Daily News

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67th National Film Awards announced for the year 2019;Malayalam war epic Marakkar:Lion of the Arabian Sea won Best Feature Film.

Best acting honours went to Manoj Bajapayee for Bhonsle,Dhanush for Tamil film Asuran & Kangana Ranaut for two of her films:Panga and Manikarnika.Vijay Sethupathi (Super Deluxe) & Pallavi Joshi (The Tashkent Files) won the supporting actor awards,while director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan was awarded for Bahattar Hoorain.Sikkim won the most film friendly state.

Did you Know

Special Jury Award:Oththa Seruppu Size 7 (Tamil) and Best Hindi Film: Chhichhore.

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Gandhi Peace Prize for the Year 2019 and 2020.

For the year 2019,award is being conferred on (Late) His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman & for 2020,it is being conferred on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.Gandhi Peace Prize is an annual award instituted by Govt of India since 1995,the 125th Birth Anniversary commemoration year of Mahatma Gandhi.The award carries an amount of Rs.1 crore,citation etc.

Did you Know

Jury for the prize is chaired by PM,Chief Justice of India & Leader of opposition in LS.

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Ministry of Defence (MoD)signs contract with Mahindra Defence Systems Ltd(MDSL) to supply LSV to Indian Army at Rs.1056 crore.

Providing further boost to ‘Make in India’,MoD signed a contract with MDSL for supply of 1,300 Light Specialist Vehicles(LSV) in 4 years.LSV is indigenously designed and developed by MDSL.LSV is a modern fighting vehicle and will be authorised to various fighting units for carriage of Medium Machine Guns, Automatic Grenade Launchers as well as Anti-tank Guided Missiles.

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Lok Sabha passes Insurance Amendment Bill 2021, FDI raised to 74%

Under the new structure of 74% FDI limit, majority of directors on boards & key management positions will be resident Indians with at least 50% directors will be independent directors.A specified percentage of profit will be retained as general reserve.This means that Indian promoters in an insurance joint venture would have the right to accept or reject any board decision.

Did you Know

Previous FDI hike took 7 years to be passed in 2015 hiking the limit from 26% to 49%.

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Covid-19 pandemic pushes back India’s $5-trillion GDP goal by 3 years to FY32:Bank of America (BofA) Securities report

Currently,India is fifth-largest economy in the world behind Germany. The government has set a target of becoming a USD 5-trillion economy by 2030.The pandemic-induced shocks to the economy which have already shaved off 15.7% of GDP from the previous year,will delay the ambitious target of becoming the third-largest economy by three years to 2031-32 now,says BofA report.

Did you Know

In 2017,BofA predicted that India would emerge as the third-largest economy in 2027-28.

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Uttar Pradesh govt develops India’s first Farmer Producer Organizations (FPO) portal

The UP FPO Shakti Portal has been developed by dept of agriculture with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is aimed at benefiting farmers at the grassroots level.It will bring farmers, producer groups,traders and the department of agriculture and other allied departments of the state government on one platform.It will contain all information on FPOs.

Did you Know

UP currently has 576 FPOs of 2.15 lakh farmers.471 FPOs have registered on the portal.

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At $36 billion,FPI inflows into equities at record high since FY13: RBI report

On the other hand,net foreign direct investment inflows jumped to $44 billion,till end January,up from $36.3 billion a year ago,driven by the massive inflows in November & December, with the last month of the year getting a record $6.3 bn.Report further notes that the quality of FPI inflows improved during the period as category-I foreign investors increased their stake.

Did you Know

Except India, most Asian and emerging markets have seen FPI outflows.

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RBI sets up 5-member panel headed by Shyamala Gopinath for evaluating applications for Universal Banks & Small Finance Banks.

Standing External Advisory Committee(SEAC) members are:Revathy Iyer,Director,Central Board,RBI;B Mahapatra, former Executive Director, RBI & presently Chairman,National Payments Corporation of India;TN Manoharan, former Chairman,Canara Bank; & Hemant G Contractor,former MD,SBI & former Chairman, PFRDA.Term will be for three years.

Did you Know

Shyamala Gopinath is former Deputy Governor of RBI.

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World Meteorological Day | March 23

World Meteorological Day is celebrated on March 23 every year to commemorate the establishment of the World Meteorological Organization(WMO)on this day in 1950.This World Meteorological Day theme - The ocean, our climate and weather – celebrates WMO’s focus in connecting the ocean, climate and weather within the Earth System.

Did you Know

Theme is in conjunction with UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

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Shaheed Diwas or Martyrs' Day | March 23

On this Shaheed Diwas,Indians in particular pay tribute to Bhagat Singh,Sukhdev Thapar and Shivaram Rajguru. These freedom fighters had lost their lives on March 23 in 1931 during the struggle for India's independence.They were hanged for assassinating British officer John Saunders in 1928.

