Current Affairs March 15th 2023| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

SBI raises Rs. 3717 crores through Additional Tier 1 bonds                                                  

• The nation’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) raised Rs 3,717 crore through additional tier 1 (AT1) bond sale.
• This is the third Basel III compliant AT1 bond sale and the latest issue was closed at a coupon rate of 8.25%.
• The proceeds will be used to augment its additional tier 1 capital and overall capital base of the bank and also for strengthening capital adequacy by RBI guidelines.
• These bonds have a call option after 10 years and every anniversary thereafter.
• Prior to this bond sale the bank had raised Rs 4,544 crore on February 21, 2023, from similar bonds at a spread of 71 bps over the corresponding G-Sec par curve on the date of bidding.
• Basel III AT1 bonds with a 5-year call option are worth Rs 41,581.70 crore, while AT1 bonds with a 10-year call option are worth Rs 8,261 crore of the bank’s total outstanding Additional Tier 1 Bonds.

What are AT1 bonds?

• AT1 bonds, also called perpetual bonds, carry no maturity date but have a call option.
• AT-1 bonds are regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

About SBI : 

• Founded : 1 July 1955
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Chairman : Shri Dinesh Kumar Khara
• Tagline : The banker to every Indian

Credit card outstanding rises 29.6% to reach record high level in Jan 2023                           

• The credit card outstanding in January, 2023 rose 29.6% to reach an all-time high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore on the back of increased digitisation and rising consumer confidence in the post-Covid period.
• As per the latest data of the RBI,the credit card outstanding has recorded a growth of more than 20% in the 10 months of the current fiscal.

Key Highlights : 

• Highest growth of 30.7% was recorded in June.
• Credit card spending has shown consistent growth for the last few months.
• In January 2023, card spending stood at ₹1.28 lakh crore as against ₹1.26 lakh crore in December 2022.
• Since last 11 months, credit card spends have been consistently above ₹1-lakh-crore mark.
• At the end-January 2023, there were nearly 8.25 crore credit cards issued by different banks.
• The top 5 credit issuers in the country are HDFC Bank, SBI Card, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Bank.
• During December 2022, e-commerce spending accounted for about 60% in total credit card spending.
• MD & CEO of SBI Card : Rama Mohan Rao Amara

IDFC Mutual Fund rebrands itself as Bandhan MF & unveils new logo                     

• IDFC Mutual Fund (MF) has rebranded itself as Bandhan Mutual Fund.
• The fund house’s schemes will be renamed, with the word ‘Bandhan’ replacing ‘IDFC’ in each of them.
• The new brand logo will also be unveiled, closely resembling the Bandhan Bank logo, but with additional colours and styling

Key Highlights : 

• IDFC MF was earlier a part of the IDFC group, and was acquired by a Bandhan Financial Holdings-led consortium in April 2022. 
• The deal was approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in November 2022.
• IDFC Asset Management Company was acquired by the consortium, which comprises Bandhan Financial Holdings Limited, GIC, and ChrysCapital. 
• Bandhan holds 60% of the acquired entity, with control of operations, while the other two will hold 20% each in the AMC.
• BFHL will be the sponsor of the mutual fund.

About IDFC Mutual Fund : 

• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• CEO : Vishal Kapoor

Daily UPI transactions crossed 36 crores in one year – RBI Governor                         

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shri Shaktikanta Das announced that payments through unified payment interface (UPI) have grown exponentially in the past 12 months, with daily transactions crossing 36 crores in March, which is a rise of 50% from 24 crores in February 2022.

Key Highlights : 

• In value terms, daily UPI transactions are worth ₹6.27 lakh crore.
• This is a growth of 17% from ₹5.36 lakh crore in February 2022.
• RBI governor stated these facts while launching Digital Payments Awareness Week.
• He also stated the overall monthly digital payment transactions crossed the level of 1,000-crore transactions each month during the past three months (since December 2022).
• In volume terms, UPI transaction number exceeded 800 crore in January 2023.
• National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) recorded the highest-ever daily volume of 3.18 crore transactions on February 28, 2023.

What is UPI?

• UPI was launched in 2016.
• It is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• UPI transaction volume has increased from 0.45 crore in January 2017 to 804 crore in January 2023 & the value of UPI transactions has increased from ₹1,700 crore to ₹12.98 lakh crore during the same period.

