1. Govt, World Bank sign USD 60 mn loan pact for K'taka project
i. The government signed a USD 60 million loan agreement with the World Bank on Monday to improve watershed operations in seven districts of Karnataka.
ii. “Government and the World Bank signed a USD 60 million credit agreement for the Karnataka Watershed Development Project II (KWDP II) to further improve watershed planning and management in project areas.
iii. The project will improve government watershed operations in 930 micro-watersheds covering 465,000 hectares across seven districts of Karnataka.
iv. The project follows successful implementation of WB-supported KWDP Iwhich helped improve lives of 230,000 farmers by increasing crop yields by about 25 per cent and raising household incomes of small and marginal farmers by 40 per cent.
v. It will also facilitate better convergence of IWMP with othser government programmes such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
vi. Besides, it will strengthen the financial and technical convergence between IWMP and NREGS through more integrated watershed planning and monitoring, and developing innovative tools and processes in sub and micro-watersheds.
vii. It will be financed through a credit from World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, International Development Association (IDA).
viii. The closing date of the project is 31stDecember, 2018.
2. Ministry of Civil Aviation launched Monthly Bi-lingual Shubh Yatra Magazine
i. Ministry of Civil Aviation on 8 February 2013 released Shubh Yatra, an exclusive monthly bi-lingual (Hindi & English) inflight magazine of Air India.
ii. It covers travel, lifestyle, culture and entertainment in all colour and spice.
This is the new name of the inflight magazine.
3. Conference of South Asian Autism Network begins in New Delhi
i. A conference of the South Asian Autism Network will begin in New Delhi today.
ii. UPA Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the conference at Vigyan Bhavan.
iii. Representatives from India, Bangladesh, Thailand and the World Health Organisation-WHO among others will participate in the meet.
iv. India and Bangladesh will present the official autism charter for adoption by all network member states. NOTE: i. Autism is a developmental disorder which is characterized by communication difficulties, social and behavioral challenges as well as a repetitive behaviour.
ii. The WHO states that there has been an escalation in the disease burden for autism from 10 per cent to 14 per cent between 1990 to 2011. It is expected to rise to 15 per cent by 2020.
4. 16th National Conference on e-Governance to begin in Jaipur
i. 16th National Conference on e-Governance will begin in Jaipur today.
ii. Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot will inaugurate this 2 days conference.
iii. Theme of this year’s conference is “towards an open Government.
NOTE: i. Aim of the conference is to prepare a road map for providing transparent, effective, responsive and accountable system of governance to the common people with use of e-services.
ii. On this occasion The Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot will launch the statewide area network R-SWAN for e-governance, which will be the biggest network in the country.
iii.4500 Government offices at block level, will be connected with this network.
5. National e-Governance award for Madhya Pradesh
i. Madhya Pradesh has been conferred upon the prestigious National e-Governance Gold Award for 2012-13, for its 'Sparsh Abhiyan' aimedtowards the disabled and the aged.
ii. The state will receive the award at Jaipur during the two-day 16th National e-Governance Conference starting on Monday.
NOTE: i. Sparsh Abhiyan' is a special programme for rehabilitation and empowerment of the disabled, aged and the destitute.
ii. Madhya Pradesh will be honoured in the "Focus Sector" category for this innovative programme of its own kind.
iii. The award will be given jointly to Directorate of Social Justice, Madhya Pradesh and National Informatics Centre, Madhya Pradesh,
6. Dubai Govt Summit starts today
i.The Dubai Government Summit, one of the largest government gathering in the region and the Arab world begins at Madianat Jumeirah in Dubai today.
ii. The two day summit will discuss the initiatives in the Government sector , their implications and the road ahead for the welfare of the people.
iii. The summit will discuss expertise from Denmark, Canada, Australia, South Korea and Brazil and the successful local experiences.
iv.A ministerial roundtable will be held as part of the summit, with ministers from around the world sharing their insights and recommendations on how government services can be made more effective, efficient and citizen-oriented.
