• The government of India raised the investment limit for angel tax exemption to Rs 25 crore and extended the period of availing benefits to 10 years for startups.
• The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India contracted by 7% to US$ 33.49 billion during April-December in the current fiscal.
• The RBI withdrew the 20% limit on investments by FPIs in corporate bonds of an entity.

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• Dr.G C Anupama became the first woman of the country to be elected President of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI).
• The Supreme Court appointed retired Justice D.K. Jain as the first BCCI ombudsman.
• Justice Uma Nath Singh took oath as the First Lokayukta of Nagaland.
• PayU India appointed Anirban Mukherjee as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

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• A state-of-the-art National Cyber Forensic Lab (NCFL) and the Delhi Police’s cyber crime unit ‘CyPAD’ were inaugurated on 18 February 2019.
• India’s first fulldome 3D Digital Theatre was inaugurated at the Science City on 18 Feb 2019 in Kolkata.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Virtual Experiential Museum (VEM) in Man Mahal in Varanasi on 19 February 2019.

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• US investment bank, JP Morgan Chase became the first US bank to offer its own cryptocurrency.
• The world’s largest bee, Flying Bulldog, was rediscovered in a remote part of Indonesia.
• On 23 February 2019, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has declared a year-long state of emergency.
• China unveiled the world’s first female Artificial Intelligence (AI) news anchor.

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• The World Day of Social Justice is observed on 20 February to promote equal rights and opportunities among people within a country and between nations.
• The International Mother Language Day is observed every year on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promote multilingualism.

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• Argentina became the 72nd country to sign the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
• Saudi Arabia signed the framework agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) on 20 February 2019.
• India and Sri Lanka signed a MoU to establish a business centre for ICT incubators in Jaffna through grant of 25 crore Sri Lankan rupees from India on 21 Feb 2019.

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• The Cabinet approved the launch of Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) to provide financial and water security to farmers.
• The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) launched Operation Digital Board (ODB) to provide better digital education in schools.
• Madhya Pradesh government launched its flagship ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’ on 22 February 2019

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• Odisha government approved a Rs 466 crore ‘Khusi’ scheme on 22 February 2019.
• The aim of the scheme is to improve menstrual hygiene among adolescent girl students in the state.
• Under the scheme, free sanitary napkins will be provided to 17.25 lakh adolescent girl students of Class-VI to XII studying in government and non-government aided schools of the state.

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• Tamil Nadu became the first state in the country to get a second Coast Guard district headquarters in Thoothukudi.
• The first district headquarters are in Chennai.
• The Thoothukudi district headquarters were set up with an aim to augment security mechanism on the eastern coast.
• It will function under the administrative and operational control of the Commander Coast Guard Region (East).

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• PM Narendra Modi launched India Korea startup hub in Seoul on Feb 21, 2019.
• India is one of the most open countries for FDI today and more than 90% of its sectors are now on automatic route for approval.
• India has become the 6th largest producer of renewable energy in the world, as said by PM Modi during the launch.

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• India and Sri Lanka signed a MoU to establish a business centre for ICT incubators in Jaffna through grant of 25 crore Sri Lankan rupees from India on 21 Feb 2019.
• The centre would provide opportunities and enhance the enabling environment for Information Communication Technology (ICT).
• India’s overall commitment of development assistance to Sri Lanka stands at a total of 3 billion US$.

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• Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, EPFO decided to provide 8.65% interest on Provident Fund deposits for 2018-19 against 8.55% in the last year.
• Members of the Central Board of Trustees of EPFO agreed to give a higher interest for subscribers for the current fiscal.
• The proposal will now go to the Finance Ministry for approval.

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• President Ram Nath Kovind promulgated 4 Ordinances on 21 Feb 2019.
• The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Second Ordinance is one of those, declares the practice of instant triple talaq to be void and illegal.
• It will also make the offence punishable with imprisonment up to three years and fine.

