NATIONAL NEWS
Entire rail network in the country will be fully electrified by 2023: Piyush Goyal
The entire rail network in the country will be fully electrified by 2023 while all rail networks will run on renewable energy by 2030. This was stated by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal while addressing the Maritime India Summit-2021.
- He said, the government is working on multi-modal logistical solutions to bring down the cost of transportation and increase the supply chain efficiency.
- The Minister said, integration of Road, Rail and Waterways can truly make India 'One Nation, One Market, One Supply'.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
India, Norway to jointly work in marine spatial planning for next 5 yrs
India and Norway have agreed to jointly work in the area of marine spatial planning in the oceanic space for the next five years.
- The two countries have decided to extend support for sustainable ocean resources utilisation to advance economic and social development in coastal areas.
- The initiative known as Marine Spatial Planning will be implemented by the Ministry of Earth Sciences through National Centre for Coastal Research for India.
BANKING & FINANCE
Government amends Insurance Ombudsman Rules for better resolution of policyholders’ complaints
Government notified comprehensive amendments to the Insurance Ombudsman Rules, 2017, with a view to improve the working of the Insurance Ombudsman mechanism to facilitate resolution of complaints regarding deficiencies in insurance services in a timely, cost-effective and impartial manner.
- The amended rules have enlarged the scope of complaints to Ombudsmen from only disputes earlier to deficiencies in service on the part of insurers, agents, brokers and other intermediaries.
- Further, insurance brokers have been brought within the ambit of the Ombudsman mechanism, by empowering the Ombudsmen to pass awards against insurance brokers as well.
Unified Payments Interface or UPI has registered 2.29 billion transactions worth over 4 lakh 25 thousand crore rupees in the last month.
- As per the data released by the National Payments Corporation of India , UPI has been able to maintain its previous record in terms of average transaction value even in 28 days for the month of February.
- State Bank of India which processes the largest volume of transactions via UPI among all banks, had significantly improved its performance in terms of technical decline rate in the month of January.
Post-harvest agritech firm Arya has entered into a strategic partnership with Canara Bank for collateral management and warehousing services.
- The objective is to support and extend finance to farmers, farmer producer organisations (FPOs), processors and various depositors stocking their produce in warehouses managed by Arya.
- Through this partnership, Arya will be able to give zero paperwork, instant credits, robust solutions and much more to our farmers, FPOs, processors and depositors.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Goa Govt collaborates with IBM to train youth
The Goa state government has collaborated with IBM to provide free skills training to the youth.
- The collaboration aims to upskill 10,000 learners across 10 institutions over one year in the state.
- The collaboration with IBM will provide a much desirable platform for accessing and availing digital content, personalised coaching and experiential learningm.
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS
Siemens completes acquisition of C&S Electric
Siemens said it completed its acquisition of C&S Electric Ltd. in India.
- The company had earlier acquired 99.22% of C&S Electric from its promoters for ₹2,100 crore and it also received regulatory approval from the Competition Commission of India in August 2020.
SPORTS
Indian shuttlers Varun, Malvika win Uganda International titles
Indian shuttlers Varun Kapur and Malvika Bansod registered hard-fought wins to clinch the men's and women's singles titles respectively at the 2021 Uganda International in Kampala.
- Varun beat compatriot Sankar Muthusamy 21-18, 16-21, 21-17 in the men’s singles final.
- Malvika beat compatriot Anupama Upadhyaya in the women singles summit clash 17-21, 25-23, 21-10.
Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir topped the medals tally in the second edition of Khelo India Winter National Games.
- J&K won 11 gold, 18 silver and 5 bronze medals. The five-day mega sports event which began on 26th of February, concluded in the famous ski resort of Gulmarg in the north Kashmir's Baramulla district.
- In the event, more than 1,000 athletes from 27 states and union territories took part.
