VINTAGE: Important Current Affairs of February 3, 2016

This Day is celebrated to raise public awareness about the importance and value of wetlands.

An association called 'Fliederlich' on February 2, 2016 opened Germany's first shelter for gay refugees in the city of Nuremberg.

The shelter, a two-storey house, can accommodate 8 people and has already received four requests.
The initiative was taken after around 20 refugees alleged that they felt threatened in the shelters they were put up in.

The World Health Organization (WHO) on February 2, 2016 declared Zika virus as aglobal public health emergency.

Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari has embarked upon 5-day official Visit of Brunei and Thailand.

The Minister of State for Home Affairs, Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary is also accompanying him.
He is visiting Brunei at the invitation of Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah.
This will be the first high-level visit from India since the establishment of diplomatic relations with Brunei in May, 1984.

The UPA government's flagship rural job guarantee scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), completed 10 yearsof implementation on February 2, 2016.

The scheme was introduced by the then PM Manmohan Singh in 2006 guaranteeing at least 100 days of wage employment to rural population.
To celebrate the same, the Centre is holding 'MGNREGA Sammelan' in Delhi on February 2, 2016.

The Bihar government on February 2, 2016 relaxed the rule that makes toilets a mandatory requirement at the homes of candidates contesting in local body polls.

Dubai International Airport was declared the world's busiest airport for international passengers in 2015.

Note : India was Dubai's single largest destination country in 2015 with 10.4 million passengers.

Vietnam has inaugurated the world's longest three-rope cable car systemin the northern province of Lao Cai.

With a total length of 6,292.5 meters, the cable car system has also been recognised by the Guinness World Records' representatives.
It is also the cable car system with the world’s biggest height gap between its departure and arrival stations (1,410 metres).

J K Garg has taken over as Managing Director and CEO of Corporation Bank following the retirement of S R Bansal.
Online furniture and home decor startup Urban Ladder on February 2, 2016 appointed former Marico executive Sanjay Gupta as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).
An Indian, Saroj Kumar Jha, has been appointed to a key position in theWorld Bank with President Jim Young Kim assigning him a role to provide strategic leadership to address the challenge of fragility, conflict and violence.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the key policy rates unchanged in its 6th bi-monthly monetary policy review.
Google's holding company Alphabet on February 2, 2016 overtook Apple to become themost valuable publicly-traded company in the world.
The RBI has asked banks in India to switch to only online filing of forms related to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the government's e-biz portal, starting February 8.

Vietnam has formally lifted the ban on import of Indian groundnut, thereby providing market access after nine months, the Agriculture Ministry announced on February 2, 2016.

Note : The country had suspended import of Indian groundnuts from April 6, due to interception of quarantine pests — Caryedon serratus and Trogodrma granarium — in consignments exported since January, 2015.

Rewati Chetri from Assam has been crowned Miss Asia (Best in Asia Continent) at the World Miss University 2016 pageant, held in Beijing.

Important Note : Kelin Rivera Kroll from Peru was crowned Miss World University 2016.

IT giant Infosys is set to build the world's tallest 135-metre free-standing clock tower at its global education centre in Mysuru at a cost of ₹60 crore.

The tower, which will be higher than the Big Ben in London, will have 19 floors built in Gothic style.
The tower will reportedly be ready in the next 20 months.

NASA has released a 360° video of Mars on Facebook, enabling viewers to immersively explore the surface of the planet.

The video was produced by stitching together photos taken by NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover and using the "technology created by the 360 video team at Facebook".

Chef Benoît Violier, dubbed the world's best chef passed away.
The news of his death comes two months after his restaurant, the 'Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville', was declared the world's best restaurant by France's 'La Liste'.
For the first time, the government on February 2, 2016 appointed a woman IPS officeras the chief of a paramilitary force.
Tamil Nadu cadre IPS officer Archana Ramasundram will take over asDirector General of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The 1980-batch officer is the current head of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
The SSB chief’s post fell vacant on January 31, after then DG B D Sharma retired.

Two-time Olympian Sanjeev Rajput secured India's 12th shooting spot for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Rajput finished fourth in the men's 50-metre rifle three positions event at the 'Asia Olympic Qualifying Competition for Shooting' at Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range in New Delhi on February 2, 2016.

The newly-formed Rajkot-based Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise has been named as the Gujarat Lions.

The IPL team's logo has also been unveiled.
Indian batsman, Suresh Raina has been named the captain of the Lions while former Australian cricketer, Brad Hodge has been named as the coach of the team.

Team India's U-19 opener Rishabh Pant records the fastest fifty in the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup against Nepal.
National Snooker Championship 2016

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