• 3rd High Level Global Conference on Road Safety for Achieving Global Goals 2030 was recently held at Stockholm, Sweden.
• The objective of the two-day conference is to bring road safety on the global agenda and renew the world community’s commitment to safer roads.
• Leaders from participating countries will draw up a road-map for reaching the United Nation’s goal set under the UN Decade of Action of reducing road crashes by 2030.
• The conference, a follow up of the 2nd High Level Global Conference on Traffic Safety-Time of Results in 2015 in Brazil, is being organised in active collaboration with World Bank, World Health Organisation and other agencies who are assisting it by way of strengthening the capabilities of various institutions, enhancing awareness and improving engineering designs for safer roads.

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister has recently approved Elevation of Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG), Gujarat as Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG(N)) under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MEITY), Government of India.
• BISAG is elevated to an autonomous scientific society under Government of India instead of State Government.

Background:

• At present, BISAG is a state agency of Department of Science and Technology Government of Gujarat, located at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. 
• It is registered as a Society and Trust with the Charity Commissioner of Ahmedabad. 
• Its Governing body is chaired by the Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat.
• Its charter is based on the philosophy that modern day planning for a holistic development calls for transparent, efficient and low-cost decision-making systems. 

• The Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) is an EU law on the financial regulation of hedge funds, private equity, real estate funds, and other "Alternative Investment Fund Managers" (AIFMs) in the European Union.

Background

• In accordance with the requirement of establishing adequate supervisory cooperation arrangements between EU and non-EU authorities under the European Union Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), a bilateral MoU was signed by SEBI with securities regulators of 27 member States of EU / European Economic Area, including Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), United Kingdom on 28th July 2014. 
• In the context of UK's proposed withdrawal from EU, FCA brought to the notice of SEBI that the existing MoU between SEBI and FCA relating to AIFMD, which is currently anchored on EU law, will no longer apply directly in the UK, and have therefore, suggested signing an updated MoU after amending the AIFMD MoU by suitably modifying it and substituting references to EU legislation with the relevant UK law.

• The National Institute of Technology (NIT), Trichy, Tamilnadu has developed Thirumathikart - a mobile app for SHG (Self Help Group) products. 
• The application was developed in coordination with the Union Department of Science and Technology.
• The main objective of the app is to empower women and help them access market opportunities in a seamless manner.

• The 15th Finance Commission has recently constituted a High Level Expert Group on Agriculture Exports.
• The expert group will be chaired by Sanjiv Puri, Chairman and Managing Director, ITC.
• It is mandated to recommend measurable performance incentives for States to encourage agriculture exports as well as to promote crops to enable high import substitution.

• UNESCO declared International Mother Language Day in 1999, to commemorate a 1952 protest against West Pakistan’s imposition of Urdu as the official language of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh).
• February 21 is celebrated as International Mother Language Day.
• Of the world’s 6,000 languages, 43% are estimated as endangered, according to the UN.
• On the other hand, just 10 languages account for as many as 4.8 billion speakers — over 60% of the world population.
• Globally, English remains the most widely spoken language with 1.13 billion speakers in 2019, followed by Mandarin with 1.17 billion, Hindi is third with 615 million speakers while Bengali is seventh with 265 million.
• In India, Hindi is the most spoken language with over 528 million speakers in 2011, as per the Census, followed by,

1. Bengali  (97.2 million) speakers in 2011, followed by
2. Marathi (83 million),
3. While other languages with over 50 million speakers are Telugu (81 million), Tamil (69 million), Gujarati (55.5 million) and Urdu (50.8 million).

• There are 22 Major languages are specified in the eighth schedule of the constitution.
• In 2004, the Government of India declared that languages that meet certain requirements would be accorded the status of a Classical Language in India.
• At present there are 6 Classical Language in India.
• Tamil was the first Classical Language of India. The government declared Tamil (in 2004) followed by Sanskrit (2005).
• Followed by, Telugu (2008) Kannada (2008) Malayalam (2013) Odiya (2014).

• NASA’s Kepler mission observed a dip in the host star’s light, suggesting that the planet was crossing in front of the star during its orbit.
• To confirm, researchers turned to an instrument called Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF).
• At 100 light years from Earth, a low-mass star was sending signals in a pattern that suggested that an exoplanet was orbiting the star.
• It has confirmed that there is indeed an exoplanet.
• The scientific objective of the Kepler Mission is to explore the structure and diversity of planetary systems.
• It is an unmanned space observatory dedicated to find planets outside solar system with a particular focus on finding planets that might resemble Earth.
• The observatory was in commission for just under 9 years, from its launch in March 2009 to its decommission on Nov. 15, 2018.

• Recently, the Bengaluru Police arrested student activist on charges of Sedition for allegedly raising Pakistan Zindabad slogans at a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
• The Sedition law, under Section 124A IPC, is a legacy of the British Raj, which used it to stifle dissent and the national movement for freedom.
• Section 124A IPC -  Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards, the Government established by law in India, a shall be punished with imprisonment for life, to which fine may be added, or with imprisonment which may extend to three years, to which fine may be added, or with fine.
• The expression “disaffection” includes disloyalty and all feelings of enmity.
• Sedition is a non-bailable offence. Punishment under the Section 124A ranges from imprisonment up to three years to a life term, to which fine may be added.
• A person charged under this law is barred from a government job.
• They have to live without their passport and must produce themselves in the court at all times as and when required.
• In the recent consultation paper on the sedition, the Law Commission has suggested invoking 124A to only criminalize acts committed with the intention to disrupt public order or to overthrow the Government with violence and illegal means.

• The first-ever 2 days long Bharat-Bangla Paryatan Utsav was recenlty begins in Agartala, Tripura.
• The aim of the festival is to promote tourism in Tripura and apprise the people of the state and neighbouring Bangladesh of the tourist destinations in this state.
• The State Tourism Department has organized the festival in memories of the contribution of Tripura in 1971 Bangladesh liberation war as well as giving a fillip to the Tripura tourism sector.
• The states through cultural tourism, health tourism particularly tightening the relationship between two nations.

• Pakistan has test-launched the new Ra’ad II Nuclear-capable, Air-Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) variant.
• Ra’ad II missile, which is an enhanced version of Ra’ad I missile, was unveiled in 2017.
• The weapon system is equipped with state of the art guidance and navigation systems ensuring the engagement of targets with high precision.
• The Ra’ad-II weapon system comprises of world-class navigation systems for better precision.
• Indian experts believe that Ra’ad II is Pakistan’s answer to Nirbhay cruise missile.