Daily GK Update 12 February 2020: Read Daily GK-Current Affairs Update

Table of Contents

Daily GK updates are incorporated with the important news that made the current affairs headlines for banking or other competitive exams. Daily GK Update is the complete bag of the important news that held all day long. One should have complete knowledge about the banking terms, current affairs news, etc. So, here is the GK update of 12 February 2020 to help you prepare the Current affairs part. After reading this section, you can successfully attempt Current Affairs Quiz.

National News

1. Medical devices to come under CDSCO’s purview from 1st April

The Government of India has decided to consider all medical devices including implants and contraceptives as “Drugs”. The notification regarding the re-categorization was issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With the implementation, all the medical devices will come under the purview of the Central Drugs and Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). The re-categorization will be implemented from 1st April 2020 in the phase manner. The re-categorization will enable the drugs regulator “CDSCO” to tighten the regulation to improve the safety and quality.

Most Important takeaways for upcoming competitive exams:

Union Minister of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare: Harsh Vardhan.

2. Delhi Election Results 2020 Updates: AAP gets 62 seats, BJP 8

In Delhi Assembly Election, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party scored a landslide victory. This is the second time in a row as Aam Aadmi Party swept aside both BJP, which was again restricted to a single digit and Congress which could not win a single seat. In the 2015 Assembly Election, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had won 67 seats out of 70. BJP has won eight seats, five more than the 2015 assembly election. However, the party managed to increase its vote share by over 6% from the last elections. 0.5% (approx) voters pressed the NOTA (None of the Above) button.

International News

3. WHO officially names Coronavirus disease as “Covid-19”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially named the disease caused by the new coronavirus as “Covid-2019”. The new name “Covid-2019” has been taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”, with 2019 representing the year in which it emerged. The word coronavirus refers to the group of viruses it belongs to. The naming of the disease was done as the researchers were calling for an official name of the disease to avoid confusion and stigmatisation of any group or country.

The virus was also designated as SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland; Director general: Tedros Adhanom.

State News

4. Ground Water Act-2020 approved by UP Government

The Uttar Pradesh government has given its approval to the Ground Water Act-2020. The Ground Water Act-2020 has been approved with an objective of improving the falling groundwater level in the state. In order to achieve this aim, the state cabinet chaired by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath approved the Ground Water Act-2020.

Most Important takeaways for upcoming competitive exams:

Anandiben Patel is the present Governor of Uttar Pradesh.

5. Tripura organises its 1st-ever “Hornbill Festival”

The 1st-ever Hornbill festival of Tripura was celebrated in Agartala. The aim to conserve the striking forest bird “Hornbill” and to boost the livelihood of the people through tourism. Chief Minister (CM) Biplab Kumar Dev inaugurated the festival at Baramura hill (in western Tripura).

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Capital of Tripura: Agartala.
CM of Tripura: Biplab Kumar Deb.
Governor of Tripura: Ramesh Bais.

Awards

6. 13th edition of ESPNcricinfo Awards 2019 announced

ESPNcricinfo (sports news website) announced the 13th edition of the Annual ESPNcricinfo Awards 2019. The awards were presented under 12 categories & selected by a jury comprising former cricketers, ESPNcricinfo senior editors, writers & global correspondents.

Captain of the year award: Eoin Joseph Gerard Morgan was named as the ‘captain of the year’ for leading England to win the World Cup Title against New Zealand.

Here is the list of winners of ESPNcricinfo Awards 2019:

Sl. No.	Category	Winner
1.	Captain of the year	Eoin Morgan (England)
2.	Test batting performance of the year	Kusal Perera (Sri Lanka)
3.	Test bowling performance of the year	Kemar Roach (West Indies)
4.	ODI batting performance of the year	Ben Stokes (England)
5.	ODI bowling performance of the year	Matt Henry (New Zealand)
6.	T20I batting performance of the year	Gleen Maxwell (Australia)
7.	T20I bowling performance of the year	Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka)
8.	Debutant of the year	Jofra Archer (England)
9.	Women’s batting performance of the year	Meg Lanning (Australia)
10.	Women’s bowling performance of the year	Ellyse Perry (Australia)
11.	Associate batting performance of the year	George Munsey (Scotland)
12.	Associate bowling performance of the year	Bilal Khan (Oman)

Business

7. India out of US’ developing nations list for trade benefits

The US removed India from its list of developing countries that are exempt from investigations into whether they harm American industry with unfairly subsidised exports. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) eliminated a host of countries including Brazil, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Africa and Argentina.

