PM Narendra Modi visit to Assam and West Bengal

• The Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the states of Assam and West Bengal

• Launch of Asom Mala: It is a programme aimed at improving state highways and major district roads network with emphasis on effective maintenance through continuous field data collection and its linkage with the Road Asset Management System.

• Foundation Stone of two medical colleges: The PM laid the Foundation Stone of two medical colleges and hospitals worth Rs 1100 crore, which are being set up at Biswanath and Charaideo.

• In West Bengal the Prime Minister launched the projects on the lines of vision of Purvodaya, which envisages driving growth of Eastern India.

• LPG import terminal: The PM dedicated to the nation the Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) import terminal built by Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited with an outlay of Rs 1100 crore

• Dobhi - Durgapur Natural Gas Pipeline section: He also dedicated 348 km Dobhi - Durgapur Natural Gas Pipeline section worth around Rs 2400 crore to the nation as a part of the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project and 'one nation, one gas grid'.

About West Bengal:

• Capital- Kolkata
• Chief Minister- Mamata Banerjee

About Assam:

• Capital- Dispur
• Chief Minister- Sarbananda Sonowal

PM Modi Unveiled Postage Stamps on Diamond Jubilee of Gujarat High Court

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the event organised to mark the Diamond Jubilee of the Gujarat High Court and unveiled the commemorative Postage Stamps to mark the completion of 60 years of establishment of the High Court of Gujarat on May 1 2020. Vikram Nath is the Current Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court.

• The event which was scheduled to take place in 2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

AEPL Enters into a Framework Agreement with MiG

• Aviatech Enterprises Pvt Ltd (AEPL), a Crown group company entered into a framework agreement with Russian Aircraft Corporation(RAC) MiG, where AEPL will be the in-country authorised partner for RAC MiG to provide post-warranty product support Mikoyan-Gurevich(MIG)-29K and MiG-29KUB fighter jets, associated systems, Ground Support Equipment (GSE) and Special to Type Test Equipment (STTE) in the inventory of the Indian.

• Currently Indian Navy has around 40 MiG-29K (single seat) and MiG-29KUB (double seat) aircraft in its fleet.

About Aviatech Enterprises Pvt Ltd (AEPL):

• Headquarters, New Delhi, India
• CEO- Rear Admiral (retd) Srinivas Kanugo

About Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG:

• Managing Director- Andrey Leonidovich Gerasimchuk
• Headquarters- Moscow, Russia

Triton Electric Vehicle Signs MoU with BEL for Developing EVs and ESS

• Triton Electric Vehicle has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bharat Electronics Limited to develop Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage Systems.

• To manufacture the sub-systems and battery assembly for ESS and EVs so as to cater the needs of customers in USA, India and other countries.

• Recently, Triton has made the announcement to launch electric sedan N4 for the Indian market.

About Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL):

• Chairman and Managing Director- M V Gowtama
• Headquarters, Bangalore Karnataka

About Triton Electric Vehicle:

• Headquarters, New Jersey, USA
• Founder and CEO- Himanshu B Patel(Founder and Chairman of Triton Solar)

Manipur CM N. Biren Singh Launched a New Range of Packaged Organic Products and Loumi Connect App

• Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh launched a new range of packaged organic products and Loumi Connect App under Manipur Organic Mission Agency (MOMA) & Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region

• These were launched in a function organized jointly by Directorate of Horticulture and Soil Conservation and Eastern Border Areas Development Authority (EBADA)

• The App helps to connect farmers with Horticulture and Agriculture experts. It also empowers the farmers of the state to produce organic products.

• The new range of package organic items include Spice Box, Chakhao Ladoo Box, Dry Kiwi, Black Rice Flour,Black Rice Flakes, Sachets of organic turmeric, ginger and King Chilli powder.

• In addition to these, N. Biren Singh launched 7 utility vehicles and nursery items to 7 farmers' societies or Farmers Producer Companies (FPCs) under the NEC programme implemented by EBADA.

Banking Ombudsman Annual Report

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the Annual Report of the Ombudsman Schemes of the Reserve Bank for the year 2019-20" ie. the period covering July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2020. In accordance with the report, the complaints received at Office of Banking Ombudsman (OBO) recorded an increase of 57.54% Year-on-Year (Yo-Y) in FY19-20. There were a total of 308,630 complaints in the FY20 as against 195,901 in FY19.

