Manika Batra Wins Singles Title at 82nd National Table Tennis Championship
India’s top-ranked table tennis player Manika Batra beat Reeth Rishya, 4-2, in the women’s singles final, to win the 82nd Senior National Table Tennis Championship, at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula, Haryana. It was Manika’s second Nationals title. She won her maiden national title in 2015 in Hyderabad.
World Pangolin Day 2021: 20 February
World Pangolin Day is celebrated on the “Third Saturday of February” every year. In 2021, the annual World Pangolin Day is being celebrated on 20 February 2020. It marks the 10th edition of the event. The day aims to raise awareness about these unique mammals and speed up conservation efforts. Pangolin numbers are rapidly declining in Asia and Africa.
6th Soil Health Card Day Observed on 19 February 2021
Every year India observes the Soil Health Card Day on 19 February to commemorate the launch of the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme, and create awareness about the benefits of the scheme. 2021 marks the sixth year of the launch of the SHC Scheme. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Soil Health Card (SHC) Scheme on 19th February 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan.
The scheme aims at issuing soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in the soil. The scheme ensures additional income to farmers by an increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.
Bhim Army’s Chandra Shekhar Azad named in TIME’s list
Bhim Army Chief Chandra Shekhar Aazad and five Indian-origin personalities have been featured in the 2021 TIME100 Next. TIME100 Next 2021 is the second edition of the annual list of Time magazine’s 100 ‘emerging leaders who are shaping the future.’
About Bhim Army:
Bhim Army is a Dalit rights organisation based in Uttar Pradesh to help Dalits escape poverty through education. It was founded by Satish Kumar, Vijay Ratan Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad in 2015.
The five Indian-origin persons in Time100 Next list are:
- Twitter lawyer: Vijaya Gadde
- UK’s Finance Minister: Rishi Sunak
- Instacart founder and CEO: Apoorva Mehta
- Get Us PPE executive director and doctor: Shikha Gupta
- Founder of nonprofit Upsolve’s: Rohan Pavuluri
CSIR inks MoU with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to promote health research
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support the development, conduct and promotion of health research in India. Gates Foundation and CSIR will work together to identify opportunities to initiate scientific and technological collaborations. These will focus on developing and testing new preventions, therapies and interventions that can help to solve major health concerns that affect India and other developing countries.
Areas of research collaboration:
- Genetic diseases that impact infant and neonatal mortality;
- New diagnostics and devices for infectious disease and environmental surveillance;
- Development of cost-effective processes for drug, vaccines, biologics, and diagnostics manufacturing;
- Novel microbiome-directed foods;
- Socio-economic impact of science and technological tools;
- Other areas of health and development.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- CSIR Head: Shekhar C. Mande.
- CSIR Founded: 26 September 1942.
- CSIR HQ: New Delhi.
Indian Navy Ship Pralaya Participates in NAVDEX 21 and IDEX 21
Indian Naval Ship Pralaya reached Abu Dhabi in UAE to participate in the Naval Defence Exhibition (NAVDEX 21) and International Defence Exhibition (IDEX 21) from February 20 to 25, 2021. NAVDEX 21 and IDEX 21 is one of the leading international naval and defence exhibitions of the region. Participation of INS Pralaya will showcase the strengths of India’s indigenous shipbuilding, in line with the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat’.
Key Features of INS Pralaya:
- It is the second ship of the indigenously built Prabal Class Missile Vessels, built indigenously at Goa Shipyard Limited.
- The ship was commissioned in the Indian Navy on 18 December 2002 to perform a wide variety of surface warfare missions.
- The 56 m longship, displacing about 560 T is capable of speeds in excess of 35 knots.
- It is fitted with an impressive array of weapons and sensors, like 76.2 mm medium range gun, 30 mm close-range guns, chaff launchers and long-range surface to surface missiles.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Chief of Naval Staff: Admiral Karambir Singh.
- Indian Navy Founded: 26 January 1950.