About RBI :

• Established : 1 April 1935
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Governor : Shaktikanta Das
• Deputy governors : Mahesh Kumar Jain,M. Rajeshwar Rao,Michael Patra and T. Rabi Shankar

Shriram General Insurance opens two women-only branches in the north                      

• Private non-life insurer, Shriram General Insurance Company (SGIC) has set up two women-only branches in Ludhiana, Punjab and Jaipur,Rajasthan in the first such initiative in the industry.
• The entire workforce, from the branch manager to the support staff, consists of women.
• SGIC plans to replicate the model nationwide, going forward.
• Sundaram Direct, a division of Sundaram Finance, has also opened its first all-women branch in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN).

About SGIC : 

• MD & CEO : Anil Aggarwal
• SGIC is a joint venture(JV) of Shriram Capital Pvt Ltd, the holding company of the Shriram group’s financial services business, and Sanlam Ltd, a South African financial services group.
• Sanlam Ltd is a South African financial services group.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Union Minister Renuka Singh Saruta inaugurates Mara Tribal Girls’ Hostel in Lunglei in Mizoram

• Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Renuka Singh Saruta inaugurated the Mara Tribal Girls’ Hostel in Lunglei in Mizoram.
• The Union Government has been implementing many schemes and measures to protect women’s dignity and their rights.
• The Government is also encouraging women to stand up for their rights.
• During her visit to the State, Minister Smt Saruta also paid homage to the freedom fighter Darthawma in his home town of Lunglei.
• Union Minister Smt Renuka Singh also said that under the visionary leadership of PM Modi, India has been able to fight against COVID-19 successfully.
• On the occasion, she further said that the construction of women’s hostels is being carried out in villages across the country with the Government giving maximum importance to education.
• This hostel building will help tribal girls to gain education and progress and help build a prosperous nation.
• The Central Government is adopting various schemes for the citizens and the citizens must respond to them.

NTPC commissions India’s first Air cooled condenser at the North Karanpura Super Critical plant in Jharkhand

• NTPC has commissioned India’s first Air cooled condenser installed Super Critical plant to demonstrate its Commitment towards water conservation through reduce, reusing and recycling.
• NTPC, the country’s largest integrated energy utility, has started commercial operation of the 1st Unit of 660 MW at North Karanpura (3*660 MW), in Jharkhand.
• his project has been envisaged with Air Cooled Condenser (ACC) which has almost 1/3rd water footprint as compared to a conventional Water Cooled Condenser (WCC).
• This would result in a water saving of around 30.5 mcm annually thus fulfilling the needs of around 1.5 million people in the region annually.
• NTPC has already taken a series of measures across its plant locations on sound water management.
• NTPC will further imbibe the 3 R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle) for water conservation and management while carrying out its core business activity of power generation. NTPC Ltd, is a signatory to the prestigious UN Global Compact’s CEO Water Mandate.
• NTPC is committed to proactively addressing water sustainability issues through implementing Water Policy, which will serve as a directive for establishing water management strategies, systems, processes, practices and research initiatives.
• The North Karanpura plant will have a total capacity of 1980 MW, 3 Units of 660 MW each.
• This plant is based on one of the most efficient Supercritical technologies and being a pit head plant (10 Km from a coal source) will supply economic power to the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha.
• NTPC has been at the forefront of leveraging technology and has pioneered the adoption of new technologies in the power sector.
• NTPC is currently meeting 24% of the country’s demand through coal, gas, hydro, solar and wind plants.

About NTPC:

• NTPC is India’s largest power utility with an installed capacity of 71,594 MW (including JVs), plans to become a 130 GW company by 2032.
• Established in 1975, NTPC aims to be the world’s largest and best power major.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Denmark becomes the  first country to import CO2 and bury it undersea

• Denmark is the first country in the world to open an underwater burial site for Carbon dioxide (CO2) and also import the gas from other countries.
• Denmark inaugurated a project to store carbon dioxide 1,800 metres beneath the North Sea.
• The CO2 graveyard, where the carbon is injected to prevent further warming of the atmosphere, is on the site of an old oil field.
• Led by British chemical giant Ineos and German oil company Wintershall Dea, the “Greensand” project is expected to store up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.
• Carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects aim to capture and then trap CO2 to mitigate global warming.
• Currently, around 30 projects are operational or under development in Europe.
• But unlike other projects that store CO2 emissions from nearby industrial sites, Greensand distinguishes itself by bringing in the carbon from far away.

