Current Affairs March 12th 2022| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

54th CISF Raising Day: 10^th March

• In the year 1969, the CISF was set up on March 10 and three battalions were formed under the CISF act 1968, which was passed by the Parliament of India.
• Central Industrial Security Force, is for the central armed police force in India.
• It is one of the six paramilitary forces in India functioning under the Union Home Ministry.
• The CISF was established on 10 March, 1969 after an Act was passed in the Parliament of India.
• The Central Industrial Security Forces were established to protect the industrial installations in the country.
• The CISF was made an armed force by a different act of Parliament, which was passed on 15 June, 1983.
• CISF’s duty includes providing better protection and guarding the sensitive installations of the government and other important facilities.

International Day of Women Judges: 10 March

• In 2022, 10 March will be celebrated as the International Day of Women Judges. The day will be celebrated and observed for the first time after the UN General Assembly passed the resolution concerning the same in April 2021.
• The International Day of Women Judges is celebrated to promote the presence of women in the judicial field and strengthen the legal system. The day also aims to reaffirm the faith of people in the judicial system.
• The International Day of Women Judges aims to recognise the efforts and contributions being made by women judges.
• The day also empowers young women and girls who aspire to become judges and leaders in the community.The UN General Assembly Resolution aims passed in April 2021 aims to bring about gender parity in the judiciary, especially at the senior levels.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Indian Railways’ 1st Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal commissioned in Eastern Railway:

• In pursuance to Prime Minister’s vision “Gati Shakti” and Ministry of Railways’ Policy regarding ‘Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT), Asansol division of Indian Railways has successfully commissioned private siding of Maithan Power Limited at Thaparnagar.
• This is the FIRST such GCT commissioned in Indian Railways since publication of GCT policy in Dec.’2021.
• The Maithan Power Project was initiated in the year 2009 and subsequently the power generation was started in the year 2011.
• Till now the requirement of coal to the power project was being made through road which is expected to convert into 120 inward coal rakes per month.

MoPNG Swachhta Pakhwada Awards presented by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri:

• The MoPNG Swachchta Pakhwada Awards were presented to the winners by the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri.
• The Minister also launched the Ministry’s annual publication Indian Petroleum & Natural Gas Statistics 2020-21’.
• This is a repository of data which gives an overall picture of India’s oil & Gas sector including exploration, production, refining, transportation and marketing, imports and exports of crude oil& petroleum products.
• Base on their performance in the event, IOCL was ranked first, ONGC second and HPCL came third.

Union Minister RK Singh launches Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center and Innovation Park:

• Union Minister for Power K. Singh has launched the Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center (SGKC) and Innovation Park virtually as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Programme.
• Minister of State for Power Krishan Pal Gurjar was also present on the occasion.
• The SGKC has been established by POWERGRID for demonstration and advancement of frontier smart grid technologies.
• SGKC aims to be one of the leading Centers of Excellence globally to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and research in smart grid technologies and create capacities in the power distribution sector.The Virtual SGKC launched was enables a digital footprint of the physical setup of SGKC, the need for which was felt during COVID-19 pandemic.

3rd National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) begins in New Delhi:

• The 3rd edition of the National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) on March 10 and 11, 2022, in the Central Hall of Parliament, New Delhi.
• Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur will address the inaugural session of NYPF on March 10, while the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will address the valedictory function on March 11.
• The main aim of the National Youth Parliament is to offer a platform to youth to voice their thoughts opinions and dreams.
• 1st edition of NYPF was conducted from 12th January to 27th February, 2019 with the theme “Be the Voice of New India and Find solutions and Contribute to Policy”.
• 2nd edition of NYPF was held from 23rd December, 2020 to 12th January, 2022 with the theme “YUVAAH- Utsah Naye Bharat Ka”.
• 3rd edition of NYPF was conducted on 14th February 2022 at District level through virtual mode.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

BSE inks pact with 2 entities to promote commodity derivatives, EGRs:

• With an aim to deepen commodities derivatives trade and proposed electronic gold receipt (EGR) markets in India, stock exchange BSE has collaborated with the Bhartiya Swarnkar Sangh (BSS) and Jamshedpur Jewellers Association (JJA).
• The pacts are aimed at growing and developing value chain participants, enabling them to face competition and manage price risk better.
• BSE will participate with the BSS and JJA in seminars and various other programmes to educate the community about the commodity and derivatives markets and their benefits.
• This will also encourage commodity stakeholders to hedge on exchanges.
• Other key aspects of the pact include BSE and the parties working together in order to design newer products on commodity contracts.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : BANKING & FINANCE

RBI issues guidelines for extended interest equalization scheme for export credit

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued modified norms on Interest Equalization Scheme for pre and post-shipment rupee export credit up after the extension of the scheme till March 31, 2024 by the government.
• The extension takes effect from October 1, 2021.