NOTE: Top leaders including the Prime Minister of UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, the Deputy Prime Minister and others the former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Chief Innovative Officer of the World Bank Technology Division, Chris Vein, are among those participating at the conference.
7. I&B Ministry launched MyIndia Initiative-
A Digital Volunteer Programme to reach Citizens…
i. The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Manish Tewari on 7 February 2013 launched the MyIndia Initiative-A Digital Volunteer Programme to reach out the people in the social media space.
ii. The initiative from the I&B Ministry is aimed towards disseminating and delivering the messages of development to the citizens by registering them as volunteers them on the social media platforms.
iii. The initiative is an effort to make the citizen contribute positively towards nation building and this would initiate a principle of participative governance across the nation.
NOTE: i. The I&B Ministry on 8 February 2013 also tried to reach out the citizens for the first time via Live Twitter Conference on the eve of 3rd Community Radio Conference.
ii. This was the first ever conference of such type by any of the Ministry’s of Government of India.
iii. Community Radio: Road Travelled & way forward was the topic for community radio conference and it lasted for a period of 30 minutes from 4 pm to 4:30 pm.
8. MCX-SX becomes third full-fledged equity bourse in India
i. The MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) benchmark index SX40 went live with its equity trading platform on both equities and equity derivatives today.
ii. MCX-SX became the third full-fledged equity bourse after BSE and NSE in the country.
The bourse was formally launched by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday.
NOTE: i. SX40 is a free-float based index of large-cap and liquid stocks, representing diverse sectors.
ii. The base value will be 10,000 with a base date of March 31st, 2010.
iii. In the early trade, Reliance Industries, Suzlon and NHPC were leading the volume chart, while the value chart was being led by RIL, SBI, Tata Steel and Reliance Capital.
iv. The benchmark includes companies that have a minimum free float of 10 per cent and is within the top 100 liquid companies.
9. 2 day conference of Governors starts in Rashtrapati Bhavan
i. A two-day conference of Governors has begun in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
ii. President Pranab Mukherjee presided over the conference, which is expected to focus on issues of security, development and human resource development, especially education.
10. India's fastest supercomputer - Param Yuva II – launched
i. Param Yuva II - India's fastest supercomputer and the 62nd fastest supercomputer in the world - has recently been launched by Government of India's Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
ii. Param Yuva II supercomputer was developed in a record period of three months, with a total investment of Rs. 16 crore.
iii. The most prominent features of the new supercomputer include 200 Terabytes of high performance storage; support software for parallel computing; and the ability to deliver over half a Petaflop of raw compute power.
iv. Marking the latest 500 TeraFlop version of the DeitY's earlier Param Yuva at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) Pune, the Param Yuva II has undergone a 524-teraflop upgrade that is approximately ten-fold faster than its previous counterpart.
11. Azam Khan resigns as the head of Kumbh Mela Management Committee
i. In Uttar Pradesh, Minister Azam Khan has resigned as the head of the Kumbh Mela Management Committee, taking moral responsibility for last night's stampede in which 36 people were killed and 39 injured at the Allahabad railway station.
ii. The state government has constituted a high-level probe under chairman Board of Revenue for looking into the causes of the stampede, who will submit its report within a month.
12. Late Pt Ravi Shankar honoured with Lifetime Achievement Grammy award
i. Sitar legend late Pandit Ravi Shankar has been honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Grammy award at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.
ii. Three-time Grammy winner Pt. Ravi Shanker is credited with introducing Indian classical music to the West.
13. China welcomes Year of Snake
i. People across China welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Snake with celebrations last night, setting off firecrackers in the streets and sending fireworks blazing into the sky to bring good fortune.’
ii. Celebrations carried on into the early hours today, officially the first day of the Lunar New Year.
NOTE: i. The Lunar New Year is the most important festival in the Chinese calendar.
ii. On the first day of the lunar New Year, many people visited temples and paid respect to their ancestors, a tradition which has been upheld for thousands of years. The celebrations will last for two weeks.
