Today Current Affairs for Competitive
Exams - Current Affairs 2021 Online
Ravi Avalur to lead Harley India operations
 Hero MotoCorp Ltd has appointed Ravi Avalur
as the Head of its new business unit that will
be responsible for Harley-Davidson Inc.’s
motorcycle business in India.
 Avalur was the former managing director of
Italian motorcycle maker, Ducati, in India.
 Prior to Hero, Avalur was the Head of
Strategy and International business divisions
at Michigan-based auto parts maker Cooper.
Amazon to invest $200 million in Tennessee
 Amazon will invest $200 million in eastern
Tennessee to build a new warehouse
distribution site that will result in 800 jobs.
 The facility is expected to be completed in
2022.
 It will be Amazon's third fulfilment centre to
use robotics technology in Tennessee and the
company's eighth fulfilment centre in
Tennessee.
 Separately, Amazon is also building an
operations hub in Nashville.
RIL to sell its Marcellus shale asset
 Reliance Marcellus, LLC, a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)
will divest all of its interest in certain upstream
assets in the Marcellus shale play of south-
western Pennsylvania.
 These assets have been agreed to be sold to
Northern Oil and Gas (NOG), Inc, a Delaware
corporation.
 They will be sold for a consideration of $250
million cash and warrants.
Oxford, Pfizer vaccine to be combined in trial
 British scientists started a study on 4 Feb
2021 to find out if it's okay to mix and match
coronavirus vaccines.
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 The University of Oxford has begun a trial
combining vaccines from AstraZeneca and
Pfizer in a two-shot schedule to assess the
immune responses generated from the doses.
 Participants will get one shot of AstraZeneca's
Covid-19 vaccine followed by a dose from
Pfizer, or vice versa.
Deborah Liu named CEO of Ancestry.com
 Ancestry.com Inc. has appointed former
Facebook Inc. executive Deborah Liu to
become its next Chief Executive Officer,
effective March 1, 2021.
 Ancestry is the world’s largest consumer
genealogy company.
 Liu is also the founder of Women in Product,
a nonprofit network of women in technology
leadership roles.
 SHe held previous positions at PayPal
Holdings Inc. and EBay Inc.
HCL signs five-year global deal with Airbus
 HCL Technologies has signed a five-year
digital workplace services agreement with
Airbus.
 It will establish a modernized digital workplace
to enhance the user experience and service
quality for the majority of Airbus employees
globally.
 HCL’s Fluid Workplace Model which enables
businesses to meet the challenges of remote
working will enable Airbus to deploy the latest
digital technologies.
Virat Kohli: India's top celebrity endorser
 Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli
retained the top celebrity endorser rank for
the fourth consecutive year in the 2020 Duff &
Phelps celebrity brand valuation report.
 His brand value stands at $237.7 mn.
 Akshay Kumar retained the second position
with a brand value of $118.9 mn, registering a
13.8% jump.
 Ranveer Singh maintained the third position
with a brand value of $102.9 mn.
Bikram Singh Bedi: MD of Google Cloud
 Google Cloud has announced the
appointment of Bikram Singh Bedi as the
Managing Director for its India business.
 With the current appointment, Bedi will
succeed Karan Bajwa, who was recently
elevated as the Vice President of Google's
Asia Pacific Cloud.
 He joined Google Cloud from Indian online
grocery delivery startup, Grofers where he
served as President Strategy and New
Initiatives.
Musical programme 'Abhivadan' to be organised
 Bharat Ratna awardee Pandit Bhimsen
Joshi's birth centenary year began from 4 Feb
2021.
 To mark the occasion, the Arya Sangeet
Prasarak Mandal is organising a musical
programme called 'Abhivadan' in Pune on
February 6-7, 2021.
 It will be conducted in 3 sessions.
 A special short film by Arya Sangeet Prasarak
Mandal made on Panditji post his demise will
be shown in the third session.
NBFCs to implement internal audit system
 The RBI has directed select Non-Banking
Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Urban Co-
operatives Banks (UCBs) to implement a risk-
based internal audit system.
 All deposit-taking NBFCs, all non-deposit
taking NBFCs with asset size of 5,000 crore
rupees and above and all urban cooperative
banks with asset size of 500 crore rupees and
above will have to implement the system by
March 2022.
Meeting held for J&K Development Mission
 In J&K, Principal Secretary Skill Development
Department, (SDD) Dr Asgar
Samoon, convened a meeting with senior
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officers of SDD and National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC) on 3 Feb
2021.
