NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Ministry of Jal Shakti to Identify 75 Water Heritage
Sites: The Ministry of Jal Shakti had constituted a committee to
identify 75 Water Heritage Structure (WHS) in reference to 75
years of India's Independence. A total of 421 nominations were
received and out of which, Committee has recommended 75 water heritage
structures. It includes 5 WHS from Gujarat and 4 WHS from Andhra Pradesh. At
present, there is no central fund allocated/disbursed for the
maintenance of these sites.
2. India to host SCO Tourism Ministers’ Meeting 2023 in
Kashi: India will host the
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Tourism Ministers’ Meeting
(TMM) on 17th -18th March 2023 in Kashi (designated as the first
cultural capital of the SCO). During TMM, the Tourism Joint Action Plan on
the Development of Cooperation in Tourism among SCO member countries would
be adopted. India will also host the SCO Food Festival in
Mumbai from 13-19 April 2023.
India
is the current chair of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
3. India remains world’s largest arms importer: SIPRI
Data: According to
the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
report, despite an 11% drop in arms import between 2013-17 and
2018-22, India remained the world’s largest arms importer from 2018 to
2022 followed by Saudi Arabia. Russia was India’s largest arms supplier in
the periods between 2013-17 and 2018-22. But Russia's share of arms imports to
India fell from 64 to 45%. While France emerged as the second-largest arms
supplier to India followed by the US.
4. SIBC, Maharashtra Govt sign MoU in sustainable
infrastructure and Defence: Sweden India Business Council (SIBC) has signed an MoU with
the Maharashtra government for cooperation in waste to energy,
sustainable infrastructure & transportation, defense manufacturing, and
investment. The MoU was signed between SIBC and Maharashtra Industrial
Development Corporation (MIDC) in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief
Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Both
have also agreed to work together to explore and facilitate funding
opportunities.
5. Ashok Leyland unveils all-women production line at
Tamil Nadu plant: Heavy commercial vehicle maker Ashok
Leyland has unveiled a new production line that
would produce engines at its manufacturing facility in Hosur
completely operated by women employees. The initiative to introduce an
all-women production line is to promote women empowerment and encourage them
take up roles in the manufacturing industry. Ashok Leyland, the flagship
company of Hinduja Group, has set up this new line with 80 women employees. This
initiative is in line with our brand philosophy of ‘Koi Manzil Door Nahin’ as
we aim to upskill and generate employment for these women.
6. Sumant Kathpalia reappointed as MD & CEO of
IndusInd Bank: Reserve bank of India had
approved the re-appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer of the bank for a further period of 2 years with
effect from March 24, 2023. Sumant Kathpalia is a career banker with years of
experience in large multi-national banks such as Citibank, Bank of America and
ABN AMRO, prior to joining IndusInd Bank. Kathpalia has led several roles in
his 30-year career. Established in 1994 by Srichand P Hinduja, the name
IndusInd Bank was inspired by the Indus Valley Civilisation.
7. Mohit Joshi appointed as MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra: Tech Mahindra announced that
former Infosys President Mohit Joshi has been appointed
as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company
for a period of 5 years, effective from 20 December 2023. Mohit Joshi will take
over the charge from C P Gurnani after his retirement. Joshi has also worked
for the largest corporations– Infosys, ANZ Grindlays, and ABN Amro Bank. He was
the Vice Chair of the Economic Growth Board of the CBI (Confederation of
British Industry). He was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic
Forum in 2014.
8. Centre signed Rs 934 crore deal with HSL to Refit INS
Sindhukirti Submarine: The Ministry of Defense has signed a contract for General Refit
of INS Sindhukirti Submarine at Hindustan Shipyard Limited
(HSL), Visakhapatnam at a total cost of Rs 934 crore. Sindhukirti is 3rd Kilo
Class Diesel Electric Submarine. After completion of refit, Sindhukirti will be
combat-worthy and will join the active submarine fleet of the Indian Navy. This
refit has been offloaded to develop alternate repair facility for submarines
and is a further step towards undertaking Medium refit with Life Certification
at HSL. The project involves more than 20 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs) and would lead to employment generation of 1,000 man-days per day for
the project duration.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Multilateral Naval Exercise La Perouse 2023 Commences:
The third edition multi-lateral maritime exercise La Pérouse
2023 started between the navies of India, Australia, French, Japan,
and the United States in the Indian Ocean Region from 13-14
March 2023. It is a biennial exercise, conducted by the French Navy. Aim: To
enhance maritime domain awareness and optimize maritime coordination amongst
the participating navies in the Indo-Pacific Region India's INS Sahyadri and
fleet tanker INS Jyoti have participated.
