SM Current Affairs FEBRUARY 2021 Set 02

PREFACE

It gives us great pleasure to release the monthly edition of the PRAVAHINI - Monthly e-Compendium & Weekly e-Periodicals of Current Affairs. The magazine’s members have shown considerable cooperation as well as devotion. We at successmantra.in work tirelessly to create this magazine and bring it to you with a great sense of gratitude.

The PRAVAHINI February-2021 eBook covers the current events that happened in the month of October. Current Affairs is a crucial component of any competitive exams including CLAT, AILET, DU-LLB, HM, CAT, IAS, PCS, SSC, Banking, MBA and various other competitive examinations.

Current Affairs play the bigger role in many competitive and government exams. It holds the power of making or breaking your chance of success. Therefore, the candidates should cover the Current Affairs thoroughly and smartly.

The PRAVAHINI February-2021 eBook is divided into different sections keeping in mind the need of various exams. The sections covered namely International, National, Economy, Ecology and Environment, Science & Technology, Legal Affairs, Sports, States News Makers and few others.

We would also be pleased to receive any suggestion that could assist us with the upcoming editions.

Success Mantra (GTB Nagar, Delhi)

Website: www.successmantra.in

Mail Id: [email protected]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. National Affairs
2. International Affairs
3. Economic Affairs
4. Appointments
5. Awards And Honors
6. Important Dates & Sports
7. Reports And Indexes
8. Science & Tech
9. Miscellaneous

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

WORLD SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SUMMIT 2021

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the World Sustainable Development Summit 2021 through video conferencing.
• The theme of the Summit is ‘Redefining our common future: Safe and secure environment for all’. 2021 WSD Summit is the 20th edition of the flagship event organised by ‘The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)’.
• The Summit will bring together a wide number of governments, business leaders, academicians, climate scientists, youth, and the civil society in the fight against climate change.

PRADHAN MANTRI URJA GANGA PROJECT

• PM is responsible for the 348 km Dobhi-Durgapur Natural Gas Pipeline section across the country, which is part of the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project.
• This is a natural gas pipeline project that aims to provide cooking gas to people. It was launched in Varanasi in 2016 and later expanded to people in the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand.
• The government is actively connecting the eastern states with the national gas grid. The total length of the pipeline under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga project is approximately 3,384 kilometers, of which 766 kilometers of pipelines are located in Orissa, and the remaining 2,618 kilometers are located in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Assam.

J&K REORGANISATION (AMENDMENT) ACT 2021

• Rajya Sabha passed the “Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Act 2021" on February 8, 2021 by voice vote.
• The bill seeks to replace the decree to merge the cadres of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the civil servants of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, and Mizoram Confederate Territories (AGMUT).
• After Article 370 of the region was revoked, the "Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Amendment) Act 2021" was passed and the "Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act" was promulgated in 2019.

'JALABHISHEKAM CAMPAIGN' LAUNCHED IN MP

• The state government of Madhya Pradesh has launched a water conservation campaign called ‘Jalabhishekam’, under which more than 57,000 water structures has been constructed.
• The campaign was inaugurated by the Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh
• Water conservation work is being undertaken with public participation and will be helpful in achieving the goal of building self-reliant Madhya Pradesh. The Campaign will also fulfil the intention of ‘water for every farm and work for every hand’. The water structures were created during COVID era by linking the work with the MNREGA scheme.

PM MODI DEDICATED ARJUN MK-1A TO ARMY

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has handed over the indigenous main battle tank Arjun Mk-1A to the Army in a function at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
• Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane received the model of the tank, designed and developed by Chennai-based Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (CVRDE), a unit of the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).
• A tank made in Tamil Nadu will be used in our northern borders to keep the nation safe.

WORLD BANK SIGNS 100 MILLION USD FOR CHIRAAG

• Indian Govt and Chhattisgarh Govt has signed a $100 million for CHIRAAG (Chhattisgarh Inclusive Rural and Accelerated Agriculture Growth) project with the World bank.
• The main purpose is to develop sustainable production systems that allow tribal households in remote areas of Chhattisgarh to practice round-the-year production of diversified and nutritious food.
• The project will be implemented in the southern tribal-majority region of the state where a large population is undernourished and poor.

