1. *PM Modi launched the pan India rollout of COVID-19 vaccination drive via video conferencing yesterday.* This is the world’s largest vaccination programme covering the entire length and breadth of the country.
2. *The first to get vaccinated were frontline workers* . Dwelling at length on the contribution of doctors, nurses, para-medical staff, ambulance drivers, ASHA workers, sanitation workers, police and others who endangered their lives to save others.
3. *India’s First Air Taxi Service Launched In Chandigarh* : The AirTaxi will have a fleet of Tecnam P2006T, a twin-engine 4-seat plane. The government has opened the Chandigarh to Hisar route. It will open up Dehradun, Dharamshala and add Shimla and Kullu later
4. *Vehicle Scrappage Policy likely to be approved by the Government soon,* the Govt of India proposed amendments to motor vehicle standards to allow scrapping of vehicles older than 15 years.
5. *Covaxin Has Not Completed Phase 3 Trials* : Activist Saket S Gokhale has moved the Bombay High Court against the Drugs Controller General of India, urging that the safety and efficacy trial results of Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine “Covaxin” be made public.
6. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday demanded more vaccines from the Centre, saying that she needed vaccines for all the citizens of the state.
7. *The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas recently launched SAKSHAM awareness campaign.* The campaign was launched to spread awareness about green energy.
8. *The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lok Shakti) moved to the Supreme Court on Saturday against the formation of a four-member committee* to resolve the deadlock between farmers and the Centre over the new agriculture laws.
9. *Masks are a must even after vaccine!* :. , until the epidemic curve is bent and the case load starts to decrease. Dr Laxminarayan the founder and director of the Washington-based Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy said.
10. *AIIMS security guard reports allergy post COVID vaccination, in hospital care.* Bharat Biotech to pay compensation if Covaxin causes side effects.
11. A group of 100 former civil servants wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday raising questions over transparency in the PM-CARES Fund
12. *Partho Dasgupta, a former chief executive officer of TV ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) who was arrested in the Television Rating Points (TRP) rigging case, has been admitted to the intensive care unit of a hospital in Mumbai* after his sugar level shot up.
13. *Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das, on Saturday, stressed appropriate risk culture is need of hour among all lenders* . Speaking at the 39th Palkhivala Memorial Lecture, he said banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) need to strengthen the governance structure to ensure larger financial stability in the system.
14. *Mumbai Schools, Colleges to remain closed till further orders*
15. *Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said the Indian Army has boosted the morale of the country and also enabled the people to hold their heads high during the border standoff with China.* Singh said this while addressing a gathering during the ‘bhoomipujan’ and foundation stone laying ceremony of a new Command Hospital in UP.
16. *The annual TETTRA (Technical Type Training) conference was held in a hybrid format at Air Force Station Jalahalli in Bengaluru*
17. *Coronavirus Cases:*
10,556,184
Deaths: 152,272
Recovered: 10,192,158
*✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS*
1. *PM Modi addresses Prarambh-Startup India International Summit* on Saturday via video conferencing. Prarambh….the beginning of a journey of innovation, talent and problem solving.
2. The Summit will be the largest startup conclave being organised by the Government of India since the launch of startup India initiative. More than 25 countries and 200 global speakers are to participate in the Summit.
3. *Objective of the Summit* : The main objective of the Summit is to focus attention of global capital for startups in India, provide opportunities for accessing International markets to the startups in the country, mobilize domestic capital and evolve enabling policy provisions.
3. *The three main pillars of the startup India scheme are as follows:*
*(a)* To provide funding support and incentives to the startup in the country
*(b)* To provide industry Academy partnership
*(c)* .Simplification and handholding
4. *The 51st edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was opened* at 3PM on Saturday in the presence of Minister of Information and Broadcasting Shri Prakash Javadekar and Chief Minister of Goa Dr Pramod Sawant.
5. *WhatsApp has announced that it is moving forward the date to accept its new terms and conditions to May 15.* The previous date for this was February 8.
6. *The new changes affect only those who interact with WhatsApp Business accounts on the service.* These Business accounts can now use Facebook hosting services to manage their WhatsApp chats, use Facebook branded commerce features such as Shops, and display an ad on Facebook to message the business directly on WhatsApp. In each of these cases, Facebook will now collect information on you if you interact with these business and their ads, similar to clicking any other ad on Facebook.
7. *India and Japan recently signed Memorandum of Understanding to enhance cooperation in the field of Information and Communications Technology* . The agreement included standardization of 5G as well.
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