2. Asia's first woman loco pilot, Surekha Yadav will
operate Vande Bharat: Asia's first female locomotive pilot, Surekha Yadav is now
operating the Vande Bharat Express. She operated Vande Bharat Express from
Solapur to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal (CSMT) in Maharashtra. She
hails from Stara, Maharashtra, and become the country's first female train
driver in 1988. She had won many awards at the state and national levels so far
for her achievements. Union Minister of Railway: Ashwini Vaishnaw
3. India and Sweden signed MoC to promote research
networking: India and
Sweden signed a Memorandum of Cooperation
(MoC) to strengthen cooperation and promote research networking
between research institutions from both countries. Aim: To promote mobility
funding opportunities in both countries It facilitates academic
cooperation through mobility activities as well as through seminars,
workshops, and conferences. This partnership will take forward joint
Science and Technology efforts particularly in smart cities, AI, and many more.
4. World Food India-2023 to take place in New Delhi: The second edition of ‘World Food India-2023’ will be
organized from 3-5 November 2023 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The event
will be organized by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, Government of
India. During the event, Union Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras outlined pivotal
elements of the WFI-2023 as Millets- ‘Shree Anna-The Super Food of India’,
Innovation and Sustainability ‘Green Food’, White Revolution 2.0, making India
an export hub and focuson technology and digitisation.
5. India & Australia sign audio-visual co-production
agreement: India and Australia have signed
an audio-visual co-production agreement that seeks to offer
filmmakers financial incentives amounting to up to 30 percent of the
expenditure incurred in the respective countries. The agreement was signed by
I&B Secretary Apurva Chandra and Australian High Commissioner Barry
O’Farrell. Australia is the 16th country with which India has a co-production
agreement that would benefit mainly small filmmakers keen on shooting movies,
web series, advertisements or carrying out post-production work or visual
effects in that country. India has audio-visual co-production agreements with
Italy, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Germany, Brazil, France, New
Zealand, Poland, Spain, Canada, China, South Korea, Bangladesh, Israel, Russia
and Portugal.
6. Asia’s largest tulip garden in J&K to open to the
public on 19 March: The Indira Gandhi Tulip Garden, which is Asia’s largest tulip
garden in Kashmir, will open to the public on March 19, 2023. The garden
spread between Dal Lake and Zabarwan Hills. This garden is spread over 1050
kanals (52.5 hectares. It started with 50,000 tulips, then 3.50 lakh tulips and
now we have 15 Lakh. Besides 1.5 million Tulips of various colours and hues,
the garden, also known as Siraj Bagh, will have other spring flowers like
hyacinths, daffodils, muscari and cyclamens on display.
Formerly
known as Siraj Bagh, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden was opened in 2008
by then chief minister of erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state Ghulam Nabi Azad.
7. India & France conducts Maritime Partnership
Exercise (MPX): Indian Navy’s indigenously
built Guided Missile Frigate, INS Sahyadri participated in the Maritime
Partnership Exercise (MPX) with French Navy (FN) ships in the Arabian Sea. French
Navy (FN) ships FS Dixmude, a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship, and FS La
Fayette, a La Fayette class frigate participated in the exercise. The exercise
witnessed a wide spectrum of evolutions at sea which included cross deck
landings, boarding exercises and seamanship evolutions. The seamless conduct of
the exercise reaffirmed the interoperability and high level of cooperation between
the two navies.
8. Exercise ‘La Perouse’ between navies of India, US,
Japan, France, UK and Australia begins: The third edition of the multilateral exercise ‘La
Perouse’ was held in the Indian Ocean Region.
