NATIONAL NEWS

High-Level Meeting on Ukraine Crisis

• On 28 February 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting to review the ongoing efforts under Operation Ganga to bring back Indians stranded in Ukraine.
• Operation Ganga was launched to evacuate Indians from Ukraine.
• Ukraine has been declared as a no-fly zone by the authorities for the security and safety of the nations and due to this many Indians were left stranded in Ukraine.
• He also mentioned that, guided by India’s motto of the world being one family, India will help people from neighboring countries and developing countries who are stranded in Ukraine.

International Monsoons Project Office Launched

• India’s Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launched the International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO) virtually on the occasion of National Science Day 2022.

• The launch of IMPO is aligned with this year’s theme of the National Science Day – ‘Integrated Approach in Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future’.
• The International Monsoons Project Office (IMPO) will be hosted at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune for 5 years.
• The IMPO is a step towards making India a global hub for monsoon research and coordination in a seamless manner for addressing common and region-specific aspects of the monsoons around the world.
• He also urged that setting up the IMPO will give huge support to global monsoon research yielding mutual benefits to both the international and Indian research fraternity.
• It also precedes the 7th WMO International Workshop on Monsoons which is being organised in India jointly by the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the World Climate Research Programme, and the World Weather Research Programme in March 2022.

Cochin Airport to become Power-Positive

• The Cochin International Airport Limited is set to become power-positive from its current status power-neutral with the commissioning of its new solar power plant near Payyannur in Kannur district of Kerala.

• The power plant boasts of 12-megawatt capacity on a 35-acre land where CIAL introduced a concept of terrain-based installation where the geographical characteristics of the area are retained.

• CIAL became the World’s first airport to be fully powered by solar energy in 2015.
• CIAL’s solar plants together generate two lakh units of power a day whereas the daily consumption of power in the airport is 1.6 lakh units.

IIT Madras and NIOT Conduct OCEANS 2022

• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, conducted OCEANS 2022 Conference for the first time in India.

• The conference is being held in hybrid mode. It is a bi-annual event of global marine researchers from 21-24 February 2022.

• This event is for global maritime professionals to learn, innovate, and lead in the protection and utilization of the world’s largest natural resource.
• The theme of the conference is ‘Inspire-Innovate-Sustain’.
• The conference will also highlight how ‘UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development’ is attempting to reduce the impact of climate change through renewable energies.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Canada Approves World's First Plant-Based COVID-19 Vaccine

• The Canadian government approved the use of the world’s first plant-based COVID-19 vaccine Covifenz, jointly developed by Medicago Inc., a biopharma company owned by Mitsubishi Chemical and Philip Morris, situated in Quebec City, and GlaxoSmithKline Plc.

• It is authorized as a two-dose regimen.
• The vaccine has been tested for people aged 18 to 64.
• By doing this Canada became the first country in the World to use plant-based vaccine.
• The decision to authorize the vaccine was based on the study conducted on 24,000 adults.

BANKING

RBI Proposes to Assess Impact of Its Financial Literacy Campaigns

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to assess the impact of the multi-media awareness campaigns launched by it to promote financial literacy and also safe banking practices.
• It has invited the Request for Proposal (RFP) from certain shortlisted entities, that will be required to undertake outcome and impact assessment of its multilingual, pan-India public awareness campaigns.
• The RBI runs the 'RBI Kehta Hai' campaign to educate and empower the public about banking regulations.
• The RBI campaigns are in 14 languages -- Assamese, Bengali, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu with more focus on regional languages.

About RBI

• HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• Governor: Shaktikanta Das.

SPORTS

Ice Hockey Championship 2022

• Ladakh Scouts Regimental Centre, LSRC has won the Second LG Cup Ice Hockey Championship-2022.

• Men’s Ice Hockey Championship, 2022 were played between the teams of ITBP and Ladakh Scouts at the Ice Hockey Rink which is at NDS Sports Complex in Leh.

• It was organized by the Department of Youth Services and Sports in Leh in collaboration with Ladakh Winter Sports Club.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Deepak Dhar First Indian to Get Boltzmann medal

• Indian Physicist Deepak Dhar, professor for physics at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune has become the first Indian to be conferred with the prestigious Boltzmann Medal 2022 for contribution in the field of statistical physics.

• He will share the medal with John J Hopfield of Princeton University, US.

• The medal presentation ceremony will be held during the StatPhys28 conference scheduled to be held in Tokyo in August 2022.
• Boltzmann Medal is given once in three years by the C3 Commission on Statistical Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP).

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

First Woman Chief of SEBI

• On 28 February 2022, the government appointed Madhabi Puri Buch as the new chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a period of three years.

• She succeeds Ajay Tyagi and she is the first woman chief of SEBI and non-IAS to head financial regulatory body.

• She was a member of SEBI for nearly five years. Prior to this she worked as an Executive member of ICICI Bank.

Samiran Gupta to head public policy for Twitter

• Samiran Gupta has been named the new head of policy for microblogging platform Twitter in India.

• He will lead the company’s public policy and philanthropy efforts in India and South Asia.
• Prior to this he worked in the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) organization.

IMPORTANT DAYS

International Women’s Day Week

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development will celebrate the International Women’s Day week from 1st to 8th March 2022.

• It is observed as an ‘Iconic Week’ as a part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.

• The Ministry will organize various events and social media campaigns covering a variety of themes related to women’s safety and empowerment.
• The events are being organised in partnership with national and international organisations and experts, with active participation planned with women and children.

Rare Disease Day

• Rare Disease Day is celebrated every year on the last day of February. This year marks 28 February as the Rare Disease Day.

• Rare Disease Day raises awareness amongst the general public and decision-makers about rare diseases and their impact on patients’ lives and medical representation for individuals with rare disease.

• It was launched by European Organisation for Rare Diseases (EURORDIS).

BOOKS AND AUTHORS

A New Book by Deepam Chatterjee

• Former Indian Army Captain, Deepam Chatterjee authored a new book titled “The Millennial Yogi: A modern-day parable about reclaiming one’s life”.

• The book is published by Ebury Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

• It is about Jayshankar Prasad, or Jay, has had a shady-yet-mercurial rise in his journey as an entrepreneur and Vini, a mystic monk.

OBITUARY

West Indies Legendary Spinner Sonny Ramadhin

• West Indies' legendary spinner Sonny Ramadhin, passed away. He was at age of 92.
• He was born in Trinidad and Tobago, in 1929.
• He had made his Test debut against England at Old Trafford in 1950. He played 43 Tests and took 158 wickets at an average of 28.98.
• He was the first of many West Indian cricketers of Indian origin, to play for the West Indies.