Notes:
Weightlifter Jeremy Lalrinnunga from Mizoram has recently clinched silver in men’s 67kg category & fetched India’s second medal in the EGAT’s Cup International Weightlifting Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Lalrinnunga lifted 131kg in the snatch and 157kg in clean and jerk for a total of 288 kg. Earlier, in the on-going event, world champion Saikhom Mirabai Chanu had won a gold in the women’s 48-kilogram category with a total lift of 192 kilograms.

Notes:
The 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS 13) will be held at 15th to 22nd February 2020 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Recently, the Government of India (GoI) has announced that the Great Indian Bustard (GIB) will be its mascot for CMS COP-13. It is an environmental treaty under the aegis of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Representatives from 129 Parties and eminent conservationists and international NGOs working in the field of wildlife conservation are expected to attend the COP. India has been a Party to the CMS since 1983. The Conference of Parties (COP) is the decision-making organ of this convention. CMS, also known as the Bonn Convention, recognizes that States must be the protectors of migratory species that live within or pass through their national jurisdictions and aims to conserve terrestrial, marine, and avian migratory species throughout their ranges.

Notes:
The first-ever World Pulses Day (WPD) is observed on 10th February to raise awareness about the multiple benefits of eating pulses. Pulses are a type of leguminous crop that are harvested solely for the dry seed. Dried beans, lentils and peas are the most commonly known and consumed types of pulses. Pulses do not include crops that are harvested green (e.g. green peas, green beans)—these are classified as vegetable crops. In 2018, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) designated 10 February as World Pulses Day (WPD) to keep alive the positive momentum surrounding these healthy, nutritious, protein-rich, nitrogen-fixing legumes after FAO’s successful 2016 International Year of Pulses (IYP) Campaign.

Notes:
The third edition of Swachh Shakti-2019 was held at Kurukshetra, Haryana on February 12, which was attended by woman sarpanches and women associated with the ‘Swachhta’ campaign from across the country. It is a national event to recognize the leadership role played by rural women in Swachh Bharat Mission towards achieving a Clean and Open Defecation Free (ODF) country by 2nd October 2019. Around 15,000 women participated in this year’s Swachh Shakti event aimed at empowering the women. Prime Minister Narendra Modi distributed the ‘Swachh Shakti 2019’ awards too. The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in association with the Govt. of Haryana organized the Swachh Shakti-2019. Best practices from grass root level in the rural areas for Swachh Bharat will be shared by them. The event will showcase the achievements of Swachh Bharat and the recently conducted Swachh Sunder Shauchalay, (neat and clean toilet) – a unique and first of its kind in the world campaign.

Notes:
The Rajasthan Assembly has recently passed two Bills which seek to end the minimum education criterion for panchayat and civic poll candidates. The House passed by voice vote the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2019 and the Rajasthan Municipality (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The previous Vasundhara Raje-led government had introduced education criterion in 2015 which required a candidate to pass Class X for contesting zila parishad, panchayat samiti and municipal elections. Defending the bill, Panchayati Raj Minister Sachin Pilot stated that the previous Act was against the basics of the Constitution. Society cannot be divided on the basis of education. He further stated that education criterion should first be introduced for contesting Assembly and parliamentary elections.

Notes:
On 14th of February, the Bihar government announced a universal old age pension scheme – Mukhyamantri Vridhajan Pension Yojna (MVPY) for all people above 60 years of age. The scheme will come into force from the 1st of April 2019. Except those senior citizens who have retired from government service, all will be eligible for Rs. 400 monthly pension irrespective of caste, religion or community. Currently old age pension scheme is applicable to only the BPL category. The Chief Minister also announced a pension of Rs. 6,000 for journalists above 60 years of age. Those who have been in regular service in the field of media and not getting any other pension will be eligible for Bihar Patrakar Samman Yojana (BPSY). This scheme will also be implemented from the 1st of April 2019.

Notes:
Sushil Chandra, an IRS-IT officer of the 1980 batch, has assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner (EC) of India on 15th of February 2019. Prior to joining ECI, he was the Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).With his appointment, the Commission now has Sunil Arora as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Ashok Lavasa and Mr Chandra as the two commissioners. The Commission is expected to announce the date and the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls by the end of this month.

Notes:
Frank Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji, has been conferred with ‘Sustainable Development Leadership Award 2019’ at the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS-2019) in New Delhi. He won the award for his outstanding contributions towards sustainable development in Fiji. The summit reiterated India’s vision for a greener tomorrow and to focus on energy transitions, clean oceans, mobilising development finance, environmental sustainability and sustainable mobility. Over 2000 delegates and speakers from over 40 countries participated in the summit. The summit was organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). At the event, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has collaborated with TERI to set up a Resource Efficiency Cell to help frame blueprint for national integrated resource efficiency policy. The cell will enable inter-ministerial and inter-departmental synergy in promoting material resource efficiency in India while helping frame the blueprint of the integrated resource efficiency policy for India.

Notes:
India has recently signed a security protection agreement with Sweden that will enable both countries to share classified information with each other. The agreement was signed on during Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s visit to the Nordic country. Sweden has had similar agreements with over 30 countries around the world, as well as with the EU and NATO. The Nordic countries are generally considered to refer to Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, including their associated territories (Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the Åland Islands).

Notes:
The Supreme Court has recently directed all state governments to sensitize their police personnel about scrapped Section 66A of Information Technology Act of 2000 so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the provision. The Supreme court has also asked all the high courts to send the copy of the verdict to all the trial courts to avoid people being prosecuted under the scrapped provision.The court disposed off the application filed by an NGO alleging that people were still being prosecuted under the provision. The section 66A of IT Act provided for jail term to people who post offensive content online and it was scrapped by the apex court in March 2015.