• Complaints against NBFCs increased by 387%. The ombudsman for NBFCs received a total of 19,432 complaints in the same FY20 as against 3,991 in FY 19 Of these, 85.65% were received electronically i.e. through the online portal CMS and through email, as against 72.19% in the previous year.

• The Annual Report covers the activities under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme (BOS), the Ombudsman Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (OSNBFC) and the Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions (OSDT).

• There was an increase of 64 97% in the receipt of complaints under the three Ombudsman Schemes, from 2,00,362 complaints in 2018-19 to 3,30,543 complaints in 2019-20

• The OBOs maintained a disposal rate of 36% in FY20 as against  94.03% in 2018-19.

• The average cost of handling a complaint decreased by 23.31%, from Rs 3145 in 2018-19 to 2.412 in 2019-20.

• The ombudsman disposed of 48,333 complaints against State Bank of India (SBI), 15004 against HDCF Bank Limited, 11.844 against ICICI Bank Limited, 10457 against Axis Bank Limited and 9928 against Punjab National Bank

• The share of total complaints received against SBI and nationalised banks have decreased from 61.90% in 2018-19 to 59.65% in 2019-20, while the share of private sector banks increased from 28.04% to 31.96% in FY20.

• The highest number of complaints in NBFCs were against Bajaj Finance Limited followed by Indiabulls Consumer Finance Limited, and HDB Financial Services Limited. The number of appeals received decreased from 78 in 2018-19 to 63 in 2019-20.

PhonePe Partnered with Axis Bank on UPI Multi-Bank

• The digital payment platform PhonePe has partnered with India's third largest bank, Axis Bank on a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) multi-bank model. It will enable the PhonePe users to create and use multiple UPI IDs with Axis Bank's "@axl" handle.

• Until now, the PhonePe's key banking partner was Yes Bank.

• In accordance with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), PhonePe had emerged as the top UPI app in January, 2021 processing 968.72 million transactions worth Rs 1.92 trillion.

• It has 265 million registered customers.

• Recently it granted employee stock option plans (ESOP) worth $200 million to all its full-time employees.

About Axis Bank:

• Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Amitabh Chaudhry
• Headquarter- Mumbai, Maharashtra

• Tagline- Badhti ka Naam Zindagi

About PhonePe:

• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Sameer Nigam
• Headquarter- Bengaluru, Karnataka

Govt Appoints Expert Committee Headed by TP Rajendran to Review Proposal to Ban 27 Pesticides

• The government has appointed an expert panel to review the objections of industry to the proposed ban on 27 pesticides, that are mentioned as harmful to animals and humans by the government. The committee is headed by TP Rajendran, former assistant director general of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

• These 27 pesticides that are widely used are part of 66 contentious pesticides that are being reviewed for their toxicity. Already, in 2018, the government had banned 18 of them.

• Of these 27, the industry and companies have no much objection if 4 pesticides namely, methomyl, butachlor, dicofol and dinocap are banned.

• But they strongly defend the use of the remaining 23 by submitting scientific evidence.

• The 27 pesticides comprise 12 insecticides, 8 fungicides and 7 herbicides, involving 130 formulations.

SpaceX announced World's First All Civilian Mission to Space

• SpaceX announced its plan for the World's first all civilian mission to space, the mission is named Inspiration4 in recognition of the 4-person crew to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The mission commanded by Jared Isaacman, a 37-year-old entrepreneur the founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments and accomplished pilot will be launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

• The spacecraft will orbit the planet every 90 minutes along a customized flight path

'e-Watch' app, to receive Complaints on Irregularities in Gram Panchayat Election

• Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner N. Ramesh Kumar launched the 'e- Watch' app to receive complaints related to poll related irregularities. This launch comes ahead to the Gram Panchayat Elections of Andhra Pradesh state, that is planned to be held on February 21, 2021.

• The App is developed by SEC with the initial cooperation of Reliance Jio.

• High secrecy will be maintained on the details of the complainant.

• Call center was also set up in the state to address the Gram Panchayat polls related complaints.

