DAILY GK 22-23 FEB 2026
1.
PM OF THE NETHERLANDS
·
Rob
Arnoldus Adrianus Jetten was
sworn in as the youngest-ever Prime Minister(PM) of
the Netherlands at the age of 38, also becoming the country’s
first openly gay head of government.
·
Rob Jetten leads a minority coalition government formed in which his centrist, pro-European
party, Democrats 66 (D66), emerged strongly and later forged a
coalition with the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the
People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
2.
SACHIN
TENDULKAR APPOINTED AS UN GLOBAL ROAD SAFETY CHAMPION
·
Indian cricketer Sachin
Tendulkar was designated a Global Champion for Road
Safety by the United Nations(UN), joining other international figures
to support global road safety awareness efforts.
·
He released a video
promoting safe road practices under the UN-JCDecaux #MakeASafetyStatement
campaign.
·
Jean Todt,
the Special Envoy for Road Safety of United Nations (UN) Secretary-General,
launched “Make A Safety Statement”, in New Delhi.
3.
PROF. B. RAVINDRAN
APPOINTED TO UN INTERNATIONAL PANEL ON AI
·
In Professor B.
Ravindran, of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) was
appointed to the United Nations (UN) Independent International
Scientific Panel in Artificial Intelligence (AI), announced by UN
Secretary-General AntónioGuterres at
India AI Impact Summit 2026 (New Delhi). Represents India & Global
South among 40 global experts.
·
1st
global scientific body established by UN to provide detailed
and independent scientific assessments of AI’s impact on society.
·
In August 2025, the panel was set up through a UN General Assembly
(UNGA) resolution adopted on August 26, 2025.
4.
CEO OF NITI
AAYOG
·
The Appointments Committee
of the Cabinet (ACC), chaired by Prime
Minister (PM) Narendra Modi gave the additional
charge of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National
Institute of Transforming India (NITI) Aayog to
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Nidhi Chhibber.
·
She assumed the role on February 24, 2026, following the completion of
the tenure of B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, CEO of NITI Aayog.
5. INDIA
JOINS PAX SILICA TO STRENGTHEN AI & SEMICONDUCTOR SUPPLY CHAINS
·
India formally
joined as the 12th Country in the USAled Pax Silica coalition, a strategic alliance
of nations aimed at building secure, resilient, and innovation-driven supply
chains for critical minerals, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence
(AI) infrastructure.
·
It aims to reduce global dependence on China in rare
earth processing and semiconductor manufacturing, reinforcing technological
and economic security.
·
Pax Silica was launched on 12 December 2025 in Washington, as a USA-led
strategic coalition with founding
members including the USA, Japan, Republic of Korea (ROK), Singapore,
United Kingdom (UK), Israel, and Australia.
·
The coalition later expanded to include Greece, Qatar, United
Arab Emirates (UAE), Netherlands, and India, strengthening its trusted
technology partnership network.
6.
2ND INDIA - AI SUMMIT
·
The 2nd
India–AI Impact Summit 2026 is inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi at
Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi as the first major Artificial Intelligence (AI)
event hosted in the Global South.
·
The summit
is organized by the Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in
collaboration with the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM),
National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, and various academic
institutions.
·
The summit
was guided by three foundational Sutras: People, Planet and Progress.
·
USA-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) announced its role as an Official Partner of the India AI Impact Summit 2026.
·
The
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and Ministry of Skill Development
and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), launched
six AI Impact Casebooks covering 170+ deployed innovations across key
sectors.
·
PM Narendra
Modi unveiled the ‘MANAV(Human in Hindi) framework’ stands
for M-Moral and Ethical Systems; A- Accountable; N–
National Sovereignty; A- Accessible and Inclusive; and V- Valid
and Legitimate.
·
This newly
launched framework for AI governance
focused on ethics, accountability, national data sovereignty,
accessibility, and legal validity.
·
The 5-day long India AI Impact summit concluded successfully with the adoption of ‘New
Delhi Declaration on AI Impact’, endorsed by 91 countries and
international organisations.
·
Guy
Parmelin, President of Switzerland announced that
the next edition of AI Impact Summit
will be held in Geneva (Switzerland) in 2027.
7.
BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT LULA’S VISIT TO INDIA
·
Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva, President of the
Federative Republic of Brazil, undertook a State
visit to India at the invitation of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, during
which he participated in the 2nd India Artificial Intelligence (AI) Impact
Summit 2026 and held bilateral meetings in New Delhi
·
President
Lula set a target to expand bilateral trade to USD 30 billion by
2030 from the current USD 15.21 billion, where India maintains a
surplus of about USD 1.5 billion.
·
The India–Brazil Economic
Forum held in New Delhi discussed cooperation in defence, renewable
energy, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI),
and expansion of the India–Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
·
India and
Brazil signed multiple MoUs to
strengthen cooperation in MSMEs, postal services, pharmaceuticals, trade
promotion, R&D, rare earths and critical minerals, steel, digital trade
(e-COO), education, cinema, and heritage preservation.
·
Both sides
also agreed to extend multiple-entry
tourist and business visas from 5 to 10 years, boosting people-to-people
ties.
8. ‘KERALA’
RENAMED AS ‘KERALAM’
·
The Union Cabinet chaired
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a proposal to
officially change the name of the state of ‘Kerala’ to ‘Keralam’.
·
Under
Article 3 of the Constitution of India, the President
refers the Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026 to the State Legislature for its views before it is
introduced in Parliament, after which it must be passed by a simple majority in both Houses and receive Presidential
assent.
·
The change requires
modification of the First Schedule
(listing states) and consequential updates to the Fourth Schedule (allocation of Rajya Sabha seats) of the Constitution.
9. INDIA’S
FIRST NATIONAL COUNTER-TERRORISM POLICY & STRATEGY ‘PRAHAAR’
·
The Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) released India’s new national counter-terrorism policy and strategy titled ‘PRAHAAR’, outlining
a comprehensive and proactive framework to address evolving terror threats and strengthen measures to curb and counter
terrorism.
·
The term ‘PRAHAAR’ means
‘strike’, which represents 7 key pillars of the country’s
counter-terrorism framework:
·
Prevention
of terrorist attacks to protect Indian citizens and interests.
·
Response,
which are swift and proportionate to the threat posed.
·
Aggregating
internal capacities for achieving synergy in a whole-of-government approach.
·
Human
Rights and ‘Rule of Law’ based processes for mitigation of threats.
·
Attenuating
the conditions enabling terrorism, including radicalization.
·
Aligning
and shaping the global efforts to counter terrorism.
·
Recovery
and resilience through a whole-of-society approach.
10. SPEAKER
OM BIRLA CONSTITUTES ‘PARLIAMENTARY FRIENDSHIP GROUPS’
·
Om Birla, Speaker
of Lok Sabha constituted ‘Parliamentary Friendship Groups
(PFGs)’ with 64 countries
to bolster inter-parliamentary
cooperation and legislative dialogue.
·
This new initiative will
enable the Indian lawmakers to interact directly with their counterparts
abroad, share legislative experience.
·
Each Parliamentary
Friendship Group typically consisted of
11 members, with a designated Chairperson/Group Leader leading the group.
·
The groups comprise Members of Parliament (MPs) from
both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha across the political spectrum.
