1. Shane warne passed away
Tags: Popular Person in news
Australian leg spinner and one of the greats of the game of cricket died of a suspected heart attack in Thailand on 4 March 2022. He was 52 years of age.
Warne was staying on the island of Koh Samui, around 600km south of Bangkok in the Gulf of Thailand.
He played international cricket for Australia from 1992 and 2007. He played his first test against India in 1992 . He took 708 test match wickets. In 194 One Day International matches he took 293 wickets .
He was the second highest wicket taker in test matches after Muttiah Muralidhran of Sri Lanka’s 800.
He played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Rajasthan Royals team . He was the captain of the side and led them to the title championship in the inaugural IPL 2008 championship.
He was selected as one of the five Wisden cricketers of the century after Don Bardman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbes and the fifth one was Vivian Richards.
2. Russia Captures, Ukraine’s Nuclear Complex
Tags: Popular International News
Russian troops have taken control of the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex is the largest nuclear plant in Europe and fifth largest in the world.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has an installed capacity of 6,000MW.
It provides one-fifth of Ukraine's electricity needs.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex is in southeastern Ukraine near the city of Enerhodar.
Russia has already captured the Chernobyl nuclear plant of Ukraine , which was the site of a major nuclear accident in 1986.
Important for Exam
The largest Nuclear Power plant in the world is Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Japan with an installed capacity of 7,965MW.
India’s largest nuclear power plant is at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu with an installed capacity of 2000 MW and additional 2000 MW is under construction . It is being built with the help of Russia .
Note-Update on Russian -Ukrainian war Click Here
3. Fifth United Nations Environment Assembly resolves to end plastic pollution
The Fifth session of the United Nation Environment Assembly (UNEA) adopted a resolution to tackle the pollution created by plastics .The United Nation Environment Assembly resumed its second session also called as (UNEA 5.2) at the Kenynian capital Nairobi. It was held from 28th February 2022 to 2nd March 2022.
The environment ministers from 175 of the United Nation member countries agreed to establish an intergovernmental negotiating committee to work out an international legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution.
Plastics are polymeric materials made from petroleum which do not decay naturally. They are non-biodegradable and can exist for a very long time in nature. Single use plastics which are thin cannot be recycled and it ends up in polluting rivers, oceans, mountains soil etc.
Steps taken by Indian government to tackle plastic pollution
The government of India has set a target to eliminate single use plastics by 2022. Single use plastics cannot be reused and are thrown away after use.
According to the Government of India,the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of following single-use plastic, including polystyrene and expanded polystyrene, commodities shall be prohibited with effect from the 1st July, 2022.
The thickness of plastic carry bags has been increased from fifty microns to one hundred and twenty microns with effect from the 31st December, 2022. This will also allow reuse of plastic carry due to increase in thickness.
United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP)
- The United Nations Environment Programme was set up in 1972 after the United Nation Conference on Human Environment was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1972.
- In 1988 it set up Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) with World Meteorological Organisation
- Headquarters : Nairobi, Kenya
- Director: Inger Andersen
4. Indian Air Force joins Operation Ganga
Tags: Popular National News
To accelerate the pace of evacuation from war torn Ukraine, the Government of India has pressed the Indian Airforce in the operation Ganga .
The Indian Air Force transport plane C-17 Globemaster was pressed into service and sent to Romania, Hungary, and Poland from the Hindon airbase.
All the aircraft carry tents, blankets, and other humanitarian aid for Ukraine.The Aircraft has a seating capacity of 158.
India bought the C-17 Globemaster from America and the first C-17 Globemaster was inducted in 2013 in the Indian Air Force . Presently the IAF has a fleet of 11 C-17 Globemaster IIIs.
Outside the United States, India has the largest fleet of C-17 Globemaster aircraft in the world.
The Indian Air Force had deployed its C-17 Globemasters aircraft for evacuation operations of Indians stuck in Afghanistan when the country fell into the hands of Taliban under operation Dev Shakti.
Note- 28 feb news to be update Click Here
5. Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar inaugurates Tech Conclave 2022
Union Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Rajeev Chandrashekhar inaugurated the 3rd edition of ‘NIC Tech Conclave 2022’,at New Delhi on 3 March 2022.
The tech conclave is being organized by the National Informatics Centre(NIC) on 3rd and 4th March 2022 with focus on emerging technologies applicable especially in e-Governance.
The Theme for Tech Conclave this year is “Next Gen Technologies for Digital Government”.
6. World Hearing Day
Tags: Popular Important Days
Every year March 3rd is celebrated as “World Hearing Day” by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The Theme for the World Hearing Day 2022 is "To hear for life, listen with care".
According to WHO, the day was created in 2007 in a bid to raise awareness about deafness. It was then called International Ear Day, but the name was changed to World Hearing Day in 2016.
7. Divya Deshmukh is the National women chess champion
Tags: Sports Popular Person in news
16 years old Divya Deshmukh of Maharashtra won the 47th MPL National women chess title on 2 March 2022.
The National Chess championship was held at Bhubaneshwar, Odisha.
It was her first senior level chess title.
Sakshi Chitalange came second and N. Priyanka came at the third position.