Did you Know

There are six days declared as Martyrs' Day in India.

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Veteran Scriptwriter and Filmmaker Sagar Sarhadi Passes Away Aged 88.

Noted writer and filmmaker Sagar Sarhadi, known for films like "Kabhi Kabhie", "Silsila", and "Bazaar", passed away.Sarhadi began his career writing Urdu short stories and entered Bollywood via Yash Chopra's 1976 "Kabhi Kabhie",starring Amitabh Bachchan and Raakhee.In 1982, Sarhadi turned director with "Bazaar".

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India's Singhraj wins gold in Para Shooting World Cup 2021

Indian para-athlete Singhraj won gold medal in the 2021 Para Shooting World Cup at Al Ain in the UAE today. He defeated Uzbekistan's Server Ibragimov to get the top honour in the P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1 final.With this, India has moved to third place in the medals table.India has now two medals in its list - one gold and one bronze.

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ISSF World Cup: India's Divyansh Singh Panwar & Elavenil Valarivan win gold medal

India's Divyansh Singh Panwar and Elavenil Valarivan won the gold medal on in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event at the The International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup being held in Delhi.The Indian duo won by beating the Hungarian team of Istvan Peni and Eszter Denes 16-10 to take home the top prize.

Did you Know

Divyansh Singh Panwar had won the bronze in the 10m Air Rifle individual event earlier.

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India, Pakistan,China to participate in SCO joint anti-terrorism exercise 'Pabbi-Antiterror-2021'

The decision to hold the joint exercise 'Pabbi-Antiterror-2021' was announced during the 36th meeting of the Council of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure(RATS) held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.India, Pakistan, China and other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will hold a joint anti-terrorism exercise this year.

Did you Know

RATS,headquartered in Tashkent, is a permanent organ of the SCO.

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JKTPO, TPCI Sign MoU For Agro & Food Processing, Film Tourism Sectors

Jammu and Kashmir Trade Promotion Organization (JKTPO) signed MoU with Trade Promotion Corporation of India (TPCI) for the Agro & Food Processing sector and Film Tourism sector.According to the MoU, both JKTPO and TPCI will work together to enhance the outreach to the International Community in India.

Did you Know

MoU was signed during inauguration of J&K Pavilion at Indus-Food 2021 trade show.

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India has world's fourth strongest armed forces: Military Direct's study

China has the strongest military in the world, scoring 82 out of 100 points in the index,according to a study released by defence website Military Direct.USA, despite their enormous military budgets,comes in 2nd place with 74 points,followed by Russia with 69,India at 61 and then France with 58.The UK just about makes the Top 10, coming in 9th place with a score of 43.

Did you Know

The world's biggest military spender with a budget of USD 732 billion per year is the USA

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FICCI-IFSCA Sign Mou For Development Of GIFT City As Fintech Hub

FICCI-IFSCA signed an MoU to establish a framework for collaboration and co-operation for the development of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) IFSC as a world-class FinTech Hub.FICCI will also assist IFSCA in the development of FinTech Accelerator programmes in GIFT IFSC amongst other cooperation areas.

Did you Know

MoU was signed by Injeti Srinivas, Chairman,IFSCA & Dilip Chenoy, Secretary-General,FICCI

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Labour Bureau inks agreement with Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL)for conducting all-India surveys.

The surveys(including on migrant workers)to be undertaken by Bureau will be integrated with the technology provided by the BECIL,which will substantially reduce the time taken for completion of surveys by at least 30-40%.The agreement marks the beginning of a new era in the field of IT-enabled surveys.

Did you Know

George Kuruvilla is CMD,BECIL (a mini Ratna Company of I&B Ministry).

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RBI imposes ₹15-lakh penalty on Fedfina

RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of ₹15 lakh on Fedbank Financial Services Ltd (Fedfina),Mumbai, for non-compliance with certain provisions of the central bank’s directions on monitoring of frauds.This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in RBI under the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

Did you Know

Fedfina is a subsidiary of Federal Bank. The bank has 74% stake in the NBFC.

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Royal London Cup 2021: Shreyas Iyer becomes 6th Indian to sign for Lancashire

India batsman Shreyas Iyer has joined Lancashire for the 2021 Royal London Cup, the English county club. Farokh Engineer joined the county in 1968.

Since Engineer retired, four further Indian Internationals - Murali Kartik, Dinesh Mongia, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly - have represented the club.

Did you Know

Lancashire will kick off their Royal London Cup campaign at home to Sussex on July 23.