Current Affairs 4 March 2022

1. World Wildlife Day, observed on March 3 annually.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address post-budget Webinar on ‘Make in India for the World’
3. DST partners with Intel India to boost AI readiness
4. India & US hold 19th Military Cooperation meeting in Agra to strengthen defence cooperation
5. Deepak Parekh steps down as non-executive chairman of HDFC ERGO
6. ‘Sagar Parikrama’ from March 5 to showcase marine fisheries sector wealth
7. National women’s chess championship: Divya Deshmukh wins maiden title
8. Field assessment of Swachh Survekshan 2022 launched, with around 3,000 assessors ready to go on field
9. Google And MeitY Startup Hub To Help 100 Early To Mid-Stage Indian Startups Scale Globally As Part Of Appscale Academy
10. Film critic Jai Prakash Chouksey dies at 83 in Indore
11. CDSL becomes 1st depository with 60 million active demat accounts
12. Sh. Bhupender Yadav releases DTE’s State of India’s Environment 2022
13. Assam government has declared the entire State of Assam as ‘disturbed area’ up to 6 months

1. World Wildlife Day, observed on March 3 annually.

• On 20 December 2013, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed March 3, the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973, as World Wildlife Day.
• The World Wildlife Day (WWD) 2022 theme is “Safeguarding key species for ecosystem restoration”.
• There are over 22,000 endangered & critically endangered species.

2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address post-budget Webinar on ‘Make in India for the World’

• In line with the vision of PM Narendra Modi to make India a global hub for manufacturing, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry is organizing a Post Budget Webinar on Make in India for the World.
• The Union Budget 2022 has laid down a roadmap for India@100 with manufacturing as one of the key drivers of growth.

3. DST partners with Intel India to boost AI readiness

• ‘Building AI Readiness among Young Innovators’, a program by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, in partnership with Intel India, was launched on the occasion of National Science Day on 28th February by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology(I/C), Government of India.

4. India & US hold 19th Military Cooperation meeting in Agra to strengthen defence cooperation

• The 19th edition of India-US Military Cooperation Group (MCG) meeting was held in Agra, Uttar Pradesh on March1-2, 2022.
• The meeting was co-chaired by Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) Air Marshal BR Krishna from the Indian side and Deputy Commander, US Indo-Pacific Command Lieutenant General Stephen D Sklenka from the US.

5. Deepak Parekh steps down as non-executive chairman of HDFC ERGO

• Deepak Parekh, the chairman of Housing Finance Development Corporation, has resigned as the non-executive chairman of the company’s insurance arm HDFC ERGO General Insurance.
• HDFC has nominated Keki Mistry, the incumbent vice chairman and CEO of the company, as a non-executive chairman.

6. ‘Sagar Parikrama’ from March 5 to showcase marine fisheries sector wealth

• The world’s single largest ecosystem, covering nearly three-fourths of the earth’s surface, oceans are vital to the economies, security, and livelihoods of lakhs of communities in India that has a coastline of 8,118 km, spanning nine states and four Union Territories.
• The Parikrama, a part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’- an endeavour to know the problems of coastal fisherfolk.

7. National women’s chess championship: Divya Deshmukh wins maiden title

• Divya Deshmukh played out an 18-move draw with Soumya Swaminathan following a three-fold repetition of moves to claim her maiden MPL National women’s chess title.
• Divya, 16, played way over her eighth seeding in the nine-round competition and garnered eight points for the first prize of Rs. 5.50 lakh – the highest in the 47 editions of the championship.

8. Field assessment of Swachh Survekshan 2022 launched, with around 3,000 assessors ready to go on field

• The field assessment for the seventh consecutive edition of the world’s largest urban cleanliness survey, Swachh Survekshan (SS), was launched on 1st March 2022 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). Designed with ‘People First’ as its driving philosophy.
• MoHUA formally kicked off the SS 2022 survey on 1st March 2022.

9. Google And MeitY Startup Hub To Help 100 Early To Mid-Stage Indian Startups Scale Globally As Part Of Appscale Academy

• Aiming to help India’s next generation of innovators unlock this growth opportunity, MeitY Startup Hub, an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and Google announced a cohort of 100 Indian early to mid-stage startups it aims to help build high-quality global apps and games as part of the Appscale Academy.

10. Film critic Jai Prakash Chouksey dies at 83 in Indore

• Film critic, writer Jaiprakash Chouksey died after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city.
• Chouksey, 82, had been suffering from lung cancer for the last 7 years and his condition had deteriorated over the last 3 months.
• Chouksey has penned scripts and dialogues for several films including ‘Shayad’ (1979), ‘Qatl’ (1986) & ‘Bodyguard’ (2011).

11. CDSL becomes 1st depository with 60 million active demat accounts

• Central Depository Services (India) has more than six crore plus (60 million) active Demat accounts.
• Central Depository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) is India’s only listed depository.
• As the interest of the general public in Indian share markets has been increasing, the number of Demat accounts too have seen a large upsurge in the past two years.
• CDSL Headquarters : Mumbai.
• CDSL Founded : February 1999.

12. Sh. Bhupender Yadav releases DTE’s State of India’s Environment 2022

• Bhupender Yadav, Union minister of environment, forests & climate change, released Down To Earth’s Annual State of India’s Environment Report 2022 at the Anil Agarwal Dialogue organised by Delhi-based non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).
• Climate change, desertification and the sustainability-affordability linkage- 3 extremely critical issues facing India.

13. Assam government has declared the entire State of Assam as ‘disturbed area’ up to 6 months

• The Assam government has declared the entire State of Assam as “Disturbed Area” for up to 6 months with effect from February 28, 2022.
• The declaration has been made as per powers conferred under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.
• AFSPA Act in its original form was promulgated by the British in response to the Quit India movement in 1942.
• AFSPA = Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

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