1. 11th National Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) conference 2020 held in New Delhi.

• A 3-day long 11th National Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Conference -2020 based on the theme ‘Empowering Youth for Technology Led Farming’ was held in New delhi. It was inaugurated by Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar.
• The conference, organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),focused on technology-led farming and youth entrepreneurship through agriculture.
• The conference saw the participation of all the KVKs across India. A number of Krishi Vigyan Kendra publications and different products developed by the KVKs were also launched during the conference. There are a total of 717 KVKs spread across the country, since the creation of the first KVK at Puducherry in 1974.

Foot notes
About Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare:
Founded– 1947
Headquarters– New Delhi

About Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR):
Headquarters– New Delhi
Founded– 16 July 1929

2. RBL Bank tied-up with Zomato to launch co-branded credit card powered by Mastercard.

• RBL Bank (formerly known as Ratnakar Bank),an Indian private sector bank, has entered into a partnership with Online food ordering and delivery app Zomato to launch co-branded credit cards, powered by Mastercard, for Zomato users.
• It will be the first of its kind co-branded credit card, available in two variants – Edition Classic and Edition Card.It will offer benefits such as Zomato Gold membership, cash back as well as airport lounge access.
• In the Edition card variant, customers get 10% cashback to their Zomato wallet for payments made via Zomato. In addition, they will also get 2% Edition Cash for all online transactions, 1% on offline purchases and 2000 bonus Edition cash (1 Edition cash is equivalent to Rs. 1) for spending more than Rs 5 Lakh.

Foot notes
About Zomato:
Headquarters– Gurugram, Haryana
CEO– Deepinder Goyal
About RBL Bank:
Headquarters– Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD & CEO– Mr Vishwavir Ahuja
Tagline– Apno ka Bank
About Mastercard:
Headquarters– New York,U.S.
President & CEO– Michael Miebach

3. Paytm Insurance Broking secured brokerage licence from IRDAI.

• Indian digital payments platform Paytm’s subsidiary, Paytm Insurance Broking, has received the brokerage licence from the Insurance Regulatory and Authority of India (IRDAI).
• Paytm will now offer insurance in various categories namely automotive, health and life. In addition to this, Paytm customers can also get policy management and claim settlement at select merchant points. Paytm Insurance Broking aims to support its 16 Million merchant partners to sell its innovative insurance products all over India. Also it aims to expand the outreach of its products in a hassle-free manner and empower the merchant by providing an alternate income source.
• Paytm has already partnered with 20 insurance companies and is now planning to get an additional 30 companies in future.

Foot notes
About Paytm:
Parent organization:One97 Communications
Headquarters: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
President: Amit Nayyar
About IRDAI:
Founded: 1999
Headquarters: Hyderabad
Chairperson: Subhash Chandra Khuntia

4. Sudhanshu Pandey appointed as new CMD of MMTC( Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India).

• Sudhanshu Pandey, Additional Secretary at the Department of Commerce, assumed additional charge as CMD (Chairman & Managing Director) of MMTC (Metals & Minerals Trading Corporation). He was the successor of Ved Prakash. Pandey currently discharges functions as the Chief Negotiator of India.
• Sudhanshu Pandey is an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer & has experience of over 32 years in different senior positions in state governments, the Centre and also Indian delegate in Germany.
• He also served many high-level government and trade delegations to various countries.

Foot notes
About MMTC:
MMTC is one of the two highest foreign exchange earners for India (after petroleum refining companies), largest international trading company of India & also largest public sector trading body. The main objective of the company was export of mineral ores & import of essential metals.
Headquarters: New Delhi.    
Founded: 26 September 1963

5. NASA reported Pollution Levels in China dropped greatly by  March 4, 2020 due to Corona Virus.

• NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) reported that Nitrous Oxide pollution in China has declined greatly between January and February 2020.
• According to the report, nitrous oxide pollution has declined by more than 100 tonnes of carbon-dioxide.
• The report says that every year, after New Year Celebrations, air pollution in china peaks to its highest. However, this year, due to economic slowdown caused by the fear of virus, the pollution was at its minimal. This was mainly because of closure of several businesses and factories all over China.

Foot notes

About NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
Founder: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Founded: 29 July 1958, United States

6. Centre declared National Chambal Sanctuary in Madhya pradesh as eco-sensitive zone.

• The government of India declared the National Chambal Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh as an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ).
• The Sanctuary is the home of Gangetic dolphins and 75 per cent population of critically endangered species gharial.
• It also harbours 180 species of migratory birds and freshwater Gangetic Dolphins.

Foot notes

About Madhya Pradesh
Capital: Bhopal
Governor: Lalji Tandon
Chief minister: Kamal Nath
7. Finance Minister introduced bill to amend Banking Regulation Act.

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman introduced bill in Parliament to amend banking regulation law to regulate cooperative banks. It aims to prevent frauds as that seen at Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Banks (PMC).
• The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020 intends to regulate 1,540 cooperative banks with total savings of Rs 5 lakh crores. It also aims to protect the small depositors that struggle a lot during frauds like that of PMC. The withdrawal limit of PMC banks was limited to Rs 1000 during the crisis. This had put several customers in an insecure environment.

8. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights filed plea in Supreme Court on CAA(Citizen Amendment Act).

• United Nation Human Rights Commission moved to Supreme Court on the matter of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The commission has filed a case challenging CAA.
• India believes that the CAA is an internal matter of the country. Also, according to India, CAA is constitutionally valid.
• The Citizenship Amendment Act was passed in 2019. The act amends Citizenship Act 1955. It seeks to give nationality only to 6 religious communities (Hindus, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Sikhs) if they entered India before 31 December 2014. It does not include Muslims. Also, the act does not include other refugees such as Rohingya from Myanmar and Tamils from Sri Lanka.

Foot notes
About United Nation Human Rights Commission

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland
Founded: 15 March 2006
Head: President; Coly Seck

9. Financial Assistance to Kaziranga National Park under Tiger Project and CAMPA.

• Rajya Sabha Member of the ruling party replied about the financial assistance being provided to the Kaziranga National Park, Assam
• The Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa said that Rs 94,46,585 and Rs 51,24,670 were sanctioned for Kaziranga National Park during the financial years 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• The funds were sanctioned under CAMPA. Apart from this, funds were also transferred under Project Tiger Scheme.

Foot notes
About CAMPA
CAMPA Act or Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate: Prakash Javadekar
Chairperson: Venkaiah Naidu

About Rajya Sabha
Deputy Chairman: Harivansh Narayan Singh
Leader of the Opposition: Ghulam Nabi Azad
Term limits: 6 years
Secretary General: Desh Deepak Verma
Seats: 245

10. According to  INCB Report 2019 India  is among top suppliers of pharma drugs used in trafficking.

• In accordance with the “Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2019”, by International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) released by United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), India is named among the top manufacturers of illicit and licit drugs that are smuggled to other countries.
•  India has not submitted Form P of INCB which is used to report annual statistics on the manufacture, trade and consumption of substances controlled under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971. Other countries that did not comply are Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Japan, Luxembourg and Spain.

Foot notes
About INCB:
Establishment– 1968
Headquarters– Vienna, Austria
President– Cornelis P. de Joncheere

About UNODC:
Headquarters– Vienna, Austria
Director-General– Ghada Fathi Waly

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Current Affairs 03 March, 2020

Current Affairs 02 March, 2020

Current Affairs 2 February- 01 March, 2020