1. Gujarat again tops NITI Aayog’s Export Preparedness Index 2021
Tags: Popular Economics/Business
Gujarat has topped the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog’s Export Preparedness Index 2021 for the second time in a row. The index assesses the readiness of the states in terms of their export performance and potential. The index was released by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar, in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.
Highlights of the report
- The report was prepared by NITI Aayog, in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness Gurugram, Haryana was released on 25 March 2022.
- Gujarat was the top ranked state followed by Maharstra and Karnataka
The EPI ranks states and Union Territories on 4 main pillars
Policy
Business Ecosystem
Export Ecosystem;
Export Performance
and 11 sub-pillars—Export Promotion Policy; Institutional Framework; Business Environment; Infrastructure; Transport Connectivity; Access to Finance; Export Infrastructure; Trade Support; R&D Infrastructure; Export Diversification; and Growth Orientation.
The main aim of the EPI’s report is to promote competition among all Indian states to bring about favourable export-promotion policies, ease the regulatory framework to prompt subnational export promotion, create the necessary infrastructure for exports, and assist in identifying strategic recommendations for improving export competitiveness.
Institute of Competitiveness
The Institute for Competitiveness is part of the global network of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, United States .
It is an research institution dedicated to understanding competition and strategy
Headquarters : Gurugram, Haryana
NITI Aayog
It was set up by the Government of India to replace the Planning commission.
The NITI Aayog serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India for economic growth and development of the country .
It was set up on 1 January 2015
Prime Minister is the ex officio chairman of NITI Aayog
- Headquarters : New Delhi
2. Yogi Adityanath sworn in second time as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
Tags: Popular State News
The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP ) leader Yogi Adityanath was sworn in as the 22nd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh by the Governor Mrs. Anandiben Patel on 25 March 2022. Yogi Aditya nath who was made Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2017 was sworn in for the second time as the Chief Minister.
- The swearing in ceremony was held at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana cricket stadium , Lucknow. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top BJP leaders and Ministers.
- The swearing-in ceremony was attended by the Chief Ministers of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the center . Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar ,Assam Chief Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma , Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan , Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Das , Manipur Chief Minister N.Biren Singh, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai, Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Prema Khandu, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur were present during the ceremony.
- 52 ministers were sworn in including Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya as Deputy Chief Minister
- The BJP won 255 seats in the 403 Uttar Pradesh legislative Assembly which went to the polls in 2022. The alliance partner Apna Dal won 12 seats and the NISHAD party won 6. The total seats won by BJP and its alliances are 273.
The election to constitute the 18th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was held in seven phases from 10 February to 7 March 2022.
About Yogi Aditya Nath
Yogi Adityanath contested the assembly election from Gorakhpur Urban seat and won it by defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Sabhawati Shukla by a margin of 1,03,390 votes.
He is a five time Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur constituencies (in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 )
Yogi Adityanath has become the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to return to power after completing a full tenure of five years.
The last chief minister to win consecutive terms in Uttar Pradesh (undivided) was Narayan Dutt Tiwari in 1985. This makes Yogi Adityanath the first chief minister to retain power in 37 years.
He was born as Ajay Singh Bisht in Pauri Garhwal in Uttrakhand .
In 2014 he became the head mahant of the Gorakhnath Math located in Gorakhpur after the death of mahant Aavaidyanath.
The first Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was Gobind Ballabh Pant (1950-1952) of the Congress party.
3. Curfew in Kota on Kashmir files movie
Tags: Popular State News
The District administration in Kota, Rajasthan has imposed section 144 of the Cr Pc(Code of Criminal Procedure ) 1973, to maintain law and order in view of the screening of the film “The Kashmir Files “ and forthcoming festivals in the area. The Kota district authorities imposed Section 144 of the CrPC from 22 March to 21 April.
As per the orders, four or more people won't be allowed to gather at any place in the district. Further, no meetings, demonstrations, or processions are allowed. However, government events, recruitment processes, police departments, and COVID-19 vaccination centers have been exempted from this.
The district administration's move to impose Section 144 of the CrPC had sparked a controversy as the order mentioned that law and order may be affected by anti-social elements during festivals to be held in these periods and due to the screening of "The Kashmir Files".
However, there has not been any ban on the screening of the film .
The Kashmir File Film
The film is based on events in 1990 when more than 2 lakh Kasmiri Pandits (Hindus) fled from Jammu and Kashmir. It was the start of the Pakistan sponsored militancy in Jammu and Kashmir which took an Islamist colour and Kashmiri pandits were threatened to either leave Kashmir or convert to Islam. Kashmiri pandits were selectively killed by the Islamic militants to scare the community.
The film has become controversial as the film portrays the killing of Kashmiri pandits as a genocide and the critic accusses the film of increasing Islamophobia.
In New Zealand a campaign has been launched against the screening of the film as it is accused of being anti- muslim.
What is Important for Exam
Producer of Film : Vivek Agnihotri, Abhishek Aggarwal ,Pallavi Joshi
Director of the film : Vivek Agnihotri
Written By : Vivek Agnihotri and Saurabh Aggarwal
Actor of the film : Anupam Kher, Darshan Kumar, Pallavi Joshi, Mithun Chakraborthy;
The movie was released in 2022 and has been made in Hindi language.
4. Pushkar singh Dhami sworn in as the 12th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand
Tags: Popular State News
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pushkar singh Dhami was sworn in again as the 12th Chief Minister of Uttarakhand by the Governor of Uttarakhand, (Retd) Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh on 23 March 2022 in Dehradun.
Pushkar singh Dhami who was the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand lost his Khatima legislative assembly seat to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri in the recently held legislative Assembly election 2022.