About Denmark : 

• Prime Minister : Mette Frederiksen
• Capital : Copenhagen
• Currency : Danish krone

Afghanistan is the world’s most repressive country for women – U.N

• The United Nations (UN) stated that, since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the country has become the most repressive in the world for women and girls, deprived of many of their basic rights.

Key Highlights : 

• Afghanistan’s new rulers have shown an almost singular focus on imposing rules that leave most women and girls effectively trapped in their homes.
• About 11.6 million women and girls are no longer receiving vital assistance.
• Women-headed households, which make up almost a quarter of households in Afghanistan, have nowhere left to turn and no livelihood support.
• Afghanistan is home to the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with two-thirds of the population, or 28 million people, estimated to need aid in 2023.
• According to the International Labour Organization, female employment in Afghanistan was 25% lower in the final quarter of 2022 than during the final quarter of 2021, largely due to restrictions on where they can work and travel.

About United Nations : 

• Established : 1945
• Headquarters : New York City, United States
• Secretary General : António Guterres
• UN Special Representative and head of the UN’s Assistance Mission in Afghanistan : Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva

About Afghanistan : 

• Capital : Kabul
• Currency : Afghani

CURRENT AFFAIRS : STATE NEWS

A new initiative called ‘beggar-free city’ started in Maharashtra’s Nagpur

• In Maharashtra, a new initiative called ‘beggar-free city’ has been started in Nagpur.
• Commissioner of Police of Nagpur City, Mr Amitesh Kumar informed that notification of 144 CrPC has been issued in this regard.
• Notices were given to people, and chances are also not to be allowed in public places.
• It is a joint venture of the Nagpur City Police and the Social Welfare Department of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).
• The Nagpur police will strictly enforce this and begging will not be allowed in public places.
• The NMC has made special arrangements to accommodate homeless people in the shelters owned by it.

About Maharashtra : 

• Governor : Ramesh Bais
• Chief Minister : Eknath Shinde
• Capital : Mumbai
• National Park : Tadoba National Park, Navegaon National Park
• Wildlife Sanctuary : Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary.

Uttarakhand Becomes 1st State to Start Insurance Scheme for Sericulturists

• Uttarakhand has become India’s first state to launch the “Resham Keet Bima” scheme to protect its sericulturists.

Key Highlights : 

• In the first phase of this pilot project, 200 sericulturists from 5 blocks of 4 districts — Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, and Nainital have been insured from the ill effects of climate change, scarcity of water, and other hazards.
• The decision to do this has been taken by the Agriculture Insurance Company of India and the department.
• This scheme will be run under Saral Krishi Beema.

About Uttarakhand : 

• Governor: Gurmit Singh
• Chief Minister : Pushkar Singh Dhami
• National Park : Corbett National Park (the first national park of India), Valley of Flowers National Park, Nanda Devi National Park
• Wildlife Sanctuary :Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary

Odisha announces Rs 500 crore livelihood scheme for tribal community

• The Odisha government has approved Rs 500 crore to launch a new scheme Livelihoods Cluster Development initiative for tribal people under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Janajati Jeebika Mission.’

Aim : 

• In a bid to economically empower the tribal communities and boost their livelihood scope.
• The scheme will be implemented by the ST and SC Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare Department through the state-funded ‘ST Livelihood and Income Generating Programme’ in Odisha.

About the Scheme : 

• The scheme will be implemented in 119 tribal sub-plan (TSP) blocks of the state through 22 integrated tribal development agencies (ITDAs) utilising a total outlay of Rs 500 crore over a period of 3 years (2023-24 to 2025-26).
• As per the scheme, over 1.5 lakh tribal households will be supported by ensuring timely access to quality inputs, infrastructure support incidental to livelihood, the introduction of better production practices, training and capacity building support and marketing assistance in a convergence mode.
• The new scheme will help the tribal households to take up well-planned farm-based activities and non-farm livelihood activities to augment their income and raise their standard of living on a sustainable basis.
• The Central-PSU has proposed setting up a mega Dual Feed Cracker (DFC) at Paradip with an investment of Rs 58,042 crore for the production of ethylene, polypropylene, poly vinyl chloride (PVC), phenol, Is-Propyl Alcohol (IPA) etc.