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• Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) unveiled its new product, the Atmospheric Water Generator (AWG) at Aero India 2019 on 21 Feb 2019.
• It was inaugurated by the Chief of the Army Staff General Bipin Rawat.
• The AWG can be used to generate water straight from the humidity present in the atmosphere.
• It is configurable in static and mobile (vehicular) versions.

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• The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the “Waste to Wonder” Park under the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) in New Delhi on 21 Feb,19.
• He also lauded SDMC for improving its rank from 202 to 32 in Swachh Sarvekshan, 2018 ranking.
• Some of the main attractions of the “Seven Wonders Park” are the different sized tall replicas of Taj Mahal, the Great Pyramid of Giza, etc.

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• The ‘ATL Drone module: Get, Set, Go’ for Atal Tinkering Labs was launched at the ongoing Aero India 2019 in Bengaluru.
• It was launched by NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Drona Aviation, an IIT Bombay start-up.
• With the ATL Drone Module, young students of India will learn how to create their own drones and use them for solving community problems in India.

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• A book dedicated to Late eminent Vedanti Swami Pragyanandji was launched by Governor of West Bengal H.E Keshari Nath Tripathi.
• The book is written by Famous Industrialist and Philanthropist Mr. Dinesh Shahra.
• It is primarily aimed at offering saintly wisdom and guidance to lead a content and happy life.

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• The Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed a Bill to make Sanskrit the second official language of the state.
• The Himachal Pradesh Official Language Bill, 2019 (Amendment) was introduced by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Mahender Singh Thakur.
• It was passed without any discussion.

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• A drainage-cleaning robot has been introduced for the first time in Chennai as part of efforts to get rid of manual scavenging.
• The robot named Bandicoot was introduced at a cost of 18 lakh rupees and was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Minister Kadambur Raju.
• Drainage cleaning can be detected by viewing the blockages on the screen.

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• RBI has released a warning regarding an app called AnyDesk.
• You should not download this app through social media or any other channel, doing so might empty your bank account within minutes.
• RBI alerted banks about potential fraudulent transactions on the unified payments interface (UPI) platform.

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• The 10-day long Taj Mahotsav began on 18 February 2019 with the theme ‘Parampara’.
• It was inaugurated at Shilpgram by the Governor of UP Ram Naik.
• Popular playback singers including Usha Uthup and Kumar Sanu will also be performing during this cultural carnival.

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• Jitendra Singh Rathore of Rajasthan won the 50 km event in the 6th Open National Race Walking Championship in Chennai on 17 Feb 2019.
• He completed the race in a time of 4:23:23.00, pushing Joshi Sagar of Gujarat (4:24:21.00) to second place.
• Boys 10 km was won by Suraj Panwar, while Rogi Patel won the Girls 10 km.

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• A UAE-based international cooling provider entered into a 30-year concession with Andhra Pradesh government to build India’s first district cooling system in Amaravati.
• The agreement was signed between the National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) and Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA).
• This will be the company’s first plant outside its GCC market.

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• US investment bank, JP Morgan Chase became the first US bank to offer its own cryptocurrency.
• The cryptocurrency, called ‘JPM Coin’ will always have a value equivalent to one US dollar.
• It will be initially used internally between JPMorgan Chase’s wholesale business clients.
• The bank had also built an Ethereum-based blockchain platform for business customers in 2018.

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• The Reserve Bank of India withdrew the 20% limit on investments by FPIs in corporate bonds of an entity.
• It was stipulated in April 2018 that no FPI should have an exposure of more than 20% of its corporate bond portfolio to a single corporate.
• This has been done with a view to encourage more foreign investments.