Personnel,
ships and integral helicopters of the Royal Australian Navy, French Navy,
Indian Navy, Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force, Royal Navy, and the United
States Navy participated in Exercise La Perouse. The biennial exercise La
Perouse is conducted by the French Navy and aims to enhance maritime domain
awareness and optimise maritime coordination amongst the participating navies
in the Indo-Pacific region. Indian Navy’s indigenously built guided missile
frigate INS Sahyadri and fleet tanker INS Jyoti participated in the third
edition of the multilateral exercise.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1. Virat Kohli becomes 2nd-highest run scorer against
Australia: Star Indian batter Virat Kohli has
surpassed legendary West Indies Brian Lara to become the second-highest
run-scorer against Australia in international cricket. Lara, on the other hand,
scored 4,714 runs in 82 matches (Tests and ODIs) against Australia. He notched
up 12 tons with the best score of 277. The leading run-scorer against Australia
is legendary Sachin Tendulkar. In 110 matches and 144 innings, Tendulkar scored
6,707 runs at an average of 49.68. With 20 tons and 31 fifties, Sachin had the
best individual score of 241* against Australia.
2. Prithviraj Tondaiman won bronze in trap shooting in
Doha: India’s Prithviraj
Tondiman has won the bronze medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup 2023
in Doha, Qatar. Two-time world champion Oguzhan Tuzun (Turkey) won gold with a
score of 33/35, while Great Britain’s Matthew John took silver with a score of
30/35. This was India’s first medal at the ISSF World Cup, which is currently
taking place.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. IREDA received ‘Infrastructure Finance Company’ status
from RBI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted an
‘Infrastructure Finance Company (IFC)’ status to Indian Renewable Energy Development
Agency (IREDA). Earlier, it was classified as an Investment and Credit
Company (ICC). With the IFC status, IREDA will be able to take higher
exposure in RE financing. It will also help the company to access a wider
investor base for fund mobilization, resulting in competitive rates for
fundraising. Chairman of IREDA: Pradip Kumar Das
2. 38.58 crore loans extended since inception of MUDRA
Yojana: According to the Mudra
portal (as of 27.01.2023), more than 38.58 crore loans have
been extended since the inception of the Scheme in April 2015. Out of
this, over 26.35 crore loans have been extended to Women Entrepreneurs
(68%). SC/ST/OBC category borrowers received 19.84 crore loans (51%). As per
the Ministry of Labour survey, PMMY helped in generating 1.12 crore
net additional employment in the country from 2015 to 2018.
3. Suryoday Small Finance Bank launches special women’s
savings account: Suryoday Small Finance
Bank has launched a new savings account for women
customers called the Blossom Women’s savings account. Features: Women
can earn up to 7% interest rate per annum An exclusive and free Rupay
Platinum Debit Card that rewards women customers with discounts and cashback. Monthly
Interest Pay-out in the account One complementary account for child (Savings
Aditya Account) Average Monthly Balance (AMB) of ₹10,000 CEO of Suryoday SFB: R
Baskar Babu
4. India's retail inflation drops to 6.44% in February
2023: According to the data
released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), India's retail
inflation has lowered to 6.44% in February 2023 from 6.52% in January 2023. But
it remained above the upper band of the 4+/- 2 percent medium-term
target of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the second consecutive
month. While food inflation eased marginally to 5.95 percent in February
2023 from 6% in January 2023, inflation for cereals, milk, and fruits
picked up.
5. After Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank collapse: New York-based Signature
Bank was shut by regulators in the US, becoming the second bank in
the country after Silicon Valley Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC) has been appointed as a receiver, which typically means it
will liquidate the bank’s assets to pay back its customers, including
depositors and others. The standard insurance amount from FDIC is $250,000
per depositor, per bank, for each account ownership category.
OBITUARIES
1. Japanese Nobel-winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe passes away: Japanese novelist, Kenzaburo Oe passed away at the age of 88 on March 3, 2023, due to age-related issues. He was known for his pacifist and anti-nuclear views. He was honoured with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994 for creating "an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today". His notable works are 'A Personal Matter' and 'The Silent Cry'.
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