Indian Armed Forces operating under Ministry of Defence signed an agreement with the Israel Weapons Industry. According to the agreement, India is to procure 16, 479 LMG (Light Machine Guns) for Rs 880 crores. The LMG are used as squad automatic weapons.
The LMG were first used in Second World War.
DBS Bank India has tied-up with Bharti AXA to roll out a complimentary insurance plan covering all medical conditions, including Covid-19. Plan will cover all medical conditions- up to 10 days hospitalisation, with a cover of Rs 5,000 per day, for 30-days.
Emergency Global Medical Assist Program is also launched.
RBI will buy Rs 10,000 Cr of bonds from the secondary market to keep the market liquid, even as it infused Rs 25,000 Cr of liquidity through Long Term Repo Operations. The RBI has already infused Rs 1 trillion of liquidity through LTRO since February.
The bonds are mature between February 2022 and May 2025.
RBI provided the Renewal of Authorization for Vakrangee. The validity has been extended till 31 March 2021.RBI also assigned a target of minimum 1,000 ATMS to be deployed by Vakrangee for every calendar year starting 2020 for an initial period of 3 years.
ATMs deployed Ratio, Metro & Urban, Semi-Urban & Rural- 1:2:3.
WhatsApp announced the global launch of the WhatsApp Coronavirus Information Hub in partnership with the World Health Organization, UNICEF and UNDP, besides a $1 million donation to the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
Director of IFCN- Baybars Orsek.
Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the premium subsidy sharing pattern between Centre & NE States has been changed from 50: 50 to 90:10 for PM- Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS).
For remaining States, subsidy sharing pattern- 50: 50.
Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal informed that IR Ministry plans to electrify all Broad Gauge (BG) routes by December 2023. Railway Ministry has planned to source around 1000 MW of solar power as part of its solar mission.
Out of this 101.42 MW of solar power, has already been set up.
New Zealand bowling allrounder Andrew Ellis retired after to end a career he had started in 2002-03. Ellis is only the 2nd player in New Zealand domestic history to have played over 100 games in each format - 106 first-class, 133 List A and 127 T20s.
Ellis played 15 ODIs and five T20Is in 2012 and 2013.
Roger Mayweather, a former two-division world champion, accomplished trainer and has died at age 58. Mayweather turned pro in 1981, winning his first 17 career fights and capturing the WBA and lineal super featherweight championships in the process.
He trained boxing superstar Loyd Mayweather.
The International Day of Happiness is observed on March 20th. It was founded by Illien Global CEO Jayme Illien & adopted by the UN in 2012. Day of Happiness is organised by the United Nations to promote the idea that happiness is a fundamental human goal.
2020 Theme: ‘Happiness for all’.
Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about the bird. Need for marking this day was felt due to the tremendous decrease in its population. The initiative was started by Nature Forever Society founded by Mohammed Dilawar.
Theme- 'I Love Sparrows'.
French Language Day observed on 20 March, was established in 2010 by the United Nations’ Department of Public Information. The UN’s goal was to honour multilingualism, cultural diversity, and supports equal usage of its six official languages.
Approximately 45% of English words have a French origin.
For the 1st time in India, the Dept. of Posts introduced a free digital parcel locker service in the city.The facility will be available in two post offices in Kolkata- the Nabadiganta IT Post Office in Sector 5 of Salt Lake City and another in New Town.
India Post comes under Ministry of Communication & Technology.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced a $6.5 billion package for its developing member countries to fight the coronavirus pandemic. ADB stands ready to provide further financial assistance and policy advice down the road whenever the situation warrants.
ADB headquartered- Manila ; ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa.
ICICI Lombard has rolled out a dedicated Covid-19 group insurance cover.The insurance policy will pay 100% of the entire sum insured on the policyholder’s first Covid-19 diagnosis during the policy period.The health cover is priced at a premium of ₹149.
ICICI Lombard CEO: Bhargav Dasgupta .
Legendary India footballer PK Banerjee,83 passed away. He represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics & led India in the 1960 Rome Olympics. He scored 65 international goals in 84 appearances for the national team.
He won the gold medal at the Jakarta Asian Games in 1992.
The Gujarat Police is equipped with taser guns in order to ensure safety and security of the public & became the 1st state in India to introduce them. The taser guns have been introduced to find an alternative between ‘ineffective lathis’ and deadly guns.
The taser guns use compressed nitrogen to fire.
The Board of Approval on Special Economic Zones has approved 101 cases of de-notification between April 1, 2008 & 2020 February 29. SEZ is an area in the country which has more liberal economic laws than the country’s domestic economic law to expand FDI.
SEZ in India is under the ministry of commerce & industry.
Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced that Banihal to Katra railway link in Jammu and Kashmir will be completed by 2022. The Katra-Banihal railway track is a 111-km long stretch which would link Kashmir Valley with the rest of the country by train.
It will create rail from Kanyakumari to Baramulla.
The government proposed an over Rs. 1.01 lakh Cr Budget for the UT of Jammu and Kashmir for the 2020-21 fiscal, making it the highest ever budget envisaged for the region. Developmental expenditure is of the order of R. 38,764 Cr, an increase of 27%.
Expected revenue receipts are Rs. 91,100 crores.
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) said it will start Swavalamban Express as part of umbrella mission Swavalamban on June 5 this year for budding entrepreneurs. The journey will be for 15 days, and it will cover about 7000 km of track.
It will travel to 11 enterprising cities starting from Lucknow.