Minister for Tribal Affairs E-Launched New Tribes India Outlet in Assam

• Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Shri Arjun Munda e-launched the new Tribes India Outlet at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport or also called International Airport, Guwahati in Assam.

• TRIFED and Shree Swarnam Divine Products Private Limited (DIVINITI) made an MoU to create a strong market for tribal products in New Delhi.

• Union Minister for Tribal Affairs virtually inaugurated the 126th TRIBES India showroom in Guwahati, Assam.

• TRIFED and Shree Swarnam Divine Products Private Limited (DIVINITI) made an agreement in areas of research on future product sourcing and development, packaging and marketing of tribal products.

About Tribal Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (TRIFED)

• Managing Director - Shri Pravir Krishna
• Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs - Shri Naval Jit Kapoor

L&T Defence Received 'Green Channel Status' for Naval Weapon Delivery Systems: Defence Ministry

• L&T Defence, defence manufacturing group of Larsen and Toubro received 'green channel status' from Defence Ministry. It has received the status from the Directorate General Quality Assurance (DGQA) under the Ministry of Defence for its major naval weapon delivery systems.

• DGQA was issued the status after strict audits of its production facilities, quality systems, and products. This status also provides deemed registration status and waiver from pre-dispatch inspection to L&T Defence.

• L&T became the first private sector defence company to be granted this (green channel) status for delivery of major naval systems.

• Green Channel Policy was introduced in March 2017 by the Defence Ministry, as part of the 'Make in India initiative.

About L&T Defence

• Headquarters - Mumbai, Maharashtra

• Whole-time Director, and Senior Executive Vice President - Mr. JD Patil

Govt of Karnataka Inaugurated, first of its Kind FRUITS Portal

• The first of its kind Farmer Registration and Unified Beneficiary Information System(FRUITS)Portal, a project of e Governance, Government of Karnataka is integrated with BHOOMI Package of the Karnataka State to fetch and validate land details.

• Canara Bank becomes the first Financial Institution to take the project on a pilot basis. It is the first of its kind technology adoption from the Karnataka govt to combine all 70 lakh farmers in the state with land and other details under a single platform.

• FRUITS portal in addition to capturing detail of the land owners also has information about the crops grown, loans got from banks and financial institutions, and other benefits availed from various government schemes.

• All the farmers in this portal will be registered and be provided a FID Number

• The Fl and Lending Institutions, on using this number can check the details of the farmers land and their borrowings and take decisions about the lending to farmers on basis of their requirements.

About Canara Bank:

• Tagline- Together We Can

• Headquarters- Bangalore, Karnataka Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer(CEO)-LV Prabhakar

NMDC, MECL sign MoU for Joint Mineral Exploration across India

• NMDC Limited (formerly known as National Mineral Development Corporation) & Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate & conduct exploration in mutually agreed projects for iron ore, gold, coal, diamond and other minerals in various states.

About Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL):

• Chief Managing Director (CMD) - Ranjit Rath

• Headquarters - Nagpur, Maharashtra

About NMDC Limited:

• CMD - Sumit Deb

• Headquarters - Hyderabad, Telangana

PM Modi Released Postal Stamp to Mark Centenary Celebration of Aligarh Muslim University

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a special postal stamp to mark the centenary celebration of Aligarh Muslim University(AMU). He participated in the event organised at the AMU through video conferencing.

• This is the first time in 50 years that a Prime Minister attended an event of AMU as a chief guest.

• Lal Bahadur Shastri was the last prime minister to attend an AMU event (1964).

About Aligarh Muslim University (AMU):

• Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) was founded by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, one of the architects of modern India. He was born on 17th October 1817 in Delhi.

• AMU is located in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Special Postal Cover Released to Commemorate the Completion of 25 years of Controller of Defence Accounts, Secunderabad

• The Controller of Defence Accounts(CDA), Secunderabad, Telangana to commemorate its 25 years of service released a special post cover.

• It will capture the honour of CDA Secunderabad nationwide, that has the Philately legacy alongside. Philately, it is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other philatelic products.

About CDA Secunderabad:

• Formed on first November, 1994 coinciding with the formation of the State of Andhra Pradesh.
• Headed by Shri K Venkata Rao, IDAS, Controller.

UNICEF Launches COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard

• The United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF) launched 'COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard'. The interactive tool enables countries, partners and industry to follow the developments of COVID-19 vaccine market and the efforts of the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility to confirm that there is fair and equitable access for each and every country in the world.

