13th-14th March, 2023

1. India-US bilateral Commercial Dialogue 2023 was co-chaired by the Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and the US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi.
2. Minister of MSME launched MSME Competitive (LEAN) scheme to make it more beneficial for enterprises and stakeholders.
3. The Ministry of Ports, shipping, and waterways has provided in-principle approval to four floating jetty projects in Karnataka and four floating jetty projects in Tamil Nadu, under its Sagarmala Programme.
4. From 1st April 2023, the sale of only gold jewellery with HUID shall be permitted.
5. Hon’ble Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy Shri R K Singh launched the Star-rated appliances program at the 21st Foundation Day of Bureau of Energy Efficiency in New Delhi on March 1.
6. 3rd Session of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) was held in New Delhi.
7. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s longest railway platform at Hubballi in
8. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the Sweden India Business Council (SIBC) signed an MOU for sustainable infrastructure and defence manufacturing.
9. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has approved three Centre of Excellence for Horticulture Crops under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH).
10. Indian Army’s Chetak Corps conducted ‘Exercise Chetak Chaukas’ with all stakeholders to strengthen Rear Area Security.
11. Ministry of Defence signed a contract for the procurement of six Dornier-228 aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at a cost of Rs 667 crore.
12. Lockheed Martin, the US-based defence and aerospace giant, and Tata Group have signed an agreement to commence production of fighter wing shipsets at their joint venture, Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Limited (TLMAL), located in Hyderabad, India.
13. USA has launched world’s first GM poplar tree.
14. UN Development Program has signed a pact with Euronav for purchasing a Very Large Crude Carrier.
15. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has released the “Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2022” report.
16. Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of ISRO has released the “Landslide Atlas of India”.
17. PhonePe has received the ‘payment aggregators’ licence from RBI.
18. Ministry of Corporate Affairs is going all out to build capacity among its cadre/ posts and other organisations to meet the requirements of a vision of ‘New India’.
19. Indian Bank has launched the “IND SUPER 400 DAYS”, term deposit scheme.
20. India-based IDFC Mutual Fund is set to operate under a new brand name, called Bandhan Mutual Fund.
21. Mohit Joshi has been appointed as MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra.
22. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the re-appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of the bank for two years, with effect from 24 March 2023.
23. March 13 – World Rotaract Day; Theme – Create Hope in the World
24. 95th Oscar 2023 – India made history as “The Elephant Whisperers” movie got Best Documentary –Short Film Award and “Naatu Naatu” song from RRR has won the Best Original Song award.
25. Supreme Court Judge Justice V. Ramasubramanian released India’s Struggle for Independence – Gandhian Era 1915-1948 book.
26. Renowned Bengali novelist and short story writer Sasthipada Chattopadhyay has passed away.
27. Kenzaburō Ōe, a Japanese writer, has passed away.

National News

1. India-US bilateral Commercial Dialogue 2023 was co-chaired by the Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and the US Secretary of Commerce, Gina Raimondo at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi.
   • The Commercial Dialogue is a part of ongoing efforts to strengthen US-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership.
   • The Minister and the Secretary welcomed the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET).
   • The next Commercial Dialogue meeting will be held in Washington, DC, in 2024.
   • During the Dialogue, India and the US signed a pact on setting up a Semiconductor Supply Chain and Innovation Partnership and established a semiconductor sub-committee under the framework of the India-US Commercial Dialogue.
   • The sub-committee will be led by the US’s Department of Commerce and, on the Indian side, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
   • The first meeting of the committee will be held in 2023.
2. Minister of MSME launched MSME Competitive (LEAN) scheme to make it more beneficial for enterprises and stakeholders.
   • Under the revamped scheme, the Centre’s contribution will be 90% of the implementation cost for handholding and consultancy fees as against 80% previously.
   • However, under the revamped scheme, the consultancy has been divided into phases – Basic (2 months), Intermediate (6 months) and Advanced (12 months).
   • Purpose of the scheme – to improve quality, productivity, performance and capability to change the mind-sets of manufacturers and transform them into world class manufacturers
   • Through the LEAN journey, MSMEs can reduce wastages substantially, increase productivity, improve quality, work safely, expanding their markets, and finally becoming competitive and profitable.

3. The Ministry of Ports, shipping, and waterways has provided in-principle approval to four floating jetty projects in Karnataka and four floating jetty projects in Tamil Nadu, under its Sagarmala Programme.
   • With these four additional projects in Karnataka, there is a total of 11 floating jetty projects in the state.