APPOINTMENTS
Mary Kom appointed as Chairperson of AIBA's champions & veterans committee
Six-time world champion pugilist Mary Kom has been appointed as the Chairperson of the International Boxing Association's (AIBA) champions and veterans committee.
- The Committee, formed in December last year, consists of most respected worldwide boxing veterans and champions who have achieved significant results and who are ready to share their experience.
IPS officer Kuldiep Singh has been assigned to "look after" the charge of CRPF director general (DG) after incumbent chief A P Maheshwari retired recently.
- Kuldiep Singh is working as the special DG of its central zone, will hold the additional charge of the CRPF head till “the appointment and joining of the successor or until further orders.
AWARDS
Mumbai's CSMT becomes first railway station to get IGBC Gold Certification
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus Railway Station of Central Railway is the first railway station in Maharashtra to be awarded with Gold certification as per CII’s Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) ratings.
- Central Railway has implemented various green initiatives across its zone, with plantation creating green areas, installation of solar panels, customer-friendly initiatives at many stations, LED bulbs and lights etc.
- The rating system gives impetus to the national priorities like energy efficiency, water conservation, handling of waste measures and motivates the adoption of green standards for buildings and its environment.
The World Customs Organisation recognised Central Revenues Control Laboratory CRCL, New Delhi as a regional customs laboratory for Asia Pacific. The CRCL is working under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, CBIC.
- With its recognition as RCL, CRCL joins a select group of Customs Laboratories in the region like those in Japan and Korea.
- These laboratories have been upgraded extensively in the past 3 years and new state-of-art equipment costing about 80 crore rupees have been installed.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
MapmyIndia gets CoWin app integration to help find nearby Covid-19 vaccination centres
MapmyIndia has integrated with India’s official vaccination registration website, cowin.gov.in.
- The second phase of Covid-19 vaccine started and registrations are now open via the Aarogya Setu app and the official website.
- Now, in order to make it easy for registered citizens to find nearby vaccine centres across the country, MapmyIndia app has been integrated with the portal.
Indian Scientists at Aryabhatta Research Institute of observational sciences (ARIES), Nainital, have indigenously designed and developed a low-cost optical Spectrograph named as Aries-Devasthal Faint Object Spectrograph & Camera (ADFOSC).
- The ADFOSC spectroscope is the largest of its kind among the existing astronomical spectrographs in India.
- It has been commissioned on the 3.6-m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT), in Nainital district of Uttarakhand. It is the largest reflecting telescope in India, as well as in Asia.
- The ADFOSC spectrograph can locate sources of faint light from distant quasars and galaxies in a very young universe, regions around supermassive black-holes around the galaxies, and cosmic explosions.
- So far, spectroscopes were imported from abroad at high costs. The ‘Made in India’ optical spectrograph is about 2.5 times less costly compared to the imported ones and can locate sources of light with a photon-rate as low as about 1 photon per second
IMPORTANT DAYS
India commemorated Chabahar Day on 4th March
India commemorated 'Chabahar Day' on March 4th on the sidelines of the Maritime India Summit 2021 being held in Delhi.
- The virtual event will see the participation of ministers from Afghanistan, Armenia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and the Uzbekistan.
- The ministerial-level opening session will be followed by two webinar sessions -- 'Development of Port Infrastructure: Unleashing Opportunities' and 'Boosting Business through Trade Promotion and Regional Connectivity'.
National Safety Day is observed on March 4 every year to commemorate the foundation of the National Safety Council, which aims to raise awareness about safety measures that need to be undertaken to prevent accidents and mishaps.
- This year's theme if National Safety Day 2021 is ‘Sadak Suraksha (Road Safety).’
National Security Day (Rashtriya Suraksha Diwas) is observed every year on March 4, in the honor of the Indian Security Forces.
- The day aims to show gratitude to all the security forces, including policemen, para-military forces, commandos, guards, army officers, and other persons involved in security, who sacrifice their life in maintaining the peace and security of the people of the country.
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