Persons

The former Chief Minister of Odisha (first tribal CM of Odisha) who passed away on 25.02.2022 – Shri Hemananda Biswal

The Indian singer, composer and record producer famous for popularising disco music in Indian cinema who passed away on 15.02.2022 – Bappi Lahiri

The veteran Indian playback singer and musician, specialising in Bengali music (recipient of Banga Bibhushan (2011), Padma Bhushan (2022) (refused) who passed away on 15.02.2022 – Sandhya Mukherjee

The noted Indian industrialist, recipient of Padma Bhushan in 2001, who passed away on 12.02.2022 – Shri Rahul Bajaj

The Indian industrialist who has been ranked as Asia's richest person overtaking Mukesh Ambani in the Bloomberg Billionaire Index – Shri Gautam Adani

The former Indian Olympian film and television actor, (who played the role of Bheem in Mahabharata), who passed away on 07.02.2022 – Praveen Kumar Sobti

Defence

Indian Navy’s multilateral exercise conducted in Visakhapatnam from 25 February to 04 March with the theme 'Camaraderie – Cohesion – Collaboration’ is named – Milan 22

The bilateral exercise conducted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Royal Air Force of Oman (RAFO) from 21 to 25 February 2022 at Air Force Station Jodhpur is named – Eastern Bridge-VI

Sports

The Indian chess player who defeated the world chess champion Magnus Carlsen in an online rapid chess tournament – R. Praggnanandhaa

The New Zealand cricketer who has been chosen for th ICC Spirit of Cricket Award for not taking an easy single during the T20 World Cup semifinal against England as he felt he had “obstructed” the way of bowler – Daryl Mitchell

Awards

The Indian industrialist who has been conferred Assam's highest civilian award Assam Vaibhav for his extraordinary contribution to cancer patients’ care in the state – Ratan Tata

Places

The city in which Asia's biggest 'gobar-dhan' Bio-CNG (550-tonne capacity) plant was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi – Indore

The city in which India's first water-taxi service was inaugurated by the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal – Mumbai

The place at which the 216-feet tall 'Statue of Equality' commemorating the 11th-century Bhakti Saint Sri Ramanujacharya was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi – Hyderabad

Miscellaneous

The theme of National Science Day observed on 28 February 2022 – Integrated approach in Science and Technology for Sustainable Future

The operation launched by Govt of India to bring back students studying in Ukraine from its neighbouring countries viz Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary is named – Operation Ganga

The Maharatna company which has been awarded the 'India's Most Trusted Public Sector Company' award at the “Energy Meet and Excellence Award” function organized by Industry Chamber “ASSOCHAM” – Coal India Ltd

The earth observation satellite launched aboard PSLV-C52 by ISRO from Sriharikota on 14.02.2022 – EOS-04 (RISAT1)

The central sector scheme, launched by the Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Dr. Virendra Kumar, to provide welfare and rehabilitation to the Transgender community and the people engaged in the act of begging is named – SMILE

The State in which 7 Indian Army personnel lost their lives after being hit by an avalanche – Arunachal Pradesh

The inland waterway vessel which set sail from Patna carrying 200 Metric Tonnes of foodgrains headed for Pandu in Guwahati via Bangladesh to reach the destination by early March, 2022 – MV Lal Bahadur Shastri

Highlights of Union Budget 2022-23

• India’s economic growth estimated at 9.2% to be the highest among all large economies.
• 60 lakh new jobs to be created under the productivity linked incentive scheme in 14 sectors.
• Entering Amrit Kaal, the 25 year long lead up to India @100, the budget provides impetus for growth along four priorities:

• PM GatiShakti
• Inclusive Development
• Productivity Enhancement & Investment, Sunrise opportunities, Energy Transition, and Climate Action.
• Financing of investments

