Daily Current Affairs and GK | 27 February 2021

Topic: Sports

1. Haryana Deputy CM re-elected President of TTFI.

• Deputy CM of Haryana Dushyant Chautala was re-elected as the President of Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI).
• He was elected at the 84^th annual meeting of TTFI.
• Panchkula will host the Commonwealth table tennis championship in 2021.
• Arun Banerjee will be the new secretary and Gurpreet Singh will be the new treasurer.
• Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI):
  • It is the governing body for table tennis in India.
  • It was established in 1926.
  • Headquarters of TTFI: New Delhi

Topic: MoUs/ Agreements

2. IWAI and MOL sign MoU for transportation of LPG.

• Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has signed an MoU with MOL (Asia Oceania) Limited for transportation of LPG through Waterways-1 and Waterways-2.
• IWAI will provide support for handling LPG cargo on IWAI terminals or multimodal terminals at Sahibganj, Haldia and Varanasi. It will also provide the Least Available Depth (LAD) information on a fortnightly/ monthly basis.
• MOL (Asia Oceania) Limited is the world’s largest gas carrier company. It will invest for the construction and operation of dedicated LPG barges under Make-In India.
• Currently, 60% of LPG is transported via road to various locations at the cost of 5 to 6 rupees per metric tonne per kilometer.
• Advantages of Handling LPG via waterways:
  • Reduce carbon footprints
  • Lower overall logistics cost
  • Reduce transportation cost of LPG
  • Contribution to government schemes like Ujjwala Yojana
• Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI):
  • It is a statutory authority that is incharge of waterways in India.
  • It was formed in 1986 under the Inland Waterways Authority of India Act, 1985.
  • Headquarters of IWAI: Noida, UP
  • Current Chairman of IWAI: Amita Prasad

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

3. India, France, Australia held the trilateral dialogue for cooperation in Indo-Pacific region.

• India, Australia and France hold trilateral dialogue for increasing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
• It was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Secretary-General Francois Delattre from the French Ministry for Europe and foreign affairs, and Australian Foreign Affairs Secretary Frances Adamson.
• It aims to build strong bilateral ties between the three countries. The three sides agreed on holding this dialogue on an annual basis.
• The three sides discussed the economic and geostrategic challenges that emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indo-Pacific region. They also discussed the priorities, challenges and trends of regional and global multilateral institutions.
• They also discussed various issues such as Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations, oil spill management, and disaster resilience of small island countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
• The first Foreign Secretary-level Trilateral Dialogue between the three sides was held in September 2020.

Topic: National News

4. Union Agriculture Minister inaugurated Saras Aajeevika Mela 2021 at Noida.

• Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated Saras Aajeevika Mela 2021 at Noida Haat.
• The Saras Aajeevika Mela 2021 will be organised from 26^th February to 14^th March 2021 by the Ministry of Rural Development.
• Around 300 rural self-help groups and many artisans from different states will participate in the Mela.
• Workshops on various topics, including product packaging and design, communication skills, and social media publicity, will also be organised to educate the self-help groups and craftsmen in the Mela.  
• Minister spoke that Self Help Groups could play a vital role in the vision of making India a self-reliant country. 

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

5. 2^nd edition of Global Bio-India will be organised between 1^st to 3^rd March.

• The second edition of Global Bio-India will be organised from 1^st to 3^rd March. It will be inaugurated by the Science and Technology Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan.
• It will be organised under the theme of ‘Transforming lives’. The tagline of this edition will be“Biosciences to Bioeconomy”.
• At present, Switzerland is the partner country and Karnataka is the partner state for this event. Representatives from more than 50 countries will participate in the Global Bio-India 2021.
• The government has recognized the Biotechnology sector as one of the key sectors for the Indian economy. The government has aimed for a USD 150 billion bio-economy by 2025.
• The first edition of Global Bio-India was held in New Delhi in 2019.
• Global Bio-India:  It is one of the largest biotechnology stakeholders conglomerates. It is organised for attracting investment in the bio-technology sector.

Topic: Personality in News

6. Guru Ravidas Jayanti is being celebrated across the country.

• The 644^th birth anniversary of saint Guru Ravidas is being celebrated on 27 February. He is famous for his effort against the caste system.
• A famous sufi saint, Guru Ravidas is also known as Raidas, Rohidas and Ruhidas.
• Guru Ravidas:
  • He was born in 1450 AD at Varanasi.
  • His 40 devotional poems were included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred book of Sikhism.
  • He was a great saint and a social reformer of medieval India.
  • He was contemporary to Kabirdas and Mirabai.
  • He had founded the Ravidassia religion in the 14th-century.

