1. Textile Minister Smriti Irani inaugurates 8th India International Silk Fair
- The Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the 8th India International Silk Fair on Virtual Portal on 31st January 2021.
- The five days event is being held on Indian Silk Export Promotion Council’s virtual platform due to COVID-19 pandemic.
- The fair is considered to be India’s biggest silk fair.
- More than 200 overseas buyers and equal number of their representatives in India are participating to interact with more than 100 renowned and big Indian companies manufacturing and trading silk and silk blended products.
- India is the only country in the world which produces all the four major varieties of silk, which are Mulberry, Eri, Tassar, and Muga.
2. Indian Coast Guard celebrates its 45th Raising Day : 01 February 2021
- The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) is celebrating its 45th Raising Day on 01 February 2021.
- The ICG was formally established on February 1, 1977, by the Coast Guard Act, 1978of the Parliament of India.
- It operates under the Ministry of Defence.
- Beginning with just 7 surface platforms in 1978, ICG currently comprise of 156 ships and 62 aircraft in its inventory and is likely to achieve targeted force levels of 200 surface platforms and 80 aircraft by 2025.
3. Uttarakhand sets up Botanical Garden to conserve 210 species of trees of Shivalik range
- In Nainital district of Uttarakhand, a first of its kind botanical garden named ‘Shivalik Arboretum’ has been inaugurated, for conserving over 210 species of trees found in the Shivalik range of Himalayas.
- Shivalik Arboretum aims to spread nature education among people so that they are able to feel an emotional connect with the trees, and make them more active towards conservation.
- The facility will showcase information like scientific information about particular species, cultural significance, medicinal use, country of origin, type of habitat in which it is found and all possible uses including as timber, dyes or any other peculiar use.
- Some of the trees preserved include, Kafal (Myrica esculenta), Buransh, (Rhododendron arboretum), Tejpat (Cinnamomum tamala) and Sanjeevani (Sellaginella bryopteris).
4. Maharashtra tops 2nd India Justice Report for delivering justice to people
- Maharashtra has retained its top rank in the second edition of the India Justice Report – 2020, which judges states in terms of delivery of justice to people.
- Maharashtra retained its number one position among 18 large and mid -sized states (where population is over one crore each).
- Tamil Nadu and Telangana were second and third respectively in the same category.
- Among the 7 small states (where the population is less than one crore each), Tripura has topped the list followed by Sikkim and Goa.
- The India Justice Report (IJR) is launched by Tata Trusts in collaboration with Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS–Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and How India Lives.
5. Nguyen Phu Trong re-elected as Chief of ruling Communist Party of Vietnam for 3rd term
- The ruling Community Party of Vietnam has re-elected its 76-year-old General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong for a third five-year term. He is serving the post since 2011.
- Trong was granted an exemption to contest in the election, though he was above the age limit of 65.
- Vietnam has a communist government, which means that the country does not have a single strongman at the apex. There are four main leaders that collectively run the show which includes: The Communist Party general secretary, the prime minister, the president and the chair of the National Assembly.
- The General Secretary is the highest office within the Communist Party of Vietnam.
- Trong also holds the position of the President of Vietnam since 2018.
6. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint detained in Myanmar’s military coup
- In Myanmar, a military coup was put in place on 1st February 2021, after the country’s military detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi along with President Win Myint and other members of the ruling party.
- Myanmar military (also known as the Tatmadaw), took this step because they declared the November 2020 Myanmar general election results fraudulent, in which Aung San Suu Kyi won landslide victory in Parliamentary election 2020 to form next Government.
- The military has handed over the power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and declared a state of emergency for one year. Apart from this, former general Myint Swe would be acting president for the next year.
- The 2021 coup d’état is the third in Myanmar’s political history. The first two was held in 1962 and 1990.
7. Facebook Hires Henry Moniz as its First Chief Compliance Officer
- Facebook Inc. has appointed Henry Moniz as its first-ever Chief Compliance Officer.