India-Australia circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE)
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed the valedictory function of the India Australia Circular Economy Hackathon (I-ACE) via videoconferencing. A circular economy implies reusing waste back into the production cycle to make new products instead of wasting such materials with embedded resources.
The I-ACE was jointly organized by Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, Government of India and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia. More than 200 participants in 39 teams from India and 33 teams from Australia took part.
Four key themes for the hackathon
- Innovation in packaging reducing packaging waste
- Innovation in food supply chains avoiding waste
- Creating opportunities for plastic waste reduction
- Recycling critical energy metals and e-waste
Objective:
- To enable the students and startups/MSMEs of both nations in fostering innovative solutions for the development of a circular economy across the food system value chain with the aim of increasing the long-term health and resilience of our planet, through innovative technology solutions.
- I-ACE aims to accelerate the development of young and promising students and startups/MSMEs working towards the creation of a sustainable future.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Prime Minister of Australia: Scott Morrison.
- The currency of Australia: Australian dollar.
- Capital of Australia: Canberra.
India successfully test fires Helina, Dhruvastra anti-tank guided missiles
Defence Research and Development Organisation has successfully carried out joint user trials of indigenously developed Helina and Dhruvastra Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) from the Advanced Light Helicopter at the Pokhran deserts in Rajasthan. Helena is the Army version and Dhruvastra is the Air Force version of the ALH. The missile systems have been designed and developed indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Key Features:
- The Helina and Dhruvastra are the third generation, “Lock-on-Before-Launch (LOBL)” fire and forget ATGMs that can engage targets both indirect hit mode as well as top attack mode.
- The missile systems have all-weather day-and-night capability.
- They can defeat battle tanks with conventional armour as well as with explosive reactive armour.
- It is one of the most advanced anti-tank weapons in the world.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Defence Research and Development & Chairman DRDO: Dr G Satheesh Reddy.
- DRDO Headquarters: New Delhi.
- DRDO Established: 1958.
Hyderabad Recognised as ‘2020 Tree City of the World’
Telangana’s capital, Hyderabad has been recognized as a 2020 Tree City of World, by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Arbor Day Foundation, for its commitment to growing and maintaining urban forests. Hyderabad is the only city from India to have been recognized as a Tree City, to date. With this recognition, it has joined a network of like-minded global cities that recognise the importance of trees in building healthy, resilient and happy cities.
2020 Tree Cities of the world recognition is the second year of the programme, which features 120 cities from 63 countries. Most of the cities were from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Food and Agriculture Organization Head: Qu Dongyu
- Food and Agriculture Organization Headquarters: Rome, Italy.
- Food and Agriculture Organization Established: 16 October 1945.
Sri Lanka pacer Dhammika Prasad quits international cricket
Sri Lanka fast bowler Dhammika Prasad has announced his retirement from international cricket. He represented Sri Lanka in 25 Tests and 24 ODIs, bagging 75 and 32 wickets respectively. He also played alone T20 International against Australia in 2011. Prasad last played a Test match in October 2015 against the West Indies.
Perseverance rover has successfully landed on Mars
The NASA Perseverance rover safely landed on Mars after its 292.5 million-mile journey from Earth. The rover has been on a nearly 300 million-mile journey since it left Earth more than 6 months ago. Perseverance and her teams lived up to the namesake, overcoming the challenges of preparing for the journey’s final stages during a pandemic. The attitude control system is responsible for pointing the rover in the direction it needs to be and also helps figure out where the spacecraft is oriented in space.
Indian-American named Dr Swati Mohan, who first confirmed that the rover had survived a particularly tricky plunge into the Martian atmosphere. Mohan, who successfully spearheaded the development of attitude control and the landing system for the rover, was among the team of scientists behind the historic mission.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
- Acting Administrator of NASA: Steve Jurczyk.
- Headquarters of NASA: Washington D.C., United States.
- NASA Founded: 1 October 1958.