INDIA JOINS IRAN AND RUSSIA IN MARITIME SECURITY

• India joined Iran and Russia in the naval exercise dubbed as “Iran-Russia Maritime Security Belt 2021”, which kicked-off in the northern part of the Indian Ocean.
• The Chinese navy will also join the exercise. The purpose of the drill is to enhance the security of international maritime trade, confront maritime piracy and terrorism, and exchange information.
• The drill will cover an area of 17,000 square kilometres (6,500 square miles). It will include shooting at sea and air targets and liberating hijacked ships, as well as search and rescue and anti-piracy operations. The exercise ‘Iran-Russia Maritime Security Belt’ is so flexible that any country could join if they wish to do so.

DHARMENDRA PRADHAN PARTICIPATES IN 11TH IEA

• The 11th IEA-IEF-OPEC Symposium on Energy Outlooks was held virtually on February 17, 2021, under the patronage of the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud.
• From India, the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan, participated in the symposium.
• The trilateral symposium discussed the long-term outlooks of key producer and consumer countries, apart from the comparative analysis of short, medium, and long-term energy outlooks that OPEC and the IEA published in 2020.

KIRAN BEDI REMOVED AS LT. GOVERNOR OF PUDUCHERRY

• Kiran Bedi, the Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry, has been removed from the top position.
• Tamilisai Soundararajan, the Governor of Telangana, has been given additional charge as the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry till a permanent replacement will be announced.
• The development comes in the backdrop of a major shake-up in the Puducherry Assembly after several Congress legislators resigned ahead of the Assembly elections due this year.

PM MODI TO CHAIR NITI AAYOG COUNCIL MEETING

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair the NITI Aayog Council meeting on February 20, 2021. During this meeting, problems related to agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure and human resource development will be discussed. This will be the 6th meeting of the Council.
• The newly added UT Ladakh will attend the meeting for the first time. Jammu and Kashmir will also participate as joint territories this year. Other Union territories led by the administrator will also join the conference.
• Ex-officio members of the council will also attend the meeting; the vice-chairman and union minister. The member and CEO of NITI Aayog and other senior officials of the Indian government will also attend the meeting.

SAARC VIRTUAL MEETING TO BE HOSTED BY INDIA

• India hold a virtual health secretary-level meeting with the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
• The virtual conference held on February 18, 2021. During the meeting, members discussed the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Pakistan was also invited to participate in the meeting.
• The virtual conference discusses challenges and developments related to COVID-19 management and pandemic response. Members exchanges best practices on the ongoing pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also raised the Coronavirus Emergency Fund COVID-19 crisis.
• The purpose of establishing the emergency fund is to reduce the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in South Asia.

CABINET APPROVES PLI SCHEME FOR TELECOM SECTOR

• The Union Cabinet approved a Rs 12,195-crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for domestic manufacturing of telecom and networking products such as switches, routers, radio access network, wireless equipment and other IoT access devices.
• Through this decision, the government aims to offset the imports of telecom equipment worth more than Rs 50,000 crore and reinforce it with “Made in India” products both for domestic markets and exports.
• The support under the PLI scheme will be provided to companies manufacturers of specified telecom and networking products in India like Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPON), base routers, Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS/ IPMPLS) and 5G/4G radios.
• The government will soon come up with a PLI scheme to encourage the production of laptops and tablet PCs.

