1. On January 29, UNESCO official launched the International Year of the Period Table of Chemical Elements (IYPT-2019) at its headquarters in Paris to raise awareness of chemistry and its applications for sustainable development. The year 2019 also marks the 150th anniversary of its creation by Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev.
2. Punit Goenka, MD and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL), has been elected as the new chairman of Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC). He succeeded Nakul Chopra.
3. The central banks of the UAE and Saudi Arabia have launched a common digital currency called "Aber", which will be used in financial settlements between the two countries through Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers technologies.
4. In Rome, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has recently launched the new 'Africa Centre for Climate and Sustainable Development' in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and FAO to fight climate change and boost sustainable development in Africa.
5. Global watchdog Transparency International (TI) has recently released 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and businesspeople. The index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. Here, India has improved its ranking and jumped three positions to 78th with a CPI score of 41 at the 2018 index. Denmark has topped the index with 88 points, followed by New Zealand (with 87 points) and Finland with 85. Sudan was the worst with a score of 10 points, while Somalia and Syria followed it up with 13 points each.
6. After Srinagar (J&K), India's second Tulip Garden will come up at Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand over 50 hectares of forest land near Chandak hill top
7. Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has been awarded the Carnot prize for his contribution towards sustainable energy solutions by the team of University of Pennsylvania on January 30.
8. On January 30, ISRO launched the Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) at its headquarters in Bengaluru for the human spaceflight programme. Under the Gaganyaan project, a 3-member crew will be sent to space for at least 7 days by 2022, the 75th year of Independence. Dr. S Unnikrishnan Nair is the founder director of HSFC, while R Hutton is the project director of Gaganyaan.
9. Germany, France and the UK have officially set up a payment channel with Iran called INSTEX, to help continue trade and circumvent US sanctions.
10. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has been renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade with a mandate to deal with matters related to start-ups, facilitating ease of doing business among others.
11. On 2nd February, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF-2019) has started in Mumbai to commemorate 20 years of its inception.
12. Vani Kapoor has become the first Indian golfer to earn a card for the Australian Ladies PGA Tour (LPGA) after coming through its first-ever Qualifying Tournament at the Ballarat Golf Club. Vani shot rounds of 71, 78 and 69 to finish at two-over 218 and was tied-12th with three others. Vani has also qualified for Vic Open, co-sanctioned by the Australian LPGA and the US LPGA.
13. The Qatar national football team has won their first major football title after defeating four-time champion Japan 3-1 in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup final on 1st of February in United Arab Emirates (UAE).
14. The World Wetland Day (WWD) is observed every year on 2nd of to raise awareness about the value of wetlands for humanity and the planet. The day marks adoption of the Convention on Wetlands (also called as Ramsar Convention) on 2nd February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on shores of the Caspian Sea.
15. As per latest survey conducted by Transparency International (TI), Assam has occupied the top slot in the ranking of best practices followed by states in Budget formulation and is followed by Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
16. The Kurdish Iranian journalist, filmmaker and detained refugee, Behrouz Boochani has won the Victorian Prize for Literature for a book he reportedly wrote using the online messaging service WhatsApp. He was awarded the Aus$100,000 (US$72,600) prize for his book "No Friend But the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison".
17. Punjab has recently declared the endangered Indus river dolphin as the state's aquatic animal. The decision was recently taken at a meeting of the state board for wildlife chaired by chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh. Indus Dolphin is an endangered freshwater aquatic mammal found only in Indian and Pakistan in the Beas river.
18. The World Cancer Day (WCD) is observed every year on 4th of February to spread awareness about cancer, its treatment and to encourage methods of its prevention. the theme: "I Am and I Will".
19. The World Heritage Centre (WHC) housing 'spiritual camps' of 45 countries would be set up at Mayapur in Nadia district, Kolkata.
20. The media-savvy former mayor of San Salvador, Nayib Bukele of the Grand Alliance for National Unity (GANA) has won a landslide victory in 2019 El Salvador presidential election by winning over 53% of the total vote.