8. Novelist Madhu Kankariya wins Bihari Puraskar 2021
Author Madhu Kankariya has been chosen for the 31st Bihari Puraskar for her 2018 novel ‘Hum Yahan The’.
The Bihari award is given by the K.K.Birla foundation every year for outstanding work published in the last 10 years by a Rajasthani author in Hindi or Rajasthani
The award carries a cash prize of ₹2.5 lakh, a plaque and a citation.
Among books written by the 64-year-old Madhu Kankariya are Pattakhor, Khule Gagan ke Laal Sitaare, Salaam Aakhri and Bhaari Dupahr ke Andhere.
The 2020 Bihari puraskar was given to Mohankrishna Bohara for his work ‘Taslima: Sangharsh aur Sahitya’
K.K. Birla Prize
K.K.Birla foundation was established by Krishna Kumar Birla in 1991 . It aims to promote literature, especially Hindi literature . Every year it gives literature award for works published in the last ten years
Some of the important awards given by K.K.Birla foundations are as follows :
Sarswati Samman
It is given for work in any Indian literature.
First person to get the award was Harivansh Rai Bachchan in 1991 for his four volume autobiography, Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak.
The most recent 30th awardee was Marathi author Sharankumar Limbale for his work ”Sanatan” in marathi, in 2020.
Vyas Samman
It is given for best work in Hindi literature .
The first person to get the award was Ram Vilas Sharma for his work “ Bharat ke Pracheen bhasha parivar aur Hindi.
The latest person to get the award in 2020 was Prof Shard Pagare for his work “ Patliputra ki Samragi”
9. India Partly Free says Freedom House
Tags: Popular National News
For the second time in a row India has been put in the “partly free” status by the government of United States funded non-governmental organisation Freedom House.
Freedom House, which studies political freedom around the world, had last year downgraded India’s status as a democracy and free society to ‘partly free’ from free.
The Freedom House has released its report “Freedom in the world 2022-The Global Expansion of Authoritarian Rule “. The 2022 edition covers developments in political rights and civil liberties in 195 countries and 15 territories from January 1, 2021, through December 31, 2021.
India was given a score of 66 out of 100. Last year India scored 67.
It ranked Syria and South Sudan as the most unfree country of the world and was ranked at bottom
Norway ,Sweden and Denmark were ranked as the most free countries in the world with a score of 100/100 points.
Freedom House
It is a non -governmental organisation funded by the United States government . It was set up in 1941 and its headquarters is in Washington D.C .
It conducts research in the field of democracy, freedom and human rights.
It releases an annual report “Freedom in the World”.
The organisation is seen by many critics as serving the interests of the United States government .
10. Impact of Russian-Ukrainian Conflict on Fertiliser Sector
Tags: Popular Economics/Business
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 will have a negative and positive impact on the Indian economy. The western countries led by the United States have imposed a series of sanctions on Russian companies and banks to punish Russia. Certain Russian banks have been de-linked for the international financing messaging system SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication).
We will try to analyse sector wise impact on the Indian economy. Lets us examine the impact of the war on the fertiliser sectors
Fertiliser sector
India is not self-sufficient in the production of various fertilisers used in agriculture sectors. India imports Urea, diammonium phosphate (DAP),muriate of Potash(MOP).
India imports all its requirements of 5 million tonnes of MOP of which 18% comes from Belarus . Western countries have imposed sanctions on Belarus for allowing Russia to use its area for staging attacks on Ukraine. The supply from Belarus is likely to be disrupted .
India meets its 25% of urea requirement through import.India imports around 10% of its annual urea requirement from Ukraine .
DAP is mostly imported in India. Indian companies already have an import deal for 400,000 tonnes of DAP with Russian company Phosagro. It seems unlikely that the contracted fertiliser will reach India soon .
Russia is a major supplier of natural gas in the world which is a key raw material for the production of fertilisers . Natural gas accounts for around 75 to 80% of the urea produced in India .
So far the western countries have not imposed sanctions on the Russian oil and gas sector but if that policy changes then the prices of the natural gas will jump significantly making the fertilisers more costly .
Russia is the world's largest producer of nitrogen and second largest producer of potash and third largest exporter of phosphate in the world.
With the disruption in the supply chain and jump in the prices of natural gas,the prices of fertilisers have almost doubled in the international markets.
Implications for India
Agricultural sector, which employs about 43 per cent of the country's workforce and accounts for 18.8 percent of (2021-22) in Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country, will suffer.
The rise in prices of fertilisers and its shortage will adversely affect the production of foodgrains. It will lead to the drop in the production of foodgrains which will further the food inflation in India .
Food inflation will lead to increasing poverty and inequality in the country especially in the rural areas.
Fertilisers are normally subsidised in India and with the rising cost of imported fertilisers the government will have to increase the subsidy on fertilizers.In 2020-21, the government spent Rs 127,921.74 crore on fertilisers subsidy and for 2022-23 it has provided Rs Rs 79,529.68 crore as subsidy.
The increase in the subsidy bill will increase the government deficit leading to higher inflation.
- The Indian economy,according to RBI,is expected to grow by 7.8% in 2022-23 will face a considerable challenge.
