10 MARCH 2022- English

10^th March 2022

    1.       Prabha Narasimhan appointed as CEO of Colgate-Palmolive India

·         Prabha Narasimhan has been appointed as the CEO and MD of Colgate-Palmolive     (India) Limited.

·         She succeeded Ram Raghavan, who has been promoted to the role of President, 

        Enterprise Oral Care, at Colgate Palmolive Company.

·         Prior to this, she was working as executive director of Hindustan Unilever (HUL).

 

2.              2. The Reserve Bank of India has extended the interest equalization scheme for pre and     post- shipment rupee loans for MSME exporters through March 2024.

·         It will offer a subsidy to exporters.

·         Initially, the scheme was first extended until the end of June last year, further till

 September 2021 and now it is extended till March 2024.

·         This will enhance outbound shipments.

·         The interest equalization rates are revised to 2% and 3%.      

 

3.       3. 'LaxmiForLaxmi’ Initiative launched by HDFC Mutual Fund

·         It is a women-led financial empowerment initiative enable the connectivity between     women investors and women financial experts.

·         The women investors can connect to a woman financial expert near them through a

     unique missed call service. The queries will be solved by the female financial expert.

 4.       4. India’s 1st 100% women-owned FLO (FICCI Ladies Organisation) Industrial Park was inaugurated in Hyderabad. It is owned by FICCI FLO in partnership with the Telangana government.

·         HQ of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry): New Delhi

·         President of FICCI: Ujjwala Singhania

 5.           5. Sweden’s Olympic pole vault champion Armand Gustav “Mondo” Duplantis cleared 6.19m             to smash his own world record by one centimeter at the World Indoor Tour Silver meeting             in Belgrade.

·         He had set the record of 6.18 in February 2020 indoors in Glasgow.

 

6.    Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited, a health insurance company launched “Star Women Care Insurance Policy”.

·         The policy can be purchased through premiums that can be paid in quarterly or half-yearly instalments, and this policy can also be taken for 1 year, 2 year or 3-year terms.

 7.       IMF board approves $1.4 billion emergency support for Ukraine

·         The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved $1.4 billion in emergency support for Ukraine to finance expenditures and shore up the balance of payments.

·         Ukraine has turned to financing from allies and international institutions to support its economy after the Russian invasion began on February 24.

                                                               i.      Ukraine Capital: Kyiv;

                                                             ii.      Ukraine Currency: Ukrainian hryvnia;

                                                           iii.      Ukraine President: Volodymyr Zelenskyy;

                                                           iv.      Ukraine Prime minister: Denys Shmyhal.

 8.       Haryana’s CM announced ‘Sushma Swaraj Award’ for women

·         Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, while presenting the state budget, has announced a ‘Sushma Swaraj Award’ for women for their significant achievements or contribution in different walks of life in the international and national spheres.

·         The Sushma Swaraj Award will carry an award money of Rs 5 lakh along with a commendation.

9.       1954 Hague Convention

·         The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has pitched for protective measures to preserve Ukraine’s endangered cultural heritage in light of Russia’s invasion over Ukraine.

·         To avoid deliberate or accidental damages, the agency is marking cultural sites and monuments in Ukraine with the distinctive “Blue Shield” emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

 10.   Chemical Weapons Convention and Biological Weapons Convention

·         The US said that Russia could be planning a chemical or biological weapon attack in Ukraine

·         Russian claimed that the US had chemical and biological weapons labs in Ukraine, which was denied by the US.

India’s:

                                                               i.      The Chemical Weapons Convention Act, 2000 was passed to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

                                                             ii.      It provided for the establishment of a National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention or NACWC. This institution, formed in 2005, is the chief liaison between the government of India and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Global:

                                                               i.            The Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions are multilateral environmental agreements, which share the common objective of protecting human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals and wastes.

                                                       ii.            The Australia Group (AG) is an informal forum of countries which, through the harmonisation of export controls, seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons.

 

11.   The Chief Justice of India raised concerns about the lack of women among High Court judges.

·         He made this remark while addressing an event on the occasion of the International Day of Women Judges (10th March).

·         In high courts, the percentage of women judges is a mere 11.5%, while in the Supreme Court there are four sitting women judges out of 33 in office.

·         The situation of women lawyers in the country is not any better. Out of 1.7 million advocates registered, only 15% are women.

 

12.   MSME Innovative Scheme

·         The Ministry of MSME (Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises) has launched the MSME Innovative Scheme (Incubation, Design and IPR) along with the MSME IDEA HACKATHON 2022.

·         It is the combination of existing sub-schemes around incubation, design, and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for MSMEs.

·         For this, a separate corpus will be created and managed by SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) as the fund manager.

·         SIDBI set up on 2nd April 1990 under an Act of Indian Parliament, acts as the Principal Financial Institution for Promotion, Financing and Development of the MSME sector as well as for co-ordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities.

·         The new scheme will ensure support through guidance, financial support, technical support, and more to MSMEs to scale up.

·         The new scheme would act as a hub for innovation activities facilitating and guiding the development of ideas into viable business propositions that can benefit society directly and can be marketed successfully.

 13.   India finishes at the top in 2022 ISSF World Cup

·         India has taken first place in the medal standings at the ISSF World Cup 2022 in Cairo, organised by the International Shooting Sport Federation.

·         By winning a total of seven medals, the Indian team took first place in the medals tally, with four gold, two silver, and one bronze.

·         Norway took second place in the medals tally with six medals (three gold, one silver, and two bronze). France came in third place with three gold medals out of a total of twenty.