21. The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has made an unexpected discovery of a new dwarf galaxy in our cosmic neighborhood. Named Bedin 1, the galaxy is approximately 30 million light-years away and 2 million light-years from the nearest plausible large galaxy host 'NGC 6744'.
22. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is a Cold War-era missile treaty that was a signed in 1987 between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the treaty barred both countries from deploying land-launched cruise missiles in the 500- to 5,500-km range.
23. India's latest communication satellite GSAT-31 was successfully launched by European launch services provider- Arianespace's rocket from Kourou Launch Base in French Guiana on February 6, 2019. The Ariane-5 vehicle (Flight VA247) also carried Saudi Geostationary Satellite 1/Hellas Sat 4 along with GSAT-31.
24. The Maharashtra government has set up a 17-member committee to review various schemes being implemented for the welfare of tribals in the state. The committee will be headed by former MLA and Shramjeevi Sanghatna president Vivek Pandit.
25. The North Sentinel Island (NSI) is home to the Sentinelese tribe, which have consistently refused any interaction with the outside world. They are hostile to outsiders and have killed people who approached or landed on the island. Sentinelese people are believed to be the only pre-Neolithic people in the world.
26. In Rajasthan, the joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise 'RAHAT-2019' will be conducted by Jaipur based Sapta Shakti Command on behalf of Indian Army from 11th February.
27. In a huge relief to a number of students who fail to qualify to enter into prestigious institutions like IITs due to negative marking, the Madras High Court ruled against negative marking in competitive examinations saying they are bad in law.
28. Dakshayani, an 88-year-old captive she-elephant in Kerala, has died at a care centre at nearby Pappanamcode in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on 5th February 2019.
29. In Mumbai, the India Size project has recently launched by the Union Minister of Textiles Smriti Irani. It's a first-of-its-kind project in the history of the country, which aims to arrive at a standard Indian Size for the ready-to-wear clothing industry,
30. On 6th February, Macedonia signed an accord to join NATO to become the 30th member of the US-led alliance. The admittance of a new member highlighted that all European nations who meet the entrance criteria could join the regional alliance.
31. The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, announced the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2018- 19. In it, the RBI has cut the key policy rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points to 6.25% from 6.5% with immediate effect. Consequently, the reverse repo rate stands adjusted to 6.0%, and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 6.5%. The MPC also decided to change the monetary policy stance from calibrated tightening to neutral. These decisions are in consonance with the objective of achieving the medium-term target for consumer price index (CPI) inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, while supporting growth. The bank also projected an economic growth rate of 7.4% for FY20, up from 7.2% estimated for the current fiscal by Central Statistics Office (CSO). This is the first policy review, post the appointment of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and also the first post the interim budget. The next meeting of the MPC is scheduled from April 2 to 4, 2019.
32. The Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government has recently launched the 'Zero Fatality Corridor' (ZFC) to examine the cause for accidents and crashes on the stretch between Burari Chowk and Bhalswa chowk, located on the outer ring road.
33. Thailand has official declared the Siamese fighting fish as its national aquatic animal to boost conservation efforts and commercial breeding in the country.
34. The 52nd Boori Boot Yollo festival 2019 has recently celebrated by the Nyishi tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. The fest is observed in the month of February every year
35. The Robert Bosch Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC-DSAI) has recently inaugurated at the IIT Madras with an objective of advance scientific innovation for societal benefit.
36. The Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC) of the US Chambers of Commerce has recently released its International IP Index for Year 2019. In it, India has moved up 8 places to rank 36th among 50 economies in the 2019 Index.
37. The Dard Aryan Tribe of Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh region known for its liberal customs and ornate costumes is struggling to keep its vibrant cultural legacy alive.
38. The Union Cabinet as recently approved the establishment of Circuit Bench of Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri. Te proposed bench will have jurisdiction over four districts namely Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar.
39. INS Trikand (F51), a Talwar-class frigate of the Indian Navy, participated in the 8th edition of multinational maritime exercise 'Cutlass Express 2019'. INS Trikand is commanded by Captain Srinivas Maddula. The 15 participating nations in this iteration of Cutlass Express are Canada, Comoros, Djibouti, France, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Portugal, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, The Netherlands and the United States.
