Weekly Current Affairs 22nd To 29th February 2020

National News

Gold Deposits of over 3,000 Tonnes Discovered

• The deposit contains almost five times India's current reserve of the yellow metal and estimated to be worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore.
• The deposits in Son Pahadi is estimated to be around 2,943.26 tonnes, while that at Hardi block is around 646.16 kilograms.

Bharti Infratel Merger with Indus Towers Approved

• The merger is approved between Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Infratel Ltd and Indus Towers Ltd, allowing Vodafone Idea Ltd to raise funds by divesting its stake in the latter.
• The combination of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will create a pan-India tower company with over 163,000 towers, operating across all 22 telecom service areas.

CCI approved GMR Infra to Partner with Groupe ADP

• GIL has signed a share purchase agreement with Groupe ADP, which will hold 49% stake in GAL for an equity consideration of Rs 10,780 crore.
• The equity consideration comprises Rs 9,780 crore of secondary sale of shares by GMR and Rs 1,000 crore worth of equity infusion in GAL.

MP Launched Unified Vehicle Registration Card

• The state is also the second state in the country to launch the unified driving license after Uttar Pradesh.
• In March 2019, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had issued the guidelines to bring uniformity in driving licenses and vehicle registration cards across the country.

Vasantotsav

• The Eight days cultural fair is being organised by the Department of Youth and Cultural Affairs, to celebrate the richly diverse heritage of the country.
• The theme of the festival for the year 2020 is “Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat”.

Sugar Output Estimate for 2019-20

• The ISMA has released the second advance estimate which is based on the satellite images of both harvested and yet-to-be-harvested cane area.
• In the marketing year of 2018-2019, the production was at 33.16 million tonnes.

GDP Growth in Q3 2019-20

• The GDP growth is improved marginally by 0.2% as compared to growth in the second quarter of 2019-20 at 4.5%.
• The GDP growth rate for the first quarter of 2019-20 has been revised to 5.6%, and for the second quarter to 5.1%.

Banking

Uniform GST rate of 28% on Lotteries

• According to the notification, the GST rate on supply of lotteries has been amended to 14% and a similar percentage will be levied by the states. As a result, the total GST on lotteries will increase to 28%.
• Currently, a state-run lottery attracts 12% GST, while a state-authorised lottery attracts 28% tax.

RBI Issued Norms for CRR

• The clarification is given on CRR calculations for incremental credit extended for automobiles, residential housing and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
• RBI clarified that the incremental credit eligible for CRR exemption, which can be set off against the net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) for calculating CRR has to be net of repayments.

Indian Bank to Stop Using Rs 2,000 Notes in ATMs

• State-owned Indian Bank has announced that it has decided to stop using Rs 2,000 notes in all their ATMs.
• According to a circular issued by the lender’s digital banking division on 17th February 2020, cash dispensation from Rs 2,000 currency cassettes would be disabled at all ATMs and cash recyclers on March 1, 2020.

Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020

• The objective of the CARO 2020 is to strengthen the corporate governance framework under the Companies Act, 2013 to attain the national objective of becoming a $ 5 Trillion economy.
• The CARO, 2020 is applicable for an audit of financial statements of eligible companies for the financial years commencing on or after the 1st April 2019.

Appointments

Name of the Person	Designation
Sunil Gurbaxani	Managing Director and CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank
Riek Machar	First Vice President of South Sudan
Sumant Kathpalia	Chief Executive of IndusInd Bank
Senior IPS officer S N Shrivastava	Next Delhi Police Commissioner

Awards and Honours

Award	Awardee
SERB Women Excellence Award-2020	Dr Niti Kumar
34th Cannes Open	D Gukesh

Important Days

Date	Day	Theme
28th February 2020	National Science Day	Theme: “WOMEN IN SCIENCE”

Government Schemes

Govt Approved Changes in PMFBY

• The cabinet has also approved the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS).
• The changes allow making it optional for farmers with a view to plug loopholes in the farm insurance scheme.

PM-KISAN Scheme Completed 1 Year

• The central government has said that a total of Rs 50,850 crore has been disbursed to farmers so far under the PM-KISAN scheme.
• The PM-KISAN scheme was formally launched on 24th February 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Market Intelligence and Early Warning System

• A new Scheme “Operation Greens” was announced on the line of “Operation Flood”, in the budget speech of Union Budget 2018-19, with an outlay of Rs.500 crores.
• Accordingly, the Ministry has formulated a scheme for integrated development of Tomato, Onion and Potato (TOP) value chain.

Govt Sanctioned 32 Projects under PMKSY

• The 32 projects sanctioned will be spread over 17 states and will leverage an investment of Rs 406 crore.
• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing the PMKSY scheme for a period from 2016-20 with a total outlay of Rs 6,000 crore.

Amnesty Scheme for Power Consumers in J&K

• The amnesty scheme for the power consumers was approved by the Administrative Council headed by the Lieutenant Governor G.C. Murmu.
• The scheme will come into effect from March 1, 2020.

Defence

EX Indradhanush - V 2020

• The focus of this edition Ex Indradhanush is 'Base Defence and Force Protection', considering the recent threats to military establishments from terror elements.
• The RAF team comprised of 36 specialised combatants of the RAF Regiment while the IAF will comprise of 42 combatants of the GARUD Force.

Offshore Patrol Vessel-6 “VAJRA”

• The Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) is built by M/s Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Shipbuilding and is the sixth in the series of seven OPV projects being built by L&T.
• OPV-6 is the state of the art platform to enhance the capabilities of the Indian Coast Guard in terms of Operation, Surveillance, Search & Rescue.

Science and Technology

DoT Launched 5G Hackathon

• The Hackathon will be spread across three phases and the winners of the various phases will share a total prize pool of Rs 2.5 crore.
• It is open to start-ups, SMEs, academic institutions, developers, students, and registered companies in India and NRIs.

SPICe+ Web Form

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has launched the web forum ‘SPICe+’ (pronounced ‘SPICe Plus’) replacing the existing SPICe form.
• It will help in saving as many procedures, time and cost for Starting a Business in India and would be applicable for all new company incorporations.

ISRO to Launch GISAT-1 on 5th March

• The GISAT-1 will be launched from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota through the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F10).
• GISAT-1 satellite weighing about 2275 kg, is a state-of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite which will be placed in a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.

National Technical Textiles Mission

• Indian Technical Textiles segment shares approximately 6% of the 250 Billion USD global technical textiles market which is USD 16 Billion.
• The National Technical Textiles Mission (NTTM) has a total outlay of Rs 1480 Crore and would have a four year implementation period from FY 2020-21 to 2023-24.

Sports

Ross Taylor: 1st to Play 100 Matches in All Three Formats

• He made history by taking the field against India in the opening Test as the ongoing match at the Basin Reserve is his 100th Test.
• He played his 100th T20 International against India in January 2020 and has also played 231 ODIs for New Zealand.

Summits and Conferences

National Organic Food Festival

• The aim of the three-day National Organic Food Festival at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (from 21st – 23rd February 2020), is to strengthen the organic market and encourage women entrepreneurs engaged in the manufacturing of organic produce.
• The theme of the Festival is “Unleashing India’s Organic Market Potential”.

Sustainable Development Goals Conclave 2020

• The SDG conclave 2020 is jointly organised by- The North Eastern Council, Assam government, Tata Trusts, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).
• The Conclave will be attended by all Chief Ministers of North Eastern states along with academia, civil society and international development organizations.