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1)  National Safety Day 2022 Observed on 04th March

•The National Safety Day (NSD) is celebrated every year on the 4th of March to commemorate the foundation of the National Safety Council (NSC) of India. The day aims to raise public awareness of all safety principles, including road safety, workplace safety, human health safety, and environmental safety. The year 2022 marks 51st NSD.

The theme of the day:

•Every year, this day is celebrated with a different theme. This year, the National Safety Council of India announced the theme to be ‘Nurture young minds – Develop safety culture’.

2)  National Security Day observed on 04th of March

•In India, March 4 is celebrated as National Security Day (Rashtriya Suraksha Diwas) every year, in the honor of the Indian Security Forces. The day aims to show gratitude to all the security forces, including policemen, para-military forces, commandos, guards, army officers, and other persons involved in security, who sacrifice their life in maintaining the peace and security of the people of the country. Apart from this, National Security Week 2022 is being celebrated from March 4 to March 10, 2022.

3)  Tata Motors launches ‘Anubhav’- showroom on wheels

•Tata Motors has launched a mobile showroom (showroom on wheels) named ‘Anubhav,’ to target rural customers by increasing their reach in rural areas and providing them with a doorstep car buying experience. Tata Motors will deploy a total of 103 mobile showrooms across the country, to enhance the Tata Motors brand awareness in rural India.

4)  SDG Index 2021: India ranks 120th position

•India has been ranked at 120th position in the Sustainable Development Report 2021 or Sustainable Development Index 2021. In this Index, countries are ranked by a score out of 100. India has a score of 60.07. Last year India’s rank was 117. The Index measures the country’s total progress towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The Index has been topped by Finland. 

The top 5 countries in this ranking are:

1- Finland;

2- Sweden;

3- Denmark;

4- Germany;

5- Belgium

These 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 as a part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) to transform our world:

•GOAL 1: No Poverty

•GOAL 2: Zero Hunger

•GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being

•GOAL 4: Quality Education

•GOAL 5: Gender Equality

•GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

•GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy

•GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

•GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

•GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality

•GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities

•GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

•GOAL 13: Climate Action

•GOAL 14: Life Below Water

•GOAL 15: Life on Land

•GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions

•GOAL 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goal

5)  MoWCD launches ‘Stree Manoraksha’ Project

•The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) and NIMHANS Bengaluru launched the ‘Stree Manoraksha Project’ on Wednesday with the goal of improving women’s mental health in India. The project would concentrate on increasing the ability of OSC (One-Stop Center) off1icials in terms of tools and procedures for dealing with women who come to One-Stop Centers, particularly those who have experienced violence and distress, with compassion and care.

6)  Ujjain creates Guinness Record by Lighting 11.71 Lakh Diyas

•Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh has created a Guinness record by lighting 11.71 lakh clay lamps (diyas) in 10 minutes. The diyas were lighted as part of the ‘Shiv Jyoti Arpanam Mahotsava’ on the occasion of Mahashivratri. With this they broke the earlier record of lighting 9.41 lakh diyas created in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh on 03 November 2021. Ujjain is also known as the ‘Land of Mahakal’. The certificate was received by Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

•It was a zero-waste programme. The clay from the lamps will be used to prepare idols, while the oil left in the lamps will be offered to gaushalas. The plastic used for the I-cards will be used to make chairs and other items for public gardens.

7)  Herath Festival celebrated in Jammu and Kashmir 2022

•Herath or the ‘Night of Hara (Shiva)’, generally known as Maha Shivratri, is the main festival celebrated by the Kashmiri Pandits across Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The festival marks the marriage anniversary of Lord Shiva and Goddess Uma (Parvathi). 2022 Herath Festival was celebrated on 28th February 2022.

8)  19th Military Cooperation meet of India & US held in Agra 2022

•The 19th edition of the India-US Military Cooperation Group (MCG) meeting was conducted in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The discussion was co-chaired by Air Marshal BR Krishna, Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC), and Lieutenant General Stephen D Sklenka, Deputy Commander, US Indo-Pacific Command, represented the US side.

9)  HPCL signed MoU with Solar Energy Corporation of India

•A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on February 24, 2022 in New Delhi between Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) to accomplish green energy targets and the Government of India’s efforts towards a carbon-neutral economy.

10)  DST tieup with Intel India to boost AI readiness

•‘Building AI Readiness among Young Innovators’, a program by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, in partnership with Intel India, was launched by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology (I/C). The program aims to build digital readiness among the students from classes 6 to 10, enrolled under DST’s INSPIRE-Awards MANAK scheme.

11)  RBI cancelled licence of Sarjeraodada Naik Shirala Sahakari Bank

•Reserve Bank of India has cancelled the license of Sarjeraodada Naik Shirala Sahakari Bank, Sangli, Maharashtra, as it did not have adequate capital and earning prospects. With the cancellation of the licence, Sarjeraodada Naik Shirala Sahakari Bank Ltd has ceased to carry on banking business with effect from the close of business hours on 2 March. The bank is not complying with various sections of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

•On liquidation, every depositor would be entitled to receive deposit insurance claim amount of his/her deposits up to a monetary ceiling of Rs 5 lakh from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).

