• The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry launched ‘Operation Digital Board’ on the lines of Operation Blackboard to provide better digital education in school.

• ‘KALIA Chhatra Bruti’ scholarship for the children of farmers benefited under the KALIA scheme was launched by the Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. It aims at providing financial assistance for technical and professional education to farmers’ children.

• International Mother Language Day has been observed every year on 21st February. International Mother Language day 2019 was framed around the theme “Indigenous languages matter for development, peace building and reconciliation”.

• The Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year is an annual award honoring the achievements of individual men from the world of sports. Novak Djokovic was named World Sportsman of the Year and United State gymnast Simone Biles was named Sportswoman of the Year at the 2019 Laureus World Sports Awards, while Tiger Woods won the World Comeback of the Year award.

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the launch of‘Kisan Urja Suraksha Evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan’ (KUSUM Yojana) with the objective of providing financial and water security to farmers. The Central Government will provide a total financial support of Rs.34,422 crore for the scheme.

• A small brown rat of bramble cay melomys species, that lived on a tiny island off northern Australia, became the world’s first mammal to have become extinct due to “human-induced climate change”.

• Chinese news agency Xinhua unveiled the world’s first female AI news anchor Xin Xiaomeng. She has been developed in collaboration with Sogou Inc, a search engine company. Earlier, Xinhua also developed Qiu Hao, the world’s first male AI news anchor, who is capable of mimicking human facial expressions and mannerisms while reading out news-reports.

• Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, inaugurated India’s first Humanoid Police Robot named KP-BOT, ranked as Sub-Inspector (SI), at the Police Headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The robot’s gender is declared female keeping in mind women empowerment and gender equality.

• The Supreme Court appointed a retired judge of the court Justice D.K. Jainas the first ombudsman under the new BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) Constitution approved by the court in a judgment.

• Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has hiked interest rate on employees’ provident fund to 8.65% from 8.55% for the 2018-19 fiscal year.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Seoul Peace Prize during his two-day visit to South Korea.

• In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched Scheme for Adolescent girls (SAG). The scheme focuses on girls aged between 11 to 14 years who have left studies and will take steps for proper nutrition and special care for them. The state government also decided to observe Adolescent girls day on 8th of every month at Anganwadi centres across the state.

• Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has declared a year-long state of emergency in Sudan. 

• Divya Karnad became the First Indian Woman to be honoured with the ‘Future for Nature Award’ for her work on marine conservation. It is a prestigious international award that celebrates achievements in protecting wild animals and plant species.

• The Odisha Cabinet approved the ‘Khushi’ scheme to provide free sanitary napkins to school girls across the state.

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a new park which houses the replicas of seven wonders of the world at South Delhi. The park, which is called the ‘Waste to Wonder Park’, was built by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC).

• Wallace’s giant bee(Wallace Bee), the largest bee known on the Earth which was considered to be extinct since 1981 was re-spotted in an Indonesian forest.

• Tamil Nadu became the first state in the country to get a second Coast Guard district headquarters – Thoothukudi. The first district headquarters is Chennai.

• Zimbabwe has started to trade its new currency, the RTGS dollar. The new currency replaces electronic bank savings called digital dollars and the bond notes and was named after the real-time gross settlement system that banks use to transfer money between each other.

• World Bank,United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launched new social impact bonds exclusively for women, called Women’s Livelihood Bonds (WLBs), with an initial corpus of 300 crore. It will enable individual women entrepreneurs in sectors like food processing, agriculture, services, and small units to borrow around Rs.50,000 to Rs.3 lakh at an annual interest rate of around 13% to 14% or less and have a tenure of 5 years.

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was invited as Guest of Honour to deliver an address at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi. This is the first time that a leader of the non-Muslim country was invited to the OIC conference.

• US President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4), ordering the Pentagon to establish the Space Force as the 6th branch of the United States military, to go along with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard, in order to secure and extend American dominance of the space domain. 

• Thailand and the United States hosted the annual Cobra Gold military exercise, the biggest activity of its type in the Asia-Pacific region.

• The 91st Academy Awards (Oscars)was announced at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, the USA. Rami Malek was named Best Actor in a Leading Role for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, while Olivia Colman won Best Actress Oscar for ‘The Favourite’ at the 91st Academy Awards. India-based ‘Period. End of Sentence.’ has won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject.

• The Asian Hockey Federation has honored Indian skipper Manpreet Singh with the 2018 Player of the Year award. Women team’s striker Lalremsiami has bagged the Rising Player of The Year prize.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated a new National War Memorial, situated in the India Gate complex in New Delhi, to the nation. The National War Memorial, spread over 40 acres in the India Gate complex behind the canopy, is dedicated to soldiers killed during the Indo-China War in 1962, Indo-Pak Wars in 1947, 1965 and 1971, Indian Peace Keeping Force Operations in Sri Lanka and in the Kargil Conflict in 1999, and also those in the UN peacekeeping missions.

• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath launched the State Government’s flagship scheme ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’ that guarantees 100 days of employment every year to urban youth from economically weaker sections. Under the scheme, 4,000 stipend per month during 100 days period, would be given to the youth and they will also be given skill development training in order to become independent.

• President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2015, 16, 17 and 18. Details of recipients:- For 2015: Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari; For 2016: Jointly to Akshaya Patra Foundation and Sulabh International; For 2017: Ekal Abhiyan Trust; For 2018: Japan’s Yohei Sasakawa for his contribution in Leprosy Eradication in India and across the world.

• Afghanistan scored 278 for the loss of three wickets from their allotted 20 overs, to register the highest-ever total in T20s at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.  Hazratullah Zazai scored 162 runs from just 62 Zazai became the first player from Afghanistan to score 150 or more runs, and his 236-run opening stand with Usman Ghani became the highest partnership in T20Is.

• Indian Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta lifted the Cannes International Open trophy.

• Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched the PRANAM Commission, which is a panel set up to look after the issues concerning a Bill brought in for the protection of parents of state government employees. The Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring (PRANAM) Bill, stated to be the first-of-its-kind bill in the country, aims to protect elderly parents of government employees in their times of need.

• Muhammadu Buhari was re-elected Nigeria’s President.

• Eminent Indian playwright Mahesh Elkunchwar has been chosen for this year’s META Lifetime Achievement Award.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)has taken off Allahabad Bank, Corporation Bank and Dhanlaxmi Bank from the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework allowing them to resume their normal lending activities.

• Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary clinched the gold medal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event at the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi.

• Union minister Prakash Javadekar launched ‘Scheme for Higher Education Youth in Apprenticeship and Skills’ (SHREYAS) for providing industry apprenticeship opportunities to fresh graduates.

• The Central Zone Power Distribution Company (CZPDC),Bhopal and West Zone Power Distribution Company (WZPDC), Indore were conferred with the “Saubhagya Award” under Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana. The PM Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana- Saubhagya was implemented by the Central Government in September 2017, and intends to provide electricity to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) houses of rural and urban areas.

• Reserve Bank of India and Bank of Japan have signed a Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA).

• India ranked 47th in the ‘Inclusive Internet Index 2019’ which is prepared by the ‘Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)’ for Facebook. Sweden topped the index.

• The Hurun Global Rich List 2019 has been topped by Amazon chief Jeff Bezos while the Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has been placed 8th with a network of 3.83 trillion.

• National Science Day was celebrated across India on February 28. Famous Indian scientist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman or CV Raman discovered the Raman Effect on this day in  For his discovery, Sir CV Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. This year the theme for the National Science Day is ‘Science for people and people for science’.