1. Indian Coast Guard (ICG) celebrated its raising day on February 1.

• ICG protects India's maritime interests and enforces maritime law, with jurisdiction over the territorial waters of India, including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone.
• It operates under the Ministry of Defence.

Foot Notes:
Director General of ICG: Krishnaswamy Natrajan

2. India-Bangladesh joint exercise 'SAMPRITI-IX' to be conducted in Meghalaya from Feb 3.

• As part of the ongoing Indo-Bangladesh defence cooperation, a joint military training exercise SAMPRITI-IX is being conducted at UMROI, Meghalaya, India from 03 Feb to 16 Feb 2020.
• Exercise SAMPRITI is an important bilateral defence cooperation endeavour between India and Bangladesh and will be the ninth edition of the exercise which is hosted alternately by both countries.
• During the joint military exercise SAMPRITI-IX a Command Post Exercise (CPX) and a Field Training Exercise (FTX) will be conducted.

Foot Notes:
About Bangladesh
Capital: Dhaka
Currency: Bangladeshi taka
Prime minister: Sheikh Hasina

3. According to TomTom Bengaluru has the worst traffic in the world.

• According to a report by TomTom, The Netherlands-based global provider of navigation, traffic and map products, Bengaluru is the world's most traffic congested city.
• It beat 415 other cities across 57 countries to earn the title in 2019.Drivers in this city are expected to spend an average of 71% extra travel time stuck in traffic.
• In 2019, a commuter spent an additional 243 hours in traffic while driving during peak hours. Manila in the Philippines came a close second, with a similar average time spent by commuters in traffic. Mumbai, Pune and New Delhi were the other Indian cities that also featured in the top 10, taking fourth, fifth and eighth places respectively.

4. MP government to roll out 365-day work scheme under “Yuva Swabhiman Yojana”.

• The Kamal Nath government of Madhya Pradesh is coming up with a ramped up version of Yuva Swabhiman Yojana, a scheme for the unemployed, hiking monthly stipend to Rs 5,000 and increasing the number of working (hence payable) days to 365.
• The decision comes just about a week after Nath’s return from the WEF meet at Davos, where he showcased MP’s potential before investors and emphasized the need to mobilize the economy and generate more jobs.
• Yuva Swabhiman Yojana, a Congress manifesto promise and a flagship programme of the Nath government, was launched on January 31, 2019, guaranteeing 100 days of work and pay to unemployed youth. On the lines of MNREGS, the government is ready to extend the guarantee of 100 workdays to 365 days of temporary employment a year. The scheme is part of Nath’s attempt to generate employment and boost the economy.

Foot Notes:
About Madhya Pradesh
Governor: Lalji Tandon
Capital: Bhopal
Chief minister: Kamal Nath

5. The Month-long Nagoba jatara concludes in Telangana’s Adilabad district.

• A Month-long Nagoba jatara concluded in Telangana with the ceremony of Betal puja.
• It is the second biggest tribal carnival and celebrated by the Mesaram clan of Gond tribes for 10 days.
• Tribal people from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh belonging to the Mesram clan offer prayers at the festival.

Foot Notes:
About  Telangana
Capital: Hyderabad
Governor: Tamilisai  Soundararajan
Chief minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao

6. Yellow rust attack sets off alarm bells in Haryana and Punjab.

• The detection of yellow rust disease in the wheat crop in sub-mountainous parts of Punjab and Haryana has raised anxiety among farmers. According to agricultural experts, yellow rust, or stripe rust, takes its name from the appearance of yellow-coloured stripes that run parallel to the venation of leaf blades.
• The symptoms of yellow rust include stunted and weakened plants, shrivelled grains, fewer spikes, loss in number of grains per spike and grain weight. The disease usually occurs early in the growth season, when temperature ranges between 2°C and 15°C.High humidity and rainfall are favourable conditions for increasing the infection on both leaf blade and leaf sheath.

Foot Notes:
About Haryana
Capital: Chandigarh
Governor: Satyadev Narayan Arya
Chief minister: Manohar Lal Khattar

About Punjab
Capital: Chandigarh
Governor: V.P. Singh Badnore
Chief minister: Amarinder Singh

7. The festival Narmada Mahotsav started on Narmada Jayanti will run till 2 February.

• In Madhya Pradesh Narmada Mahotsav, three-day Narmada Mahotsav is being started from in the picturesque plains of Amarkantak on the occasion of Narmada Jayanti.
• Local tribal art and culture will be duly demonstrated during Amarkantak Narmada Mahotsav-2020.
• The Narmada is a major source of drinking water, irrigation and hydroelectricity for Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
• During the Mahotsav, one day will be reserved for all women activities under the theme of “Beti Bachao - Beti Padhao”.

Foot Notes:
About Madhya Pradesh
Governor: Lalji Tandon
Capital: Bhopal
Chief minister: Kamal Nath

8. Uttar Pradesh’s Chandauli district tops NITI's ranking in December.

• Chandauli district in Uttar Pradesh has topped the list of aspirational districts ranked by the government think tank NITI Aayog in December.
• Belangir (Odisha) and YSR (Andhra Pradesh) have been placed at the second and third positions.
• The delta rankings took into account incremental progress made by over 112 aspirational districts across six developmental areas in December 2019.
• Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion, skill development and basic infrastructure were the development areas that were taken into consideration for the ranking.
• The ranking of aspirational districts is done every month.

Foot Notes:
About Uttar Pradesh
Chief minister: Yogi Adityanath
Governor: Anandiben Patel
Capital: Lucknow

9. Economic Survey 2020 tabled  projects growth at 6 to 6.5 per cent for the next fiscal in Parliament.

• Economic Survey 2019-20 has projected economic growth at 6 to 6.5 per cent in the fiscal year starting 1st of April this year.
• It has put current fiscal growth at five per cent and said the fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal may need to be relaxed to revive growth. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled Economic Survey in both the houses of Parliament.
• The survey called for more reforms to make it easier to do business in the country.
• It said, about 1.24 lakh new firms were created in 2018, which is an increase of about 80 percent from about 70,000 in 2014. It said, the industrial sector as per Index of Industrial Production registered a growth of 0.6 per cent in 2019-20 (April-November) as compared to 5.0 per cent during 2018-19 (April-November).

Foot Notes:
Finance Minister: Nirmala Sitharaman

10. RBI appoints ED Janak Raj as member of Monetary Policy Committee.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) appointed its Executive Director Janak Raj as member of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the highest interest rate setting body.
• Raj replaces M D Patra, who was recently elevated as Deputy Governor of the RBI.
• The government had in 2016 constituted MPC to set the benchmark interest rate.
• The MPC is headed by the RBI Governor.

Foot Notes:
About RBI
Governor: Shaktikanta Das
There are four deputy governors B. P. Kanungo, N. S. Vishwanathan, Mahesh Kumar Jain
Headquarters: Mumbai

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