40. On 8th of February 2019, the Red Cross called for a total ban on nuclear weapons & also gave warning of the growing risk that such arms could again be used with devastating effect.
41. Father Francois Laborde, a 92-year-old Bengal priest, has been conferred the Légion d'Honneur (Legion of Honour), the highest civilian award of France, in recognition of his work for specially-abled children. Father Laborde is of French-origin
42. The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS 13) will be held at 15th to 22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Recently, the Government of India (GoI) has announced that the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) will be its mascot for CMS COP-13. It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Representatives from 129 Parties and eminent conservationists and international NGOs working in the field of wildlife conservation are expected to attend the COP. India has been a Party to the CMS since 1983.
43. The first-ever World Pulses Day (WPD) is observed on 10th February to raise awareness about the multiple benefits of eating pulses. Pulses are a type of leguminous crop that are harvested solely for the dry seed.
44. The Himalayan Cloud Observatory has recently been set up in the SRT campus Chamba of Tehri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand to receive forecast and monitor cloud burst incidents in the Himalayan region and help minimise the damage.
45. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) has decided to include Hindi as the third official language used in its courts, alongside Arabic and English, as part of a move designed to improve access to justice.
46. On 11th of February, the 13th edition of International Oil and Gas Conference 'PETROTECH-2019' has inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
47. Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has been elected as the chairman of the African Union (AU) at the continental body's summit in Ethiopia. El-Sisi's election brought to an end the one-year chairmanship of Rwanda's President Paul Kagame. AU was founded in 2002. The primary languages spoken include Arabic, English, French and Portuguese and the languages of Africa. Within the African Union, there are official bodies such as the Peace and Security Council and the Pan-African Parliament.
48. Acclaimed Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (ACCT). She is best known for her Elements Trilogy — Fire (1996), 1947 Earth (1999) and Water (2005). Mehta's "Earth" was submitted by India as its official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and "Water" was Canada's official entry for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. "Earth" was the first to receive an Oscar nomination.
49. On 10th of February, the 7th edition of World Government Summit (WGS-2019) was held at Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, UAE to deliver a road map towards a more prosperous future for all nations. The 3-day event was held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai.
50. On February 8, the 5-day multinational maritime exercise 'AMAN 19' has commenced at Pakistan Navy Dockyard near the coastal city of Karachi with the slogan "Together for Peace".
51. Renowned Indian historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam has been awarded the Israel's prestigious Dan David Prize 2019 for his work on inter-cultural encounters between Asians, Europeans and people of North and South America during the early modern era. The prize is named after philanthropist Dan David and administered by Israel's Tel Aviv University.
52. The World Radio Day (WRD) is observed every year on the 13th of February to celebrate radio as a forum for information and entertainment, as a bridge of communication for remote communities and its role in empowering people. The 2019 theme "Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace Broadcasts" provides a platform for dialogue and democratic debate over issues,
53. Indian Army has recently demonstrated its artillery firepower by using ultra light Howitzers and indigenous Swathi weapon-locating radar at the annual 'Exercise Topchi 2019' at the vast firing ranges at Deolali Camp near Nasik, Maharashtra.
54. The Union Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) has recently signed a letter of intent with the Norwegian government to launch the India-Norway Marine Pollution Initiative. In partnership,
55. Siddhartha Lal, MD & CEO of Eicher Motors Ltd, was named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 at the 20th edition of the EOY Awards in India. He is recognised for engineering the operational and financial turnaround of the company and reviving the Royal Enfield brand. Lal will now represent India at the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Award (WEOY) in Monte Carlo from 6 – 8 June 2019. The Entrepreneur Of The Year awards aims to honour entrepreneurs who with their creative ideas and exceptional enterprises have emerged as "Builders of a better India. In addition, Chairman of Wipro group Azim Premji was honoured with the lifetime achievement award for leading Wipro's transformation from a vegetable oil business into a multi-business technology organization & for putting the Indian information technology industry on the global map.
56. The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind will present the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony to Rajkumar Singhajit Singh; Chhayanaut (a cultural organization of Bangladesh); and Ram Sutar Vanji for the years 2014, 2015 & 2016 respectively on 18th of February 2019 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi. It is awarded annually and carries an amount of Rs. One Crore (convertible to foreign currency), a citation in a Scroll, a Plaque as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft ( or handloom) item.
