1) PM Modi Virtually Attends First Quad Summit 2021
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga come together for the first QUAD Summit. The meeting was held virtually during which the four participants will exchange views on different areas of cooperation like maintaining a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region, COVID-19, emerging and critical technologies, maritime security, and climate change.
•The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue nations are planning to counter China by cooperating and pool their resources to fund new production technologies and development projects. The world leaders talked about the cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region and its development. President Biden also said that they are launching a new pact for the manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines.
2) Govt to launch “Atmanirbhar Niveshak Mitra Portal”
•The commerce and industry ministry has stated that the central government is working to develop a portal called “Atmanirbhar Niveshak Mitra Portal” for information dissemination, hand-holding, and facilitation of domestic investors. The portal Atmanirbhar Niveshak Mitra is currently is in the testing phase. It will be launched by May 1, 2021. The ministry is also working on a webpage which will be available in regional languages and mobile app.
3) Govt launches Mera Ration Mobile App
•In order to facilitate the ‘One Nation-One Ration Card’ system in the country, the government has launched ‘Mera Ration’ mobile app to benefit citizens in identifying the nearest fair price shop. This app will benefit especially those ration card holders who move to new areas for livelihoods. The app is developed by the government in association with NIC “to facilitate various “One Nation-One Ration Card” related services among the National Food Security Act (NFSA) beneficiaries, particularly migrant beneficiaries, fair price shop dealers and other relevant stakeholders.
4) India Chaired the First Meeting Of BRICS CGETI
•Under the chairship of India, the First Meeting of the BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) was held from 9th March 2021 to 11th March 2021. The 2021 theme of the BRICS is “BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus”.
•India presented the calendar of events for BRICS CGETI 2021, this includes the priority areas for deliverables, schedule and scope of the MSME roundtable conference workshop on Services Statistics, and the BRICS Trade Fair. A series of presentations on the proposed deliverables during India’s chairship under the BRICS CGETI track was made in a separate session by the concerned departments of the government of India.
5) PM Narendra Modi Launches Kindle Version Of Bhagavad Gita
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Kindle version of Swami Chidbhavananda’s ‘Bhagavad Gita’ via video conferencing. The event has been organised to commemorate the sale of over 5 lakh copies of the Swami Chidbhavanandaji’s Bhagavad Gita. Swami Chidbhavanandaji is the founder of Sri Ramakrishna Tapovanam Ashram at Thirupparaithurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu.
•Chidbhavananda Ji was devoted to India’s regeneration. He noted that Swami Vivekananda’s Madras lectures inspired Swami Chidbhavananda Ji to put the nation above everything else and serve the people.
6) DoT Launches Online Certificate Course on 5G Technology
•The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has launched a new online certificate course on 5G technology to be conducted by the National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research, Innovation and Training (NTIPRIT), which is the training institute of DoT. The course, which will be conducted from 9 March 2021 onwards, is 36 hours long and will be conducted over a period of 12 weeks every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Participants will also be allowed to record the session if they happen to miss it.
