1. RBI to inject additional Rs 30,000 Cr to maintain financial stability in wake of COVID-19 outbreak
- RBI will conduct purchase of government securities under Open Market Operations in 2 tranches of Rs 15,000 Cr each in March.
- RBI Governor : Shaktikanta Das.
- RBI HQ : Mumbai.
2. SAARC Disaster Management Centre launches website for information related to COVID- 19
- The website is ‘www.covid19-sdmc.org.
- Shows the number of coronavirus cases in the member states while updating the numbers regularly.
- Headquarters of SAARC Secretariat is in Kathmandu, Nepal.
3. Non-life insurance premium rises 14% to Rs 1.73 lakh Cr during Apr-Feb FY20
- Rise during April-February this fiscal, according to IRDAI data.
- 34 non-life insurance companies had collected a total premium of over Rs 1.52 lakh Cr in 2018-19.
- Public sector insurance firms witnessed a rise of 11%.
4. Draft DPP 2020 introduces ‘leasing’ as category to get defence equipment at affordable rates
- Govt issued draft Defence Procurement Procedure 2020,
- Wherein it introduced ‘leasing’ as another category to get defence equipment at affordable rates.
- Indigenous content stipulated in various categories of purchasing was enhanced to support Make in India.
- Category that gets the highest priority: Buy (Indian-IDDM).
5. IRDAI sets up panel on governance at insurers
- Country’s insurance regulator has set up a 16-member committee headed by Pravin Kutumbe
- To find ways to improve corporate governance systems of insurers,
- primarily on making key functions such as risk management & internal audits independent of each other.
- It has been asked to submit the report to IRDAI in 3 months.
6. Tamil Nadu launches Covid-19 health portal
- The web portal is – http://stopcoronatn.in/
- To provide updates on Covid-19
- The portal has a link to global cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, which monitors the Covid-19 cases.
- Johns Hopkins is the America’s first research university.
7. Vasant Rao appointed MD for IDC India and South Asia
- Effective on March 18, 2020.
- He will be based out of IDC’s Bengaluru office and will be reporting to Eva Au-Managing Director, IDC Asia/Pacific.
- IDC of the United States provides market research services.
8. GoAir appoints Sanjiv Kapoor as Advisor
- He was at Vistara as its Chief Strategy & Commercial Officer.
- His career spanned for over 2 decades with airlines in Asia, Europe, and the US as investment advisor, portfolio manager & management consultant.
- Chief Executive Officer of GoAir : Vinay Dube.
9. TRIFED launches ‘Tech for Tribals’ program to bring technology to tribal entrepreneurs
- It was launched by TRIFED & IIT-Kanpur along with IIT-Roorkee, IIM Indore, Kalinga Institute of Social Science, Bhubaneshwar & SRIJAN, Jaipur.
- It is supported by the Ministry of MSME.
- TRIFED = The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India.
- It is a national-level apex organization functioning under the administrative control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Govt. of India.
10. India Ranks poorly in UN’s World Happiness Report 2020, Finland Bags Top Spot once again
- India (3.573) ranked 144th position &
- Finland (7.809) topped for the 3rd time in the UN World Happiness Report
- Report released in accordance with International Day of Happiness.
- WHR is a landmark survey of the state of global happiness that ranks 156 countries.
- Survey grades using Gallup World Poll & six other factors.
11. SpaceX plans first manned flight to space station in May
- SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket to transport NASA astronauts Bob Behnken & Doug Hurley.
- Since the last US space shuttle mission in 2011 only the Russians have been going back & forth to ISS.
- Construction began on the ISS in 1998.
12. IITM hosts India’s first Hyperloop Pod Competition
- IITM = Indian Institute of Technology Madras.
- To increase awareness & enthusiasm about Hyperloop in India.
- Competition is open globally & the final round will take place in the IIT Madras campus in July 2020.
- Hyperloop is the 5th mode of transportation.
13. March 23: World Meteorological Day
- 2020 Theme: Climate and Water.
14. Britain to co-chair India-led global climate initiative
- Britain on Friday was confirmed as the first co-chair of the Governing Council on the India-led global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
- CDRI- a international grouping, linking govts, UN agencies, banks, private sector groups & academia to develop the spirit of infrastructure systems to climate & disaster risks.
15. RAISE 2020: First AI Summit of India postponed due to Corona Virus
- RAISE 2020 = Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020’-
- That was scheduled to be held in the Capital in October amid the growing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
- The summit aims to create a data-rich environment.
16. Cabinet approves inclusion of AYUSH health, wellness centres in NAM
- The proposal entails an expenditure of Rs. 3399.35 Crore.
- Rs.2209.58 Crore as Central Share and Rs. 1189.77 crore as State share.
- Operationalization of AYUSH HWCs is within a period of 5 years.
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