• Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria jointly launched a unified web portal for monitoring the progress of GOBARDHAN activities across the nation.

• Gobardhan is an important component of Swachh Bharat Mission Phase-2 for organic solid waste management.

• This scheme was launched by the Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation.

• GOBAR-DHAN scheme stands for Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources – DHAN scheme.

• This scheme is the part of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

• The scheme has its focus on keeping the villages clean, increasing the income of rural households. It also seeks to generate energy from cattle waste.

• The 16th edition of Indo-US joint military exercise 'Yudh Abhyas' will be held in Rajasthan between February 8 and 21.

• The exercise near the India-Pakistan border aims at enhancing cooperation and interoperability between the two armies and will focus on counter-terrorism operations under the United Nations mandate.

• The exercise is being held in India also assumes significance in the backdrop of recent developments on northern borders, and conveys the strategic posture of the two nations as well as enhanced upward trajectory in Indo-US relations.

• 13th edition of the Aero India show was held from 3^rd -5^th February, 2021 at Air Force station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru.

• The event was unique in ways more than one and it is billed as the 'Runway to a Billion opportunities'.

• This year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the air show, Aero India 2021 was a hybrid show, which means delegates presented either physically or virtually.

• The three-day event has focused on India’s indigenous defence sector capabilities.

• CBI Additional Director Praveen Sinha, a 1988-batch Gujarat cadre IPS, has been appointed acting chief of the agency till a decision on a new director is taken to succeed Rishi Kumar Shukla who retired after a two-year fixed stint.

• This is the fourth time since 2014 that an acting director has been given charge to look after duties of the CBI chief.

• Earlier, Rakesh Asthana, then additional director, held the fort before Alok Verma was appointed as Director.

• M Nageswara Rao, as additional director, took charge of the agency twice when the government removed Asthana and Verma from the agency following allegations of corruption levelled by them against each other.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unveiled the risk-based internal audit (RBIA) system for select non-bank lenders and urban co-operative banks, with a view to enhance the quality and effectiveness of their internal audit system.

• As per the regulator, all the deposit-taking non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and the ones with an asset size of over Rs 5,000 crore will have to migrate to the new system.

• Currently, all the entities supervised by the RBI have their own approaches on internal audit, resulting in certain inconsistencies, risks and gaps in the system.

• India slipped two places to 53rd position in the 2020 Democracy Index's global ranking, according to The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

• India's overall score fell from 6.9 in 2019 to 6.61 in the Index that provides a snapshot of the current state of democracy worldwide for 167 countries.

• 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.

• Among India's neighbours, while Sri Lanka, at 68th rank, is classified as a flawed democracy, Bangladesh (76), Bhutan (84) and Pakistan (105) are classified in the 'hybrid regime' category. Afghanistan is ranked 139th and classified as an 'authoritarian regime' in the index.

• Britain's Captain Tom Moore, the World War Two veteran who lifted a nation's spirits by raising millions of pounds for health service workers battling the coronavirus.

• Moore struck a chord with locked-down Britain by walking around his garden with the help of a frame to raise 38.9 million pounds ($53 million) for the National Health Service.

• His endeavour and wit spread joy amid the grim news of the coronavirus outbreak: Moore's message to the world was that the sun would shine again and that the clouds would clear.

• Jeff Bezos, the Founder and CEO of Amazon, will step down as the CEO of Amazon in the third quarter October 2021 and Andy Jassy, the lead of Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing unit of Amazon will take over as the New CEO.

• Jeff Bezos will be taking up the role of executive chair of the Amazon’s Board of Directors.

• He also stated that he would be focusing on the new products, early initiatives and Philanthropic giving through like Day 1 Fund and the Bezos Earth Fund; Blue Origin, his secretive space venture.

• Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister of Maharashtra launched Intellectual Property Rights Scheme and Quality Testing & Certification Scheme to provide financial support to the innovative startups to file for IT patents.

• Both the schemes will be implemented by the Maharashtra State Innovation Society(MSInS) under the Department of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of Maharashtra.

• Under the Intellectual Property Support Scheme more than 125 to 150 startups will be supported in the first phase of the scheme with a financial support of upto Rs.2 lakh for Domestic Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Applications and upto Rs.10 Lakh for International IPR Applications.

• Under the Quality Testing Scheme scheme, the startups will receive around Rs. 2 lakh for quality testing and certification of the startup’s idea.

• International Day of Human Fraternity is observed on 4th February every year.

• International Day of Human Fraternity aims to underline the importance of raising awareness about different cultures and religions, or beliefs, and the promotion of tolerance.

• It also aims to educate people that tolerance, pluralistic tradition, mutual respect, and the diversity of religions and beliefs promote human fraternity.

• This year International Day of Human Fraternity 2021 theme: A Pathway to the Future.

• The UN General Assembly on 21 December adopted a resolution declaring 4 February as the International Day of Human Fraternity. The day is to be observed each year, beginning in 2021.