About Odisha : 

• Governor : Ganeshi Lal
• Chief Minister : Naveen Patnaik
• Capital : Bhubaneswar
• National Park : Simlipal National Park, Bhitarkanika National Park
• Wildlife Sanctuary : Kotagarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Hadagarh Wildlife Sanctuary, Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary
• Festival : Mahabisuva Sankranti, Konark Dance Festival, Chhau Festival

Kerala government announces major schemes to support women entrepreneurs                                  

• On International Women’s Day (Mar 8, 2023), the Kerala government unveiled major schemes to support women entrepreneurs in the State including the raising of the loan limit for women under the ‘We-Mission Kerala’ initiative of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 25 lakh with a 5% interest from April 1, 2023.
• Industries Minister Mr P Rajeeve made the announcement at the women entrepreneurs’ meeting held by the Department of Industries and Commerce
• Also, the moratorium period under the scheme, aimed at identifying, supporting and promoting women entrepreneurs, will be raised to 1 year from the current 6 months.
• Mr Rajeeve also announced a composite grant of Rs 5 lakh for women cooperative societies, which will be available to the co-operative societies that commence operation in April, 2023
• From April 1, 2023, female entrepreneurs can use the Kozhikode incubation centre’s amenities by paying 50% rent.

About Kerala : 

• Governor : Arif Mohammad Khan
• Chief Minister : Pinarayi Vijayan
• Capital : Thiruvananthapuram
• National Park : Anamudi Shola National Park, Silent Valley National Park
• Wildlife Sanctuary : Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary, Peppara Wildlife Sanctuary
• Tiger Reserve : Parambikulam Tiger Reserve

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOUR

HDFC Bank’s Sashidhar Jagdishan is ‘BS Banker of the Year 2022’

• Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of HDFC Bank, has been chosen as the Business Standard Banker of the Year 2022, as the lender continued its strong performance under his leadership while successfully navigating through technology-related challenges.
• An eminent five-member jury, chaired by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor S S Mundra, picked the CEO of the largest private sector bank of the country as the winner.
• The other jury members were Vice Chairman and CEO of HDFC Limited Keki Mistry, Ican Investment Advisors Chairman Anil Singhvi, Aditya Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company MD and CEO A Balasubramanian, and former MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda P S Jayakumar.
• Mistry, however, recused himself from the deliberations around group concern HDFC Bank.
• Jagdishan’s journey in HDFC Bank started in 1996 as a manager in the finance function.
• Prior to his appointment as MD and CEO of HDFC Bank, Jagdishan was the strategic change agent of the bank in addition to overseeing the functions of finance, human resources, legal & secretarial, administration, infrastructure, corporate communications and corporate social responsibility.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOUS AND AGREEMENT

Paytm signs MoU with Government of Andhra Pradesh at Global Investors Summit 2023:

• One97 Communications Ltd which owns Paytm announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) on the sidelines of the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023.
• The agreement aims to promote mutual cooperation in the areas of Industrial Development, Financial Inclusion, Public Health, Cyber Security and Prevention of Financial Frauds in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
• The agreement was signed in the presence of Shri Saurabh Gaur, Secretary, Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh and Shri Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, Managing Director and CEO of Paytm.
• Under the MoU and in alignment with its mission of bringing half a billion Indians into the mainstream economy, we plan to empower merchants, street vendors, and ChiruVyaparulu (street hawkers) in Andhra Pradesh to accept digital payments and provide them access to loans through its lending partners.
• They plan to extend our platform to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for providing eGovernment services, which will be conveniently accessible to all our Super App users.
• Additionally, we plan to empower various GoAP departments to accept digital payments from citizens and businesses, thereby enhancing service delivery for the people of Andhra Pradesh.