14. Pope to resign on Feb. 28, conclave in March
i. Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years.
ii. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.
iii. The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.
NOTE: The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.
15. Ranchi Rhinos are champions of inaugural HIL
i. Ranchi Rhinos win the inaugural Hockey India League by beating Delhi Waveriders 2-1 in a thrilling summit clash in front of a capacity home crowd at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium in Ranchi on Sunday.
ii. As expected, the title clash, a match between the two best outfits of the tournament, displayed scintillating hockey by both Delhi and Ranchi, which was fast and free-flowing.
iii. The Rhinos seemed to enjoy playing in front of a vociferous home crowd as they overshadowed the Waveriders, at least, in the first quarter.
iv. Earlier in the day, Uttar Pradesh Wizards rode on captain V R Raghunath's four goals, including a hat-trick, to finish third, defeating Jaypee Punjab Warriors 4-3 in the bronze medal play-off match.
16. Rest of India claims Irani Cup for eighth consecutive time
i. Rest of India retained the Irani Cup for the eighth year in succession having got the better of Mumbai on the basis of first innings lead at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
ii. Chasing 507 to win the home team had made 160 for four in reply (54 overs), when the match was called off after the third mandatory over, 40 minutes after the tea interval.
iii. Wasim Jaffer completed a highly-successful first-class season with a polished century (101, 141b, 10x4) in the second innings of the Irani Cup match against Rest of India at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday.
iv. He also became the highest run-getter in the tournament with 1008 runs [Gundappa Viswanath held the record with 1001].
17. Qatar Open Tennis Championship starts today
i. Qatar Open Tennis Championship gets underway in Doha today.
ii. Nine out of top 10 ranking women tennis players are taking part in the tournament for the title and the purse string of 2,369,000 dollar.
iii. World Number one, Victoria Azrenka, number two Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Li Na, Samantha Stosur, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelana Jnkovich, Ana Ivanovich are among the top ranking women participating in the tournament.
18. Nigeria wins Africa Cup of Nations Football tournament
i. Nigeria has won the Africa Cup of Nations Football tournament beating Burkina Faso 1-0 in the final in Johannesburg.
ii. The victory was Nigeria's first African title in 19 years.
19. Lydia Ko Became Youngest Winner Of European Tour Golf Event
i. Lydia Ko, the teenager became youngest winner of a women's European Tour golf event by winning at New Zealand Women's Open in Christchurch on 10 February 2013.
ii. This is her third victory of the professional title. She is aged just 15 years, eight months and 17 days.
iii. Lydia Ko in the meanwhile, also became the third amateur, who won on women's European Tour.
NOTE: i. Ko at present is at number 38 on professional rankings of the world. She will go for Australian Open in Canberra that would kick off on 14 February 2013.
ii. Her first victory was in pro tour event which took place at ALPG's Bing Lee Samsung Women's NSW Open in early 2012 when Lydia Ko was just 14 years of age.
iii. Her second victory came at 2012’s Canadian Women's Open.
20. Australia enter final of ICC Women's World Cup
i. Five-time champions Australia have entered the final of the ICC Women's World Cup after thrashing Sri Lanka by nine wickets in their second Super Six match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
ii. In response to Sri Lanka's paltry 131 runs score, Australia chased down the target in just 22.2 overs. This was Australia's fifth successive victory in the tournament.
21. Advani becomes 2nd Indian to qualify for Welsh Open
i. Pankaj Advani added another feather to his illustrious cap as the eight-time world champion became only the second Indian cueist to qualify for the main draw of Welsh Open Pro Snooker Series.
ii. Pankaj Advani defeated former world champion Peter Ebdon 4-3 in a nail-biting encounter to enter the draw of 32 in the Welsh Open in Sheffield.
22. Nadal loses to Zeballos in singles final
i. Rafael Nadal suffered a loss (6-7 (2) 7-6 (6) 6-4)to Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in final of the VTR Open in Chile on Sunday.
ii. Zeballos won his first singles title on any surface and looked every bit the equal of the seven-time French Open champion.
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