9 March 2022

                                                         9^th March 2022

1.       HouseWorkIsWork’ Initiative: It was launched by Axis Bank.

It grants opportunities to the women who want to resume their professional work as the urban educated women’s participation in the workforce is not up to the required level. Thus, it will generate confidence among women to work, develop skills and gain the required jobs as per their skills and education.

·         Head Quarters: Mumbai

·         MD and CEO of Axis Bank: Amitabh Chaudhry

 

2.       India`s largest reclining statue of Lord Buddha is being built in Bodh Gaya.

·         Built by Buddha International Welfare Mission, the statue will be 100 feet long and 30 feet high. Lord Buddha is in the sleeping posture in the statue.

·         The construction of the giant statue started in the year 2019. It is being made with fiberglass and built by sculptors from Kolkata.

·         It will be open to devotees from February 2023

 

3.       C-DAC installed “PARAM Ganga” Supercomputer at IIT Roorkee

·         The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has designed and installed a supercomputer named “PARAM Ganga”, at IIT Roorkee, under Phase II of National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).

·         PARAM Ganga has a supercomputing capacity of 1.66 Petaflops.

National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)

·         joint initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeiTY) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST)

·         The mission is implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.

·         Till date 11 systems have been deployed

 

4.       No Smoking Day 2022 is celebrating on 9th March

·         No Smoking Day is celebrated on the second Wednesday in the month of March every year across the world.

·         The main reason to observe this day is to spread awareness and educate people about the adverse impacts of tobacco on their health through cigarettes and other means.

·         No Smoking Day was first observed in the year 1984 in the Republic of Ireland on Ash Wednesday.

 

5.       Sikkim State Government will launch Aama Yojna & Bahini Scheme

·         Chief Minister of Sikkim, Prem Singh Tamang has announced that the State Government will soon implement ‘Aama Yojana, a scheme for helping non-working mothers & ‘Bahini Scheme’ benefitting girl students of the state.

 

6.       SEBI increased the Limit of Public Debt Investment via UPI up to Rs 5 Lakhs

·         The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has raised the investment limit for retail investors applying in public debt securities issuance.

·         The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has raised the investment limit for retail investors applying in public debt securities issuance via the universal payments interface (UPI) mechanism to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2 lakh previously.

·         The move comes after the National Payments Corporation of India NPCI decided to increase the per transaction limit for UPI-based applications supported by blocked amount ASBA initial public offering.

 

7.       Yoon Suk-yeol elected as New President of South Korea

·         Opposition Candidate Yoon Suk Yeol (People Power Party) has been elected as the Country’s new President defeating Ruling Liberal Party Opponent Lee Jae-myung.

 

8.       Lupin Ltd named Mary Kom as Brand Ambassador for its Shakti Initiative

·         Lupin Ltd has signed Mary Kom as brand amabassador for its Shakti Campaign.

·         It aimed to increase awareness about heart diseases among women through interactive social media session, sharing informative videos from doctors, and in-clinic awareness activities for patients.

 

9.       Zeta partnered with Mastercard to Power Banks Credit Processing

·         Mastercard and Zeta, a financial tech startup that provides next-generation credit card processing to banks and fintechs, a 5- year worldwide agreement.

·         Zeta Tachyon Credit is the only current credit processing stack that can handle both credit and loan processing

 

10.   RBI launches “BE(A)WARE” – A Booklet on Modus Operandi of Financial Frauds

·         Reserve Bank of India has launched a booklet named “BE(A)WARE” which features common modus operandi used by fraudsters and precautions to be taken while carrying out various financial transactions.

·         The main purpose of it is to enhance public awareness about various types of financial frauds perpetrated on gullible customers while carrying out digital payments and other financial transactions.

 

11.   Dholavira and Ramappa Temple are the latest addition to the list under the ‘Cultural’ category of UNESCO

·         There are 40 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India. Dholavira and Ramappa Temple are the latest addition to the list under the ‘Cultural’ category. ‘Ramappa Temple’, Telangana and ‘Dholavira’, Gujarat which is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2021.

·         This decision was made in the UNESCO World Heritage Committee’s 44th session held in China.

·         In 2021 the total number of World Heritage Sites has increased from 38 to 40.