(Source: News on AIR)

Topic: Appointments

7. Ligia Noronha appointed as UN Assistant Secretary-General.

• Indian economist Ligia Noronha is appointed as Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme.
• She has replaced Indian economist Satya Tripathi.
• She had worked for more than 30 years in the field of sustainable development. She had also worked as Director of UNEP’s Economy Division.
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
  • It is an authority that sets the global environmental agenda and helps developing countries implement environment-related policies.
  • Headquarters: Nairobi, Kenya

Topic: Awards and Prizes

8. PM Modi to be conferred with CERAWeek global energy and environment leadership award.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be conferred the CERAWeek global energy and environment leadership award.
• He will receive this award during the CERAWeek Conference-2021, which is scheduled to be organised between 1-5 March in virtual mode. It will be the 39^th edition of this conference.
• He will get the CERAWeek Global Energy and Environment Leadership Award for his efforts towards sustainability in energy and the environment.
• Recently, PM Narendra Modi has received the ‘Legion of Merit’ award.
• CERAWeek global energy conference: It is an annual conference of energy industry leaders, experts, government officials and policymakers and energy technology innovators.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

9. Anjali Bharadwaj is one of the winners of the newly-instituted Anti-corruption award.

• Anjali Bharadwaj, an Indian social activist, is one of the 12 winners of the Anti-corruption Champions Award 2021. Anti-Corruption Champions Award is a newly instituted award of the Joe Biden administration.
• She is an Indian social activist working on issues of transparency and accountability. She is the founder of the Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS).
• She is a co-convener of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI). She was also involved in the creation of Lokpal and the Whistle Blowers’ Protection Act.

Topic: Sports

10. Vinay Kumar announced retirement from all forms of cricket.

• Vinay Kumar, a pace bowler, has announced retirement from cricket. He is also known as “Davangere Express”.
• He has represented India in 31 One-day Internationals, nine Twenty20 Internationals and one Test match. He had played for the Karnataka cricket team.
• He played for Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL.
• Indian Cricketers that announced retirement in 2020-21 are: MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Irfan Pathan, Wasim Jaffer, Sudeep Tyagi, Pragyan Ojha, Parthiv Patel, Tanmay Srivastava, and Ashok Dinda.

Topic: Art and Culture

11. ASI discovered Ancient Buddhist monastery in Jharkhand.

• Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered a Buddhist monastery in the Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand.
• Almost 900 years old monastery was buried under a mound in a village of Jharkhand.
• Two months earlier, an ancient Buddhist shrine was discovered buried under a similar mound, 100 meters away from the existing site.
• Artifacts obtained from excavation:
  • Four Stone statues of deity Tara in Varad Mudra and six statues of Buddha in Bhumisparsa Mudra
  • A sculpture that appears to be of Shaivite deity Maheswari- with coiled crown and chakra
  • Nagri script (previous version of Devnagri) on a Tara Statue
• Deity Tara’s statue indicates that the site was an important centre of Vajrayana Buddhism.
• Varad Mudra- Gesture of hand showing dispensing of boons
• Bhumisparsa Mudra- Gesture of hand showing five fingers of right hand towards the earth symbolising the Buddha’s enlightenment
• Vajrayana is a sect of Buddhism that flourished in India from 6^th to 11^th century. It is also known as Tantric Buddhism.

(Source: ASI)

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

12. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary launched City Innovation Exchange (CiX).

• Secretary of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Durga Shanker Mishra, has launched the City Innovation Exchange (CiX) platform.
• The platform has been launched to promote innovation in the Urban ecosystem.
• It is a platform to bring citizen organisations, academia, businesses and government together to create future of Urban India.
• Smart Cities Mission will partner with Startup India, Atal Innovation Mission, Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi) and other initiatives.
• City Innovation Exchange (CiX):
  • It will connect cities to innovators to develop solutions for the challenges faced by them.
  • The platform will help cities to find innovative and fitting solutions.
  • It is developed on the concept of ‘open innovation’, i.e., ‘everyone is an innovator’.