Arvind Kejriwal Delhi CM Launched "Switch Delhi" Campaign to Promote Electric Vehicles

• Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, launched "Switch Delhi" a campaign to promote the use of Electric Vehicles and to encourage people to buy electric vehicles to reduce the pollution in Delhi.

• The government of Delhi has set a target of 25% of electric vehicles in the total registration in Delhi by 2024.

• As a part of this campaign he announced that the government of Delhi will hire only electric vehicles for other purposes in the next 6 weeks.

• Under this policy, the government has planned to provide extensive subsidies on the purchase of electric 2 wheelers and 4 wheelers, in addition to waiving road tax and registration charges.

Shooting : India tops Medals tally by bagging 11 Medals at First Asian Online Shooting Championship

• India's 24-Member Indian Shooting Contingent topped the Medals Tally by bagging 11 Medals - 4 Gold, 2 Silver & 5 Bronze Medals at the First Asian Online Shooting Championship organized by Kuwait Shooting Federation

• Around 274 Shooters from 22 members of the Asian Shooting Confederation (ASC) participated in the Competition.

• Indian Shooters bagged 4 Gold medals out of 8 Gold Medals which were on offer during the competition.

• The championships took place for 4 events - Pistol, Rifle, Trap & Skeep

About Asian Shooting Confederation:

• President - H.E. Salman Al Sabah
• Headquarters - Hawally, Kuwait

BCCI Secretary Jay Shah Elected as the New President of Asian Cricket Council

• Jay Shah, secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI) was elected as new President of Asian Cricket Council (ACC) at the Annual General Meeting of ACC which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Jay Shah(32 years) is the youngest administrator to be appointed as the President of ACC.

• He will succeed Nazmul Hasan Papon, the Chief of Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB).

About Asian Cricket Council (ACC):

• ACC was formed on 19th September 1983 as The Asian Cricket Conference in New Delhi.

• Founding members of ACC were Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

• Members - 25 Associations.

About Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI):

• President- Sourav Ganguly
• Headquarters - Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Ajay Singh Re-elected as President of Boxing Federation of India for 2nd Term

• Ajay Singh has been re-elected as the president of Boxing Federation of India (BFI) for the second term. Hemanta Kumar Kalita was elected as the secretary and Digvijay Singh as treasurer.

• The election was held in the presence of International Boxing Association (AIBA) observer Yury Zaystsev, Indian Olympic Association(IOA) observer Rakesh Gupta along with an observer from the sports ministry.

About Boxing Federation of India(BFD):

• Headquarters, Gurugram(Gurgaon), Haryana

Former West Indies Fast Bowler Ezra Moseley Died In Road Accident

• Former West Indies cricketer and fast bowler, Ezra Moseley, the current coach of the Barbados Women's team passed away at the age in Barbados after a road accident.

• Moseley signed on for the controversial West Indies "rebel tour" of South Africa in 1982, earning him a life ban from West Indies cricket.

• The life bans on the rebel tourists were lifted in 1989 and Moseley returned to Barbados and became the first and only member of the touring parties to play for the West Indies afterwards.

• He was the assistant coach of the West Indies Women's team which won the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in India in 2016.

Former Heavyweight Champion & Olympic Gold Medalist Leon Spinks passed away

• American professional boxer, Leon Spinks, Former heavyweight champion who won the Gold Medal at 1976 Olympics passed away at the age of 67 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

• He won the gold medal in the light heavyweight at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal against Sixto Soria.

• In his 8th professional fight he won the heavyweight championship against Muhmmad Ali in 1978. He later lost the title to Ali in an unapproved rematch.

• He won the Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling world title in 1992 and became the second man after Primo Carnera, to hold the titles in both boxing and wrestling.

Former New Zealand Cricketer Bruce Taylor Passed Away

• Former New Zealand Cricketer Bruce Taylor passed away in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.

• He was described as "Force of Nature" by the New Zealand Cricket Team.

• Bruce Taylor scored the first class century in 1965 against India at Kolkata, West Bengal.

• He is the only cricketer to score a century and take a five-wicket haul on debut in a Test match.

• He scored the fastest test century of New Zealand against West Indies in 1969, after 36 years, Daniel Vettori broke this record.