Minister for Culture & Tourism and President of Portuguese Republic to inaugurate cha-chai.

NATIONAL NEWS

Minister for Culture & Tourism and President of Portuguese Republic to inaugurate cha-chai.

• Union minister for culture and tourism and the president of Portuguese republic jointly inaugurated the event cha-chai.
• The event is to display the art works of artist Joana Vasconcelos at the National Museum, in New Delhi.
• This exhibition will strengthen the cultural bondage between India and Portugal.
• President of Portuguese Republic: Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
• Union minister for culture and tourism: Shri Prahlad Singh Patel.

Workshop on “Strategies for Promoting & Marketing of Tribal Products”.

• Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Railways and union Minister of Tribal Affairs jointly presided over a workshop on action plan to promote and market the tribal products.
• The workshop was organised by TRIFED and the tribal affairs ministry.
• Union Minister for Commerce & Industry & Railways: Piyush Goyal.
• Union Minister of Tribal Affairs: Arjun Munda.
• Chairman of TRIFED: R.C. Meena.

Ministry of steel to sort out workshop to encourage the usage of steel in railways and defence sector.

• Ministry of steel in coalition with the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) is to organize a workshop on encouraging the usage of steel in the field of Railways and Defence.
• The workshop is to be held on February 17^th 2020, at New Delhi.
• The main aim of the workshop is to discuss in detail with the railways and defence sectors of having opportunities available in the supply of Steel and Steel Products.
• Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and steel: Dharmendra Pradhan.

Change of Command of Western Fleet.

• The western fleet of the Indian navy known as the “sword arm” observed its change in command.
• The change of command was held on February 14^th at sea on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya.
• Rear Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh, handed over the baton of the flag officer commanding the western fleet to the new Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Krishna D Swaminathan.

Indian Railways to launch Kashi Mahakal Express.

• Indian railways are to establish its third corporate passenger train on the routes of Varanasi – Indore.
• The name of the train is “Kashi Mahakal Express”.
• This passenger train is to be operated by Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCRC) will connect three Jyotirlinga – Omkareshwar (Near Indore), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi).
• The inaugural ceremony will be on February 16^th 2020, and it is to be flagged off by the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

I&B Secretary launches language websites of AIR News.

• During the National Conference of Regional News Units of AIR News which was held at New Delhi, the Information and Broadcasting secretary, launched the language websites of AIR news.
• The languages in which the websites came up are in Tamil, Assamese and Dogri.
• Information and Broadcasting secretary: Ravi Mital.

MoU signed between the Ministry of Shipping, India and Ministry of National Defence, Republic of Portugal.

• Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the President of Portugal has come to India for a four-day long visit.
• Minister of National Defense of Portugal and Minister of State for Shipping(I/C) and Chemical and Fertilizer signed an MoU.
• To develop a superlative National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal, Gujarat.
• The MoU will pave the way for coordination between the two countries for showcasing common Maritime Heritage.
• Minister of State for Shipping and Chemical and Fertilizer: Mansukh Mandaviya.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Antarctica temperature alarms - goes ahead of 20 degrees Celsius.

• A new record temperature of 20.75 degrees Celsius was recorded by the scientists in the continent of Antarctica.
• The reading was taken at Seymour Island alarms about the warming of the planet earth.
• Earlier in February a record of 18.3 degrees Celsius was recorded at the Esperanza Base, located near the tip of the Antarctic peninsula.

India alarms its position in the Global Hunger Index.

• India ranks 102^nd position in the Global Hunger Index in spite of the production hike in the food industry.

Indian Pangolin gets radio-tagged by the scientists.

• Scientists have radio-tagged the Indian Pangolin as it has become the endangered species in recent times.
• The Indian Pangolins are hunted for its meat and used in traditional Chinese medicine.
• Radio-tagging is attaching a transmitter to an animal to monitor its movement.
• There are 8 species pangolins are found in India both the Indian and Chinese pangolins, which are listed under Schedule 1 part 1 of the wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

RBS to change its 300 yrs. old name.

• The majority state owned U.K bank announced the changing of its name from Royal Bank of Scotland to NatWest Group Plc.

Vinay Dube appointed as GoAir CEO.

• The former CEO of Jet Airways, Vinay Dube has been appointed as the new CEO of GoAir.
• He will be responsible for the Airlines.