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• A poem on the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, ‘Khooni Vaisakhi’, by Punjabi writer Nanak Singh has now been translated into English.
• It was banned by the British in 1920.
• Singh was present at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919, and was 22 years old at the time.
• It will be published by Harper Collins India in March to mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

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• Sunil Chhetri was conferred the first ever Football Ratna honour by Football Delhi.
• The award was presented by Football Delhi President Shaji Prabhakaran, a former player, and administrator at the All India Football Federation and FIFA.
• Football Delhi also honoured Shubham Sarangi, youth player from Delhi, currently the player of Delhi Dynamos squad for ISL.

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• Abdul Aziz Muhamat, a Sudanese refugee won the prestigious Martin Ennals human rights prize.
• He has been held in Australia’s notorious offshore Manus Island processing centre for over 5 years.
• Muhamat, from the Zaghawa ethnic group of Darfur, in north-western Sudan, was granted refugee status in early 2015.

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• Infosys announced the launch of a digital platform, InfyTQ, offering learning and engagement experiences for engineering students.
• It is a free platform open to all engineering students in their third and fourth year and encourages holistic development.
• It will be available on both mobile and desktop and is equipped with a plethora of content, courses, and news.

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• Saina Nehwal beat P V Sindhu to retain her women’s singles crown at the 83rd Yonex Sunrise Senior Badminton Nationals on 16 Feb 2019.
• She registered a 21-18 21-15 against P V Sindhu.
• Saina Nehwal won her fourth Senior Nationals title
• It was held in Guwahati.

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• World Sustainable Development Summit 2019 was held at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 16 Feb 2019.
• The theme of WSDS 2019 was ‘Attaining the 2030 Agenda: delivering on our promise’.
• Frank Bainimarama, PM of Fiji was honoured with the Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2019 for his outstanding contributions towards sustainable development in Fiji.

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• India raised the customs duty to 200% on all goods imported from Pakistan, as a strong action against the Pulwama attack.
• The 2 main items imported from Pakistan are cement and fruits, on which the current customs duty is 7.5% and 30-50% respectively.
• India also revoked the MFN (Most Favored Nation) status to Pakistan after this incidence.

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• Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik inaugurated and laid foundation stones for development projects in Kalahandi district on 16 Feb 2019.
• He inaugurated the Red Medium Irrigation Project which will benefit 79 villages and provide irrigation facility for 8500 hectares of agricultural land.
• Apart from this, he laid foundation stones for 38 development projects and launched 23 projects.

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• President of Argentina Mauricio Macri arrived in New Delhi on 17 Feb 2019 on a 3-day official visit to India.
• Delegation level talks were held to review progress in bilateral ties and explore new avenues of cooperation.
• The President of Argentina also addressed the Plenary Session of India-Argentina Business Forum.

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• Vidarbha defended its Irani Cup title on 16 Feb 2019 at the Jamtha Stadium in Nagpur.
• The Irani Cup tournament was conceived during the 1959-60 season to mark the completion of 25 years of the Ranji Trophy championship.
• It is related to cricket.

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• Belgium’s Elise Mertens claimed the Qatar Open by beating top seed Simona Halep by 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, in tennis.
• This is her first-ever WTA Premier-level crown, and the fifth title of her career overall.
• Mertens is world number 21.

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• A Regional Conference on Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS) was held at Kolkata, West Bengal on 18 Feb 2019.
• It was organised by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD).
• Under the scheme, every year more than 600 NGOs are provided with financial assistance for running their projects for the rehabilitation of persons with disability.

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• The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), organised a 2-day workshop on “Committee of Creditors: An Institution of Public Faith” on 15-16 Feb,19 in Mumbai.
• It was the first of its kind organised jointly with State Bank of India (SBI) & Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA).
• Dr. MS Sahoo (Chairperson-IBBI) & Mr. Rajnish Kumar (Chairman-SBI) were some of the faculty members.

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• PM Narendra Modi unveiled projects in Barauni on 17 Feb 2019 to boost development in various sectors.
• He laid the foundation stone of Patna Metro Rail Project and inaugurated the Phulpur to Patna stretch of the Jagdishpur-Varanasi Natural Gas pipeline.
• He also inaugurated the 1st phase of River Front Development at Patna and laid foundation Stone for the Karmalichak Sewerage Network.

