MAHARASHTRA
- 80% farmers eligible for PM Kisan Samman scheme, says Maha Agriculture Minister
- Eighty per cent farmers in Maharashtra are eligible for the Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.
- As per the Agriculture Census 2015-16, there are 1,52,85,439 farmers in Maharashtra, of whom 80 per cent would be eligible for the Centre’s relief of Rs 6,000 per year.
- A family holding up to two hectares of land and having children less than 18 years old will be eligible for this scheme. But an agricultural landholding person having a government or a semi-government job or any other profession for earning, then such families will be omitted from this scheme.
INTERNATIONAL
- World Day of Social Justice: 20 February
- Every year 20 February has been declared by the UN as “World Day of Social Justice”.
- The purpose of the day is to focus on the plight of social injustice throughout the world and to press for improvements and solutions.
- 2019 theme: If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice.
- The ILO estimates that currently about 2 billion people live in conflict-affected situations, of whom more than 400 million are aged 15 to 29.
· Iran launched first locally made ‘Fateh’ Submarine
- Iran President Hassan
Rouhani has unveiled the first Iranian
made semi-heavy submarine – Fateh, meaning “Conqueror”
in Persian.
- The Fateh has subsurface-to-surface missiles
with a range of about 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), capable of
reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the region.
- The near 600-tonne underwater vessel is equipped with torpedoes and naval mines in addition to cruise missiles, and can operate more than 200 metres below sea level for up to 35 days.
- AntBot, the first walking robot that navigates without GPS
- Scientists claim to have developed the first walking robot that can explore its environment and find its way home without GPS or mapping.
- It is equipped with an optical compass used to determine its heading by means of polarised light.
- With the help of an optical movement sensor directed to the Sun, it measure the distance covered.
- Researchers from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) took inspiration from desert ants to design the AntBot.
- Ants use polarised light and ultraviolet radiation to locate themselves in space.
NATIONAL
- India’s first fulldome 3D Digital theatre inaugurated
- India’s first ‘fulldome 3D Digital Theatre’ at the Science City Kolkata was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.
- The ‘fulldome 3D Digital Theatre’ at the Science city is the first of its kind in India having a 23 metre titled dome to offer a fully immersive experience.
- It is the first in the Indian subcontinent where one can feel like touching the water waves or the leaves of a tree during screening.
- The Science City is operated by the National Council of Science Museums under the Ministry of Culture.
· Cabinet approved the ordinance to curb Ponzi schemes
- The Cabinet approved the promulgation of an
ordinance with regard to the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, to
protect investors from Ponzi schemes.
- The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on the last
day of the Budget session, but could not get the approval of the Rajya Sabha.
- The proposed ordinance will tackle the menace of illicit deposit-taking activities launched by rapacious operators who exploiting regulatory gaps and lack of strict administrative measures to dupe poor and gullible people of their hard-earned savings. It has provisions for punishment and repayment of deposits.
- Ponzi scheme is a form of fraud which lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors by using funds obtained from more recent investors.
· CCEA launch of the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA),
chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the launch of the Kisan
Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM).
The Centre also approved the aid of Rs.34,422 crore to provide financial and
water security to farmers through harnessing solar energy capacities of 25.75
gigawatts (GW) by 2022.
- The objective of KUSUM is to provide financial
and water security to farmers.
- CCEA is chaired by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi
- CCEA has the mandate to review economic trends on a continuous basis, as also the problems and prospects, with a view to evolving a consistent and integrated economic policy framework for the country.
- It also directs and coordinates all policies and activities in the economic field including foreign investment that require policy decisions at the highest level.
· Dwarka to house Indias first hi-tech forensic lab
- Called the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination
Centre (I4C), the lab will have equipment’s to deal with
memory forensics, image enhancement, network forensics, malware forensics,
crypto-currency forensics, recovery of damaged hard drives and advanced mobile
forensics.
- It is the first cybercrime awareness and detection center in India.
· Cabinet approved the new National Electronics Policy
- The Union Cabinet approved the new National
Electronics Policy 2019 that aims to achieve a turnover of $400
billion (about Rs.26 lakh crore) for the Electronics System
Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector by 2025, while generating
employment opportunities for one crore people.
- To promote the creation of an ecosystem, the NEP 2019 has pitched for 2.0 version of the Electronics Manufacturing Cluster scheme, under which infrastructure support will be provided for a group of industries that are part of the product supply chain rather than individual industries.
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