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By admin: March 15, 2022

India is the largest importer of arms in the world :SIPRI

Tags: National Popular

India is the largest importer of arms in the world accounting for over 11% of the world arms import during 2017-21 ,according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). These finding were published in the SIPRI’S “Trends in International Arms Transfers 2021”

Highlights of the SIPRI report 

•  India’s arms imports have decreased by 21 percent between 2012-16 and 2017-21,but it still remains as the largest importer globally.

• The five largest arms importers in the 2017-21 period were India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Australia, and China.

• These five countries accounted for nearly 38 % of the world's arms import during this period.

•  Russia was India’s largest supplier of arms in both 2012-16 and 2017-21. However, the volume of India’s imports from Russia fell by 47 per cent between these two periods.

• France is the second largest supplier of arms to India after Russia.

• The five biggest exporters of arms in the same period were the United States, Russia, France, China, and Germany.

• They accounted for around 77% of the world arms export during 2017-21.

•  As for exports, the US remained the world’s biggest weapons supplier accounting for 39 per cent of the total.

• Russia is the second-largest exporter, but their trade has fallen by 26 per cent.

•  Meanwhile, the largest arms importers in Europe are the UK, Norway, and the Netherlands.

• In 2017-21, China accounted for 4.6 per cent of global arms exports, a 31 per cent drop from its exports share in 2012-16. However, 47 per cent of China’s exports during 2017-21 went to  Pakistan.

 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. It is funded mainly by the Swedish Government .

Established in 1966, 

Headquarters : Solna, Sweden 

N Chandrashekran appointed Air India Chairman

Tags: Person in news

Tata Sons chairman ,Natrajan Chandrasekaran has been appointed as the chairman of Air India by the Tata group on 14 March 2022. 

However no decision was taken on the appointment of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) for Air India.

The Tata group had previously announced Turkey's Ilker Ayci as the chief executive of Air India, but that appointment was met with a lot of opposition in India and finally Ilker Ayci declined the offer.

Tata Sons is a holding company and promoter of more than 100 Tata group of companies like Tata Motors, TCS, Tata Steel, Titan etc.

 Kindly also see 15 February 2022 post 

Power of Dog win best film awards at BAFTA awards

Tags: Popular Awards

The British  Academy Film  Awards or BAFTA awards was announced on 14 March 2022 at the Royal Albert hall, London, England.

Winners list 

• Best Feature film : The Power Of The Dog

• Best Actress: Joanna Scanlan. She got the award for acting in the  film “After Love”.

• Best Actor : Will Smith. He got the award for acting in the film “King Richard”.

• Best Director : Jane Campion. He got the award for directing the film “ The Power Of The Dog”.

• Best Animated film: Encanto 

• Best supporting actor : Troy Kotsur. He got the award for acting in the film  CODA. He is a deaf  actor.

• Best supporting actress: Ariana DeBose. She got the award for acting in the film “ West Side Story”.

• Best British Film: Belfast. It was directed by  Kenneth Branagh.

Narayan Pradhan selected for GD Birla Award for Scientific Research

Tags: Popular Awards

Professor Narayan Pradhan has been selected for the 31st GD Birla Award for Scientific Research 2022 for his outstanding contribution in the field of material sciences. This was announced by the K.K.Birla foundation on 14 March 2022.

• Professor Narayan Pradhan is presently a member of the faculty at the School of Material Sciences, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur,West Bengal.

GD Birla Award for Scientific Research

The GD Birla award was started by the K.K.Birla foundation in 1991 to honour  the founder of the Birla group, Ghanshyam Das Birla.

• It is given to an Indian scientist living in India and under the age of 50 years for outstanding research in the past 5 years.

• It carries a cash prize of Rs 5 Lakhs.

• 30th award 2021 winner : Prof  Suman Chakraborthy.

• It is given every year.

India wins 16th Asian junior women's handball championship gold

Tags: Sports

India won gold in the Asian junior women’s handball championship defeating Thailand in their last match in Almaty, Kazakhstan on 14 March 2022. 

• The tournament was played on a round robin basis, where the team which earned the highest points was declared the winner.

• Iranian team came second and Kazakhstan came third. 

• The 16th edition of the Asian junior women’s handball championship was held from 7 to 14 March 2022.

• The Indian team has also qualified for the World Junior women’s handball championship to be held in Slovenia in June-July 2022.

• The Asian junior women’s handball championship is held every two years.

India wins test series against Sri Lanka 2-0

Tags: Sports

India comfortably won the two test series against the visiting Sri Lankan cricket team. The Indian team was captained by Rohit Sharma and Dimuth Karunaratne was the captain of the Sri Lankan side.