• The dashboard, in this first release offers a routinely updated overview of the global research and development pipeline, the projected production capacity, the bilateral and multilateral supply agreements, that were announced publicly and the reported price points.

• The dashboard will be expanded to see the progress towards the goal of the COVAX Facility to achieve 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021.

About COVAX:

• It is led by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the World Health Organization (WHO)

• All of them are working in partnership with the developed and developing country vaccine manufacturers, UNICEF, the World Bank, Civil Society Organisations and others.

• COVAX is the only global initiative that works with governments and manufacturers to ensure that COVID-19 vaccines are available across the world quickly to economies of all financial means.

Maharashtra Government signs MoU with 25 Companies under 'Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0' initiative

• Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) worth about INR 61,042 Crore with 25 Indian Companies under its 'Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0' initiative.

• The MoUs were signed across 15 sectors and are expected to create 2.53 Lakh Jobs in Maharashtra.

ICICI Bank Becomes first bank in India to Launch 'Infinite India'

• ICICI Bank Ltd launched 'Infinite India', an online platform for foreign companies who set up or expand business in India. The portal unifies different banking and value-added services on one platform for foreign companies throughout their business lifecycle. With this launch, ICICI bank becomes the first bank in India to offer such facilities. This initiative is an industry first initiative.

• The initiative is a part of the bank's strategy to further reinforce its technology enabled host of services to foreign companies/MultiNational Corporations(MNCs) coming to India.

• Bank's Corporate Internet Banking platform that has more than 300 services and mobile banking platform can be accessed by Current Accounts holders

• It also provides access to the lending treasury operation in India with 24*7 service.

Indian Men's Hockey Team to finish 2020 in 4th Position, Women's Team in 9th Position : FIH Rankings

• According to the latest rankings released by the International Hockey Federation (FIH), Indian Men's Hockey Team will finish 2020 in the 4th Position, while the Women's Hockey Team will finish at the 9th Position. Belgium Men's Team will finish 2020 at the top position, while Netherlands women's team finished first.

• Hockey Men's Team 2020 end ranking:

• In January, 2020, FIH released a new method for calculation of World Ranking.

• The new method is based on a match-based rankings model, moving away from Tournament-based rankings followed by FIH.

• Captain of the Indian Men's Hockey Team is Manpreet Singh, Captain of the Indian Women's Hockey Team is Rani Rampal.

• About International Hockey Federation (FIH):
• President - Dr Narinder Dhruv Batra
• Headquarters - Lausanne, Switzerland

"The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha"

• Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh authored his new book titled "The Light of Asia: The Poem that Defined the Buddha". The book will showcase the story of the poem "The Lights of Asia" which shaped the people's view of Buddha and his teachings.

• The book uncovers and narrates the story of "The Light of Asia: The Great Renunciation" written and published by Sir Edwin Arnold in 1879.

• The book describes the life and period of Prince Gautama Siddhartha.

• The book "The Light of Asia: The Great Renunciation" was translated into more than 30 languages which has impacted numerous lives across the globe.

"Covid-19: Sabhyata Ka Sankat Aur Samadhan"

• Former Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh launched Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi's new book titled "Covid-19: Sabhyata ka Sankat aur Samadhan" (Covid-19: Crisis of Civilisation and Solutions),

• The book discusses the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on the common way of life and suggests the solutions to the ongoing pandemic.

• The book also discusses the impacts of the pandemic on education, business, politics, public safety, foregin policy, law,medicine, economy and the development of the nation.

• The book has highlighted the need to focus on the children who have suffered the most due to the pandemic.

About Kailash Satyarthi:

• Kailash Satyarthi, hailing from Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh is an electrical engineer who worked as a teacher.

• He founded the "Bachpan Bachao Andolan" organisation which has saved more than 1000 children from slave-like conditions

• He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his endeavours against the suppression of children and young people and for his rights to education.

Padma Shri Sugathakumari Malayalam Poet & Activist passed Away at 86

• Padma Shri awardee Sugathakumari renowned Malayalam poet and environmental activist passed away at the age of 86 in the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She died due to COVID-19 complications.

About Sugathakumari

• Sugathakumari was the founding secretary of the Prakriti Samrakshana Samiti and 'Abhaya', a home for destitute women in Kerala.

• She published her first poem in 1957.

• Some of her notable worlds include, 'Rathrimazha', 'Ambalamani', Paavam Manavahridayam, Swapnabhoomi and 'Pathira Pookal'.

• She received the first Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra by the Centre for her contribution to the conservation of nature.

• She received the Padma Shri in 2006 for literature.