 

14.   Ashwani Bhatia (SBI MD) appointed as SEBI member

·         The cabinet has appointed Ashwani Bhatia, managing director (MD) of the State Bank of India (SBI), as a whole-time member (WTM) of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

·         According to some sources, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has also approved Ashwani Bhatia’s appointment as a whole-time member of SEBI for three years from the date of his assumption of the command.

 15.   Karnataka government launched ‘Women@Work’ programme

·         The government of Karnataka has launched ‘Women@Work’ program to provide five lakh jobs within 2026 to women with necessary employable skills.

·         The program aims to focus on the efforts of corporate programs on attracting women workforce.

·         It has been developed by Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) in association with KTECH, Karnataka Skill Development Corporation.

·         It will act as an enabler for women to actively participate and join the workforce through industry upskilling.

 16.   Sharad Pawar unveiled Ratnakar Shetty’s autobiography “On Board: My Years in BCCI”

·         A book titled “On Board: My Years in BCCI”, an autobiographical account of Ratnakar Shetty’s experiences as an administrator.

·         The book was released by Sharad Pawar, the former president of the MCA, BCCI and International Cricket Council. Shetty, a Chemistry professor by profession, went on to be the BCCI’s first Chief Administrative Officer after serving the Mumbai Cricket Association in various capacities.

 17.   Union Minister of Power launches Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center

·         As part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Program, Union Minister for Power R.K. Singh launched the Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center (SGKC) and Innovation Park.

·         Krishan Pal Gurjar, Minister of State for Power, was also in attendance.

 18.   Skoch State of Governance ranking 2021: Andhra Pradesh gets first rank

·         Andhra Pradesh has retained its number one spot in the SKOCH State of Governance rankings for the second consecutive year.

·         According to a release, the State retained the first rank for the second consecutive year. In 2020 too, Andhra Pradesh bagged top rank in governance.

·         Andhra Pradesh was ranked at second position in 2018 and later it slipped to 4th position in 2019, according to Skoch.

·         The second rank was bagged by West Bengal and Odisha was ranked 3, Gujarat was ranked 4 and Maharashtra was ranked 5. Neighbouring Telangana was ranked 6.

·         SKOCH Governance Report Card for 2021:

·         The SKOCH Group has released the SKOCH Governance Report Card for 2021 in New Delhi, ranking the states according to their performance in various projects at state, district, and Email Article Print Article municipal levels.

19.   3rd National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) begins in New Delhi

·         The 3rd edition of the National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) has been organised jointly by the Lok Sabha Secretariat and the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports on March 10 and 11, 2022, in the Central Hall of Parliament, New Delhi.

·         Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur will address the inaugural session of NYPF on March 10, while the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will address the valedictory function on March 11.

 

20.   CISF raising day observed every year on March 10

·         In the year 1969, the CISF was set up on March 10 and three battalions were formed under the CISF act 1968, which was passed by the Parliament of India. Since then, the day is celebrated as CISF Raising Day every year.

·         Central Industrial Security Force, is for the central armed police force in India. It is one of the six paramilitary forces in India functioning under the Union Home Ministry.

 21.   S Sreesanth quits from all forms of first-class cricket

·         India pacer S Sreesanth has announced his retirement from all forms of domestic cricket. Sreesanth played 27 Tests and 53 ODIs for India, taking 87 and 75 wickets respectively.

·         He has also taken seven wickets in 10 T20 Internationals.

·         The temperamental pacer was also popular for his exuberant celebrations after taking wickets but his life and career went downhill after the spot-fixing scandal.

 22.   Govt nod for setting up WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine

·         The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the establishment of a World Health Organization Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO GCTM) at Jamnagar, Gujarat.

·         An agreement was signed by the Government of India with the world body in this regard.

·         The move would help develop norms, standards, and guidelines in relevant technical areas, tools and methodologies for collecting data undertaking analytics and assessing impact.

 

23.   Tamil Nadu govt inaugurated India’s largest floating solar power project

·         Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M K Stalin has inaugurated India’s largest floating solar power plant constructed at a cost of Rs 150.4 crores.

·         The floating plant is established in Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation Limited (SPIC) factory at Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu to provide clean energy.

·         It aims to provide environmentally sustainable power generation and to reduce carbon footprint.

 24.   Nuclear Waste Facility at the Kudankulam

·         The Kudankulam Village Panchayat has passed a resolution against the construction of the ‘Away From Reactor (AFR) facility at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) site for storing nuclear waste.

·         Earlier, the state government (Tamil Nadu) had also opposed such construction.

·         The village panchayat is of the view that the AFR site would lead to radioactive pollution (spread of radioactivity) and spoil the groundwater, which is used for drinking water and irrigation.

 25.   A leftover piece of a spacecraft flying (of Chang'e 5-T1 – a lunar mission of China) through space reportedly hit the surface of the moon creating a new crater that may be around 65 feet wide.

·         This is the first recorded unintentional case of space junk hitting the moon.

·         The speed, trajectory, and time of impact were calculated using earth-based telescope observations called Project Pluto.

·         Project Pluto is a blog that tracks near-earth objects, which was created by American astronomer Bill Gray. He is also the creator of a popular astronomy software called Guide.

 26.   Amazon Rainforest Nearing Tipping Point

·         A significant part of the Amazon rainforest has been heading towards a tipping point since the early 2000s. It may be losing its ability to bounce back from extreme events such as drought or fire, threatening to become a dry savanna-like ecosystem. In this study, researchers analyzed 30 years of satellite data to understand the resilience of the rainforest and how it has changed over the years.

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