in Science’. This theme has been chosen for the purpose of increasing public appreciation of the scientific issues involved. The main event of the National Science Day will take place at the Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. President Ram Nath will be present at the event.
•On this occasion, President Ram Nath Kovind will present awards for science communication as well as for women scientists. A total of 21 awards will be given which will include National Science and Technology and Communication Awards, Augmenting Writing Skills For Articulating Research awards and National Award For Young Woman Showing Excellence Through Application Of Technology For Societal Benefits.
2) India’s first ‘Protein Day’ being observed on 27 February
•The theme of India Protein Day 2020 is set to act as a reminder for all Indians to daily ask themselves and others “ProteinMeinKyaHai”. The key objective through the day’s activities and beyond will be to spread more knowledge about protein and bring about a behavioural change by persuading Indians to eat adequate protein in every meal – at least a quarter of a plate.
•Globally many countries recognize February 27 as Protein Day and from this year India will also join this movement. A nationally celebrated Protein Day will encourage Indian citizens at large to learn and know more about different types of available sources of plant and animal protein and their importance in daily meals for better nutrition and health.
3) Ravi Shankar Prasad inaugurates BSNL FTTH in Dehradun
•There are currently 30,000 WiFi hotspots operating across the country. Which is being tried to increase further. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited provides this service through the optical fibre to urban and rural areas across the country. Through this service, every area gets the benefit of super-fast internet connectivity.
4) Sri Lanka withdraws from UN Rights Resolution
•Sri Lankan Government formally notified the United Nations that it will withdraw from the UNHRC (United Nations Human Rights Council) resolution for investigating alleged war crimes. The case was dealing with a decade-old clash with Tamil separatists.
•The UNHRC resolution 40/1 was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka and 11 other countries. The main aim of the resolution is investigation of war time violence against Tamil Tiger rebels. The Tamil Rebels were demanding separate homeland. They were claiming that they were ethnic tamil minority and hence are eligible for separate homeland.
5) Finance Secretary launches Baroda Startup Banking in 15 cities
•It will include 15 Baroda Startup branches that will offer a bouquet of tailor-made banking products and services that have been designed keeping in mind the unique and specialized banking requirements of start-ups.
•The products include customised current accounts, state-of-the-art payments gateways, corporate credit cards, corporate salary accounts and credit facilities apart from other existing products of the bank. In addition to end-to-end banking solutions for start-ups, the bank will also ensure that it meets the ancillary needs of start-ups by partnering with marquee service providers to assist start-ups by way of cloud credits, mentorship, co-working space, legal/accounting services and other support services.
6) Rajnath Singh inaugurates new Helicopter Production Hangar at HAL
•LCH is a 5.5-tonne class combat helicopter designed and developed by HAL. It is powered by two Shakti engines and inherits many technical features of the Advanced Light Helicopter. LCH has the distinction of being the first attack helicopter to land in forwarding Bases at Siachen, 4,700 mts above sea level with 500kg load.
•India has made significant progress towards manufacturing military equipment indigenously under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The defence industry plays a major role in the economic development of the country. Defence Public Sector Undertaking (DPSU) that has helped India leapfrog six places to become the fifth-largest economy in the world.
7) Xiaomi to bring ISRO’s NavIC technology to smartphones in 2020
•Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) is the regional geo-positioning system designed in India by ISRO to provide accurate positioning in India and around the Indian mainland. It is considered to be at par with US-based GPS, Russia’s Glonass and Galileo developed by Europe.
•The implementation was possible after R&D efforts from Xiaomi for software along with ISRO and Qualcomm’s efforts. NavIC is designed to provide accurate positioning in India and 1,500km around the Indian mainland. The system comprises 7 satellites, 3 of which are in geostationary orbit over the Indian Ocean and 4 in geosynchronous orbit. NavIC is capable of providing location positioning accuracy better than 20 metres.
8) Aadhaar-enabled Payment System rolled out by Airtel Payments Bank
9) Raja Ravi Varma Award 2020 conferred
•Prof. J.S. Khanderao was awarded for his art that defines the history of human culture as the art is a form of human expression. The painting dates back to the ages of primitive times. The art form has undergone rapid transformations over centuries. Vasudev Kamath was awarded for his more expressive form of art.
10) NTPC signs MoU with CPCB to set up air quality monitoring stations
•The Air Quality Index will be evaluated for the respective cities with the help of data collected from these air quality monitoring stations.
