1. Sushil Chandra appointed new Election commissiomer

• Sushil Chandra was appointed as the new Election Commissioner ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, making the poll panel a three-member entity again.
• The other two members of the Commission are Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora and Election Commissioner (EC) Ashok Lavasa.
• Chandra is the second Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer to be appointed to the Commission after T.S. Krishnamurthy, who went on to become the CEC in 2004.

2. Ashwani Lohani reappointed Air India CMD

• Ashwani Lohani, a retired bureaucrat, has been appointed the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of national carrier Air India.
• Lohani held the position for around two years from 2015. In August 2017, he was named the Chairman to the Railway Board. Lohani retired on December 31, 2018.
• Earlier on on February 6, the government appointed Air India CMD Pradeep Singh Kharola as the new Civil Aviation Secretary.

3. India, US commercial dialogue on Feb 14

• Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu will hold bilateral discussions on trade issues with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on February 14 here.
• Annual bilateral trade in goods and services between the countries doubled over the last decade, from USD 58 billion in 2007 to USD 126 in 2017.
• The talks assumes significance as officials of both the sides are negotiating a trade package to boost bilateral commerce.

4. Lok Sabha Passes Bill To Remove Congress President From Jallianwala Trust

• A bill to remove the Congress president as a permanent member in a trust that runs the Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial to make the body "apolitical" was passed in Lok Sabha.
• The bill also confers power to the central government to terminate the term of a nominated trustee before the expiry of the term without assigning any reason.
• The 2018 bill added a clause to allow the central government to terminate the term of a nominated trustee before the expiry of his term without assigning any reason.

5. Manfred Eigen, pioneer of study of exceptionally fast chemical reactions, dies aged 91

• Manfred Eigen, who was awarded a one-half share of the 1967 chemistry Nobel prize for developing ways to study extremely fast chemical reactions, has died aged 91.
• He had shared this prize with R. G. W. Norrish and George Porter.

6. Derrick Pereira named coach of India U-23 football team

• Derrick Pereira named head coach of the India U-23 team for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Qualifiers slated to be held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from March 22.
• Besides India, the other teams in the group are Tajikistan and Pakistan.
• The team will also be playing a friendly match against Qatar U-23 National side in Doha on March 11," the All India Football Federation said.

7. DHFL CEO Harshil Mehta resigns

• DHFL  CEO Harshil Mehta has decided to resign from his position with immediate effect.
• Besides, the board has recommended appointment of Sunjoy Joshi as an Independent Director and Srinath Sridharan as a Non-Executive Director.
• DHFL’s board has further appointed Sunjoy Joshi as an Independent Director and Srinath Sridharan as a Non-Executive director.

8. Rajasthan introduces 5% quota bill for Gujjars, 4 other castes

• The Rajasthan government introduced a bill in the assembly to give a five per cent quota in jobs and educational institutes to Gujjars and four other communities agitating for it.
• The bill was presented in the Rajasthan assembly by Energy Minister B.D. Kalla to pacify members of the Gujjar community who have been holding demonstrations.
• The bill seeks to increase the backward classes' reservation from the present 21 per cent to 26 per cent with five per cent reservation to Gujjars, Banjaras, Gadia Lohars, Raikas and Gadaria.