BJP won 47 seats in the 70 member Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly.
The election to constitute the 5th Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly was held on 14 February 2022.
BJP became the first party ever in Uttarakhand’s 21-year-old history to return to power in consecutive elections.
The first Chief Minister of Uttarakhand was Nityanand Swami.
Narayan Dutt Tiwari of Congress Party is the only Chief Minister of Uttrakhand who has completed his five year term(2002-2007)
Pushkar Singh Dhami is the youngest Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
- He became Chief Minister at the age of 45 in 2021.
5. N Biren Singh sworn as Manipur CM
Tags: Popular State News
Nongthombam Biren Singh of Bhartiya Janta Party(BJP) was sworn in for the second term as the Chief Minister of Manipur on 21 March 2022. He was administered the oath of office by the Manipur Governor La Ganeshan .
N. Biren Singh was the Chief Minister of Manipur from 2017-22 and was reelected form his assembly constituency of Heingang at the recently held Manipur legislative assembly election 2022.
BJP won 32 seats in the 60 member Manipur Legislative Assembly election held in two phases on 28 February and 5 March 2022.
N.Biren Singh before joining politics was a footballer and a journalist . He played for the Border Security Force (BSF) football team.
He is the 12th Person to be the Chief Minister of Manipur . The first Chief Minister was M.Koireng Singh.
6. Lakshya Sen settles for silver in the All England Badminton open
Lakshya Sen lost the final of the All England Badminton championship 2022 to Viktor Axelsen of Denmark on 20 March 2022. The tournament was held in the English city of Birmingham .The All England is one of the most prestigious badminton tournaments in the world.
So far only two Indians have won the tournament , Prakash Padukone in 1983 and Pullela Gopichand in 2000.
Other Results
Female singles title
Akane Yamguchi of Japan won the gold medal by defeating An Seyoung of South Korea in the finals.
Women's Doubles
Nami Matsuyama and Chiharu Shida (both are Japanese ) defeated Zhang shu xian and Zheng Yu (both are Chinese ) in the final and won the Gold Medal .
The Bronze medal was won by the Indian pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand Pullela by defeating the South Korean pair of Jeong Na Eun and Kim Hye Jeong .
Mens Double titles
The Indonesian pair of Muhammad Shohib Fikri and Bagas Mualana defeated the Indonesian pair of Mohamad Ahsan and Hendra Satiwan to win the gold medal .
Mixed Doubles
The Japanese pair of Yuta Watanabe and Arisa Higasano defeated the Chinese pair of Wang Yi Lyu and Huang Dong Ping to win the gold medal .
All England Badminton Championship
It is the world’s oldest badminton championship which was started in 1889 in England .
It was considered unofficially as the world badminton title until 1977 . After that the International Badminton Federation started its own world championship in 1978.
No Indian female player has ever won the women's single title at the All England championships .
7. World's Longest suspension bridge inaugurated in Turkey
Tags: Popular International News
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the world's largest suspension bridge on 18 March 2022 across Dardanelles Strait in northwestern Turkey - which cuts travel time between Asia and Europe to six minutes.
The 1915 Canakkale Bridge was built by Turkish and South Korean firms with an investment of 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion),connecting Turkey's European and Asian shores.
The 2,023 metre length of its midspan (distance between the two towers) is an allusion to the Turkish Republic's 100th anniversary in 2023.
Its towers are 318 metres (347.8 yards) high and the total length of the bridge is 4.6 km (2.9 miles) including the approach viaducts.
Now the second longest suspension bridge in the world is Japan’s Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, which has a 1,992-m-long main span.
Ambassador Bridge on the river detroit, which connects Canada and the United States of America is the International suspension bridge in the world.
Important for Exam
Dardanelles Strait
It links the Agean sea with the sea of Marmara .
The Strait is a narrow body of water which connects two large bodies of water .
Dardanelles strait is one of the narrowest international straits and it separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey.
Turkey lies partly in Asia and partly in Europe .
It's currency : Turkish Lira
Capital : Ankara
President :Tayyip Erdogan
8. Russia uses Hypersonic Missile In Ukraine
Tags: Popular International News
Russia said on 19 March 2022 that it had used hypersonic Kinzhal (Kh-47M2) missiles to destroy a large weapons depot in Ukraine's western Ivano-Frankivsk region.
It was the first time Russia had deployed the hypersonic Kinzhal system since it sent its troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
The Kinzhal missile can be fired from Mig-31 fighter aircraft. The missile can carry both conventional warheads or nuclear weapons.
Hypersonic Missile
Hypersonic missiles are those missiles which can fly five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere or about 6,200 km per hour.
The main feature of the missile is its manoeuvrability which makes its detection by radar very difficult.
At present China has tested the missile and North Korea has also claimed to have tested it. The United States of America do not have these types of missiles.
Defence and Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is also working on developing this technology in India. In 2020 it successfully conducted the maiden test of the High-Speed Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) using an indigenously developed propulsion system.
9. Ashish Jha appointed United States covid response coordinators
Tags: Popular Person in news
Indian American Dr Ashish Jha has been appointed as the covid response coordinator by the American President Joe Biden.
Dr Jha was born in Madhubani in Bihar and was the Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
10. Sri Lankan finance minister Basil Rajapakse visit to India
Tags: Popular Person in news
The Sri Lankan finance minister Basil Rajapakse visited India on 16 and 17th March 2022. It was his second visit to India after his December 2021 visit.
Sri Lanka is facing a severe economic crisis and Sri Lanka wants economic assistance from India. India has already provided a $500-million line of credit for purchasing fuel and a currency swap of $400 million.
For more detail kindly see 3 December 2021, 14 January 2022 post also
