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Current Affairs Capsule – February 18, 2020

February 18, 2020
Posted by: Team CP
Category: Current Affairs Capsule

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Union Cabinet on 19th February, 2020 approved the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission of India, which will give recommendations on different aspects of law, which are entrusted to it. The Commission will function for a period of three years from its date of official constitution. The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body constituted by the Government from time to time. The tenure of the 21st Law Commission ended in August 2018.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19th February, 2020 approved the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2020, which proposes the establishment of a national registry and registration authority for all clinics and medical professionals serving in the field. Earlier, the Cabinet had introduced the Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2020 in the Parliament and approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill, 2020.
As per the 22nd edition of the world language database “Ethnologue”, English is the most spoken language in the world with 1,132 million speakers, followed by Chinese Mandarin at second position with 1,117 million speakers. As per the ranking, Hindi is the 3rd most spoken language of the world in 2019 with 615 million speakers. Bangla has been ranked 7th with 228 million native speakers. The current round of the database covers 7,111 living languages of the world. Since its establishment in 1951, Ethnologue brings out an annual database of living languages of the world.
The Soil Health Card Day is observed on 19th February, 2020 to commemorate the launch of the Soil Health Card Scheme. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19th February 2015 at Suratgarh in Rajasthan. The scheme aims at issuing soil health cards to farmers every two years so as to provide a basis to address nutritional deficiencies in soil. The scheme ensures additional income to farmers by increase in yields and it also promotes sustainable farming.
The State of India’s Birds Report was released at the CMS COP 13 on 18th February, 2020. As per the report, more recent annual trends point to a drastic 80% loss among several common birds. The two main reasons for the decline are hunting and habitat loss. Collision with electricity lines is a “prime current threat” to birds. Among widely known species, the common sparrow, long seen as declining in urban spaces, has a stable population overall, although they have become rare in cities and urban areas. The report was based on more than 15,000 birdwatchers who helped assess the status of 867 birds.
Union Ministry of Textiles is organising the Kala Kumbh-Handicrafts Thematic Exhibition to promote Geographical Indication (GI) crafts and heritage of India, in various parts of the country from 14th February to 23rd February, 2020. The exhibition is planned in major cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bengaluru. It is being organised through the Office of Development Commissioner (Handicrafts). As of August 2019, around 178 handicrafts have been provided with GI tag all over India.
Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Sanjay Agarwal inaugurated the 4th National Conference on Review of Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in Udaipur, Rajasthan on 17th February, 2020. It saw participation of around 140 members representing different states, banks, insurance companies, RBI and NABARD. The first three editions of the National Conference were held in Lucknow, Bangalore and Guwahati respectively. The scheme was launched in 2016 replacing the Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme and National Agricultural Insurance Scheme.