• National Highways Network to be expanded by 25000 Km in 2022-23.
• One Station One Product concept to help local businesses & supply chains.
• 2000 Km of railway network to be brought under Kavach, the indigenous world class technology and capacity augmentation in 2022-23.
• 400 new generation Vande Bharat Trains to be manufactured during the next three years.
• 100 PM GatiShakti Cargo terminals for multimodal logistics to be developed during the next three years.
• National Ropeways Development Program, Parvatmala to be taken up on PPP mode.
• Rs. 2.37 lakh crore direct payment to 1.63 crore farmers for procurement of wheat and paddy.
• Kisan Drones’ for crop assessment, digitization of land records, spraying of insecticides and nutrients.
• Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood (DESH-Stack e-portal) will be launched to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through on-line training.
• One class-One TV channel programme of PM eVIDYA to be expanded to 200 TV channels.
• Digital University for world-class quality universal education with personalised learning experience to be established.
• An open platform for National Digital Health Ecosystem to be rolled out.
• National Tele Mental Health Programme’ for quality mental health counselling and care services to be launched.
• Two lakh anganwadis to be upgraded to Saksham Anganwadis.
• Rs. 60,000 crore allocated to cover 3.8 crore households in 2022-23 under Har Ghar, Nal se Jal.
• Rs. 48,000 crore allocated for completion of 80 lakh houses in 2022-23 under PM Awas Yojana.
• New scheme PM-DevINE launched to fund infrastructure and social development projects in the North-East.
• Vibrant Villages Programme for development of Border villages with sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure on the northern border.
• 100 per cent of 1.5 lakh post offices to come on the core banking system.
• e-Passports with embedded chip and futuristic technology to be rolled out.
• Unique Land Parcel Identification Number for IT-based management of land records.
• Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) to be established for speedy winding-up of companies.
• Introduction of Digital Rupee by the Reserve Bank of India starting 2022-23.

Important Days of February

World Wetlands Day: 02 February 2021

Designated by: Ramsar Convention Secretariat

Theme: Wetlands Action for People and Nature

First Observed in: 1997

World Cancer Day: 04 February 2021

Designated by: Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)

Theme: Close the Care Gap.

First Observed in: 2000

International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation: 06 February 2021

Designated by: U.N.O.

First Observed in: 2013

Theme: Accelerating Investment to End Female Genital Mutilation

Safer Internet Day: 08 February 2021

Designated by: European Union

Theme: Together for a better internet

First Observed in: 2004

World Pulses Day: 10 February 2021

Designated by: U.N.O.

First Observed in: 2020

Theme: Pulses to empower youth in achieving sustainable agrifood systems

International Day of Women and Girls in Science: 11 February 2021

Designated by: U.N.O.

First Observed in: 2016

Theme: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Water Unites Us

World Radio Day: 13 February 2021

Designated by: UNESCO

Theme: Yes to Radio to Trust

First Observed in: 2013

World Day of Social Justice: 20 February 2021

Designated by: UN General Assembly

First Observed in: 2008

Theme: Achieving Social Justice through Formal Employment

International Mother Language Day: 21 February 2021

Designated by: UN General Assembly

Theme: Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities

First Observed in: 2008

Rare Disease Day: 28 February 2021 (Last day of February)

Designated by: European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS)

Theme: Share Your Colours

First Observed in: 2008

Dada Saheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards 2022

Best Film: Shershaah

Best Director: Ken Ghosh for film State of Siege: Temple Attack

Best International Feature Film: Another Round

Best Actor: Ranveer Singh for 83

Best Actress: Kriti Sanon for Mimi

Outstanding Contribution to Films: Asha Parekh

Film of the Year: Pushpa: The Rise

Sushri Lata Mangeshkar

Born: 28.09.1929; Passed away: 06.02.2022

Awards

Bharat Ratna (2001)

Padma Bhushan (1969), Padma Vibhushan (1999)

Dadasaheb Phalke Award (1989)

France's Legion of Honour (2007)

In 1984, the State Government of Madhya Pradesh instituted the Lata Mangeshkar Award in her honour.

In 1992, the State Government of Maharashtra also instituted a Lata Mangeshkar Award in her honour

Note: Only a selective list of awards given above.

ICC Under-19 World Cup 2022

Host: West Indies

Winners: India (5th title)

Runners-up: England

Player of the Series: Dewald Brevis (South Africa)

Most runs: Dewald Brevis (South Africa)

Most wickets: Dunith Wellalage (Sri Lanka)

Captain of the Indian team: Yash Dhull

Republic Day 2022 Awards

Best marching Contingent among three services: Indian Navy

Best Marching Contingent among three services (Popular Choice): Indian Air Force

Best Tableaux Central Ministry/Departments: Ministry of Education and Ministry of Civil Aviation (Joint winners)

Best Tableaux Central Ministry/Departments (Popular Choice): Ministry of Communication/ Department of Posts

Best Marching Contingent among CAPF/other auxiliary forces: CISF

Best Marching Contingent among CAPF/other auxiliary forces (Popular Choice): CRPF

Best State Tableaux: 1. Uttar Pradesh; 2. Karnataka; 3. Meghalaya

Best State Tableaux (Popular Choice): Maharashtra

Abbreviations in News

PM-DevINE: Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North-East

SMILE: Support for Marginalised Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise