National Organic Festival to be organised in New Delhi.

NATIONAL NEWS

Vice president of Vietnam arrives India

• The vice president of Vietnam, Mrs. Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh has arrived in India was welcomed by the president of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind.
• India is eager in promoting greater capacity building in Vietnam through its Technical and Economic Cooperation programme.
• President of India, congratulated Vietnam for undertaking the Chairmanship of ASEAN and also for becoming a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Chintan shivir- to plan a breakthrough approach in the Coal Sector

• Chintan Shiviris, a two-day event was organised at the Statue of Unity, Kevadia, Gujarat by the Union Minister of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs.
• The event will be held between 17th and 18th February 2020 for the senior officers of Ministry of Coal and all CMDs of Coal companies.
• Domain experts from various fields have been invited for the event to deliberate the target of achieving one billion tonnes of production between 2023 and 2024 as a way of eliminating the import of coal.
• Union Minister of Coal, Mines & Parliamentary Affairs: Shri Pralhad Joshi.

National Organic Festival to be organised in New Delhi.

• Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) and Ministry of Women and Child Development (Mo WCD) are jointly organizing a National Organic Festival with a view to focus specially on women entrepreneurs.
• The main aim is to promote organic produce and empower women entrepreneurs in the area of production and processing of organic products.
• The three-day long festival will be held from February 21-23, 2020 at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi.
• Union Minister of Food Processing Industries: Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
• Union Minister of Women and Child Development: Smriti Irani.

National Workshop on Disaster Risk Financing, Insurance and Risk Transfer.

• National Workshop on Disaster Risk Financing, Insurance and Risk Transfer was held at Insurance Institute of India(III), Mumbai.
• National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) and Insurance Institute of India (III) jointly organised the one-day workshop.
• The reports on Property Insurance in New & Existing Housing and Challenges in Insuring Flood-Prone Areas of Mumbai were released during the workshop.
• The workshop is aimed at affording interpretation of disaster risk financing and creation of action plans for implementation by state governments, local authorities and insurance companies.

Destination Management and Community Participation meeting held in Gujarat.

• The two-day event on destination management and community participation was held at Gujarat.
• The event was inaugurated and organised by the Minister of State for Tourism and Culture and by the government of Gujarat.
• The region of Kutch (White Rann), has been transformed into a major tourist attraction.
• Tourism Minister of Gujarat: Shri Jawahar Chavda.
• Chief Minister of Gujarat: Shri Vijay Rupani.
• Minister of State for Tourism and Culture: Shri Prahlad Singh Patel.

Finance Commission organizes a group on defence and internal security.

• The 15^th finance commission has constituted a Group on Defence and Internal Security.
• It is a 5-member committee including the chairman of 15^th finance commission.
• The group is in charge of examining whether a separate mechanism for funding of defence and internal security has been setup and if so how it is operationalized.
• chairman of 15th finance commission: Shri N.K. Singh.

Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra to be renamed as Sushma Swaraj Bhawan.

• On the birth anniversary of the former external affairs minister Late Mrs. Sushma Swaraj, the ministry of external affairs decided to rename Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra in New Delhi as Sushma Swaraj Bhawan.
• And also the Foreign Service Institute in New Delhi as Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service.
• The announcement made to honour the legacy of the former External Affairs Minister in the public services for decades.

APPOINTMENTS

Rajiv Bansal takes over as the CMD of Air India.

• The Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director(CMD) of Air India.
• He was the 1988 batch IAS officer of Nagaland Cadre.

Rishi Sunak – appointed as the British’s finance minister.

• British prime minister Boris Johnson has appointed Rishi Sunak as the new finance minister.
• Rishi Sunak, who was previously served as chief secretary in the British government, is the son-in-law of Narayana Murthy, co-founder of IT services company Infosys.

Alok Sharma appointed as the new business minister of Britain.

• Alok Sharma has been appointed as the British’s minister for business by the Prime Minister of Britain Boris Johnson.
• He has also been appointed as the minister in charge of the UK's COP26 climate change summit.

OBITUARY

Former TERI chief R.K. Pachauri passes away.

• The former Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), Rajinder K Pachauri dies at 79.
• He was also the former chief executive chairman of The Energy Resources Institute(TERI) and received the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

India out from Developing countries list: USTR.

• The United States Trade Representatives(USTR) takes off India from the developing countries list.
• While amending the list of developing, least developed countries eligible for better treatment with respect to Countervailing Duties(CVDs) investigation.
• The amendment has come to make it easier for the US government to impose the CVDs on goods from India and certain other nations.
• Along with India, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam were also taken off from the list.

SEBI devises system to track client securities.

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) has established a system to track the client securities.
• The main aim is to detect the exploiting of collaterals.

SPORTS NEWS

Manpreet Singh has been named as Player of the Year 2019 by IHF.

• The Indian men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh has been awarded as the player of the year for 2019 by International Hockey Federation(IHF).
• Manpreet, a midfielder, became the first Indian to win the title.

Football Management Programme to be launched by AIFF.

• By signing an MoU with Spanish La Liga Smartbank co-leader Cadiz CF, the All India Football Federation(AIFF) has launched Football Management Programme(FMP).