• National

Suresh Prabhu launches ‘SWAYATT’ on GeM

• The Union Minister Suresh Prabhu has launched SWAYATT initiative and Start-up Runway in New Delhi.
• SWAYATT is an initiative to promote Start-ups, Women and Youth Advantage using e-Transactions on Government e Marketplace (GeM).
• This will bring together the key stakeholders within the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem to Government e-Marketplace the national procurement portal.
• GeM Start-up Runway will address goals and objectives under United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.

• National

PM Modi Flagged Off 1st Ever Diesel to Electric Conversion Locomotive

• Under ‘Make in India’ initiative, Indian Railways has created history by converting a diesel locomotive into electric locomotive for the first time in the world.
• This all new converted energy-efficient electric locomotive has been flagged off by PM Narendra Modi in Varanasi.
• In a first of its kind notable initiative, the diesel locomotive which has been converted to electric locomotive by the Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in Varanasi.
• The entire project is an Indian R&D innovation for the entire world, says Indian Railways.
• The converted electric locomotive delivers 10,000 HP against 2 X 2612 HP of two diesel locomotive (92 percent more power). A 10,000 HP of haulage power is adequate to haul a load up to nearly 5300 Tonnes, providing around 2:1 HP to trailing load ratio.

• National

KUSUM approved for launch

• The Cabinet approved the launch of Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM).
• Its objective is to provide financial and water security to farmers.
• The scheme would comprise of 3 components A, B, and C, which when combined aims to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW by 2022.
• The total central financial support provided under the scheme would be Rs. 34,422 crores.

• Economy and Business

Government Relaxes Angel Tax Norms for Start-ups From 7 Years To 10 Years

• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry in an attempt to provide relief to and boost investments into start-ups in India has decided to simplify the process for them to get exemptions under the Income Tax Act, 1961.
• It will now recognize an entity as a start-up up to 10 years from the date of its incorporation or registration instead of the existing duration of 7 years.
• It will also recognize an entity as a start-up if its turnover for any of the financial years since its incorporation or registration does not exceed Rs 100 crore unlike the previous amount of Rs 25 crore.

• Sports

Squash Great Nicol David Announces Retirement

• Malaysia’s 8-time World Champion Nicol David has announced that she will call time on her record-breaking career at the end of the 2018/19 season.
• The 35-year-old from Penang is one of the most successful squash players of all time and spent an unprecedented 9 years at World No.1 between 2006-2015.
• In addition to her 8 World Championship wins, David also lifted 5 British Open titles, 2 Commonwealth Games gold medals, 5 Asian Games gold medals and 3 World Games gold medals.

• Important Days

World Day of Social Justice being observed today

• The United Nations’ (UN) World Day of Social Justice is annually observed on 20th February to encourage people to look at how social justice affects poverty eradication.
• It also focuses on the goal of achieving full employment and support for social integration.
• The theme for 2019 is ” If You Want Peace & Development, Work for Social Justice”.

• Science and Tech

Anupama: Astronomical Society President

• G C Anupama became the first woman of the country to be elected President of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI).
• She is presently the Dean and Senior Professor at the Bengaluru based Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA).
• She is also a recipient of the Sir C V Raman award for young scientists in 2000.

• Obituaries

‘Badge of Honor’ Military Novelist, W.E.B. Griffin Passes Away

• American military veteran and novelist, William E. Butterworth III, better known as W.E.B. Griffin (his pen name), passed away at the age of 89.
• He joined the army at the age of 17 and has served in the Korean War.
• He wrote more than 200 books under the pen name W.E.B. Griffin and various other names and sold millions of copies.
• His most popular series include “Badge of Honor,”” Clandestine Operations” and “Presidential Agent.”

• Obituaries

Noted Hindi Writer Namvar Singh Passes Away

• Noted Hindi writer Namvar Singh passed away in New Delhi.
• He was 92. Prof. Namvar Singh was ill for some time and was being treated at All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
• Singh was the first chairman of JNU’s Centre of Indian Languages.
• He has authored over dozen books including ‘Kavita Ke Naye Pratiman’, ‘Chhayavad‘ and ‘Dusri Parampara Ki Khoj’ among others.
• He received Sahitya Academy Award for literary criticism in 1971 for ‘Kavita Ke Naye Pratiman’.

• States

Telangana gets two new districts

• The Telangana state government has announced to create two more districts (Narayanpet and Mulugu) in the state.
• Now the number of districts in the State is 33.
• Narayanpet has been carved out of Mahbubnagar district and Mulugu from Jayashankar Bhupalpally.
• When Telangana was carved out of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (on June 2, 2014), it had just 10 districts.

• States

India’s First Hi-Tech Forensic Lab NCFL and CyPAD Inaugurated in New Delhi

• Cyber Prevention Awareness and Detection (CyPAD) Centre and the National Cyber Forensic Lab (NCFL) were inaugurated by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and LG Anil Baijal in Dwarka, New Delhi.
• To spread awareness among school students and teachers, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has started a popular Twitter handle @CyberDost.

• States

Eco Circuit project inaugurated

• J. Alphons, Union Minister for Tourism inaugurated the project ‘Development of Eco Circuit: Pathanamthitta – Gavi – Vagamon – Thekkady’ in Kerala.
• This Eco Circuit project was sanctioned in December 2015.
• Major works carried out under the project includes Eco-Adventure Tourism Park at Vagamon, Cultural Centre at Kadamanitta, and more.