 Earth, the most important place you know, has a surface area of 510,072,000 km². Compared Earth is about the size of an average sunspot. Compared to other planets, our world is about twice the size of Mars, and it is slightly larger than Venus. The total land coverage is 29.2% of Earth’s surface (149 million km²), the rest of its surface area of 70.8% is water.

What are the largest countries in the world? 

The largest countries in the world are not necessarily the world’s most populated countries as well. Although they have larger landmasses, extremes of climate and terrain in countries like Russia and Canada limit human habitation over larger parts of their territory. The three most populous countries in the world, China, US and India ranked fourth, third, and seventh.

Total Area = land area + water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, and rivers)

Key points:

• The largest country in the world is Russia with a total area of 17,098,242 Km² (6,601,665 mi²) and a land area of 16,376,870 Km² (6,323,142 mi²), equivalent to 11% of the total world’s landmass of 148,940,000 Km² (57,510,000 square miles).
• The three smallest countries in the world are Vatican City, an enclave within Rome, Italy. Monaco, a principality at the Mediterranean coast and an enclave within Southern France, and Nauru, an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean.

Top 7 Largest Countries in the World (by total area km²):

Here is a detail of the Top 7 Largest Countries on Earth by area:

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1)  World Wildlife Day 2022 Observed on 03rd March

•The World Wildlife Day is observed every year on March 3 to raise awareness about the world’s wild fauna and flora. The day also reminds us of the need to fight against wildlife crime and human-induced reduction of species causing various wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts.

2)  World Hearing Day observed globally on 3rd March by WHO

•World Hearing Day is held on 3rd March each year by World Health Organisation (WHO). The day aims to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. On World Hearing Day 2022, WHO will focus on the importance of safe listening as a means of maintaining good hearing across the life course. In 2021, WHO launched the World report on hearing that highlighted the increasing number of people living with and at risk of hearing loss. It highlighted noise control as one of the seven key H.E.A.R.I.N.G. interventions and stressed the importance of mitigating exposure to loud sounds.

3)  Indian Air Force to conduct Exercise Vayu Shakti at Pokharan range, Rajasthan

•Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct the Exercise Vayu Shakti that will take place at Pokharan range in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on March 7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the Chief Guest of this event. A total of 148 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will participate in this exercise. Rafale aircraft will participate for the first time in this exercise. Exercise Vayu Shakti is organised by Indian Air Force once in every three years. The last Vayu Shakti Exercise took place in 2019.

4)  India, Pakistan: Most vulnerable to climate change

•Extreme climatic conditions are threatening the food security in South Asia with escalated floods and droughts making India and Pakistan the most vulnerable to climate change, cautioned the latest IPCC report released.

•If emissions are not dramatically reduced, ‘wet bulb’ temperatures in India, which measure both heat and humidity, will exceed 31 degrees Celsius, which is fatal for humans, according to the paper. Despite the fact that India is one of the South Asian countries with the greatest urban adaptation measures, these plans are hampered by inequitable funding and “priority,” with larger cities receiving more attention.

5)  NASA launches next-generation GOES-T satellite to track hazardous weather

•US space agency, NASA, successfully launched the third in a series of four next-generation weather satellites, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The satellite is named as GOES-T. Once the satellite gets positioned in its geostationary orbit it will be renamed from GOES-T to GOES-18. GOES-T will be used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to forecast weather and hazardous environmental conditions in the Western Hemisphere.

6)  Akshaye Widhani named as Chief Executive Officer of Yash Raj Films

•Film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films (YRF) has named Akshaye Widhani as chief executive officer. Widhani was serving as senior vice-president, finance and business Affairs and head of operations at YRF Studios. He used to head corporate and business development activities for YRF, including finance, business extensions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, co-productions.

7)  CDSL becomes first depository to register more than 60 million Demat accounts

•On the 1st of March, 2022, the Central Depository Services (India) announced that it now has more than six crores (i. e. equivalent to 60 million) active Demat accounts. A Demat account is a kind of account that can be used to keep online copies of securities and shares. A Demat account is a dematerialized account in its entire form. The main purpose of a Demat account is to keep shares that have been bought or dematerialized (that means conversion from physical to electronic form of shares), making online share trading easier for users.

8)  T S Ramakrishnan named as new MD and CEO of LIC Mutual Fund

•LIC Mutual Fund has announced the appointment of TS Ramakrishnan as its Managing Director & CEO, effective. Ramakrishnan, as the MD and CEO, LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management, will succeed Dinesh Pangtey, its former Wholetime Director and CEO.

•Ramakrishnan is a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) and PGDIM and has been awarded Fellowship from the prestigious Insurance Institute of India. He has experience of over 34 years at LIC and its subsidiaries/associate companies, the release said. He joined LIC Mutual Fund AMC on April 28, 2021.

9)  GST collections in Feb stand at Rs 1.3L cr

•Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection crossed the Rs 1.30-lakh crores mark for the fifth time in February 2022. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of February 2022 is Rs 1,33,026 crore of which CGST is Rs 24,435 crore, SGST is Rs 30,779 crore, IGST is Rs 67,471crore (including Rs 33,837 crores collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,340 crore (including ₹638 crores collected on import of goods).

•The February mop-up was impacted by the Omicron wave that swept through the country and hence, the gross sales tax collection was lower than the record Rs 1,40,986 crore netted in January. The revenues for the month of February 2022 are 18% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 26% higher than the GST revenues in February 2020.