PM LAUNCHES MAHABAHU-BRAHMPUTRA IN ASSAM

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has virtually launched ‘Mahabahu-Brahmaputra’ initiative in Assam. He laid the foundation stone for the Dhubri Phulbari bridge.
• PM also perform the bhumi puja for the construction of Majuli Bridge in Assam. PM has announced the details stated that the landmark day in the development journey for Assam as Mahabahu-Brahmaputra initiative is going to be launched.
• Mahabahu-Brahmaputra initiative is going to be marked with the inauguration of the Ro-Pax vessel operations.
• The Ro-Pax vessel operations will be launched in between the Neamatighat & Majuli, Dhubri-Hatsingimari and North-South Guwahati. This initiative also includes the inauguration of the Inland Water Transport Terminal at Jogighopa.
• The initiative will also be marked with the inauguration of various tourist jetties at four locations in order to promote the river tourism and employment across the state

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

MARIO DRAGHI SWORN IN AS NEW PM OF ITALY

• The former European Central Bank Chief Mario Draghi has been sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Italy on 12 February 2021. The 73-year-old had served as President of the European Central Bank from 2011 until 2019.
• He replaces Giuseppe Conte, who resigned recently after losing majority support from his coalition government over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Here Italy goes again, with its 67th government since World War II.
• The politics of Italy are conducted through a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum and a constituent assembly was elected to draft a constitution, which was promulgated on 1 January 1948.

BABUR CRUISE MISSILE LAUNCHED BY PAKISTAN ARMY

• The Pakistan Army conducted a successful test-firing of a short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile ‘Babar’ on February 11, 2021. This test was the third missile test carried out over the past three weeks.
• The Babur cruise missile IA was launched from Multi Tube Missile Launch Vehicle. This missile is capable of hitting land and sea targets with “high precision” up to 450 kilometres away.
• Earlier, Pakistan army conducted a successful test of the surface-to-surface ballistic missile Shaheen-III in January 2021, followed by the ‘training launch’ of nuclear-capable ballistic mis­sile Ghaznavi in February 2021.

NEW START TREATY EXTENDED B/W RUSSIA & US

• The United States has extended the “New START” nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia for a period of five years.
• The New START, which stands for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation.
• The new strategic arms reduction treaty was formally signed on April 8, 2010, and after ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011. The New START treaty was set to expire on February 5, 2021, but both the parties have further extended it for five more years, till February 2026.

TURKEY'S TEN-YEAR SPACE PROGRAM

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced an ambitious ten-year space program that includes a mission to the moon, sending Turkish astronauts into space and developing international viable satellite system.
• Turkey plans to establish a "first contact with the moon" on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the nation in 2023.
• Turkey established the Turkish Space Agency (TUA) in 2018, aiming to include a few other countries in the space program. The first phase of the lunar mission will be completed under international cooperation. The second phase of the mission will use Turkish rockets.

CHINA BECOMES LARGEST TRADING PARTNER OF EU

• The People’s Republic of China has overtaken the United States (US) as the biggest trading partner of the European Union (EU) in 2020, according to the data by the European Union statistics agency, Eurostat.
• Britain, which left the European Union in 2020, was the third-largest trading partner for the bloc, behind China and the United States.
• The trade volume of the EU with China reached 586 billion euros ($711 billion) in 2020, compared to 555 billion euros ($673 billion) for the US. Bilateral trade with the UK reached 444.7 billion euros.
• The EU exports to China rose by 2.2 per cent to 202.5 billion euros while imports from China increased by 5.6 per cent to 383.5 billion euros.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

RBI LAUNCHES FINANCIAL LITERACY WEEK (FLW)

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched the Financial Literacy Week (FLW) from February 8-12, 2021, to propagate financial education.
• RBI conducts Financial Literacy Week (FLW) every year since 2016 to propagate financial education messages on a particular theme every year across the country, through a focused campaign.
• The theme for 2021 FLW is” Credit Discipline and Credit from Formal Institutions”. Banks have been advised to disseminate the information and create awareness among its customers and the general public.

RBI'S ANNUAL REPORT OF THE OMBUDSMAN SCHEME

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released the Annual Report of the Ombudsman Schemes for the year 2019-20. There was an increase of around 65 per cent in the receipt of complaints out of which almost 92 per cent have been disposed of.
• RBI has three Ombudsman- Banking, Non-Banking Finance Company (i.e. NBFC) and digital transactions. A common man can approach this Ombudsman for their grievances. As per the RBI’s report, all three received in total 3,30,543 complaints in 19-20 as compared to 2,00,362 in 18-19.
• Banking Ombudsman received major complaints regarding ATM & Debit Cards, Mobile & Electronic Banking while NBFC’s Ombudsmen received most complaints about non-observance of regulatory guidelines, lack of transparency in contract/ loan agreement and levy of charges without notice.