- Mr Moniz will join Facebook on February 8 to lead the company’s global compliance team, to enhance its global compliance and risk management and promote the highest standards of legal and ethical conduct at the company.
- Prior to this, Henry Moniz had been the chief compliance officer and chief audit executive at media company ViacomCBS Inc.
8. Rama Mohan Rao Amara appointed MD and CEO of SBI Card
- Rama Mohan Rao Amara has been appointed as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd (SBI Card).
- He has been appointed for a period of two years with effect from 30 January 2021.
- Rao replaces Ashwini Kumar Tewari, who has been appointed as the Managing Director of State Bank of India (SBI).
- Prior to this, Rao was the Chief General Manager at SBI Bhopal Circle.
- The veteran banker holds a successful career spanning over 29 years at the State Bank of India.
- Based in Gurugram, SBI Cards is the country’s largest pure play credit card issuer.
9. PNB Restricts Withdraw of Money from non-EMV ATMs from February 1
- State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) has decided to restrict its customers from withdrawing money from non-EMV automated teller machines (ATMs) with effect from 01 February 2021, in an attempt to check frauds, related to money transactions.
- This restriction will apply to both, financial and non-financial transactions.
- To overcome this, PNB will introduce OTP based systems for withdrawing cash.
What are non-EMV ATMs
- Non-EMV ATMs are those which reads data through magnetic strips and do not hold the ATM card during the transaction.
Other major decision
- PNB has also decided to replace the old IFSC and MICR codes. This means that the old codes will not work after March 31, 2021.
- Customers will have to get a new code from the bank
- This decision has been taken due to merger of Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and United Bank of India on 1st April 2020.
10. Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju launches first Reference Material synthesized by NDTL and NIPER to strengthen anti-doping measures
- The Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports Kiren Rijiju recently launched a Reference Material, for use in the anti-doping field for chemical testing.
- This RM is jointly synthesized by the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) and the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati.
About RM
- This first-of-its kind RM is a rarely available substance globally and while testing of a sample, the RM will provide identity confirmation for prohibited substances which do not have threshold limits.
- This would be used to strengthen anti-doping measures in all World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited labs.
- It is one of the 20 RMs, that will be produced by NDTL and NIPER-G.
- NDTL and NIPER-G had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in August 2020 to synthesize 20 rare RMs over three years.
- It has been decided to distribute 5mg of this indigenously developed RM to all the WADA-accredited dope testing laboratories, free of cost.
11. Dinesh Karthik led Tamil Nadu Beat Baroda to claim Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy
- Tamil Nadu beat Baroda in the final by 7 wickets to win the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy 2020-21 on 31st January 2021.
- The tournament was the twelfth edition of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and was played at Sardar Patel Stadium (Motera Stadium), Ahmedabad
- Tamil Nadu team was lead by Dinesh Karthik (captain).
- They needed 121 runs to win, which they achieved in 18 overs with 7 wickets.
- This is the second Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) title for Tamil Nadu, and their first title in 13 years. The team claimed their first SMAT title in 2006-07, that too under Karthik’s captaincy.
- The Player of the match title was won by Manimaran Siddharth (Tamil Nadu) who picked 4 wickets, conceding 20 runs
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India top medals tally with 11 medals at first Asian Online Shooting Championship
- The Indian shooting contingent has topped the medals tally in the first-ever Asian Online Shooting Championship, organised by Kuwait Shooting Federation on 29 and 30 January 2021.
- The 24-member Indian shooting contingent won total 11 medals, which included four gold medals, two silver and five bronze medals.
- 274 shooters from 22 Asian countries took part in the competition.
13. World Wetlands Day: 02 February
- The World Wetlands Day is observed every year on February 2 globally.
- The day is celebrated to mark the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
- World Wetlands Day was first celebrated in 1997.
- 2021 marks 50 years of the Convention on Wetlands.
- The international theme for World Wetlands Day 2021 is ‘Wetlands and Water’.
