Current Affairs 16 March 2022

1. Tata Sons chief N Chandrasekaran appointed as chairman of Air India
2. Banshidhar Bhagat appointed protem speaker of Uttarakhand Assembly
3. HAL signs MoU with Safran to extend cooperation on chopper engines
4. Country’s first Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park launched in Bengaluru
5. India’s new envoy to China, Pradeep Kumar Rawat takes charge
6. SASMOS signs MoU with HAL & NAeL to explore cooperation in Fibre Optics, Electronics and electrical interconnect systems
7. MCL becomes largest coal producing company in India
8. India EdTech Consortium Appoints Retired SC Judge BS Chauhan As Its Chairperson
9. With 807 goals Cristiano Ronaldo becomes football’s all-time leading scorer
10. Ministry of Rural Development organizes ‘Gender Samwaad’
11. Morgan Stanley cuts India GDP growth forecast to 7.9% for FY23
12. Digital economy to see exponential growth to $800 billion by 2030
13. SC appoints ex-judge Sikri as chairperson of High Powered Committee on Char Dham project
14. First ‘drone school’ inaugurated in Gwalior
15. LivQuik, first to achieve RBI’s PPI interoperability guidelines

1. Tata Sons chief N Chandrasekaran appointed as chairman of Air India

• Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran has officially been appointed as the chairman of Air India.
• Last month, Chandrasekaran was reappointed as chairman of Tata Sons for a second term of five years.
• Chandrasekaran, a Tata Group veteran, was the MD and CEO of Tata Consultancy Services before he was appointed as the chairman of Tata Sons back in 2017.

2. Banshidhar Bhagat appointed protem speaker of Uttarakhand Assembly

• Banshidhar Bhagat has been appointed as the protem speaker of the Uttarakhand Assembly.
• A notification on Bhagat’s appointment as the protem speaker was issued by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh.

3. HAL signs MoU with Safran to extend cooperation on chopper engines

• The ground-breaking ceremony for a new facility of Helicopter Engines MRO Pvt Limited (HE-MRO), a joint venture of HAL and Safran, a French aerospace firm, was held at Sattari in Goa.
• HE-MRO aims to constantly improve serviceability and reduce cycle time to aid the operational preparedness of the armed forces.
• Madhavan, CMD, HAL, Franck Saudo, CEO, Safran Helicopter Engines.

4. Country’s first Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park launched in Bengaluru

• The country’s first Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) was launched in Bengaluru.
• It is promoted by a not-for-profit foundation set up by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru, with a seed capital of Rs. 230 crore from the State and Central governments.

5. India’s new envoy to China, Pradeep Kumar Rawat takes charge

• Pradeep Kumar Rawat, Ambassador of India to the People’s Republic of China assumed charge.
• Rawat succeeds Ambassador Vikram Misri, who was appointed as the Deputy National Security Advisor.
• Rawat served as the ambassador of India to Indonesia and Timor-Leste from September 2017-December 2020.

6. SASMOS signs MoU with HAL & NAeL to explore cooperation in Fibre Optics, Electronics and electrical interconnect systems

• SASMOS HET Technologies Limited, has signed an MoU with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Naini Aerospace Limited (NAel), to work together in the field of advanced electronics, electrical and Fibre optics interconnections in the aerospace domain.
• H G Chandrashekar, Chairman & Managing Director, SASMOS HET Technologies Limited.
• Amit Mai Shrivastava, CEO NAeL.

7. MCL becomes largest coal producing company in India

• The Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a unit of the CIL, has crossed 157 million tonnes (MT) in coal production in the financial year of 2021-22, to become the leading coal producing company in the country.
• On March 12, 2022, the company produced 7.62 lakh tonnes of dry fuel which is the highest in a day during the current financial year.

8. India EdTech Consortium Appoints Retired SC Judge BS Chauhan As Its Chairperson

• The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has appointed a retired SC Judge BS Chauhan as the chairperson of the Independent Grievance Redressal Board (IGRB) formed as part of the India EdTech Consortium (IEC), to address the grievances pertaining to its members.
• IAMAI Chairman : Google India MD Sanjay Gupta.

9. With 807 goals Cristiano Ronaldo becomes football’s all-time leading scorer

• Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo etched his name in the record books as professional football’s all-time leading scorer with 807 goals after a brilliant hat-trick against Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
• Ronaldo’s goals have been scored for Sporting, United, Real Madrid, Juventus and the Portugal national team.
• Austro-Czech Josef Bican netted 805 goals during a career that lasted from 1931 to 1955.

10. Ministry of Rural Development organizes ‘Gender Samwaad’

• Over 3000 State Mission staff and Self-Help Group (SHG) members logged in from 34 states to attend the third edition of ‘Gender Samwaad’.
• It was organised by the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), Ministry of Rural Development.
• The theme for this edition was ‘Promotion of food and nutrition security through women’s collectives’.

11. Morgan Stanley cuts India GDP growth forecast to 7.9% for FY23

• As higher oil prices torpedo economic recovery worldwide, Morgan Stanley has cut India’s GDP forecast for the fiscal year beginning April 1 by 50 basis points to 7.9%, raised retail inflation projection to 6 % and expects current account deficit to widen to 3% of GDP.
• The report saw upside risks of 0.5 % of GDP to the fiscal deficit target of 6.4% of GDP for FY23.

12. Digital economy to see exponential growth to $800 billion by 2030

• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said that India’s digital economy is expected to witness exponential growth to 800 billion dollars by 2030 on the back of rising internet penetration and increasing income.
• The combined valuation of India’s fintech industry is set to surge to 150 billion dollars in the next three years.

13. SC appoints ex-judge Sikri as chairperson of High Powered Committee on Char Dham project

• The Supreme Court has appointed its former judge Justice AK Sikri as Chairperson of the court-appointed High Powered Committee to look after the environmental concerns and other issues related to the Char Dham highway project.
• A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud & Surya Kant accepted the resignation of environmentalist Ravi Chopra who was heading the High Powered Committee.

14. First ‘drone school’ inaugurated in Gwalior

• Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has inaugurated the first drone school in Gwalior.
• Madhya Pradesh was also the first state in the country in advancing the use of drone technology at a big scale by organising drone meta in Gwalior.

15. LivQuik, first to achieve RBI’s PPI interoperability guidelines

• Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuer LivQuik has achieved full Interoperability as mandated by the Reserve Bank of India for their Prepaid payments Instruments.
• The company is also the first PPI issuer to have achieved full interoperability.
• RBI guidelines mandate PPI Issuers to facilitate interoperability for full-KYC wallets by March 31, 2022.

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