NATIONAL NEWS

Indian Railways Achieves a Significant Milestone

• Indian Railways achieved a significant milestone in Railway electrification.

• With the completion of the electrification of the Subhagpur-Pachperwa Broad Gauge (BG) route in North Eastern Railway, Indian Railways has completed the electrification of all BG routes in Uttar Pradesh.

• This will improve rail connectivity in the region and will improve the speed of trains in the region.

• With this achievement, Indian Railways has completed electrification of BG routes in six zonal railways: East Coast Railway, North Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, West Central Railway.

• Also, Highly Utilized Network (HUN-5), Jhansi-Muzzaffarpur-Katni is fully electrified now.

Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela Organised by IARI

• The Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela, organised every year by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), will be conducted in Delhi from 02 March to 04 March 2023.
• Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela will be inaugurated by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar.
• The theme of the Pusa Krishi Vigyan Mela is ‘Nutrition, Food and Environmental Protection with Shree Anna’.
• Agri-startups, especially Shree Anna based startups will set up their stalls. This will motivate the youth to start startups as a source of livelihood.
• Awards will be given by the institute to encourage the farmers.

BANKING

Niva Bupa Launches Health Insurance Plan ‘Reassure 2.0’

• Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Limited, one of India’s largest independent health insurers has launched ‘ReAssure 2.0,’ which includes many industry-first features.
• ReAssure 2.0 improves on the current ReAssure plan’s 3 powerful benefits – ReAssure, Booster and Safeguard – by providing a ‘+’ variant of these benefits to provide unrivalled benefits.
• ReAssure 2.0 is available as an individual, multi-individual and family floater.
• It starts from ₹5 lakh to₹1 crore for the age bracket of 18 years to 65 years
• This plan offers a ‘live healthy’ benefit that gives a premium discount of up to 30% on policy renewal basis health points earned.

World Bank to Provide Turkey USD 1.78 Billion

• The World Bank will provide USD 1.78 billion in assistance to Turkey to help with relief and recovery efforts after devastating earthquakes in Turkey and neighbouring Syria.

• The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), will provide USD 85 million in urgent humanitarian assistance as the Agency continues to lead the U.S. government response to the worst earthquake to hit the region in nearly a century.

• Up to 23 million people could be affected by the massive earthquake that has killed thousands in Turkey and Syria, the WHO warned, promising long-term assistance.

BUSINESS

IREDA Plans to Finance Renewable Energy Projects

• IREDA is planning to establish an office in Gujarat’s GIFT City to finance Renewable Energy projects in foreign currency.
• The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is the Nodal Ministry.
• It was set up as a specialized non-banking finance agency for the renewable energy sector.
• IREDA plays a key role in renewable energy project financing which gives confidence to the financial institutions/banks to lend in the sector.
• It is a statutory authority established under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019.

RANKS, INDICES & REPORTS

Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Index 2022

• West Bengal maintained its lead while Uttar Pradesh stood at the bottom among large state categories on the second edition of the Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Index 2022, an indicator of literacy among children below 10 years of age.

• Among smaller states, Punjab was at the top of the index while Telangana was at the bottom while Puducherry topped the index among union territories while Ladakh was the worst performer.

• Among north-eastern states, Sikkim was at the top while Meghalaya was at the bottom of the index.

• There are four categories in which regions have been divided, large states, small states union territories and north-east, for indexation.

• Bibek Debroy, chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM (EAC-PM), released the report which has been prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness.

• The index has ranked states on five key parameters and 36 indicators.
• The second edition of the foundational literacy and numeracy (FLN) report captures the role of language in education and focuses on improving the learning outcomes using appropriate assessments and medium of instruction.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Hollywood Critics Association Awards 2023

• SS Rajamouli’s RRR has achieved laudable success as the spectacular action-drama film bags five awards at the Hollywood Critics Association Awards ceremony 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

• The film was honoured with various category awards, five major category awards in the Best Stunts, Best Original Song (Naatu Naatu), Best Action Film, Best International Film and Spotlight award categories.

• Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) is a film critic organization located in Los Angeles, California.

• It was first discovered in the year 2016 and then named the ‘Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society’.

GSMA Government Leadership Awards 2023

• India was declared the winner at a ceremony organised by the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

• Global System for Mobile Communications- The Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) has presented the Government Leadership Award 2023to India for implementing best practices in telecom policy and regulation.

• The Global Mobile Communications Systems Association (GSMA), which represents over 750 mobile operators and 400 companies in the telecom ecosystem, recognizes one country every year.

• Following India's'Digital India'vision, the government came out with structural and procedural reforms in September 2021.
• With nearly 1 lakh locations in 387 districts, India's 5G roll-out is one of the fastest in the world.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Managing Director of Jaguar Land Rover India

• Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has appointed Mr Rajan Amba as Managing Director (MD) of Jaguar Land Rover India, from 01 March 2023.

• He succeeds Rohit Suri, who is due to retire on 31 March 2023.

• Mr Rajan is presently the Vice-President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Care at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles.

• Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited, and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles.

First Indian to be Nominated as FIBA Asia President

• In a first-of-its-kind nomination, an Indian Dr K Govindaraj has been nominated as FIBA (Fédération Internationale de Basketball) Asia president.

• He is currently president of the Basketball Federation of India and member of the Karnataka Legislative Council (KLC).

• In the 63-year-old history of FIBA Asia, this is the first time it will be headed by an Indian.

• The decision was taken unanimously by the 44 federations under FIBA Asia.

• Govindaraj will replace Qatar’s Sheikh Saud Ali Al Thani, who was serving his 4th five-year term as head of FIBA Asia since 2002.

New President of Nigeria

• Nigerian electoral officials announced on 01 March 2023 that the ruling party's candidate in the presidential election, Bola Tinubu, has been elected as the country's new president.
• Bola Tinubu has been associated with the 'All Progressive Congress Party' from which he has been winning elections.
• The other two opposition candidates have demanded re-election.
• Main opponents Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi are likely to challenge the decision again in court. However, his suit was dismissed.