The Government has set up a committee to work out modalities of Kisan Rail. It comprises of representatives of Agriculture and Railway ministries. Kisan Rail was created through the PPP mode to build a cold supply chain to transport perishable goods.
IR has plans to install solar panel on un-utilized railway land.
UN Security Council has unanimously approved a United States' resolution on the recent deal between the US and the Afghan Taliban, a rare endorsement of an agreement with a militant group. The US military has begun withdrawing troops as part of the deal.
Afghanistan President- Ashraf Ghani, Capital- Kabul.
The total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow was over 318 billion US dollars between 2014 and September 2019 representing nearly 50 percent of the cumulative FDI in India since April 2000. FDI can be one measure to track the growth of Make in India.
The Make in India initiative was launched in 2014.
The coronavirus outbreak could cost the global economy up to $2 trillion this year, the UN's trade and development agency said, warning that shock from the epidemic will cause a recession in some countries and depress global annual growth to below 2.5%.
UNCTAD Secretary General- Mukhisa Kituyi.
India's thermal coal imports rose 12.6% to 200 mn tonnes in 2019, govt data reviewed by Reuters showed, reflecting the 2nd straight year of growth in shipments of the fuel despite attempts to cut imports. Coal is among the top 5 imported items in India.
Thermal coal is mainly used for power generation.
The national level search and rescue exercise (SAREX-2020), concluded at Caranzalem beach in Goa. It is a mock drill conducted by the Coast Guard. The SAREX exercise was inaugurated by Dr. Ajay Kumar, IAS, Secretary (Defence) in the Ministry of Defence.
Exercise witnessed the participation of 24 overseas observers.
J&K Forest Department, under the ‘Green J&K’ program, from its given target of 1 Cr saplings, has so far planted 32 lakh saplings of various varieties across the UT. Drive was part of national initiative for enhancing the green cover across the country.
Total of 50 lakhs will be planted by the end of March.
Telangana constituted a high-powered committee of secretaries to take forward the proposal to dispose of all assets relating to Telangana Rajiv Swagruha Corporation Ltd. They will divest these assets through an open auction on an ‘as is where is’ basis.
Andhra Pradesh started the "Rajiv Swagruha" scheme on 2007.
SBI has cut its marginal cost of fund-based lending rate (MCLR) by up to 15 basis points across various tenors, effective from March 10. The bank has reduced its one-year MCLR by 10 basis points to 7.75% from 7.85% earlier. SBI has also cut its FD rates.
This is 10th consecutive cut in MCLR by SBI this fiscal.
The Indian Tea Association said the Assam government’s decision to provide orthodox tea subsidy of Rs 7 per kg will boost exports of the beverage. Assam has also allowed interest subvention of 3 per cent on all term loans and working capital advances.
Assam made these announcements in the state budget for 2020-21.
CSIR-National Physical Laboratory has developed a bi-luminescent security ink which glows in red and green colours when illuminated by two different excitation sources at 254 nano meters & 365 nm, respectively. The ink was given to Bank Note Press, Dewas.
SPMCIL has currency note presses at Nashik and Dewas.
Reeling from hefty Adjusted Gross Revenue bills, Vodafone-Idea is looking to cut costs by merging weaker circles with stronger ones & giving up weaker spectrum markets. The move will entail employees losing jobs. 17 of its 22 circles have been integrated.
Vodafone Idea owes over Rs 53,000 crore as AGR dues.
NHAI got approval to construct the 1st phase of a new highway that will connect east Delhi’s Akshardham to Uttarakhand’s Dehradun, a distance of almost 170 Km. The first phase will connect Akshardham with west Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat, a distance of 32 Km.
The existing Delhi-Dehradun route is 250km long.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index reported that Jack Ma became Asia's richest man. Ambani, who stood as richest man, has moved to the 2nd position after oil prices collapsed along with global stocks. Coronavirus erased $5.8 billion from Ambani's net worth.
Jack Ma is the founder of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Mahim Verma, the current BCCI vice president, is set to resign from his post after he won the election for the post of secretary at the Cricket Association of Uttarakhand. As per the Lodha Committee's recommendations a person cannot hold multiple posts.
BCCI President cannot hold his post for more than two years.
Boxers Amit Panghal & Lovlina Borgohain won the bronze medal in the Asian Boxing Olympic qualifiers held in Amman. They had already claimed their place in 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Borgohain secured 0-5 & lost to China's Hong Gu in the 69 Kg weight category.
Pangal was defeated by Jianguan Hu in the 52 Kg category.
Indo-Thai workshop on stellar variability & star formation was held at ARIES, Nainital, Uttarakhand. The one-day workshop was organized by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences that functions under the Science & Technology Ministry.
2 joint bilateral programmes for joint research were sanctioned.
34 years after it was formed with the aim of carving out a separate Bodoland state from Assam, all the 4 factions of National Democratic Front of Bodoland disbanded themselves. NDFB was formed on October 3, 1986 under the name of Bodo Security Force.
Bodo is the largest tribe in the state.
Conservationist stated that poachers had killed Kenya’s only female white Giraffe and her calf. They are rare animals that aren't found anywhere else in the world. Now, only one white Giraffe, a lone male borne by the same slaughtered female, is alive.
GCF is involved in giraffe conservation initiatives.
After serving at strategic XV Corps of Army, Lt Gen KJS Dhillon will take over the post of Director General Defence Intelligence Agency and Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Intelligence). This department comes under the Chief of Defence Staff.
CDS is the newly created Department of Military Affairs.
On 130th Foundation Day of National Archives of India (NAI), Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (Independent Charge), Prahlad Singh Patel will inaugurate an exhibition on ‘Jallianwala Bagh’ on 11 March in New Delhi. NAI was founded on 1891.
NAI was formed in Kolkata as the Imperial Record Department.
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Delimitation Act, 2002, the Government constituted the Delimitation Commission for delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies in J&K, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland.
Delimitation in J&K will be based on the Census of 2011.
Equitas SFB introduced current account with sweep in and sweep out fixed deposit for entrepreneurs, self-employed professionals and businessmen. With 24 x 7 cash deposit facility, customers also get interests on idle funds with Sweep Out Fixed Deposit.
Vasudevan Pathangi Narasimhan is the MD & CEO of Equitas SFB.
MEA appointed an additional secretary-level official as the nodal person to streamline international as well as domestic efforts of the government to address the challenge posed by the pandemic. Dammu Ravi will be officially called Coordinator (COVID 19).
Minister of External Affairs ,Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