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• The President of India presented the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony on 18 Feb 2019 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi.
• The award was presented to Shri Rajkumar Singhajit Singh; Chhayanaut, and Shri Ram Sutar Vanji for the years 2014, 2015 & 2016 respectively.
• The award was instituted from 2012.
• It is awarded annually and carries an amount of Rs.1 crore, citation, and Plaque.

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• PM Narendra Modi visited Hazaribagh in Jharkhand on 17 February 2019 to unveil several development projects.
• He inaugurated the Medical Colleges at Hazaribagh, Dumka, and Palamu.
• He also inaugurated 4 Rural Water Supply Schemes in Ramgarh and Hazaribagh districts.
• He e-inaugurated the Only Women Engineering College at Ramgarh.

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• Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan (PM-SYM) Scheme was implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on 15 Feb 2019.
• The features of the scheme are family pension and minimum assured pension.
• The unorganised workers whose monthly income is Rs 15,000/per month or less and belong to the entry age group of 18-40 years are eligible for the scheme.

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• Bradley Cooper was awarded the ‘Oscat’ by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
• The animal rights organisation awarded the best director award to Cooper for his enlightened decision to cast his own canine companion in ‘A Star Is Born’.
• PETA is an American animal rights organisation based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president.

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• B P Sharma was re-employed as the CMD of the state-run helicopter manufacturer Pawan Hans.
• He was the CMD of Pawan Hans earlier in March 2015.
• He will be serving for a period of 5 months.
• Pawan Hans has a fleet of more than 50 helicopters.

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• President Ram Nath Kovind appointed Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Sushil Chandra as an Election Commissioner.
• The post had fallen vacant after the appointment of the then Election Commissioner Sunil Arora as Chief Election Commissioner.
• Ashok Lavasa is the senior-most Election Commissioner.

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• Minister of State for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik launched the e-AUSHADHI portal, on 13 Feb 2019 at New Delhi.
• It is launched for online licensing of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy drugs and related matters.
• AUSHADHI is an acronym for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy Automated Drug Help Initiative.

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• Ruchira Kamboj was appointed as the Indian envoy to Bhutan on 11th Feb 2019.
• She is an Indian Foreign Service Officer from the 1987 batch and currently India’s High Commissioner to South Africa.
• She was appointed by the Ministry of External Affairs.

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• RBI has decided to alter the definition of bulk deposits in the recent monetary policy review.
• It has been revised as single deposits of Rs 2 crore and above.
• Final guidelines regarding this will be issued by the end of Feb 2019. Banks have also been asked to maintain their bulk deposit card rates.
• This indicates that the interest rates are expected to go down.

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• Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Smt Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated Cremica Mega Food Park through a video conference on 10 Feb 2019.
• This is the first Mega Food Park of Himachal Pradesh located at Singhain village, Una district.
• The park has been set up at a cost of Rs. 107.34 crores and will provide facilities such as frozen storage, dry warehouse, deep freeze, QC lab, etc.

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• Air Chief Marshal, Birendra Singh Dhanoa, Chief of the Indian Air Force, went on a 4-day official visit to Bangladesh from 11-14 Feb 2019.
• He will visit operational and training units of Bangladesh Air Force. This is a bilateral goodwill visit to a SAARC nation.
• He will also meet the PM and Chiefs of 3 defense services in Bangladesh. The visit will increase defence cooperation.

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• An MoU was signed between Mongolia and Engineers India Ltd., on 10th Feb 2019.
• Engineers India Ltd. is a PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• It has been signed for Project Management Consultancy services for construction of an oil refinery plant in Mongolia by EIL.
• A 1.5 MMTPA greenfield crude oil refinery will be set up in the Sainshand.

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