The 2-0 series win followed the 3-0 sweep of the T20I series by India.

First Test match 

It was played  at the Punjab Cricket Association cricket stadium at Mohali, Chandigarh. The stadium is also called IS Bindra stadium.

It was played from March 4-6 2022

It was won by India by 222 runs.

Player  of the match : Ravindra Jadeja 

Second Test Match 

It was a Day/Night test match held from 12-14 March 2022.

It was played at the Chinnaswamy cricket stadium, Bengaluru.

It was won by India by 238 runs.

Player  of the match : Shreyas Iyer

Player of the series : Rishab Pant  

Shreyas Iyer is the ICC player of the February 2022

Tags: Sports

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced its player of the February  month 2022.

Men player of the month : Shreyas Iyer of India. He is a batsman.

Women player of the month : New Zealand women all-rounder Amelia Kerr

ICC.

Headquarters of ICC: Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 

Chairman of ICC: Greg Barclay of New Zealand. 

CEO of ICC: Geoff Allardice of Australia.

Covid vaccination for 12-14 age years to start from 16 March 2022.

Tags: National

The Government of India will start vaccination of 12 to 14 age groups from 16 March 2022 on the occasion of the National Vaccination Day. The COVID19 vaccine to be administered would be Corbevax manufactured by Biological E. Limited, Hyderabad.

• Persons above 60 years of age are now eligible for booster dose from 15 March 2022 as the condition of comorbidity for this age group has been removed. The booster dose is to be administered after 9 months (36 weeks) after the date of second vaccination.

• This follows the decision of the Union Government to start COVID19 vaccination for those between 15 years to 18 years of age from 3 January 2022. These age groups are administered Covaxin vaccine.

• The Corbevax vaccine has been developed by Biological E in collaboration with Texas Children’s Hospital Centre for Vaccine Development and Baylor College of  Medicine, Texas, United States. 

Covid Vaccination in India 

• The covid-19 case was first detected in Wuhan China on 19 December 2019.

• The first case of covid-19 in India was detected in the Thrissur district of Kerala on 29 January 2020.

• The Covid  vaccination in India was started on 16 January 2021.

• So far 7 covid vaccines have been approved by the government of India for emergency use.

• It is currently using only four, Covishield manufactured by Serum Institute of India, Covaxin by Indian firm Bharat Biotech and Russian made Sputnik V  and Corbevax manufactured by Biological E. Limited for its vaccination drive. 

• In December 2021 the Indian government approved Serum Institute of India's Covovax for emergency use.

• The Government of India also has the world’s first DNA vaccine against Covid ZyCoV-D vaccine manufactured by Indian firm Cadilla, but it's not available yet.

• The Indian Government has also approved Johnson & Johnson's single-dose vaccine, which was to be introduced in India through a supply agreement with Biological E, and it has allowed Indian pharma company Cipla to import the Moderna vaccine. These Vaccines are not available in India yet.

India’s first Digital Water Bank ‘AQVERIUM’ launched in Bengaluru

Tags: Popular State News

The country’s first Digital Water Bank ‘AQVERIUM’ was launched in Bengaluru on 14 March 2022. It has been launched by new age company AquaKraft Group Ventures.

• It is a digital blockchain platform which would convert water conserved by companies and other institutions into water coins. 

• These coins will be traded like crypto currencies and will have economic value like other digital assets. 

Country’s first Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park launched in Bengaluru

Tags: Popular Science and Technology

The country’s first Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) was launched in Bengaluru on 14 March 2022.  It is promoted by a not-for-profit foundation set up by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru.

• The Park  has been set up with a capital of Rs 230 crore out of which the central government contribution is Rs 170 crore and the Karnataka government contribution is Rs 60 crore.

• The ARTPARK will work on creating a globally leading Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics Innovation ecosystem in the country.

Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

• The Indian Institute of Science was set up in 1909 at Bengaluru, Karnataka by a partnership between the industrialist JRD Tata, the Mysore royal family and the Government of India.

• IISc  is India's premier institute for advanced scientific and technological research and education.

• In 2018, IISc was selected as an Institution of Eminence (IoE) by the Government of India.

World Consumer Rights Day

Tags: Important Days

World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated every year  on 15th March.It is celebrated to raise consumer awareness about consumer rights and needs.

It was celebrated for the first time in 1983.

The Theme of the World Consumer Rights day  2022:“Fair Digital Finance”

NOTE

In India, National Consumer Rights day is celebrated on 24 December. It was on this day in 1986 that the Consumer Protection act 1986 was enforced in India.