March 8 was designated as International Women's Day by the UN in 1975. It was first celebrated on March 19, 1911, in the United States and European countries. The idea of International Women's Day stems from the 1908 labour movement, during which numerous women garment workers marched in the streets of New York, demanding better pay, shorter work hours and voting rights.
The theme of International Women's Day 2024 will focus on 'Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress,' targeting economic disempowerment. However, the campaign theme for the same year is 'Inspire Inclusion.' the campaign theme Inspire Inclusion emphasizes the importance of diversity and empowerment in all aspects of society.
Union Minister for Tribal Affairs and Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Arjun Munda, presided over the launch of ground-breaking partnerships for tribal development, in New Delhi. Collaborating with the Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) are esteemed institutions such as the ISRO, IISc Bengaluru, AIIMS Delhi, IIM Calcutta and IIT Delhi.
The partnerships will focus on key domains including Indigenous Practices; Telemedicine & Tribal Health; Training & Capacity Building; Entrepreneurship; Technology Transfer, Patent, IPR; and Digitization through Satellites; Use of Industry 4.0 Technologies (AI/ML, AR/VR) for tribal issues.
The Government launched PM JANMAN with a total outlay of Rs 24 thousand crores, to comprehensively develop 75 Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), that lag behind in socio-economic indicators of education, health, and livelihood.
Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi dedicated nine tourism infrastructure projects, spread across the country, developed under Swadesh Darshan and Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) schemes, worth Rs. 469 Crore through Video Conferencing from Srinagar.
Additionally, the PM launched campaigns like Chalo India Global Diaspora Campaign and Dekho Apna Desh People's Choice 2024 to promote tourism and engage citizens in identifying preferred tourist attractions. Industry experts have welcomed the initiatives but emphasized the need for strong marketing efforts to boost tourism further.
Further, 43 other projects for Rs. 963 Crore were also launched by him, under the Swadesh Darshan and Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) schemes of the Ministry of Tourism. The project launch events were carried out at all the 52 destinations, simultaneously, by coordinated efforts of the Ministry of Tourism, State Government.
The National Action for Mechanized Sanitation Ecosystem or the NAMASTE Scheme is a testament to the Government’s human-centric approach where no sanitation workers have to manually engage in the hazardous task of sewer and septic tank cleaning operations. The scheme has a range of entitlements for Sewer and septic tank workers or the SSWs.
Jointly initiated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the NAMASTE scheme will be implemented by the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC) for a period of three years from FY 2023-24 to FY 2025-26, with a budget allocation of 349.73 crores.
Components of the scheme:
Profiling of SSWs in ULBs through digital tools (1 lakh SSW to be identified).
Health Insurance of SSW under PM-JAY.
Occupational safety training of SSWs and Sanitation Response Units for NAMASTE.
Capital Subsidy up to Rs. 5.00 lakh for procurement of Sanitation Related Vehicles/ Equipment.
Distribution of safety devices to Emergency Response Sanitation Unit (ERSU).
IEC Campaign for awareness on SSW safety and dignity.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi approved the continuation of targeted subsidy of Rs.300 per 14.2 kg cylinder (and proportionately pro-rated for 5 kg cylinder) for up to 12 refills per year to be provided to the beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) during FY 2024-25.
As on 1st March 2024 there are more than 10.27 crore PMUY beneficiaries.
The total expenditure will be Rs.12,000 crore for financial year 2024-25. The subsidy is credited directly to bank accounts of the eligible beneficiaries. To make Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), a clean cooking fuel, available to the rural and deprived poor households, Government launched PMUY in May 2016, to provide deposit free LPG connections to women of poor households.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for Raw Jute for 2024-25 season. The MSP of Raw Jute (TDN-3 equivalent to earlier TD-5 grade) has been fixed at Rs.5,335/- per quintal for 2024-25 season.
The MSP for 2024-25 season is an increase of Rs.285/-per quintal for Raw Jute over the previous season. In the last 10 years, the Government has increased MSP for Raw jute from Rs.2,400 per quintal in 2014-15 to Rs.5,335/- per quintal in 2024-25, registering a growth of 122 percent.
Panama has officially ratified the International Solar Alliance (ISA), marking its entry as the 97th member nation. The ISA is an action-oriented, member-driven, collaborative platform for increased deployment of solar energy technologies as a means for bringing energy access, ensuring energy security, and driving energy transition in its member countries.
The Union Cabinet chaired by PM approved the proposal of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade for Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization Scheme, 2024 (UNNATI – 2024) for a period of 10 years from the date of notification along with 8 years for committed liabilities at a total cost of Rs. 10,037 crore.
The proposed scheme envisages approximately 2180 applications, and it is anticipated that direct employment opportunities of about 83,000 will be generated during the scheme period. A significant number of indirect employment is also expected to be generated.
Future Generali India Insurance Company (FGII), a private general insurer, announced the launch of its most comprehensive women’s health insurance plan. The plan is designed to meet women’s unique needs. FGII “HEALTH POWHER” aims to address the various needs of women across the different stages of their lives.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bank Indonesia (BI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Mumbai for establishing a framework to promote the use of local currencies — the Indian Rupee (INR) and the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) — for cross-border transactions.
The MoU covers all current account transactions, permissible capital account transactions, and any other economic and financial transactions as agreed upon by both countries. It was signed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo.
Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) has launched a new loan scheme called ‘Vikas Spoorty’ to strengthen the rural credit delivery system and also to motivate the common man to take up income-generating activities on a smaller scale. Under this scheme, people may avail a minimum loan of ₹50,000 and a maximum of ₹2,00,000.
Tech Fini, a Mumbai-based Fintech firm providing all-inclusive, feature-rich payment infrastructure solutions has collaborated with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to offer UPI 2.0 Acquiring and Issuing Switch Solutions to its merchants. Tech Fini’s partnership with NPCI has enabled it to launch the ‘Credit Lines on UPI’ option on its platform.
Sweden has officially become the 32nd member of NATO after it completed the accession process in Washington. The handover of documents took place at a ceremony two years after Sweden applied to join the military alliance following the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022.
The foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were officially laid down on 4 April 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, more popularly known as the Washington Treaty. The Treaty was signed in Washington D.C. on 4 April 1949 by 12 founding members. At present, NATO has 32 member countries. These countries, called NATO Allies.
NATO member countries: -
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Lativia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherland, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States.