The US removed India from the list on account of it being a G-20 member and having a share of 0.5% or more of world trade. The move has cast a shadow on India being able to restore preferential benefits under the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) as part of its trade talks with the US, as only developing countries are eligible for it. India’s share in global exports was 1.67% in 2018. In global imports, it was 2.57%.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Capital of the USA: Washington, D.C.
President of USA: Donald Trump.

Summit and Conferences

8. NSG organises 20th International Seminar against terrorsim at Manesar, Haryana

National Security Guard (NSG) has organised the 20th International Seminar on “Comprehends the Evolving Contours of Terrorism & IED Threat-Wayahead for the Security Community” at Manesar, Haryana. The seminar was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy. Senior Police and security officers, and delegates from various countries are participating in the Seminar. A wide spectrum of Counter Terrorism and Counter-IED issues in wil be covered in the two-day seminar. He also presented the Counter-IED Innovators awards and released the 30th volume of “The Bomshell”.

9. National Water Conference held in Madhya Pradesh

National Water Conference was held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The Conference was inaugurated by Chief Minister Kamal Nath. The importance and revival of traditional water sources, right to water, river rejuvenation campaign in Madhya Pradesh and many other related topics are being discussed during the four sessions of the conference. The experts discussed that water conservation technological development should be included with traditional means to solve the growing water crisis.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh: Kamal Nath.
Governor of Madhya Pradesh: Lal Ji Tandon.

10. Kerala to host global meet on climate change, ocean health

ClimFishCon 2020, an international conference on the impact of climate change on ‘hydrological cycle, ecosystem, fisheries and food security’ will begin in Kerala on 12 February.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Chief Minister of Kerala: Pinarayi Vijayan
Governor of Kerala: Arif Mohammed Khan.
Capital of Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram.

Sports

11. FIH names Lalremsiami as 2019 FIH Women’s Rising Star of Year

The International Hockey Federation has named Indian striker Lalremsiami as 2019 FIH Women’s Rising Star of Year. Indian forward player Lalremsiami was awarded after beating Argentina’s Julieta Jankunas and Frederique Matla of the Netherlands in the contest in which she recieved 40 per cent of all the votes cast.

12. ICC penalizes 3 Bangladesh and 2 India U-19 cricketers

The International Cricket Council has penalized three Bangladesh as well as two Indian U-19 cricketers. The players have been sanctioned by ICC for violating the Code of Conduct for players. ICC found them guilty of the Level 3 breach during the U-19 World Cup finals between India and Bangladesh, held in South Africa. ICC found them guilty as they were involved in an exchange of words with some pushing and shoving on the field after the final match.

Who got penalized?

The list of punished players includes Towhid Hridoy, Shamim Hossain and Rakibul Hasan of Bangladesh, and Akash Singh and Ravi Bishnoi of India. The Bangladesh cricketers were handed six demerit points as per the ICC code of conduct. While Indian players were penalized with five demerit points for the post-match incidents.

Important Days

13. World Unani Day celebrated globally on 11th February

The World Unani Day is celebrated globally on 11th February every year. The World Unani Day is celebrated globally to spread awareness about health care delivery with the help of Unani system of medicine through its preventive and curative philosophy. The World Unani Day also marks the birth anniversary of great Unani scholar Hakim Ajmal Khan.

14. National Productivity Day observed globally on 12 February

National Productivity Day is observed on 12 February annually. The day is celebrated by the National Productivity Council (NPC) to promote productivity culture in India.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Chairman of National Productivity Council: Guruprasad Mohapatra.
Director-General of National Productivity Council: Arun Kumar Jha.

Miscellaneous

15. 1st Jerusalem-Mumbai Festival to be held in Mumbai

The first ‘Jerusalem-Mumbai Festival’ will be held in the Mumbai, Maharashtra. This festival is organised to showcase the special links between the two cities and to promote ties between India and Israel. Famous Israeli cinema, The Mossad, will be screened at the festival in the presence of the movie director Alon Gur Arye.

Important takeaways for all competitive exams:

Israel Capital: Jerusalem, Currency: Israeli new shekel.
President of Israel: Reuven Rivlin.

16. TRIFED organizes workshop on “Van Dhan and Entrepreneurship Development”

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) has organized the workshop on “Van Dhan and Entrepreneurship Development” under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs in New Delhi. The workshop on “Van Dhan and Entrepreneurship Development” was inaugurated by Union Minister for Tribal Affairs, Arjun Munda.

17. Elephant and Indian Bustard to be included in India’s global conservation list

India to include the Asian Elephant and the Great Indian Bustard in the list of species that merit heightened conservation measures. The list will be debated at the 13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an environment treaty under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Important takeaways for all competitive exams: