Here are Top GKToday’s News Headlines for February 21, 2020
INDIA
- Statehood Day of Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh celebrated, both got statehood on February 20, 1987
- Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal Florican classified as “endangered migratory species” by the UN’s Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species
- IRCTC-operated Varanasi-Indore Kashi Mahakal Express starts its commercial run; connects Jyotirlinga Omkareshwar (near Indore in MP), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain, MP) and Kashi Vishwanath (Varanasi in UP)
- 10th edition of Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad (Indian Student Parliament) being organised in New Delhi on February 20-23
- Ideal Legislative Assembly Speaker/Ideal Legislative Council Chairman Award presented to the Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly P. Ramakrishnan at Bharatiya Chhatra Sansad
- Railway Board, University of Birmingham of UK launch Joint Masters programme in Railway Systems Engineering and Integration at Vadodara-based National Rail Transportation Institute (NRTI)
- World Bank releases report “Delivering Road Safety in India” at the ‘Third Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety’ in Stockholm
ECONOMY & CORPORATE
- RBI approves appointment of Sunil Gurbaxani as MD & CEO of Dhanlaxmi Bank
- Banks Board Bureau recommends G.R. Chinatala as the next Chairman of NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development)
- Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw named EY Entrepreneur of Year 2019
WORLD
- Indian freelance reporter Ahmer Khan named winner of the 2019 Agence France-Presse (AFP) Kate Webb Prize
- Sweden creates two Food Planet Prize prizes, each worth USD 1 million, for solutions to feed billions of people
- Larry Tesler, the computer pioneer who created the cut, copy and paste features, dies at 74
- UNESCO celebrating International Mother Language Day on February 21 with theme as ‘Languages without Borders’; day celebrated as Matribhasha Diwas in India
- World Day of Social Justice celebrated by UN on February 20; theme: “Closing the Inequalities Gap to Achieve Social Justice”
- External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar opens the India Pavilion at Berlin International Film Festival in Germany
- India will be the Guest of Honour at the International Tourism Fair of Madagascar in June
- South Sudan president Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar agree to form unity government
SUSTAINABILITY INDEX
- India was ranked 77th while Burundi was first on Sustainability Index that takes into account per capita carbon emissions and ability of children in a nation to live healthy lives.
- Index released by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal.
CHILD FLOURISHING INDEX
- India was ranked 131st while Norway was first on Child Flourishing Index that measures the best chance at survival and well-being for children.
- Index released by the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and The Lancet medical journal.
SPORTS
- Asian Wrestling Championship in New Delhi: Sarita Devi (59kg), Pinki Jangra (55kg), Divya Kakran (68kg) win gold, Nirmala Devi (50kg) wins silver in women’s freestyle category.
ESPN MULTI-SPORTS AWARDS
- Badminton player P. V. Sindhu wins ESPN’s ‘Female Sportsperson of the Year’ award
- Shooter Saurabh Chaudhary wins ESPN’s ‘Male Sportsperson of the Year’ award
- .Women’s sprinter Dutee Chand won the ‘Courage’ award
- Women’s chess player Koneru Humpy won the award for the ‘Comeback of the Year’
- Wrestler Deepak Punia won ‘Emerging Sportsperson of the Year’ award
- Pullela Gopichand claimed the ‘Coach of the Year’ award
- Hockey legend Balbir Singh (Senior) won ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award