Current Affairs and GK Today - 1-2 March 2020 (English)

International Affairs

World’s Second Youngest Billionaire 'Ritesh Agarwal'

As per the recently released Hurun Global Rich List 2020, Ritesh Agarwal- the founder of Oyo Hotels, has been named as the world’s second youngest billionaire.
His wealth was estimated at $1.1 billion, at the age of 24. In the global list, Kylie Jenner, the cosmetics star was only ahead of the Indian entrepreneur at the age of 22.
Ritesh is also the richest self-made Indian billionaire aged under 40.

National Affairs

Classical languages in in India is '06'

As of 2020, Six languages in India namely Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia have been given the status of classical language.
Recently, both houses of the Maharashtra legislature unanimously passed resolutions, requesting the Centre to provide ‘Classical language’ status to Marathi.
Languages declared as classical have benefits like setting up centres for their study and provide international awards for their scholars.

Bihar passed resolution to conduct a Caste-Based Census 2020

The Bihar Legislative Assembly recently passed a resolution to conduct a caste-based census in the state.
The chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar proposed a caste-based census in the Assembly and it was passed unanimously.
The Speaker of the state assembly announced that the proposal has been passed and the resolution would be sent to the central government.

AI based Module for Indian School Students

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) recently collaborated with NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to launch an artificial intelligence (AI) based module for Indian school students.
The AI-Base Module is to be implemented in nearly 5,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and is expected to reach as many as 2.5 million students. The module with activities and videos on AI concepts is to be introduced from 27 February.

Land Records and Services Index 2020 (N-LRSI 2020)

The National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) released NCAER Land Records and Services Index (N-LRSI 2020) recently.
Top 5 States: As per the index, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Tamil Nadu are the five best-performing states.
The index assesses the digitisation of land records and their quality in 33 states and Union Territories (UTs).

World Heritage List for the year 2020 - Indian Nominations

Government of India has submitted two nomination dossiers namely ‘Dholavira: A Harappan City’ and ‘Monuments and Forts of Deccan Sultanate’ for inclusion in the World Heritage List for the year 2020.
Dholavira is an archaeological site at Khadirbet in Bhachau Taluka of Kutch District, in the state of Gujarat.

Defense and Space

New Explosive Detection Device 'RaIDer-X'

New explosive detection device, developed by DRDO & IISc Bangalore, unveiled in Pune. RaIDer-X has the capability to detect explosives from a stand-off distance.
RaIDer-X, a new explosive detection device, was unveiled at the National Workshop on Explosive Detection (NWED-2020) in Pune on March 1, 2020.

Conferences

Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine Conference 'ICoSDiTAUS-2020'

The two-day International Conference on Standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies in Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine-ICoSDiTAUS-2020 recently concluded in New Delhi on February 25-26, 2020.
The “New Delhi Declaration on Collection and Classification of Traditional Medicine (TM) Diagnostic Data” was adopted in the conference.
This is the biggest ever international event dedicated to standardization of diagnosis and terminologies.

Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela-2020

The Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Narendra Singh Tomar Inaugurated the Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela-2020 on March 1 2020, New Delhi.

Economic Affairs

India’s first FinTech centre of excellence ‘FinBlue’ set up in Chennai

‘FinBlue’ to incubate over 58 startups in the next five years
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has set up a ‘Centre of Excellence in FinTech’ in Chennai, first of its kind in India, with an objective to provide resources in terms of mentoring, technology support and funding for FinTech startups.
Called ‘FinBlue’, the centre intends to incubate over 58 startups in the next five years.
FinTech would be of enormous help to entrepreneurs in the FinTech space. Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) and the State government will provide support for FinBlue.

Regulations for companies 'CARO 2020'

The Union Ministry of Corporate affairs recently notified the Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 (CARO 2020).
As per the notification, all listed companies should mandatorily disclose all whistle-blower complaints to the auditor and the complaints should be mentioned in the audit reports.
This mandate would be applicable to all audits from the financial year starting from April 2019.

India Post Payments Bank crossed a mile-stone of 2 Crore Customers

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has recently achieved the milestone of two crore customers.
IPPB was launched by the Indian Prime Minister on September 1, 2018, with the main objective of financial inclusion.
In September 2019, the payments bank launched the (AePS) services.

Sports Affairs

Mexican Open 2020

The Mexican Open is a joint professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, and held annually in late February at the Fairmont Acapulco Princess in Acapulco, Mexico.
2020 Mexican Open Champions List:

Dubai Tennis Championships 2020

The 2020 Dubai Tennis Championships was an ATP Tour 500 event on the 2020 ATP Tour and a Premier tournament on the 2020 WTA Tour.
2020 Dubai Tennis Champions List:

Men's Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Women's Singles: Simona Halep (Romania)
Men's Doubles: John Peers (Australia)/ Michael Venus (New Zealand)
Women's Doubles: Hsieh Su-wei (Chinese Taipei)/ Barbora Strýcová (Czech Republic).