 It was held to review ‘Skill Targets for J&K
Development Mission under Pradhan Mantri
Vikas Kaushal Yojna (PMVKY) 2.0 and 3.0.
 It was also informed that the department is
going to train 700 aspirants.
2nd Phase of vaccination launched in Rajasthan
 In Rajasthan, the 2nd Phase of COVID
vaccination was launched on 4 February
2021.
 About 2,40,000 frontline workers have been
registered for the 2nd Phase in the state.
 More than 55 thousand employees of local
bodies and about one lakh 61 thousand police
and paramilitary personnel will also get
vaccinated.
New State Administrative Council of Myanmar
 The regime in Myanmar headed by the Army
has announced a new State Administrative
Council.
 The council headed by the Army Chief
General Min Aung Hlaing has eleven
members out of which eight are from the
military.
 The Union Election Commission will also be
reconstituted for implementing the duties and
functions.
China to provide vaccines to COVAX
 China plans to provide 10 million doses of a
Covid-19 vaccine to developing countries
through the global vaccine sharing initiative
COVAX.
 China joined the COVAX in October 2020.
 COVAX is expected to start distributing
vaccines in February 2021, mainly to poor
and middle-income countries.
 It has a target of procuring 2 billion doses by
end of 2021.
US extends a Treaty with Russia
 United States has extended the New START
(Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) nuclear
arms control treaty with Russia for five years.
 Now the pact has been extended to 5th
February 2026.
 The treaty limits the United States and Russia
to deploying no more than 1,550 strategic
nuclear warheads each and imposes
restrictions on the land- and submarine-based
missiles and bombers to deliver them.
India: Fastest to administer 4 mn vaccines
 India has become the fastest country in the
world to reach the four million COVID-19
vaccination mark.
 The country has achieved this feat in 18 days.
 As on 1st February 2021, India was among
the top five countries in terms of the number
of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to
people.
 The gap between active and recovered cases
is continuously increasing and stands at
1,03,02574.
‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ victory flame received
 As part of ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh’ celebration
commemorating 50 years of the 1971 war
triumph against Pakistan, one of the victory
flames was received at Air Force Station
Adampur, on 3 Feb 2021.
 Many Air veterans were felicitated during the
event.
 During the war, SU-7 and MIG-21 aircraft
from the base operated over Shakargarh and
Chhamb battlefields losing 9 pilots, killed in
action.
Indian Ocean Region Defence Ministers Conclave
 India hosted Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
Defence Ministers’ Conclave on the sidelines
of Aero India 2021, on 4 Feb 2021.
 The broad theme of it was ‘Enhanced Peace,
Security and Cooperation in the Indian
Ocean’.
 It addressed information-sharing towards
increased maritime domain awareness,
maritime surveillance and co-operation,
Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief
(HADR), etc.
Web portal of the Gobardhan scheme launched
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 A web portal for monitoring the progress of
Gobardhan scheme was launched on 3 Feb
2021.
 Gobardhan is an important component of
Swachh Bharat Mission Phase-2 for organic
solid waste management.
 Through the scheme, the country will get
ethanol, bio-diesel and compressed bio-fuel in
the coming years.
 It aims at supporting villages effectively to
manage their cattle dung and organic waste.
Chauri Chaura Centenary celebrations
 PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the Chauri
Chaura Centenary celebrations in Gorakhpur,
Uttar Pradesh on 4 Feb'21.
 The day marks 100 years of the Chauri
Chaura incident.
 He also released a postal stamp dedicated to
the Chauri Chaura Centenary during the
event.
 The UP govt has launched a dedicated
website Chaurichaura100.com to sensitise the
people about the sacrifices of great freedom
fighters.
Ajay Singh re-elected as President of BFI
 Ajay Singh has been re-elected as President
of the Boxing Federation of India after
defeating former Maharashtra Sports Minister
Ashish Shelar in the polls.
 He received 37 votes while Shelar, who has
held many top positions in sport, including the
role of President of Maharashtra Cricket
Association and Mumbai District Football
Association, got 27 votes in the BFI elections
on 3 Feb 2021.
1st openly gay person confirmed to US cabinet
 Pete Buttigieg was confirmed by the U.S.
Senate on 3 Feb 2021, on an 86-13 vote to
head the U.S. Transportation Department, the
1st openly gay U.S. Cabinet secretary
confirmed by lawmakers.
 Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend,
Indiana, will oversee aviation, highways,
vehicles, pipelines and transit, as well as
 efforts to ensure safe transportation in the
face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Telangana: No road tax, registration fee on EV
 The Telangana Transport Department has
exempted road tax and registration fee for a
fixed number of electric vehicles of various
categories.
 This is in line with the Telangana Electric
Vehicles (EV) and Energy Storage Policy
2020-30 announced by the State IT and
Industries Minister KT Rama Rao to
encourage electric vehicles by
providing exemption from road tax and
registration fee.
Praveen Sinha takes over as CBI Interim Chief
 Praveen Sinha, currently Additional Director
of the CBI, was appointed as its Interim Chief
on 2 Feb 2021, as current Chief R.K Shukla’s
two-year tenure ended.
 Mr Shukla, a 1983 batch Madhya Pradesh
cadre IPS officer, was appointed in January
2019.
 Sinha is a 1988 batch Gujarat cadre IPS
officer.
Mexico approves Russia's Sputnik V vaccine
 Mexico has approved the Russian
coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V for use.
 The Health Ministry of Mexico signed a
contract for 400,000 doses of Sputnik V that
will arrive in Feb 2021.
 The Russian vaccine would become the third
to receive emergency approval in Mexico.
 The regulating agency approved the Pfizer
vaccine in December 2020 and AstraZeneca’s
in January 2021.
Reliance gets world's 1st 'carbon-neutral' oil
 Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd has
sourced the world's first consignment of
'carbon-neutral oil' from the US as it aims to
become a net zero-carbon company by 2035.
 Reliance got 2 million barrels of consignment
Permian basin.
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 Oxy Low Carbon Ventures (OLCV), a division
of US oil major Occidental, delivered carbon-
neutral oil to Reliance.
PM-CARES contributed ₹2,200 cr for phase 1
 The PM-CARES fund has contributed over
₹2,200 cr for the 1st phase of the nationwide
COVID-19 vaccination drive.
 For January-March, the vaccination cost is
expected to be about ₹2,700 cr
approximately.
 Part of it is coming from the Health Ministry
and some part of it is funded from the PM
CARES Fund.
 This is for the first round of 3 crore frontline
and health workers.
"Writing with Fire" wins audience award at SFF
 “Writing with Fire” has won the audience
award in the World Cinema Documentary
category at the Sundance Film Festival 2021.
 It is directed, edited and produced by R.
Thomas and S. Ghosh.
 The festival, which started from 28 Jan and
concluded on 3 Feb, is presented by
Sundance Organisation, a nonprofit that
discovers and supports independent artists,
and introduces audiences to their work.
1st Asian country to approve Moderna's vaccine
 Singapore has become the first country in
Asia to grant approval for Moderna's COVID-
19 vaccine and the first shipment to arrive
around March 2021.
 The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is the
second to be authorised for pandemic use in
Singapore, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine,
which is already being rolled out in the city-
state.
 As of 2 Feb, more than 175,000 individuals
have been vaccinated.
8 states to get ₹8k cr for one new city each
 The central government is planning to build 8
new cities to meet the demands of urban
expansion.
 The 15th Finance Commission has
recommended a grant of ₹8,000 cr to the
 Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
(MoHUA) for the cities.
 According to the Ministry, each city will get
₹1,000 cr for initial development over the next
five years.
BMC allocates ₹2945.78 cr for education
 The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) has announced the allocation of funds
for its education budget for the year 2021-22.
 The budgetary estimates for 2021-22 are set
at ₹2945.78 cr, which is marginally higher
than that of the 2020 wherein the budgetary
estimates were ₹2944.59 cr.
 ₹2 cr has been set aside for the opening of 10
new CBSE schools under the civic body.
Tata Consumer to acquire Kottaram Agro Foods
 Tata Consumer Products will acquire
Bengaluru-based Kottaram Agro Foods for Rs
155.8 crore to expand its product portfolio.
 The company will acquire 100% of the issued
and paid-up equity share capital of KAF.
 Kottaram Agro Foods (KAF) is primarily
engaged in the business of healthy breakfast
cereals and millet-based snacks under the
trademark Soulfull.
 Brand Soulfull was launched in 2013.
Device that creates 3D images of skin
 A team from Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has
developed a portable device that produces
high-resolution 3D images of human skin
within 10 minutes.