57. On 15th February, the Government of India (GoI), Government of Himachal Pradesh (GoHP) and the World Bank signed a $40 Million Loan Agreement to help bring clean and reliable drinking water to the citizens of the Greater Shimla area, who have been facing severe water shortages and water-borne epidemics over the last few years.
58. The World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) is The Energy and Resources Institute's (TERI) annual flagship event. The 2019 edition of WSDS was held in New Delhi with theme 'Attaining the 2030 Agenda: Delivering on Our Promise'
59. Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji, has been conferred with 'Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2019' at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS-2019) in New Delhi. He won the award for his outstanding contributions towards sustainable development in Fiji.
60. Pramod Chandra Mody, a 1982 batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre), has been appointed as the new chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the top policy making body of income tax department,. He succeeded Sushil Chandra, who was named as an new Election Commissioner (EC) of India.
61. On 10th of February, the 72nd British Academy Film Awards 2019 were held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron's semi-autobiographical black-and-white drama "Roma" claimed the top prize of best film, alongside director and cinematography honours. "Roma" also won the BAFTA for film not in the English language.
62. India's first engine-less Semi-High Speed Train (SHST), "Vande Bharat Express" has been flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route train from the New Delhi Railway Station on 15th February 2019. Vande Bharat Express can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and has travel classes like Shatabdi Train but with better facilities.
63. India has recently signed a security protection agreement with Sweden that will enable both countries to share classified information with each other. The Nordic countries are generally considered to refer to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, including their associated territories (Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands).
64. Ghumot, Goa's indigenous traditional percussion instrument made from an earthen vessel, will be notified as a heritage musical instrument of Goa. The instrument was banned due to the use of the skin of the endangered monitor lizard for the drum membrane. In recent years, ghumot makers have started using goat skin instead.
65. The book titled 'Undaunted: Saving the Idea of India' has been authored by former finance minister P Chidambaram, which was recently released by former vice president Hamid Ansari.
66. Meghalaya's state animal – Clouded Leopard will be the official mascot for the 39th National Games 2022, which is coinciding with the 50th year of the creation of the state.
67. The Rajasthan Assembly has recently passed two Bills which seek to end the minimum education criterion for panchayat and civic poll candidates. The House passed by voice vote the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Rajasthan Municipality (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The previous Vasundhara Raje-led government had introduced education criterion in 2015 which required a candidate to pass Class X for contesting zila parishad, panchayat samiti and municipal elections.
68. The 5th International Dam Safety Conference – 2019 was held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha during 13 and 14 February 2019. It is the joint initiative of the Government of India, Government of Odisha and the World Bank (WB) under aegis of the ongoing World Bank
69. The poem 'Khooni Vaisakhi' was written by acclaimed Punjabi writer Nanak Singh on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which was banned by the British after its publication in 1920. The poem was a scathing critique of the British Raj. Singh was present at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919. Nanak Singh (1897-1971) is widely regarded as the father of the Punjabi novel.
70. Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani has been posthumously awarded 'Ashok Chakra', India's highest peace time gallantry award for his role in a counter-insurgency operation in Kashmir in 2018. he lost his life in a counter-terror operation 'Operation Batagund' against six terrorists in Hirapur village near Batgund in Shopian on 25th November 2018. Ashoka Chakra is the highest peacetime military decoration for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield.
71. The Supreme Court has recently directed all state governments to sensitize their police personnel about scrapped Section 66A of Information Technology Act of 2000 so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the provision.
72. Professor Faizel Ismail, an Indian-origin global negotiator, has been appointed as the director of a renowned academic institution in South Africa. He will take charge as the director of the University of Cape Town's (UCT) Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance from Professor Alan Hirsch in July 2019.
73. The expert committee under the Chairmanship Dr Anoop Satpathy has recently submitted its report on "Determining the Methodology for Fixation of the National Minimum Wage" to the Government of India (GoI). The report has recommended to fix the need based national minimum wage for India at INR 375 per day (or INR 9,750 per month) as of July 2018, irrespective of sectors, skills, occupations and rural-urban locations for a family comprising of 3.6 consumption unit.
