Weekly Current Affairs 16th March - 22nd March 2022

FINANCE AND BANKING

• Government has extended the timeline up to ten years for startups to convert debt investments
  • The government has extended the timeline up to ten years for startups to convert debt investments made in the company into equity shares.
  • The investor is given the option that if the startup performs well or achieves some performance milestones in the future, the investor can ask the startup to issue equity shares of the company against the money they had initially invested as a loan/debt.

• RBI gives 3-month extension to RBL Bank's interim MD & CEO
  • RBI has granted an extension of three months to its interim MD and CEO of Private sector RBL Bank Rajeev Ahuja.
  • The board of the bank had sent the then MD and CEO Vishwavir Ahuja on leave and elevated Rajeev Ahuja as the interim chief.

• Madras’ IIT and RBI Innovation Hub make ties
  • IIT Madras Incubation Cell and RBI Innovation Hub, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the RBI, inked a Memorandum of Understanding.
  • The two organisations will collaborate to give early-stage entrepreneurs with unique and disruptive ideas with incubation support and speed their scale-up journey.

ECONOMY

• Reliance Retail buys 89% stake in Purple Panda Fashions
  • Purple Panda Fashions operates Clovia, brand of innerwear and loungewear for women.
  • Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries has acquired an 89% stake in Purple Panda Fashions Pvt Ltd for Rs 950 crore.

• L&T Technology Services aims for carbon, water neutrality by 2030
  • L&T Technology Services Limited, a leading engineering services company, released its first Sustainability Report for the year 2020-21.
  • CEO & Managing Director at L&T Technology Services - Amit Chadha.

• HPCL buys 2 million barrels Russian crude oil
  • After Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has bought two million barrels of Russian crude oil at deep discounts.
  • HPCL also bought Russian Urals crude through European trader Vitol.
  • Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine led to Russian crude being available in the market at deep discounts.

NATIONAL

• India's first 'World Peace Center' will be established in Gurugram
  • Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti organisation established by Ambassador of Peace, Eminent Jainacharya Dr Lokeshji will establish India's first World Peace Center in Gurugram, Haryana.
  • World Peace Center will work for the establishment of peace and harmony in the world. The voice of this centre of Gurugram will be heard all over the world by its work, including the United Nations and the World Religion Parliament.

• Nation’s first AI & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) launched in Bengaluru
  • An Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) with a seed money of Rs 230 crore was launched at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.
  • Of the Rs 230 crore, Rs 170 crore would be borne by the Centre and the rest by the Karnataka government.

• India’s first digital water bank sets up in Bengaluru
  • India, and possibly the world, got its first digital water bank, an initiative to aggregate water resources under a single platform in Bengaluru.
  • Science and Technology Minister Dr. CN Ashwath Narayan inaugurated the water bank in Bengaluru.
  • The initiative is undertaken by AquaKraft Ventures.

INTERNATIONAL

• Revocation of Russia’s Most Favored Nation Trade Status
  • US President Biden announced that the United States, acting in coordination with the European Union (EU) and leaders of major economies belonging to the Group of Seven (G7), would begin taking steps to revoke most-favored-nation (or MFN) trade status for Russia.
  • MFN trade status—known as Permanent Normal Trade Relations (“PNTR”) status in the United States—is a term used to describe the nondiscriminatory treatment granted among most of the world’s trading partners.

• Serdar Berdymukhamedov wins presidential election of Turkmenistan
  • Serdar Berdymukhamedov, 40, who is the son of Turkmenistan’s autocrat leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has won a decisive victory in the presidential election.
  • He got 73% of the vote.

STATES

• West Bengal celebrates Dol Utsav
  • The people of Bengal celebrated the festival of colours, predominantly known as Dol Utsav in the state through cultural programs, marking the onset of spring season.
  • In Eastern India, the festival of spring is celebrated as Dol Jatra, Dol Purnima, Dol Utsav and Basanta Utsav.

• Bhagwant Mann takes oath as Punjab CM
  • Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann took oath as the 17th Chief Minister of Punjab.
  • Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mann.
  • Constituency of Bhagwant Mann: Dhuri

• Pushkar Singh Dhami to continue as CM of Uttarakhand
  • Pushkar Singh Dhami will return as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
  • He will take oath as the 11th Chief Minister of the state.
  • Constituency of Pushkar Singh Dhami: Khatima

REPORTS AND INDEXES

• V-Dem report: Liberal Democracy Report 2022
  • V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute an independent research institute based at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has published a report – “Democracy Report 2022: Autocratization Changing Nature”.
  • India’s Position: As per the report, polarization is on the rise in India and the country has been ranked 93rd on the Democracy Index. The report stated that India is among the top ten most autocratic countries. India no longer runs as a fully functioning democratic country but works as an electoral autocracy. India is in the bottom 40% to 50% of countries.