 The portable skin mapping (imaging) device
could be used to assess the severity of skin
conditions, such as eczema and psoriasis.
 The researchers designed a prototype of their
device using polylactic acid (PLA).
Punjab CM lays foundation stone of AFPI
 Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder
Singh laid the foundation stone of Sardar
Bahadur Amin Chand Soni Armed Forces
Preparatory Institute at Bajwara in Punjab
through video conferencing on 3 Feb 2021.
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 The project will be executed at a cost of Rs 27
cr over an area of 12.75 ac by the Punjab
Public Works Department (PWD) and would
be completed by the end of 2021.
Zoho's founder named to NSA's advisory board
 Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has been
appointed to the reconstituted National
Security Advisory Board (NSAB) led by
National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval.
 He is one of the Padma Shri awardees
announced by the government of India on 26
Jan 2021.
 The members of NSAB typically have 2-year
terms.
 Other new members in this term include K
Radhakrishnan, Anshuman Tripathy and Arun
K Singh.
Gaurav Saravgi: Exec Director of Motilal Oswal
 Motilal Oswal Investment Advisors has
appointed Gaurav Saravgi as its Executive
Director for investment banking.
 Saravgi has 18 years of experience in equities
with 16 years in investment banking.
 He joins Motilal Oswal from Centrum Capital
where he was associated as the Senior
Director for investment banking and Head of
equity capital markets.
1st wetland conservation centre in Chennai
 India, on the occasion of Wetland
Conservation Day, set up its 1st dedicated
centre for conservation of wetlands in
Chennai, which occupies around 4.6% of the
country’s landmass.
 It has been named as ‘Centre for Wetland
Conservation and Management’.
 It is a part of the National Centre for
Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM),
under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change.
Best training institutions awards
 The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has
won its first round of best training institute
award for Gazetted Officers.
 The awards have been declared by the
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for a span of
four consecutive years, starting from 2016 to
2020.
 CRPF’s Shivpuri school and training institute
in Neemach have been awarded as the best
training centres for years 2017 and 2018.
Water birds census conducted for first time
 In West Bengal, the Forest Department has
conducted water birds census for the first
time.
 The study was conducted from 12th of
January to 2nd of February 2021 in 54
different locations across the state.
 For the first time, a black-necked grebe has
been traced in the Sunderbans while more
than four thousand great knots were seen at
different places in the area.
Sangeeta Bahadur: High Commissioner to Malta
 Sangeeta Bahadur has been appointed as the
next High Commissioner of India to the
Republic of Malta.
 She is presently the Ambassador of India to
Belarus.
 Sangeeta is a 1987 batch Indian Foreign
Service Officer.
 She is expected to take up the assignment
shortly.
New Zealand in final of World Test C'ship
 New Zealand has become the first team to
reach the final of the inaugural World Test
Championship.
 India will qualify if they beat England in the
upcoming series that will kickstart from
February 5, 2021, by winning at least two
matches.
 As of now, India has the highest percentage
points 71.7 while New Zealand has 70.
 The WTC final is scheduled to be held from
June 18 at the Lord's.
India at 53rd position in Democracy Index
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 India slipped two places to 53rd position in the
2020 Democracy Index's global ranking,
according to The Economist Intelligence Unit.
 India's overall score fell from 6.9 in 2019 to
6.61.
 Norway topped The Economist Intelligence
Unit's latest Democracy Index report titled
"Democracy in sickness and in health?", with
Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada
making up the top five.
ADB, Japan to strengthen cooperation
 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry (METI) have signed a memorandum
of cooperation.
 It will strengthen cooperation between the two
organisations under the Cleaner Energy
Future Initiative for ASEAN (CEFIA).
 The cooperation will focus on the areas of
renewable energy, energy conservation and
efficiency, and other technologies.
India out of Colombo terminal project
 The Sri Lankan government has reneged on a
2019 agreement with India and Japan to
develop the strategic East Container Terminal
(ECT) at the Colombo Port.
 The operation of the east terminal would be
done by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority on its
own.
 India and Japan together were to hold a 49%
stake in ECT.
World Cancer Day: 4 February
 World Cancer Day is observed on 4th
February every year.
 The aim to observe World Cancer Day is to
reduce misconceptions about cancer and to
help people in getting the right information
about it.
 The top cancers that affect the Indian
population are lung, breast, cervical, head
and neck and colorectal cancer (CRC).
 The theme for World Cancer Day 2021 is 'I
Am and I Will.'
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