74. Chhattisgarh's Raigarh municipal corporation has won the first prize at the "Swachhata Excellence awards 2019". The municipal corporations of Ambikapur and Kumbakonam bagged the second and third prizes,
75. The researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) have developed the first ant-like walking robot 'AntBot'
76. Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal from Chandigarh has scripted history by becoming the first woman to be inducted as a flight engineer in the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Bengaluru.
77. In badminton, Sourabh Verma has won the Men's Singles event at the Yonex-Sunrise 83rd Senior National Badminton Championships 2019 in Guwahati. In the final, he defeated Lakshya Sen in straight games of 21-18, 21-13.
78. The Union Environment Minister, Dr Harsha Vardhan has recently inaugurated the North Karnataka Agromet Forecasting and Research Centre (NKAFC) at the Farmers' Knowledge Centre on University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) in Dharwad .
79. US space agency NASA has recently unveiled a new space telescope 'SPHEREx' that would begin a two-year mission in 2023 to map the entire sky in order to understand the origins of the universe. The acronym SPHEREx stands for 'Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer'.
80. In badminton, Saina Nehwal won her fourth title at the Yonex-Sunrise 83rd Senior National Badminton Championships 2019 in Guwahati. In the final, she defeated P.V.Sindhu by 21-18, 21-15 in Guwahati.
81. The 40th edition of International Annual Desert Festival 2019 has started in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on February 17. Thousands of tourists are participating in the colourful event.
82. In cricket, Ranji champions Vidarbha successfully retained their title and defeated Rest of India (RoI) on first-innings basis to win the 2019 Irani Cup tournament in Nagpur.
83. India emerged as winners in the team event at the first-ever Mallakhamb World Championship at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on February 17.
84. Sunil Chhetri, the all-time leading scorer for India in international football, has been conferred the first-ever 'Football Ratna' by Football Delhi, the State Association governing the sport in Delhi.
85. On February 16, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed a Bill to make Sanskrit as the second official language of the state.
86. Chandramouli Ramanathan from India has been appointed by the United Nations as Controller & Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) for Programme Planning, Budget and Finance in the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance (DMSPC).
87. India's second-largest IT services firm, Infosys has launched a digital platform 'InfyTQ' to offer learning and engagement experiences to engineering students in the country. InfyTQ is a free platform open to all engineering students in their 3rd and 4th years across India.
88. On 19th Feb, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first ever diesel to electric converted locomotive twin engine of ten thousand Horse Power at DLW Varanasi. It's a complete 'Make in India' initiative & the conversion is an Indian R& D innovation for the entire world. The Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) has converted two WDG3A diesel locos into a Twin Electric WAGC3 loco of 10,000 HP.
89. The Government of India (GoI) has launched a pan-India service of the single emergency helpline number '112' for immediate assistance services from police (100), fire (101), health (108) and women (1090). The response time for the emergency helpline is said to be around 10 to 12 minutes.
90. The Andhra Pradesh government has signed a 30 year concession agreement with the UAE-based company "National Central Cooling Company PJSC (DFM: Tabreed)" to offer District Cooling solutions to the greenfield city of Amaravati. This will be Tabreed's first plant outside its Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) market.
91. Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a Sudanese refugee detained on Manus Island, has won the prestigious 2019 Martin Ennals human rights prize for exposing the very cruel refugee policy of the Australian government.
92. Six-time world women boxing champion, MC Mary Kom has been named as a brand ambassador for global sportswear giant PUMA for a two-year period. She will be PUMA India's new ambassador for the company's women's training category and shall represent the brand in marketing campaigns in the country.
93. Yuwa, a Jharkhand-based NGO which works for girl empowerment, has won the prestigious 2019 Laureus Sport for Good Honour at Monaco. The NGO was founded in rural Jharkhand in 2009 by Americans Franz Gastler and Rose Thomson Gastler.
