• National

Rajnath inaugurates NIA office in Hyderabad

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated the new premises of the regional unit of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Hyderabad.
• The new office cum residential complex has been constructed at Khanamet area of Madhapur in Hyderabad.
• The NIA Hyderabad office has the jurisdictions in the states of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

• National

Abhinandan return: Drum rolls, songs and a sea of happy heads wait for Abhinandan at border

• Abhinandan Varthaman is about to return after being kept in captivity in Pakistan for 2 days.
• Abhinandan is coming back via the Wagah-Attari border in Punjab.
• Massive crowds of thousands gathered at the border to welcome and celebrate Abhinandan’s return.

• Sports

Govt approves Centre for Disability Sports in Gwalior

• The union cabinet has approved the setting up of a Centre for Disability Sports in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh.
• It will develop a sense of belonging in Divyangjan to facilitate their integration in society.
• The centre will have a Governing Body comprising a maximum of 12 members, some of them experts from “National Level Sports Federations apart from experts in para games”.
• At present, no specialised sports training facilities for Divyangjan are available in the Country.

• Sports

Deepak Singh Wins Gold at Makran Cup in Boxing

• National Boxing champion Deepak Singh (49kg) was the only Indian boxer to notch up the gold medal, while five others claimed silver medals in the Makran Cup in Chabahar, Iran.
• Deepak defeated Jaafar Naseri in the finals.
• Lalitha Prasad (52kg), Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Manish Kaushik (60kg), Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg), Sanjeet (91kg) and Commonwealth Games silver-medallist Satish Kumar (+91kg) claimed silver medals.

• Sports

Chris Gayle Becomes First Player to Smash 500 Sixes in International Cricket

• West Indies opener Chris Gayle has become the first batsman ever to smash 500 or more sixes in international cricket.
• In the 4th ODI against England in Grenada, Gayle scored 162 runs.
• His innings contained a staggering 14 sixes and powered the Windies to their highest-ever ODI score of 389.
• Gayle also reached the 10,000-run milestone in ODIs and became only the second West Indian after Brian Lara (10,405 runs) to achieve the milestone.

• Appointments

IDBI Bank appoints Hemant Bhargava as non-executive Chairman

• IDBI Bank has appointed LIC’s Hemant Bhargava as non-executive, Chairman for three years.
• Currently, Mr. Bhargava is the Chairman (in-charge) and Managing Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).
• The life insurer is the majority shareholder in IDBI Bank with a 51% stake.
• LIC has also proposed a change of name of the bank to either ‘LIC IDBI Bank’ or ‘LIC Bank’.

• Resignation

Naresh Goyal resigns as Chairman

• Jet Airways’ founder Naresh Goyal has agreed to step down as chairman of the airline’s board.
• Goyal, who founded the full-service carrier 25 years ago, has also agreed to reduce his 51% stake.
• He would continue to be a part of the company in some capacity even after stepping down as chairman.

• Important Days

Zero Discrimination Day: 1st March

• Zero Discrimination Day is an annual day celebrated by the UN and other international organisations.
• The objective of the day to promote equality before the law and in practice throughout all the member countries of the UN.
• Campaigners in India have used the occasion to speak out against laws that make discrimination against the LGBTI community more likely, especially Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code which criminalises homosexuality.

• Defence

India successfully test fires QRSAM missiles off Odisha coast

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully test fired indigenously developed Quick Reach Surface-to-Air Missiles (QRSAMs) from ITR Chandipur off the Odisha Coast.
• QRSAM uses solid-fuel propellant and has a range of 25-30 km.
• The two missiles were tested for different altitude and conditions.

• States

New Railway Zone Announced for Andhra Pradesh

• Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced a new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh, that is the Southern Coast Railway and it will be headquartered in Visakhapatnam.
• It will be the 18th zone in the country.
• The new zone will comprise the existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions that currently fall under the South-Central Railway.
• The cost of creating infrastructure for a new zone is around Rs. 205 crores.

• States

J&K approved 10% reservation for general sect

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Amendment Order, 2019.
• It will serve the purpose of application of a relevant provision of the constitution as amended through the constitution (77th Amendment) act, 2019 for J&K.
• It will extend the reservation of up to 10% for the economically weaker section.