About the Modifications :

• Telecom Instruments’ sector having six HS lines1 shall be out of the purview of the Scheme, except for MSME manufacturer exporters.
• Revised interest equalisation rates under the Scheme will now be 3 percent for MSME manufacturer exporters exporting under any HS lines, and 2 per cent for manufacturer exporters and merchant exporters exporting under 410 HS lines (after excluding 6 HS lines pertaining to Telecom Sector as mentioned above).
• Banks, while issuing approval to the exporter, will necessarily furnish

1. The prevailing interest rate
2. The interest subvention being provided
3. The net rate being charged to each exporter, so as to ensure transparency and greater accountability in the operation of the Scheme.

• The extended Scheme will not be available to those beneficiaries who are availing the benefit under any Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme of the government.
• For the period from October 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, banks shall identify the eligible exporters as per the Scheme, credit their accounts with the eligible amount of interest equalisation and submit sector-wise consolidated reimbursement claim for the said period to the Reserve Bank by April 30, 2022.
• With effect from April 1, 2022, banks shall reduce the interest rate charged to the eligible exporters upfront as per the guidelines and submit the claims in original within 15 days from the end of the respective month, with bank’s seal, and signed by authorised person, in the prescribed format, as modified.
• Other provisions of the extant instructions issued by the Bank on the captioned Scheme shall remain unchanged.

NaBFID to Be Regulated as AIFI Under RBI Act

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) will be regulated and supervised as an All India Financial Institution by it under the RBI Act, 1934.
• NaBFID shall be regulated and supervised as an All India Financial Institution (AIFI) by the Reserve Bank under Sections 45L and 45N of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
• It shall be the 5th AIFI after Export Import (EXIM) Bank, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development(NABARD), National Housing Bank (NHB) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDB)I.
• NaBFID has been set up as a Development Financial Institution (DFI) to support the development of long-term infrastructure financing in India.

About NaBFID :

• Chairman : K V Kamath
• The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development Bill, 2021 was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 22, 2021.
• Initially, the central government will own 100% shares of the institution which may subsequently be reduced up to 26%.

About RBI :

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

Zeta partners with Mastercard to power next-gen credit processing for banks, fintechs

• Zeta, a banking tech unicorn and provider of next-gen credit card processing to banks and fintechs, and Mastercard announced a 5-year global partnership.
• As part of the agreement, the firms will go-to-market jointly to launch credit cards with issuers worldwide on Zeta’s modern, cloud-native, and fully API-ready credit processing stack.
• The two companies collaboration began in 2018 in Asia Pacific when Zeta joined Start Path, Mastercard’s global startup engagement program.

Note :

• Zeta recently joined the Mastercard Developers Partner Network, Engage.

About Zeta :

• Founded : 2015
• CEO : Bhavin Turakhia
• CTO : Ramki Gaddipati
• Headquarters : Mumbai,Maharashtra

About Mastercard :

• Headquarters : New York, US
• Executive Chairman : Ajay Banga
• President & CEO : Michael Miebach

BOB Financial and CreditAI launch Unnati Co-Branded Credit Card for Farmers

• BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB), and CreditAI Fintech Pvt Ltd (CAI), have launched Unnati – a co-branded credit card exclusively for farmers.

Features of Unnati Co-Branded Credit Card :

• The Unnati Credit Card will empower Farmers to avail agricultural inputs in time and at any-time during the cultivation cycle.
• It will work in a ‘closed-loop system with an end-use monitoring’ feature to both enable and trace agricultural credit to its last mile.
• CreditAI’s proprietary mobile app and inputs shop management system will ensure that the end use of credit is primarily for purchase of inputs at FPO owned input sales shops.

Note :

• CreditAI was first launched in Karnataka and later scaled across Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and other states in India.

About BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL) :

• Founded: 29 September 1994
• Headquarters : Mumbai, Maharashtra
• MD & CEO : Shailendra Singh

About CreditAI Pte Ltd :

• Founded & CEO : Mr. Sangram Nayaka
• CreditAI Pte Ltd (CAI), is a Singapore & Bangalore based farmer digitisation and credit scoring company.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance partners with Bharat Co-operative Bank

• Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), the life insurance subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL), and Bharat Co-operative Bank (Mumbai) Ltd. have announced their bancassurance partnership with an aim of combining synergies to enhance the reach of life insurance products.
• This collaboration facilitates a common platform to reach out to the bank’s 5 lakh plus customers with relevant life insurance solutions.
• The partnership enables ABSLI to directly reach out to these customers through Bharat Co-operative Bank’s (Mumbai) 103 branches and fulfil their life insurance and investment planning needs.
• This will further strengthen ABSLI’s extensive distribution reach across the urban and semi-urban areas of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Gujarat.

About Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance :

• Founded: 2000
• Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
• MD & CEO : Kamlesh Rao

About Bharat Co-operative Bank (Mumbai) :

• MD & CEO : Vidyanand S. Karkera\
• Chairman : U.ShiVaji Poojary

India and World Bank sign $125 million Loan to support access to Social Protection Services in West Bengal                                                   

• The Government of India, the Government of West Bengal, and the World Bank signed a $125 million IBRD loan to support efforts to help poor and vulnerable groups access social protection services in the state of West Bengal.
• The agreement was signed by Shri Rajat Kumar Mishra, Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India; Shri Sudip Kumar Sinha, Secretary, Finance Department on behalf of the Government of West Bengal, and Mr Junaid Ahmad, Country Director, India on behalf of the World Bank.
• The West Bengal Building State Capability for Inclusive Social Protection Project will support these interventions at the state level.
• It will focus on vulnerable groups such as women, tribal and scheduled caste households, and the elderly, as well as households in the state’s disaster-prone coastal regions.

About World Bank :

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• President : David Malpass
• MD & CEO : Anshula Kant

About West Bengal :

• Chief minister: Mamata Banerjee
• Governor: Jagdeep Dhankhar
• Capital: Kolkata

CURRENT AFFAIRS : APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNATIONS

Yoon Suk-yeol become new President of South Korea

• On March 09, 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol won the 2022 South Korean presidential election to be elected as the new President of the country.
• He will succeed incumbent President Moon Jae-in.
• He is scheduled to assume office as president on May 10, 2022 for a fixed term of five-years.

About Yoon Suk-yeol :

• Yoon was born in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun District, Seoul in 1960.
• He is a former public prosecutor and lawyer who is the president-elect of South Korea.
• Yoon served as Prosecutor General of South Korea between 2019 and 2021 under President Moon Jae-in.
• A member of the conservative People Power Party, Yoon defeated Democratic Party’s nominee Lee Jae-myung in the 2022 South Korean presidential election.

About South Korea :

• Capital: Seoul
• Currency: South Korean won

CURRENT AFFAIRS : MOU & AGREEMENTS

Singapore-India sign MoU for cooperation in science, technology and innovation

• A MoU on cooperation in the fields Science, Technology and Innovation signed between the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and Ministry of Trade & Industry, Government of Singapore.

Signatories :

• The MoU signed by S Chandrasekhar, Secretary for and by Dr. Lee Chuan Teck, Permanent Secretary during the inaugural session of the India-Singapore Technology Summit 2022.

About the MoU :

• The MoU will share experiences on the national research, development, and innovation policies and programmes of each country, exchanging and sharing of scientific and technological information.
• It will encourage, develop and facilitate cooperation between India and Singapore in fields of common interest in science, technology, and innovation, including areas like Agriculture and food science and technology, advanced manufacturing and engineering, Green economy, energy, water, climate, and natural resources, Data science, Emerging Technologies, Advanced Materials, and Health and biotechnology.
• The Memorandum will remain in effect for a period of 5 years and will be automatically extended for a successive period of 5 (five) years

Note :

• India-Singapore Technology Summit 2022 co-organised by Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, India’s Department of Science and Technology and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

About Singapore :

• President: Halimah Yacob
• Prime minister: Lee Hsien Loong
• Currency: Singapore dollar

CURRENT AFFAIRS : RANKING & FINANCE

India ranks 2nd for global investment in digital shopping, Bengaluru tops                                               

• According to the London & Partners analysis of Dealroom.co investment data, India is the second-largest global venture capital investment hub for digital shopping companies, growing by a whopping 175% from $8 billion in 2020 to $22 billion in 2021.
• Within India, Bengaluru tops globally with $14 billion (tripled its investments from $5 billion in 2020) worth of Venture Capital (VC) investments in digital shopping in 2021, followed by Gurugram at No. 7 with $4 billion and Mumbai at No. 10 with $3 billion.

Global scale Ranking :

1. United States(US) – $51 billion in investment
2. India – $ 22 billion
3. China –  $14 billion
4. UK – $7 billion

1. The total global VC investment for 2021 stood at a record USD 140 billion, up from USD 68 billion in 2020.
2. 3 of the 15 global cities with the highest count of current unicorns are in India, Bengaluru at No. 6 with 19 unicorns in 2021 (up from three in 2020, Gurugram at No. 7 with 13 unicorns (up from 3 in 2020) and Mumbai at No. 14 with 7 unicorns.
3. London is the leading European hub for digital shopping investment, with a record USD 5 billion raised by digital shopping companies based in the capital in 2021
4. London & Partners stated the figures relating to investment into digital shopping companies are based on analytics firm Dealroom.Co’s definition of online marketplaces, which supplied the VC investment data as of February 15, 2022.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS NEWS

ISSF WC 2022: India top medal tally with 4 gold, 2 silver, one bronze in Cairo

• India have taken first place in the medal standing in International Shooting Sport Federation, ISSF World Cup 2022 in Cairo.
• 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, who won six medals– three gold, one silver and two bronze claimed second spot on the medals tally.
• France were third, with three golds out of the 20 on offer.
• Rahi Sarnobat, Esha Singh and Rhythm Sangwan defeated the Singaporean trio of Xiu Hong, Shun Xie and Ling Chiao Nicole Tan in the gold medal match-up.
• Saurabh Chaudhary clinched India’s first gold medal in Cairo.
• The 19-year-old Indian defeated Michael Schwald of Germany 16-6 in the gold medal match of the Men’s 10m Air Pistol event.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS AND AUTHOR

Sharad Pawar unveiled Ratnakar Shetty’s autobiography “On Board: My Years in BCCI”:

• A book titled On Board: My Years in BCCI”, an autobiographical account of Ratnakar Shetty’s experiences as an administrator.
• Shetty, a Chemistry professor by profession, went on to be the BCCI’s first Chief Administrative Officer after serving the Mumbai Cricket Association in various capacities.
• The book was released by Sharad Pawar, the former president of the MCA, BCCI and International Cricket Council.

Daily CA On Mar 12 :

• In the year 1969, the CISF was set up on March 10 and three battalions were formed under the CISF act 1968, which was passed by the Parliament of India.
• In 2022, 10 March will be celebrated as the International Day of Women Judges.
• In pursuance to Prime Minister’s vision “Gati Shakti” and Ministry of Railways’ Policy regarding ‘Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal’ (GCT), Asansol division of Indian Railways has successfully commissioned private siding of Maithan Power Limited at Thaparnagar.
• The MoPNG Swachchta Pakhwada Awards were presented to the winners by the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri.
• Union Minister for Power K. Singh has launched the Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center (SGKC) and Innovation Park virtually as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Programme.
• The 3rd edition of the National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) on March 10 and 11, 2022, in the Central Hall of Parliament, New Delhi.
• With an aim to deepen commodities derivatives trade and proposed electronic gold receipt (EGR) markets in India, stock exchange BSE has collaborated with the Bhartiya Swarnkar Sangh (BSS) and Jamshedpur Jewellers Association (JJA).
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued modified norms on Interest Equalization Scheme for pre and post-shipment rupee export credit up after the extension of the scheme till March 31, 2024 by the government.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stated that National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID) will be regulated and supervised as an All India Financial Institution by it under the RBI Act, 1934.
• Zeta, a banking tech unicorn and provider of next-gen credit card processing to banks and fintechs, and Mastercard announced a 5-year global partnership.
• BOB Financial Solutions Limited (BFSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda (BoB), and CreditAI Fintech Pvt Ltd (CAI), have launched Unnati – a co-branded credit card exclusively for farmers.
• Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), the life insurance subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL), and Bharat Co-operative Bank (Mumbai) Ltd. have announced their bancassurance partnership with an aim of combining synergies to enhance the reach of life insurance products.
• The Government of India, the Government of West Bengal, and the World Bank signed a $125 million IBRD loan to support efforts to help poor and vulnerable groups access social protection services in the state of West Bengal.
• On March 09, 2022, Yoon Suk-yeol won the 2022 South Korean presidential election to be elected as the new President of the country & he will succeed incumbent President Moon Jae-in.
• A MoU on cooperation in the fields Science, Technology and Innovation signed between the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and Ministry of Trade & Industry, Government of Singapore.
• According to the London & Partners analysis of Dealroom.co investment data, India is the second-largest global venture capital investment hub for digital shopping companies, growing by a whopping 175% from $8 billion in 2020 to $22 billion in 2021.
• India have taken first place in the medal standing in International Shooting Sport Federation, ISSF World Cup 2022 in Cairo.
• A book titled “On Board: My Years in BCCI”, an autobiographical account of Ratnakar Shetty’s experiences as an administrator.