94. K Dhanya Sanal, a spokesperson for the defence ministry in Thiruvananthapuram, has created history by becoming the first woman to climb the peak of 1,868-metre-high Agasthyarkoodam in January 2019
95. A rare Indian snake species - Red Coral Kukri- has recently sighted in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (DTR) after a gap of 82 years.
96. The Gujarat government has formed a special board for the transgender community to provide social security to the community. As a state-run agency, the 'Transgender Welfare Board (TWB)' will have powers to introduce special schemes for the community.
97. India's first 'fulldome 3D Digital Theatre' was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma at the Science City in Kolkata, West Bengal.
98. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has recently launched the country's first semi-heavy missile-equipped submarine, dubbed as Fateh ('Conqueror' in Persian).
99. Prof. Wallace Smith Broecker (87), a scientist who raised early alarms about climate change and popularized the term "global warming", has passed away in New York, United States.
100. Gymnast Simone Biles and tennis player Novak Djokovic won the top prizes at the 2019 Laureus World Sports Awards in Monaco.
101. The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to host the 79th session of Indian History Congress (IHC) at Barkatullah University in Bhopal from February 26 to 28, 2019.
102. In a bid to go digital in classrooms, the Union Human Resources Development Ministry has launched Operation Digital Board on the lines of Operation Blackboard of 1987, which was started with the purpose of providing minimum basic facilities to all primary schools.
103. Dr. G C Anupama has become the first woman President of Astronomical Society of India (ASI), prime association of professional astronomers in the country. She succeeded R K Tyagi. Prior to this post, she was the Dean and Senior Professor at the Bengaluru based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA). The Himalayan Telescope at the Hanle Observatory in Leh, Ladakh. The Leh telescope is the only one at the highest elevation in the world and has been providing valuable data for the scientific community.
104. In Nepal, a month-long 'Festival of India' has started in Kathmandu to familiarize the new generation of the country about the similarities between the two countries. The festival, organised by the Indian Embassy and Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre, is being held in Kathmandu and other major cities of Nepal from February 19th to March 21st.
105. In Maharashtra, the International Vision Zero Conference was held in Mumbai from 18th to 20th February 2019 to promote Occupational Safety and Health.
106. The Kerala State Police claimed to have created history by becoming one of the world's first and the very first police force in India to induct humanoid robots called 'KP-Bot'. KP-Bot is designed to provide round-the-clock service, involving public interface and front office administration and overcome human limitations to avoid, to the extent possible, human error.
107. The Spain government has recently conferred Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with a prestigious award 'Grand Cross of Order of Civil Merit'. The award was conferred in recognition of India's support in evacuating 71 Spanish nationals through Operation Maitri from Nepal in April 2015 during the disastrous earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people and injured as many as 22,000 people.
108. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has recently launched KALIA Chhatra Brutti Scholarship at the Secretariat for the children of the KALIA Scheme beneficiaries, who are studying and aspiring for technical and professional education.
109. An international team of more than 200 astronomers from 18 countries has published the first phase of a major new radio sky survey at unprecedented sensitivity using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
110. President Donald Trump has recently signed an executive order 'Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4)' to establish its Space Force as a new military service within the Department of Air Force.
111. The 3rd edition of "Words in the Garden" festival 2019 is scheduled to be held on February 22 in New Delhi and will pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi with the theme -- 'Bapu ki Dilli'.
112. On 22nd February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been honored with the prestigious Seoul Peace Prize - 2018 for his contribution to international cooperation and fostering global economic growth. He dedicated the $200,000 prize money to 'Namami Gange Programme',
113. The 12th edition of the country's biennial air show and aviation exhibition - Aero India 2019 – has been launched by Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru on 20th Feb.
114. The 16th meeting of the Russia-India-China (RIC) Foreign Ministers would be held at the Chinese city of Wuzhen in the eastern Zhejiang province on February 27.
115. The Supreme Court has appointed former apex court judge Justice DK Jain as the first court-appointed ombudsman for the BCCI under the terms of newly approved constitution of the cricket board.
116. Mohd Mushtaque Ahmad from India has been elected as the new Vice-President of the Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) for a four-year term at the AHF Congress in Gifu, Japan.
117. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Kamal Nath government has rolled out its flagship 'Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana' that guarantees 100 days of employment every year to urban youths from Economically Weaker Sections (EWS). Apart from this, they will also be given skill development training by the government. The purpose of the scheme is to empower the unemployed youth candidates. Only those youths, whose family's annual income is less than Rs 2 lakh and who are in the age group of 21-30 years, are eligible for the scheme.
118. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently launched the supercomputer 'Param of 833 teraflop capacity built at the IIT-BHU. It is built at the cost of Rs 32.5 crore under the National Super Computing Mission. India's first supercomputer called PARAM 8000 was launched in 1991. At present, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) has Pratyush, National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) has Mihir and IISc has SERC-Cray as supercomputers in India.
119. At Aero India show 2019, Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has launched its new product "Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG)" to meet the ever-increasing need for drinking water worldwide.
120. International terror financing watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has decided to keep Pakistan on its grey list, despite India's push to blacklist it in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack. The decision was recently taken at the end of week-long meetings by the FATF in Paris. The Paris-based FATF stated that Pakistan has made only limited progress in curbing money laundering and terrorism financing. Iran and North Korea are currently blacklisted.
121. IIT-Madras has entered into an agreement with Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) to address public health issues and predict adverse pregnancy outcomes using technology.
122. China's state-run news agency, Xinhua has launched the world's first female AI news anchor 'Xin Xiaomeng' to read alongside its male AI news presenters. She was developed jointly by Xinhua and search engine company Sogou Inc. Xiaomeng is expected to make a debut in March during the upcoming meetings of the country's national legislature and top political advisory body. Earlier, in 2018, China became the first country in the world to develop the first of its kind AI 'journalist', a male news presenter by the name of Qui Hao.
123. An Iranian naval force has started a massive three-day drill, codenamed "Velayat 97", across two million square kilometers of sea between the Straits of Hormuz and the Indian Ocean, including a sensitive global shipping route.
124. Acclaimed actress Kareena Kapoor Khan has become the brand ambassador of the Swasth Immunised India campaign to spread awareness among parents about child vaccination to help prevent the future generation from life-threatening diseases.
125. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has formed a four-member committee to look into the matter of taxation related pain points and submit its final report and recommendations by mid-March 2019.
126. The Odisha government has launched a boat ambulance service to ferry patients to hospitals in remote areas. The service includes six boat ambulances and 60 jetties with walkway.
127. The New Bilaspur-Manali-Leh railway line will be the world's highest railway line, which will consists of total 30 stations. It will lie along the Indo-China border & is expected to be completed by the year 2022. at a height of 5,360 m above sea level.
128. On 25th February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the National War Memorial to the nation in the vicinity of the India Gate in New Delhi to honour Indian Armed Forces. The Memorial is a fitting tribute to our soldiers who laid down their lives defending the nation, post-independence. It also commemorates the soldiers who participated and made the supreme sacrifice in Peace Keeping Missions, and Counter Insurgency Operations. The layout of the National War Memorial comprises four concentric circles, namely, the 'Amar Chakra'( or Circle of Immortality), the 'Veerta Chakra' (or Circle of Bravery), the 'Tyag Chakra' (or Circle of Sacrifice), and the 'Rakshak Chakra' (or Circle of Protection). The National War Memorial complex includes a central obelisk, an eternal flame, and six bronze murals depicting famous battles fought by Indian Army, Air Force and Navy. The Memorial represents the culmination of the collective aspiration of a grateful nation to pay a fitting tribute to the martyrs. The Chief Architect of the National War Memorial is Ar. Yogesh Chandrahasan of Chennai-based WeBe Design Lab.
129. On 25th February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has officially launched PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana) scheme from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. The scheme was announced in the interim Budget 2019-20 on1st February 2019. It is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from Government of India. Under the Scheme, Rs 6,000 will be given per year to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of upto 2 hectares. The amount will be given in three installments of Rs.2000 each. The amount will be transferred directly to the bank account of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer.