APPOINTMENTS

AJAY MATHUR AS NEW DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ISA

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) has announced Dr Ajay Mathur as its new Director-General following his election at the first special assembly of ISA members.
• Dr Mathur replaces Mr Upendra Tripathy, who has served as Director-General since the ISA was founded in 2015. ISA accelerates the demand for and use of safe, sustainable, and affordable solar energy for all.
• It aims to mobilize over $1 trillion USD of investment into solar projects by 2030 through focused advocacy, policy and regulatory support, capacity building, and overcoming perceived investment barriers.

PREETI SINHA IN UN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT FUND

• The UN Capital Development Fund has appointed Indian-origin investment and development banker Preeti Sinha as its Executive Secretary, the highest leadership rank in the institution.
• She succeeds Judith Karl. He will work with a focus on providing micro-finance assistance to women, youth, small and medium-sized enterprises in under-served communities.
• The New York-based United Nations Capital Development Fund is an autonomous UN organization affiliated with UNDP. It was established in 1966.
• The original mandate of UNCDF: to assist developing countries in the development of their economies by supplementing existing sources of capital assistance by means of grants and loans.
• The organisation provides micro-finance access to the 47 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of the world, to help them unlock the full potential of public and private finance.

AWARDS & HONOURS

SKOCH CHIEF MINISTER OF THE YEAR AWARD

• The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has been conferred the Skoch Chief Minister of the Year Award.
• The Award has been presented to the CM by Chairman, Skoch Group, Sameer Kochhar personally at Tadepalli in Andhra Pradesh. The award selection was based on a study of project-level outcomes in various States.
• Similarly, initiatives have been taken across the government to respond to COVID-19 and have shown desirable outcomes. All the above and more is evident in a year-long study of 123 projects from across sectors in Andhra Pradesh.
• The State has taken several revolutionary measures in the past two years to make governance more efficient and transparent. Innovative measures have been taken across sectors, the credit for which goes to the Chief Minister.

ROBERT IRWIN HAS WON THE WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER

• Robert Irwin, an Australian wildlife photographer, has won the first prize in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award Contest.
• Robert won the award for the image titled ‘bushfire’, which is the picture of the devastating Australian Bushfire in 2020, he captured using a drone, near the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve in Cape York, Queensland.
• Irwin’s image was chosen from a shortlist of 25 finalists that received a total of 55,486 votes. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the largest wildlife photography competition in the world, organised by the Natural History Museum.

ACI WORLD'S VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER AWARD

• The Bangalore International Airport Limited’s (BIAL) or Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru has bagged global recognition from the Airports Council International World’s ‘Voice of the Customer’ award.
• The ‘Voice of the Customer’ recognises airports that continued to prioritise their customers and remained committed to ensuring that their voice was heard during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
• BLR Airport has made significant efforts in gathering passenger feedback through ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme and this helped better understand the customers and demonstrate BIAL’s commitment towards delivering a superior customer experience under trying circumstances.

SPORTS

KING XI PUNJAB RENAMED AS PUNJAB KINGS

• The IPL Franchise, Kings XI Punjab has formally been renamed as Punjab Kings ahead of the Indian Premier League auction. .
• The new brand name and logo of the team was officially released by the management. The Punjab-based IPL franchise ‘Punjab Kings‘ is co-owned by Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, along with businessman Ness Wadia, Mohit Burman and Karn Paul.
• The side is currently led by batsman KL Rahul, with former Indian captain Anil Kumble as its head coach.