About Paytm:

• CEO: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
• Founded: August 2010
• Founder: Vijay Shekhar Sharma
• Q: Noida

SIBC Signs MoU In Sustainable Infrastructure, Defence Manufacturing With Maharashtra Government

• Sweden India Business Council has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government for cooperation in the area of waste to energy, sustainable infrastructure and transportation, defence manufacturing and investment, the industry body.
• The MoU was signed in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
• The MoU was signed between Sweden India Business Council (SIBC) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).
• Swedish industry will continue to expand and invest in Maharashtra.
• This MoU intends to support the two parties to reach a deeper collaboration for a more sustainable future and further job creation and technology cooperation.

India, US sign MoU on semiconductor supply chain, innovation partnership

• India and the US inked an initial pact on increasing private sector cooperation in the area of semiconductors under which the two countries would facilitate business opportunities and develop an ecosystem to reduce their dependency on China and Taiwan.
• The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on establishing semiconductor supply chain and innovation partnership under the framework of India-US Commercial Dialogue was signed by US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal during the Commercial Dialogue here.
• According to a joint statement, both sides have agreed to set up a semiconductor sub-committee, led by the Department of Commerce for the US side and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the Indian side.
• The committee will convene its first engagement in mid-year to review recommendations from the joint industry-led task force launched in connection with the iCET (Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies).
• Raimondo, who was on a four-day visit to India, was accompanied by the chief executive officers of 10 US companies.
• The MoU seeks to establish a collaborative mechanism between the two governments on semiconductor supply chain resiliency and diversification in view of US’s CHIPS and Science Act and India’s Semiconductor Mission.
• The CHIPS and Science Act was signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 to boost funding for the American semiconductor industry.
• The MoU aims to leverage complementary strengths of both countries and facilitate commercial opportunities and the development of semiconductor innovation ecosystems through discussions on various aspects of the semiconductor value chain.
• It also envisages mutually beneficial R&D, talent and skill development.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING AND REPORTS

Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag, Tehri top landslide index: ISRO report

• Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district, which houses the Kedarnath shrine, has “maximum exposure to landslide risk in the country”, according to to the ‘Landslide Atlas’ report prepared by Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
• Rudraprayag has 32 chronic landslide zones, with the maximum located on NH-107 which leads to the holy town, according to the District Emergency Operation Centre.
• Another Uttarakhand district, Tehri is at the second spot in the list of landslide prone districts.
• It has over two dozen landslide zones, including Totaghati which has been identified as a “very chronic landslide site”.
• The Isro database covered landslide-vulnerable regions in 17 states and two UTs of India in the Himalayas and Western Ghats.
• Kerala’s Thrissur and Palakkad districts are at 3rd and 5th spots
• Rajouri and Pulwama (J&K); Kozhikode and Malappuram (Kerala); and South Sikkim and East Sikkim (Sikkim) are the other high risk districts, according to the Landslide Susceptibility Zonation Map.
• Significantly, in one of the major disasters, on June 29, 2022, at least 79 people were killed in a landslide in the Noney district of Manipur.

About ISRO:

• The Indian Space Research Organisation is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bangalore.
• It operates under the Department of Space which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman of ISRO acts as the executive of DOS as well.
• Founded: 15 August 1969
• Headquarters: Bengaluru
• Founder: Vikram Sarabhai

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Govt appoints Mr Siddhartha Mohanty as interim Chairman of LIC  

• The current Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LIC Housing Finance, Mr Siddhartha Mohanty, has been given the additional charge of Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for a period of 3 months starting from March 14, 2023.
• The filing noted that the term of Mr MR Kumar as Chairperson of LIC of India will be completed on March 13, 2023.
• The filing stated that in compliance with Regulation 30 of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)(Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirement) (LODR) Regulations, 2015, the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Govt of India, has approved the appointment of Mr Siddhartha Mohanty,MD as interim chairman of LIC with the financial and administrative powers.
• On February 1, 2021, Mr Mohanty was appointed as the MD of LIC for a term of over 2 years until June 30, 2023, or until his superannuation.

About LIC : 

• Founded : 1 September 1956
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
• Managing Directors : B C Patnaik, Ipe Mini, Siddharth Mohanty, Raj Kumar
• LIC is the 5th -largest life insurer in the world by life insurance gross written premiums (GWP) and by total assets, it is the 10th-largest

Infosys President Mr Mohit Joshi Resigns & Joins Tech Mahindra as MD & CEO

• India’s 5th largest information technology firm, Tech Mahindra, has appointed Mr Mohit Joshi as its Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for a period of 5 years with effect from December 20, 2023 to Dec 19, 2028.
• Joshi will replace Mr CP Gurnani, who is set to retire in December, 2023.