4. From 1st April 2023, the sale of only gold jewellery with HUID shall be permitted.
   • HUID stands for Hallmark Unique Identification. It is a 6-digit alphanumeric code consisting of alphabets and numbers. HUID is stamped at the BIS-certified Assaying and Hallmarking Centre.
5. Hon’ble Union Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy Shri R K Singh launched the Star-rated appliances program at the 21st Foundation Day of Bureau of Energy Efficiency in New Delhi on March 1.
   • The Voluntary Star Labelling Programme has been launched for multi-door refrigerators, table and wall-mounted fans, pedestal fans, and induction hobs.
   • This program is expected to save approximately 11.2 billion units of electricity by 2030 and will enable the reduction of CO2 emission close to 9 million tonnes by 2030.
   • iDEEKSHA (Industrial Decarbonization and EE Knowledge-Sharing) Portal was also launched under the Accelerating Smart Power and Renewable Energy (ASPIRE) Technical 1 Assistance Programme.
   • It aims to facilitate the exchange of information, knowledge and experience and best practices amongst the Indian energy-intensive industries.
   • BEE is a statutory body under the Ministry of Power.
6. 3rd Session of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) was held in New Delhi.
   • Theme – “Building Local Resilience in a Changing Climate”
   • 3rd NPDRR was jointly organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).
   • India aims to become disaster-resilient by 2030 under the Vision-2047 (Amrit Kaal) of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
7. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated the world’s longest railway platform at Hubballi in
   • Name of the station – Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji Hubballi Junction

State News

1. Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and the Sweden India Business Council (SIBC) signed an MOU for sustainable infrastructure and defence manufacturing.
   • The MoU will focus on waste to energy (green initiatives), financial services including export credit financing agencies in Sweden, sustainable infrastructure and transportation and defence sector manufacturing amongst others.

Agriculture And Rural Development

1. Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has approved three Centre of Excellence for Horticulture Crops under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH).
   • CoE for Kamlam (Dragon Fruit) will be set up at Bengaluru, Mango and Vegetables at Jaipur (Odisha), and Vegetables and Flowers at South Goa.

Note: MIDH scheme is comprehensively covered in Govt Schemes document. Prepare the scheme thoroughly.

Defence News

1. Indian Army’s Chetak Corps conducted ‘Exercise Chetak Chaukas’ with all stakeholders to strengthen Rear Area Security.
2. Ministry of Defence signed a contract for the procurement of six Dornier-228 aircraft for the Indian Air Force (IAF) from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at a cost of Rs 667 crore.

Memorandum of Understand

1. Lockheed Martin, the US-based defence and aerospace giant, and Tata Group have signed an agreement to commence production of fighter wing shipsets at their joint venture, Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Limited (TLMAL), located in Hyderabad, India.
   • Under the MOU, both entities will produce 29 fighter wing shipsets by 2025.

International News

1. USA has launched world’s first GM poplar tree.
   • Poplar’s scientific name – Populus
2. UN Development Program has signed a pact with Euronav for purchasing a Very Large Crude Carrier.

Reports and Indices

1. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has released the “Trends in International Arms Transfers, 2022” report.
   • The five largest arms importers in 2018–22 were India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia and China.
   • The five largest arms exporters were the United States, Russia, France, China and Germany.

2. Hyderabad-based National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of ISRO has released the “Landslide Atlas of India”.
   • Top 5 Landslide Prone Areas in India –

Banking and Economy

1. PhonePe has received the ‘payment aggregators’ licence from RBI.
   • Recently, PhonePe has achieved an annualised total payment value of $1 trillion (or ₹84 lakh crore), mainly on account of its lead in UPI transactions.
2. Ministry of Corporate Affairs is going all out to build capacity among its cadre/ posts and other organisations to meet the requirements of a vision of ‘New India’.
   • The Centre’s ‘New India’ vision aims to transform India into a modern and developed country. The vision encompasses various sectors, including the economy, infrastructure, social welfare, healthcare, education, and agriculture.
   • MCA has appointed Grant Thornton Bharat LLP to assist in the capacity building.
3. Indian Bank has launched the “IND SUPER 400 DAYS”, term deposit scheme.

4. India-based IDFC Mutual Fund is set to operate under a new brand name, called Bandhan Mutual Fund.

Appointment

1. Mohit Joshi has been appointed as MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra.
2. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved the re-appointment of Sumant Kathpalia as managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of the bank for two years, with effect from 24 March 2023.

Important Days

1. March 13 – World Rotaract Day; Theme – Create Hope in the World
   • March 13-19 – World Rotaract Week

Awards

1. 95th Oscar 2023 – India made history as “The Elephant Whisperers” movie got Best Documentary –Short Film Award and “Naatu Naatu” song from RRR has won the Best Original Song award.
   • From India, “All That Breathes” movie was nominated in the “Documentary-Feature Film” category. The movie has been produced by Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer.

• Other awardees –
  • Best Picture – Everything Everywhere All at Once (directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert)
  • Best Actor in Leading Role – Branden Fraser for “The Whale” movie
  • Best Actress in Leading Role – Michelle Yeoh for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” role

Miscellaneous

1. Supreme Court Judge Justice V. Ramasubramanian released India’s Struggle for Independence – Gandhian Era 1915-1948
2. Renowned Bengali novelist and short story writer Sasthipada Chattopadhyay has passed away.
3. Kenzaburō Ōe, a Japanese writer, has passed away.

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