1) President of India Inaugurates conservation works at Singorgarh Fort in MP
•The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind has laid the foundation stone for the conservation works of Singorgarh Fort in Singrampur village of Damoh district, Madhya Pradesh. He also inaugurated the newly carved Jabalpur Circle of Archaeological Survey of India.
•Apart from this, President Kovind addressed the State Level Tribal Conference ‘Janjatiya Sammelan’ at Singrampur village in Damoh. The program was organized jointly by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and the Tribal Affairs Department of Madhya Pradesh.
2) India’s first forest healing centre inaugurated in Uttrakand’s Ranikhet
•The First Forest Healing centre of the country was inaugurated at Ranikhet in Kalika Uttarakhand. The forest healing centre has been developed by the Research Wing of Uttarakhand Forest Department after research on the healing properties of the forests and its revitalizing impact on overall health and well being. It is spread over an area of around 13 acres.
3) Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat resigns
•Trivendra Singh Rawat has resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand, a year before the hill state is scheduled to go to polls. Rawat, who became the CM after the BJP swept the assembly elections here in early 2017, tendered his resignation after meeting governor Baby Rani Maurya. According to reports, the party is mulling bringing in a deputy chief minister, the frontrunners for the post include State Education MinisterDhan Singh Rawat, MP Ajay Bhatt and Satpal Maharaj.
•The central BJP leadership had recently sent two observers, party vice president Raman Singh and general secretary Dushayant Kumar Gautam, to Uttarakhand to get feedback from the party’s core group in the state amid reports of discontent against the chief minister.
4) Bangladesh to commemorate 50th anniversary of 1971 Liberation war
•In the 50th year of Indian victory over Pakistan in the 1971 Liberation war, Indian Naval Ships arrived in the port town of Mongla for a three-day visit to Bangladesh. The Indian Naval Ships is on a three-day visit between March 8 to 10. This is the first time ever that any Indian Naval Ship is visiting the port of Mongla in Bangladesh.
•The basic aim of this visit is to pay homage to the Bangladeshi and Indian combatants and citizens who laid down their lives during the Liberation War of 1971 against Pakistan. The ships will take part in the ongoing Swarnim Vijay Varsh celebrations to commemorate 50 years of the Liberation War of 1971 and reiterating the historic Indo-Bangladeshi friendship.
5) Google Launched “Women Will” Web Platform
•Google has launched a new web platform ‘Women Will’ on March 8, 2021, on the occasion of “International Women’s Day”. This platform will provide its support to 1 million rural women in India in order for them to become entrepreneurs with the help of accelerator programmes, business tutorials and mentorship.
6) NABARD”s Chintala takes charge as chairman of APRACA
•NABARD chairman, G R Chintala has assumed charge as the chairman of APRACA (Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association). He has taken over from DPK Gunasekera, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Ceylon. Chintala, in his address as APRACA Chairman, appreciated the role of the members of APRACA in promoting the development of rural finance in Asia Pacific.
7) UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021
•The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and WRAP released the Food Waste Index Report 2021 and highlights that food wastes by different countries in 2019. As per the report, Over 931 million tonnes of food were wasted globally in 2019.
8) A book on Smriti Irani’s victory in Amethi released soon
•The English translation of journalist-author Anant Vijay’s book “Amethi Sangram: Aitihasik Jeet Ankahi Dastan” will be released on March 15. The book, titled “Dynasty to Democracy: The Untold Story of Smriti Irani’s Triumph”, traces Union Minister Irani’s journey from her defeat in 2014 to her victory in the Congress stronghold of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh during the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The Hindi book was published in December 2020. The book can also be seen as a study of the RSS’s working style, its strategies and exemplary execution that backed Smriti Irani’s efforts from 2014 to 2019.
•The 44-year-old BJP leader had defeated the then Congress chief and MP Rahul Gandhi in his family bastion by a margin of 55,120 votes. It was the second time that Irani had contested against Rahul in Amethi. In 2014, Rahul got 4,08,651 votes against Irani’s 30,0748 votes.
9) Frontier Gandhi’s autobiography released in English
•The autobiography of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as the “Frontier Gandhi”, titled “The Frontier Gandhi: My Life and Struggle” is set to be published in English by the publishing house Roli Books. This will be his first autobiography in English. The book was translated into English by Imitiaz Ahmad Sahibzada, the former Pakistani civil servant and author.
•The earlier account of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan’s life in English was a collection of his interviews and was not his autobiography. The foreword of the book is written by historian Rajmohan Gandhi, Grandson of Gandhi and the book was originally written in Pashto and published in 1983.
10) Bajrang Punia bags gold in Matteo Pellicon World ranking series
•In wrestling, the World Championship bronze medallist Bajrang Punia won a gold medal at the Matteo Pallicone ranking series held in Rome, Italy. He defeated Mongolia’s Tulga Tumur Ochir 2-2 by criteria in the 65kg freestyle event final. It is the second successive gold medal for 27 years Haryana wrestler, who had won the previous gold at this competition in 2020 by beating Jordan Oliver of the USA in the final.
•Apart from this, the ace India woman wrestler Vinesh Phogat won the gold medal in the 53kg title. The 26-year-old Vinesh beat Canada’s Diana Weicker 4-0.
11) India qualify for ICC World Test Championship Final
•Indian Cricket Team have qualified for the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final after beating England in an innings and 25 runs in the fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad on 6th March. New Zealand had already qualified for the WTC final with 420 points from 11 Tests with 7 wins and 4 losses. The World Test Championship final will be played at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London from June 18.