130. An American biographical comedy-drama film "Green Book" has won the Best Picture at 91st Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on 25th February 2019. Green Book also won best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali and best original screenplay. In it, British actress Olivia Colman won the best actress award for "The Favourite" for her performance as Queen Anne in the period comedy-drama. Rami Malek won the best actor for a biographical film "Bohemian Rhapsody". Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director Oscar for 'Roma', which is an American and Mexican drama. 'Roma' also won Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography category. Pop diva Lady Gaga got the Best Original Song Academy Award for "Shallow" from her feature debut "A Star is Born". Marvel's Black Panther too won 3 Oscars – Best Original Music, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
131. On 24th February 2019, Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey rolled out "National Action Plan – Viral Hepatitis" to eliminate viral hepatitis at Mumbai in presence of Amitabh Bachchan, WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in South-East Asia Region.
132. On 26th Feb 2019, President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the International Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015, 16, 17 and 18 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan. For 2018, Japan's Yohei Sasakawa was given the prize for his contribution in Leprosy Eradication in India and across the world.
133. The horrific forest fire has recently broken out in the Bandipur Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka. The fire is estimated to have gutted 2,000 hectares of the forest. Hundreds of forest department officials along with local volunteers have been trying to douse the fire. However, strong winds and dry grass have aided the fire to spread towards the roads on National Highway 67. As a result, NH 67 (which connects Ooty to Mysore) had to be closed for vehicles. There have been reports of loss of wildlife, but nothing has been confirmed so far. The Bandipur reserve is one of the first national parks in India and has the highest tiger density anywhere in the world. It has also been declared as an important area for elephant conservation. The reserve covers an area of 87,400 hectares and along with the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary and the Nagarahole National Park form one of India's ecologically diverse regions. It is home to vulnerable species like elephants, gaurs, tigers and Indian rock pythons.
134. The book titled " India in Distress" has been authored by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which is scheduled to be launch in the National Capital on February 27. Banerjee has so far published 87 books.
135. The landlocked & war-torn nation, Afghanistan has recently launched new export route to India through the strategic Chabahar Port of Iran to boost regional connectivity.
136. India has been invited to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi, UAE on the 1st and 2nd March of 2019. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will be the Guest of Honour and address the inaugural plenary of the 46th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of OIC at the invitation of UAE Foreign Minister. This is the first time that a leader of the non-Muslim country has been invited to the OIC conference. The official languages of the OIC are Arabic, English, and French.
137. Zimbabwe has recently introduced its new currency, dubbed as Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) dollar, after the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced measures to try and resolve a chronic monetary crisis.
138. Bihar has become the first state in India which has raised its own dog squad to detect liquor consignment. All these dogs were imparted nine-month training at Hyderabad-based Integrated Intelligence Training Academy before being inducted in the Bihar Police.
139. The Indo-Bangladesh joint military exercise 'Sampriti-2019' is scheduled to be held at Tangail in Bangladesh from 02 March to 15 March 2019.
140. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, a member of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) party, has been re-elected for a second four year term.
141. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has recently launched the PRANAM Commission for protection of parents of state government employees. The Commission will look after the issues concerning a PRANAM (Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring) Bill to protect elderly parents of government employees in their times of need.
142. Leg-spinner Rashid Khan claimed a hat-trick and became the first-ever bowler to bag four wickets in four deliveries in Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) on February 17, 2019.
143. The Himachal Pradesh government has again declared Monkeys as vermin for the next one year in 11 districts' 91 tehsils and sub-tehsils of state. Monkeys were declared as a vermin species because have been adversely affecting crops and causing harm to humans.
144. Rajasthan, Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani has recently inaugurated the 'Titanwala Museum' in Bagru that showcases the Chhipa community's hand-block printing.
145. The World Day of Social Justice is observed every year on February 20 to recognize the need to promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion and unemployment. The 2019 theme is "If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice".
146. Bengaluru-based Semiconductor Company "SignalChip" has launched India's first indigenous semiconductor chips for 4G /LTE and 5G NR modems in New Delhi.
147. The Afghanistan cricket team has created history by posting the highest-ever T20 international score at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun, Uttarakhand on 23rd Feb 2019. They posted 278 runs from their 20 overs in the second T20I against Ireland.
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