NATIONAL NEWS

Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana (SSSY)

• On 08 March 2022, the government of India has approved the continuation of the Swatantrata Sainik Samman Yojana (SSSY) till 2025-26.

• The scheme aims to provide a monthly Samman (Pension) and other financial benefits to freedom fighters and their eligible dependents, as an honour for their contribution in the national freedom struggle.

• The total outlay of the scheme SSSY is Rs. 3274.87 crore.
• Ministry of Home Affairs is the Nodal Ministry of the scheme and the proposal for continuation of the SSSY was received from the Union Minister Amit Shah.

Chhattisgarh Government Launches 'Kaushalya Matritva Yojana'

• Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel launched the 'Kaushalya Matritva Yojana’ for safe motherhood at a state-level conference.
• Under this scheme, financial assistance of Rs 5000 will be given to women on the birth of second girl child.
• It aims to help women financially for the nutrition of themselves and their child after pregnancy.
• On the occasion, the chief minister honoured Anganwadi workers, officials who do excellent work in the direction of women protection under 'Sakhi One Stop Center' and 'Nava Bihan Yojana'.
• He also released 'Kanya Vivah Yojana' Coffee Table Book, Sakhi One Stop Center Telephone Directory, and brochures of schemes related to women empowerment.

Floating Solar Power Station in Thoothukudi

• Chief Minister MK Stalin inaugurated India’s first and largest floating solar power plant at Thoothukudi, TamilNadu.

• The plant is estimated at a cost of Rs. 150.4 crore.

• The plant will generate 42 million units of electricity per year.
• It is established in Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation Limited (SPIC) which is owned by Greenam Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of AM International.

India's Largest Datacenter Region in Hyderabad

• Tech giant Microsoft has announced, that the company will set up its fourth data centre in Hyderabad, Telangana.

• It will be one of the largest data centers in India and will be operational by 2025.

• The company and Telangana state government signed a definitive agreement with a total investment of Rs. 15,000 crore.
• The new data centre will add to the growing demand for Microsoft cloud services.
• This will indirectly support local business growth and facilitate job creation across IT operations, facilities management, data and network security, network engineering.

The Nine-Month Directors' Development Programme

• The Banks Board Bureau (BBB) has implmented a nine-month Directors' development programme (DDP) for the management of public sector banks with a view to improv the quality of bank board.
• The DDP is designed for the directors of the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and financial institutions with the key objective of enhancing director effectiveness to increase their impact on the board.
• This programme helps the directors to think business’s future and uograde themselves to ba a source of wisdom and counsel for management and stakeholders in order to improve PSB’s performance levels in the world scenario.
• The BBB, the headhunter for state-owned banks and financial institutions, formed in 2016. It was also entrusted with the task of engaging with the board of directors of all PSBs to formulate appropriate strategies for their growth and development.

BANKING

UPI123PAY and DigiSaathi

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) launched a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) UPI123Pay for feature phones and a 24X7 helpline for digital payments platform DigiSaathi.
• RBI with National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) together launched the new facility.
• UPI123PAY for feature phone will hace all of the necessary smartphone features. This initiative will improve the way for a cashless economy.
• DigiSaathi is a helpline for digital payments with facilities to educate and create awareness and will help customers to solve queries in the digital payments.

HouseWorkIsWork Initiative

• Axis Bank has started the initiative ‘HouseWorkIsWork’ that provides opportunities to those women who want to rejoin the professional space as the urban educated women’s participation in the workforce is still not at desired levels.
• The aim of this initiative is to give confidence to these women that they are employable, they have skills and they can fit in various job roles in a bank.
• GIG-A-Opportunities is Axis Bank's new platform for alternative work models to attract the finest talent, with a promise of growth with flexibility, diversity and inclusivity.

About Axis Bank:

• HQ: Mumbai, Maharashtra.

• MD & CEO: Amitabh Chaudhry.

AWARDS & PRIZES

Nari Shakti Puraskar Award for 2020 and 2021

• The President of Inida, Ram Nath Kovind has conferred the Nari Shakti Puraskar’ award for the years 2020 and 2021
• Nari Shakti Puraskar are conferred every year on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 08 March 2022.
• It is conferred for recognizing the exceptional work done by individuals in the area of empowering the women.
• Overall, 29 women have been conferred the award for the year 2020 and 2021 for their outstanding work in empowering women.
• There were a total of 28 awards which include 14 awards each for the year 2020 and 2021.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

President of the Financial Action Task Force

• T Raja Kumar from Singapore has been appointed as the president of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
• He is appointed for a period of two-year term, which begins on July 1,2022.
• He succeeds Dr Marcus Pleyer of Germany.
• The FATF is an inter-governmental body established by the G7 in 1989 to prevent and combat money laundering, terrorism and proliferation financing.

Aarushi Verma to Represent India

• Aarushie Verma, an active environmentalist, has been selected to represent India at the 2041 Climate Force Antarctica Expedition to be held in March 2022.
• She is a national level shooter in Pistol and trap shooting, a multi-time State & Northern India Champion & National medalist.
• She is sponsored by The Hans Foundation.
• The expedition aims to raise awareness and work for the preservation of Antarctica through the promotion of recycling, renewable energy and sustainability solutions to combat the effects of climate change.
• 2041 Climate Force is a global initiative to train and develop the next generation of sustainability champions and to help corporations with their sustainability solutions.

Brand Ambassador of Shakti Campaign

• Homegrown pharma major Lupin Limited (Lupin) announced, Mary Kom (boxing champion) as the brand ambassador for its Shakti campaign.

• Shakti Campaign is Women’s Cardiovascular Health Awareness Initiative.

• The campaign is aimed to increase awareness on heart diseases among women and coronary heart diseases are the leading cause of death for women in India yet awareness levels on the issue remains low.

SPORTS

23^rd Woman Grandmaster of India

• 19-year-old Priyanka Nutakki from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh becomes the 23rd Woman Grandmaster of India.
• She secured her final WGM-norm at MPL’s Forty-seventh National Women Chess Championship. She scored 7.0/9.
• Priyanka Nutakki scored her first WGM-norm in January 2019 and crossed the 2300 rating criteria in the next two months but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed her title.

ISSF WC 2022- India is Top in medal tally

• International Shooting Sport Federation, ISSF World Cup 2022 was held in Cairo, Egypt.

• The Indian team finished on the top of the medals tally with a total of seven medals comprising of four gold, two silver and one bronze.

• Norway won six medals- three gold, one silver and two bronze claimed second spot on the medals tally.

List of Winners

Gold

• Women’s 25m pistol team – Rahi Sarnobat, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan

• Men’s 10m air pistol - Saurabh Chaudhary
• Women’s 10m air pistol team - Esha Singh, Nivetha Paramanantham, Ruchira Vinerkar
• 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team - Rhythm Sangwan and Anish Bhanwala

Silver

• Women’s 10m air pistol event - Esha Singh

• Men’s 25m rapid fire pistol team - Gurpreet Singh, Anish Bhanwala and Bhavesh Shekhawat

Bronze

• 50m rifle 3 positions mixed team event - Shriyanka Sadangi and Akhil Sheoran.

OBITUARY

Former Pakistani President Rafiq Tarar

• Pakistani politician and a jurist Rafiq Tarar, died in the eastern city of Lahore after a prolonged illness. He died at the age of 92.

• He served as the ninth President of Pakistan from 1997 to 2001.
• Tarar was born in Mandi Bahauddin, and graduated with LLB from University of the Punjab in 1951.
• He served as the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court from 1989 to 1991.