About Mr Mohit Joshi : 

• Since 2020, Mr Mohit holds the post of Non-Executive Director at Aviva Plc and is a member of its Risk & Governance and Nomination committees.
• He worked with the largest corporations in the world, like Infosys, ABN AMRO and ANZ Grindlays.
• He has also held the office of the Vice Chair of the Economic Growth Board of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry).
• Before this appointment, he resigned from his post as the president of Infosys.

About Tech Mahindra Ltd : 

• Founded : 24 October 1986
• Headquarters : Pune, Maharashtra, India
• Chairman : Anand Mahindra
• Tech Mahindra is an Indian multinational information technology services and consulting company.
• It is a part of the Mahindra Group.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : DEFENCE NEWS

Indian Army’s Chetak Corps conduct ‘Exercise Chetak Chaukas’

• Indian Army’s Chetak Corps conducted ‘Exercise Chetak Chaukas’ with all stakeholders to strengthen Rear Area Security.
• The exercise was undertaken to ensure planning, getting ready, getting to know everyone involved, and updating databases to ensure better security in the rear protection area.
• Earlier, the Indian Army’s Desert Corps carried out tactical floatation to validate operational parameters under an all-arms combat simulation.
• This was carried out besides coordinating & refining numerous Battle Drills.

About Chetak Corps : 

• It comes under the South Western Command and has its headquarters in Punjab’s Bathinda. 
• To lighten the burden on the XI Corps, Lieutenant General ML Tuli raised it at Bathinda on July 1, 1979.
• Its first General Officer Commanding (GOC) was Lt Gen ML Tuli.

About the Indian Army : 

• Headquarters : New Delhi, Delhi, India
• Chief of Defence Staff : General Anil Chauhan
• Chief of the Army Staff : General Manoj Pande

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Launches 40 OneWeb Internet Satellites To Orbit 

• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 40 broadband satellites of United Kingdom(UK)-based company OneWeb from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States of America (USA).
• With this, OneWeb 17, the total number of satellites in this network to 582.
• It was the 13th launch and landing for this particular booster
• It was carried out to facilitate OneWeb’s goal of constructing a constellation of over 600 satellites in low earth orbit (LEO).
• Most of OneWeb’s satellites have launched atop Russian-built Soyuz rockets operated by the French company Arianespace.
• OneWeb has now flown 3 times with SpaceX (on Falcon 9 rockets) and once with NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) on an Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark III vehicle.
• Among those previous flights were SpaceX’s two private astronaut missions, Inspiration4 and Ax-1, which launched in September 2021 and April 2022, respectively.

About SpaceX : 

• Founded : March 14, 2002;
• Headquarters : Hawthorne, California, United States
• CEO & Chairman : Elon Musk
• SpaceX is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and satellite communications corporation.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

America’s 4-time Olympic diving champion Pat McCormick Passed away                                 

• Patricia Joan Keller McCormick, who became the first diver to sweep the women’s 3-metre springboard and 10-metre platform competitions at consecutive Olympics, has passed away at the age of 92 in California, United States of America (USA).

About Pat McCormick : 

• Pat McCormick was born on May 12, 1930, Seal Beach, California, USA.
• She won both diving events at two consecutive Summer Olympics, in 1952 and 1956.
• She served on the Los Angeles 1984 Summer Olympics organising committee
• She won gold on platform and silver on 3-metre at the 1951 Pan American Games, and she followed up with gold on both events at the 1955 event.
• McCormick’s daughter, Kelly Robertson, won a silver medal in springboard diving at Los Angeles in 1984 and a bronze at Seoul in 1988 Olympic Games.