• World Happiness Report 2021
  • The World Happiness Report is a publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
  • Top Performers: Finland has been ranked as the happiest country in the world for the 5th consecutive year followed by Denmark, Iceland, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
  • India’s ranking: India has been ranked 139, out of 149 countries evaluated. In 2020, India was ranked 144 out of 156 countries surveyed.
  • Worst Performers: Afghanistan (149) is the most unhappy country followed by Zimbabwe (148), Rwanda (147), Botswana (146) and Lesotho (145).

• Trends in International Arms Transfer 2021: SIPRI
  • The latest report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Trends in International Arms Transfer, 2021, released, reveals that India and Saudi Arabia had emerged as the largest arms importers of arms between 2017-21, each accounting for 11% of all global arms sales.
  • The report places India at the top of the list. Egypt, Australia and China were the next three largest importers with respective shares of 5.7%, 5.4% and 4.8%.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• ISRO successfully conducts ground test of solid booster stage for SSLV
  • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the ground test of the solid-fuel based booster stage (SS1) of its new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), completing the ground testing of all three stages of the launch vehicle.
  • The new launch vehicle is now ready for its first development flight, which is scheduled for May 2022.

AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

• Tamil Nadu providing free power to farmers
  • Tamil Nadu government will providing free electricity to all the farmers across the state, an amount of Rs 5,157.56 crore will be provided to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Coroporation (TANGEDCO), for the fiscal year 2023.
  • Tamil Nadu government has allocated an amount of Rs 2,399 crore as state share of premium subsidy.

DEFENCE

• India and Seychelles to conduct military exercise ‘LAMITIYE’
  • The Indian Army and Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF) are conducting the ninth Joint Military Exercise Lamitiye 2022 at the Seychelles Defence Academy (SDA) in Seychelles from March 22 to March 31 into the Indian Ocean.
  • The ninth joint military exercise LAMITIYE-2022 between the Indian Army and Seychelles Defence Forces will commence at the Seychelles Defence Academy (SDA).

• Defence Secretary commissions Offshore Patrol Vessels ICGS Saksham at Goa
  • Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar commissioned Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Saksham, the fifth in the series of 105-metre Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) class, at Goa.
  • The 105-meter OPV has been designed and built indigenously by Goa Shipyard Limited and fitted with advance technology, navigation and communication equipment, sensors and machinery.

EVENTS

• WINGS INDIA 2022
  • Ministry of Civil Aviation and FICCI will jointly organise Asia's largest event on Civil Aviation - WINGS INDIA 2022 - from 24th to 27th March at Begumpet Airport, Hyderabad.
  • Theme of the event is “India@75: New Horizon for Aviation Industry.”

• 36th International Geological Congress
  • The 36th International Geological Congress (IGC), themed “Geosciences: The Basic Science for a Sustainable Future” will be held in New Delhi on a virtual platform.
  • The 36th IGC is a joint endeavour of the Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the Science Academies of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
  • Described as the Olympics of Geosciences, the IGCs are held quadrennial.

• 35th Surajkund International Crafts Mela begins in Haryana
  • The Surajkund International Craft Mela will start from March 19 and will last till April 4.
  • Artists from 20 countries will take part in the fair.
  • The Mela is organized annually in Faridabad by the Surajkund Mela Authority & Haryana Tourism in collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs.
  • The theme state for Surajkund Mela 2022 is ‘Jammu & Kashmir.’

AWARDS AND REWARDS

• 31st GD Birla Award for Scientific Research
  • Professor Narayan Pradhan has been selected for the 31st GD Birla Award for Scientific Research for his outstanding contribution in the field of material sciences.
  • He has provided his expertise in crystal modulations to help design new shapes of these tiny lighting materials.

• Axis Bank bags IFR Asia's Asian Bank of the Year and India Bond House Award
  • Axis Bank, India's third-largest private sector bank has been awarded IFR Asia's Asian Bank of The Year for its breadth of coverage and depth of expertise in the Asian investment banking space.
  • The award acknowledges the bank's outstanding performance in equity and debt issuance, across all major products and segments.

• India’s Oscar nominations 2022
  • Indian documentary Writing with Fire has been nominated in Best Documentary Feature category.
  • i‘Writing with Fire’ is the first all-India independent production to make it to the final nomination in this category.
  • It had made it to the Oscars shortlist — among 15 films from a pool of 138.

SPORTS

• PR Sreejesh won World Games Athlete of the Year Award
  • Veteran Indian hockey goalkeeper PR Srejeesh, won the prestigious World Games Athlete of the Year for his 2021 performances, becoming only the second Indian to receive the accolade.
  • Sreejesh became the first man and second hockey player to win the award, following in the footsteps of compatriot and India women's captain Rani, who took the 2019 prize.

• India to host 44th World Chess Olympiad 2022
  • The 44th Chess Olympiad, which was moved out of Russia after it invaded Ukraine, will be organised in Chennai later this year.
  • The All-India Chess Federation (AICF) had submitted a guarantee of USD10 million (approx Rs 70 crore) to FIDE to host the tournament.

• Ferrari's Leclerc wins Bahrain GP
  • Ferrari’s driver Charles Leclerc won the Bahrain Grand.
  • Carlos Sainz of Ferrari was second and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was third.