MANIKA BATRA WON NATIONAL TABLE TENNIS

• Manika Batra won the 82nd National Senior Table Tennis Championship. She defeated Reeth Rishya at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Panchkula.
• Batra will now participate in two WTT (World Team Tennis) contender competitions starting on February 28th. Next are the World Olympic Qualifiers and the Asian Olympic Qualifiers scheduled to be held in Doha on March 14th and 18.
• Manika Batra: She is a table tennis player in India. As of November 2020, she is the highest-ranked female table tennis player. She is ranked 63rd in the world.
• The player specializes in long-pimples on her backhand. Top players usually don't play. In 2020, she also won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
• Achievements of Manika: She won a silver medal in the 2011 Chile Open (under 21) category. She also represented India in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She completed the quarter-finals.
• She also participated in the 2014 Asian Games. In 2015, Manika Batra won three medals at the Commonwealth Table Tennis Championships. In 2018, she was the only Indian to receive the "Breakthrough Star Award" from ITTF.

IMPORTANT DAYS AND DATES

WORLD UNANI DAY: 11TH FEBRUARY

• World Unani Day has observed every year on 11th February. The main objective of World Unani Day is to spread awareness about health care delivery through the Unani system of medicine through its preventive and curative philosophy.
• This day is celebrated every year to mark the birth anniversary of great Unani scholar and social reformer Hakim Ajmal Khan. The first Unani Day was celebrated in 2017 at Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine (CRIUM), Hyderabad.
• It has the largest number of Unani educational, research and health care institutions. The Unani system of medicine originated in Greece. Its foundation was laid by Hippocrates.

INTERNATIONAL EPILEPSY DAY OBSERVED ON 8TH FEB

• The International Epilepsy Day is observed on the second Monday of February every year across the world. In 2021, the International Epilepsy Day was observed on February 08.
• The day is organised jointly by the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) and the International League against Epilepsy (ILAE) to raise awareness about epilepsy and highlight the kinds of problems faced by victims, their friends and family.
• Epilepsy is a neurological disorder which makes a person go through sudden and recurrent episodes of sensory disturbances.

NATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY OBSERVED ON 13TH FEB

• In India, the National Women’s Day is observed every year on 13 February to commemorate the birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu.
• This year Nation celebrates its 142nd Birth Anniversary. She was born on February 13, 1879. She was famous for her nickname ‘Nightingale of India’ or ‘Bharat Kokila’ because of her poems. Sarojini Naidu was not only a freedom fighter, but she also became the first woman governor of the United Provinces, the present Uttar Pradesh.
• She was one of the forefront leaders who led the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement. She was an important figure in India’s struggle for independence from colonial rule.

WORLD RADIO DAY: 13TH FEBRUARY

• World Radio Day is celebrated on 13 February each year to recognize radio as a powerful medium, which brings people together from every corner of the globe, to promote diversity and help build a more peaceful and inclusive world.
• The theme of World Radio Day 2021 is “New World, New Radio”. On the occasion of World Radio Day 2021 (WRD 2021), UNESCO calls on radio stations to celebrate this event’s 10th anniversary and the more than 110 years of radio through three sub-themes.
• The day was Proclaimed in 2011 by the Member States of UNESCO and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2012 as an International Day, February 13 became World Radio Day (WRD).

INTERNATIONAL MOTHER TONGUE DAY: 21ST FEBRUARY

• Since 2000, an International Mother Tongue Day has been held on February 21 every year to promote the diversity of languages and cultures and the use of multiple languages.
• The idea of celebrating International Mother Tongue Day is an initiative of Bangladesh. It was approved at the UNESCO General Conference in 1999 and has been observed all over the world since 2000.
• UNESCO celebrates "Language without Borders" on International Mother Tongue Day 2020.
• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared 2008 as the International Year of Languages. 40% of the global population cannot receive education in a language they speak or understand.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

CHINA'S TIANWEN-1 ENTERS MARS ORBIT

• On February 10, 2021, a Chinese spacecraft named "Tianwen 1" successfully entered Mars orbit. The probe entered MARS orbit after 6 and a half months from Earth.
• This is China's first independent mission on the Red Planet. After arriving near the track, the robot probe started and completed the 15-minute combustion of the thruster. The combustion of the propeller slows the speed of the spacecraft, so it can be captured by the gravity of Mars.
• The Astro One mission will attempt to send the landing module, which is rapidly descending for 7 minutes to carry a 240 kg rover. The rover will be sent to the northern hemisphere of Mars, called Utopia.