Awards & Honors : 

• McCormick won 26 U.S. national titles, second all-time among American women, from 1946-56.
• She won the James E. Sullivan Award for best amateur athlete in the US in 1956 the second woman to do so, after the swimmer Ann Curtis had been the first, in 1944
• In 1965, McCormick was in the first group of inductees in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

World Consumer Rights Day 2023: March 15

• World Consumer rights Day 2023 is observed all over the world on March 15th, 2023.
• It is a global event observed annually on March 15th every year.
• Consumers International announce that World Consumer Rights Day 2023 theme is “Fair Digital Finance”.
• It is a global event that aims to raise awareness about consumer rights and needs.
• World Consumer Rights Day was inspired by President John F Kennedy, who sent a special message to the US Congress on 15th March 1962, in which he formally addressed the issue of consumer rights.
• He was the first world leader to do so.
• The consumer movement first marked that date in 1983 and now uses the day every year to mobilize action on important issues and campaigns.

Daily CA One- Liner: March 15

• Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Renuka Singh Saruta inaugurated the Mara Tribal Girls’ Hostel in Lunglei in Mizoram
• NTPC has commissioned India’s first Air cooled condenser installed Super Critical plant to demonstrate its Commitment towards water conservation through reduction, reuse and recycling.
• Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of HDFC Bank, has been chosen as the Business Standard Banker of the Year 2022, as the lender continued its strong performance under his leadership while successfully navigating through technology-related challenges
• One97 Communications Ltd which owns Paytm announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) on the sidelines of the Andhra Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023.
• Sweden India Business Council has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Maharashtra government for cooperation in the area of waste to energy, sustainable infrastructure and transportation, defence manufacturing and investment, the industry body
• India and the US inked an initial pact on increasing private sector cooperation in the area of semiconductors under which the two countries would facilitate business opportunities and develop an ecosystem to reduce their dependency on China and Taiwan
• Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district, which houses the Kedarnath shrine, has “maximum exposure to landslide risk in the country”, according to the ‘Landslide Atlas’ report prepared by Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro)
• The nation’s largest lender State Bank of India(SBI) raised Rs 3,717 crore through additional tier 1 (AT1) bond sale.

• The credit card outstanding in January, 2023 rose 29.6% to reach an all-time high of Rs 1.87 lakh crore on the back of increased digitisation and rising consumer confidence in the post-Covid period.
• IDFC Mutual Fund (MF) has rebranded itself as Bandhan Mutual Fund.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shri Shaktikanta Das announced that payments through unified payment interface (UPI) have grown exponentially in the past 12 months, with daily transactions crossing 36 crores in March, which is a rise of 50% from 24 crores in February 2022.
• Private non-life insurer, Shriram General Insurance Company (SGIC) has set up two women-only branches in Ludhiana, Punjab and Jaipur, Rajasthan in the first such initiative in the industry.
• Denmark is the first country in the world to open an underwater burial site for Carbon dioxide (CO2) and also import the gas from other countries.
• The United Nations (UN) stated that, since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the country has become the most repressive in the world for women and girls, deprived of many of their basic rights.
• In Maharashtra, a new initiative called ‘beggar-free city’ has been started in Nagpur.
• Uttarakhand has become India’s first state to launch the “Resham Keet Bima” scheme to protect its sericulturists.
• The Odisha government has approved Rs 500 crore to launch a new scheme Livelihoods Cluster Development initiative for tribal people under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Janajati Jeebika Mission.’
• On the International Women’s Day (Mar 8, 2023), the Kerala government unveiled major schemes to support women entrepreneurs in the State including the raising of the loan limit for women under the ‘We-Mission Kerala’ initiative of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 25 lakh with a 5% interest from April 1, 2023.
• The current Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of LIC Housing Finance, Mr Siddhartha Mohanty, has been given the additional charge of Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) for a period of 3 months starting from March 14, 2023.
• India’s 5th largest information technology firm, Tech Mahindra, has appointed Mr Mohit Joshi as its Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for a period of 5 years with effect from December 20, 2023 to Dec 19, 2028.
• Indian Army’s Chetak Corps conducted ‘Exercise Chetak Chaukas’ with all stakeholders to strengthen Rear Area Security.
• A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 40 broadband satellites of United Kingdom(UK)-based company OneWeb from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, United States of America (USA).

• Patricia Joan Keller McCormick, who became the first diver to sweep the women’s 3-metre springboard and 10-metre platform competitions at consecutive Olympics, has passed away at the age of 92 in California, United States of America (USA).
• World Consumer rights Day 2023 is observed all over the world on March 15th, 2023.