 

12.   Germany to host G7 agriculture ministers virtual meeting

·         The German government has stated that it will hold a virtual meeting of G7 agriculture ministers to explore the implications of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on global food security.

·         The meeting, according to Cem zdemir, Germany’s Minister of Agriculture and Food, will also focus on ways to stabilise food markets

 

13.   SL Narayanan wins Grandiscacchi Cattolica International Open in Italy.

·         Indian Grand Master SL Narayanan was declared as the winner in the Grandiscacchi Cattolica International Open in Italy, R praggnanandhaa compatriot finished runner-up.

·         Narayanan earned the title of Grandmaster in 2015 and the 41 Grandmaster from India.

 

14.   Upper age limit for appearing in NEET-UG examination removed

·         The National Medical Commission (NMC) has removed the upper age limit of appearing in the medical undergraduate entrance exam- NEET UG.

·         Earlier, the age limit was 25 years for General Category Candidates and 30 years in case of Reserved Candidates.

 

15.   Report titled ‘Freedom in the World 2022 – The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule’ was released by Freedom House

·         The report assesses political rights and civil liberties.

·         As per the report, India was termed to be a ‘partly free’ country with respect to democracy and free society.

·         India has scored 66/100 in 2022 as per the report data.

 

16.   India, Bangladesh, Nepal finalise MoU to boost Trade and Connectivity

·         India, Bangladesh and Nepal finalised an memorandum of understanding (MoU) for implementing the long-gestating Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA).

·         The BBIN Motor Vehicle Agreement for the Regulation of Passenger, Personal and Cargo Vehicular Traffic between the 4 countries was signed during a transport ministers’ meeting in Thimpu on 15th June 2015.

·         The Asian Development Bank has supported the project as part of its South Asian Subregional Economic Cooperation programme, and has been requested to prioritise about 30 road projects worth billions of dollars.

·         The World Bank, which has estimated that the implementation of the MVA will potentially see an increase in traffic-regional trade within South Asia by nearly 60%, has also announced its interest in supporting infrastructure.

 

17.   The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up National Land Monetization Corporation (NLMC) as a wholly owned Government of India company.

·         The finance minister had announced plans to set up a special purpose vehicle for this purpose in the Union Budget 2021-22.

·         In August, 2021, the government of India launched the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP).

·         NLMC has been announced with an initial authorized share capital of Rs 5000 crore and paid-up share capital of Rs 150 crore.

·         The Board of Directors of NLMC will comprise senior Central Government officers and eminent experts to enable professional operations and management of the company

 

18.   The Union Minister for Power has launched the Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center (Virtual SGKC) and Innovation Park.

·         As part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Programme, will be one of the leading Centers of Excellence globally to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and research in smart grid technologies.

·         It has been established by POWERGRID with support from the Union ministry of power and technical assistance from US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) for demonstration and advancement of frontier smart grid technologies.

19.   The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched new UPI services for feature phones called UPI123Pay for non internet users to make digital payments

·         'Digisaathi' has also been set up by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to provide users with automated responses on information related to digital payment products and services.

·         Presently it is available in English and Hindi language.

 

20.   Karnataka Bank inks pact with SELCO Solar

·         Karnataka Bank has signed an MoU with SELCO Solar Light Pvt Ltd to provide energy access to the underserved population

·         Under this initiative, Karnataka Bank provides financial support to purchase the solar energy products of SELCO Solar Light Pvt Ltd.

 

21.   Crisil retains GDP growth forecast at 7.8 percent for 2022-23

·         Domestic rating agency CRISIL estimated FY23 real GDP growth at 7.8% as compared with the 8.5% projected in the Economic Survey.

·         The agency expects the nominal growth to come at 12-13%, higher than the 11.1% Budget Estimate, and the headline inflation to average 5.2%

 

22.   Google Cloud and Flipkart enters a strategic partnership 2022

·         Flipkart and Google Cloud have formed a multi-year strategic agreement to assist Flipkart  accelerate its innovation and cloud strategy.

·         Flipkart’s next phase of expansion will be aided by this alliance, which will help it achieve its goal of enrolling India’s next 200 million buyers and lakhs of vendors.

·         Flipkart will use Google Cloud‘s superior data analytics and machine learning capabilities to improve the efficiency of its data platform.

·         The deal value was kept opaque by the companies.

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