ISRO LAUNCHED SATELLITE TESTING FOR PRIVATE ONES

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has opened its UR Rao Satellite Centre for testing satellites developed by the private sector for the first time in its history.
• Two satellites, developed by the Indian startups SpaceKidz India and Pixxel (incorporated as Sygyzy) were tested at the UR Rao Satellite Centre.
• ISRO also helped these two companies in fixing problems with the solar panels on their respective satellites. So far in its history, the space agency has only taken help in manufacturing and fabrication of various parts of satellites and rockets from the Indian industry.
• Both these two companies will also test their engines at the Sriharikota spaceport and Thiruvananthapuram rocket centre in coming days.

MISCELLANEOUS

JUAL ORAM'S BOOK ECONOMIC AWARENESS IN INDIA

• Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Defence and MP Jual Oram has launched ‘Turn Around India: 2020- Surmounting Past Legacy’, a book on creating economic awareness among masses. The book is authored by RP Gupta.
• ‘Turn Around India: 2020’ is an intimate narrative of Gupta’s experiences and how he attained success through sheer hard work and determination.
• The book provides a practical and viable option for reviving Indian economy for creating new jobs and enlarging public income and also, the structural reforms such as fiscal and monetary stimuli for overcoming economic crisis arising due to pandemic.

VIJAYA NAGAR BECOMES 31ST DISTRICT OF KARNATAKA

• The Karnataka government notified that Vijayanagara City has officially become the 31st district of Karnataka. The headquarters of the region is located in Hosapete.
• Vijayanagara is located in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region. The area is also home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site Hampi and Virupaksha Temple.
• The Vijayanagara region is named after the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire. According to the Karnataka Land Income Act of 1964, the area was established outside the ore-rich Barali area.
• Hampi or Hampe is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the east-central part of Karnataka. The site is a Hindu pilgrimage center. The Hampi area was once the capital of the Vijay Niagara Empire in the 14th century. Hampi-Vijayanagara is the second largest medieval city in the world after Beijing.

PRIYANKA CHOPRA JONAS PENS MEMOIR 'UNFINISHED'

• Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas officially turned author with the release of her first book, “Unfinished: A Memoir”, which she described as “honest, raw and vulnerable”.
• The end result is a book, published by the Michael Joseph imprint, which covers her dual-continent 20-year-long career as an actor and producer and her work as a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador.
• The memoir promises to offer insights into Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ childhood in India, her formative teenage years in the US.

FOSSILS OF EARLIEST KNOWN LIVING ANIMAL

• Researchers discovered the three fossils of the earliest known living animal, the 550-million-year-old ‘Dickinsonia’ on the roof of the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters. These fossils were found on the roof of the Auditorium Cave of the Bhimbetka Rock Shelters.
• In September 2018, an international team of researchers claimed to have discovered the world’s oldest Dickinsonia fossil, which appeared approximately 571 million to 541 million years ago.
• The current fossil evidence can be traced back to Dickinsonia about 100 million years ago. It is an extinct genus of basal animal. It lived in the late Ediacaran period and is now Australia, Russia and Ukraine.
• These creatures are believed to represent the earliest flowering of complex multicellular life on Earth. They originated in a world without predators and did not require hard protective carapaces or skeletons.
• The discovery of cholesterol molecules in Dickinsonia’s fossils helps people think that Dickinsonia was an animal. This further proves the similar paleoenvironment and confirms the 550 Ma (mega annum) mainland assembly of Gondwana.

HYDERABAD-TREE CITY OF THE WORLD 2020

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) and the Arbor Day Foundation have confirmed Hyderabad as the 2020 Tree City of the World.
• Hyderabad is committed to the development and maintenance of urban forests, so it was awarded this honor. This recognition is a testament to New York City’s ongoing and institutional efforts to plant trees, cultivate and celebrate trees.
• Most cities are from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. After receiving World Tree City recognition, the city of Hyderabad will join a network of like-minded cities that recognize the importance of trees.

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