1) World Wildlife Day 2022 Observed on 03rd March
•The World Wildlife Day is observed every year on March 3 to raise awareness about the world’s wild fauna and flora. The day also reminds us of the need to fight against wildlife crime and human-induced reduction of species causing various wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts.
2) World Hearing Day observed globally on 3rd March by WHO
•World Hearing Day is held on 3rd March each year by World Health Organisation (WHO). The day aims to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. On World Hearing Day 2022, WHO will focus on the importance of safe listening as a means of maintaining good hearing across the life course. In 2021, WHO launched the World report on hearing that highlighted the increasing number of people living with and at risk of hearing loss. It highlighted noise control as one of the seven key H.E.A.R.I.N.G. interventions and stressed the importance of mitigating exposure to loud sounds.
3) Indian Air Force to conduct Exercise Vayu Shakti at Pokharan range, Rajasthan
•Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct the Exercise Vayu Shakti that will take place at Pokharan range in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan on March 7. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the Chief Guest of this event. A total of 148 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will participate in this exercise. Rafale aircraft will participate for the first time in this exercise. Exercise Vayu Shakti is organised by Indian Air Force once in every three years. The last Vayu Shakti Exercise took place in 2019.
4) India, Pakistan: Most vulnerable to climate change
•Extreme climatic conditions are threatening the food security in South Asia with escalated floods and droughts making India and Pakistan the most vulnerable to climate change, cautioned the latest IPCC report released.
•If emissions are not dramatically reduced, ‘wet bulb’ temperatures in India, which measure both heat and humidity, will exceed 31 degrees Celsius, which is fatal for humans, according to the paper. Despite the fact that India is one of the South Asian countries with the greatest urban adaptation measures, these plans are hampered by inequitable funding and “priority,” with larger cities receiving more attention.
5) NASA launches next-generation GOES-T satellite to track hazardous weather
•US space agency, NASA, successfully launched the third in a series of four next-generation weather satellites, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The satellite is named as GOES-T. Once the satellite gets positioned in its geostationary orbit it will be renamed from GOES-T to GOES-18. GOES-T will be used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to forecast weather and hazardous environmental conditions in the Western Hemisphere.
6) Akshaye Widhani named as Chief Executive Officer of Yash Raj Films
•Film production and distribution company Yash Raj Films (YRF) has named Akshaye Widhani as chief executive officer. Widhani was serving as senior vice-president, finance and business Affairs and head of operations at YRF Studios. He used to head corporate and business development activities for YRF, including finance, business extensions, strategic alliances, joint ventures, co-productions.
7) CDSL becomes first depository to register more than 60 million Demat accounts
•On the 1st of March, 2022, the Central Depository Services (India) announced that it now has more than six crores (i. e. equivalent to 60 million) active Demat accounts. A Demat account is a kind of account that can be used to keep online copies of securities and shares. A Demat account is a dematerialized account in its entire form. The main purpose of a Demat account is to keep shares that have been bought or dematerialized (that means conversion from physical to electronic form of shares), making online share trading easier for users.
8) T S Ramakrishnan named as new MD and CEO of LIC Mutual Fund
•LIC Mutual Fund has announced the appointment of TS Ramakrishnan as its Managing Director & CEO, effective. Ramakrishnan, as the MD and CEO, LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management, will succeed Dinesh Pangtey, its former Wholetime Director and CEO.
•Ramakrishnan is a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) and PGDIM and has been awarded Fellowship from the prestigious Insurance Institute of India. He has experience of over 34 years at LIC and its subsidiaries/associate companies, the release said. He joined LIC Mutual Fund AMC on April 28, 2021.
9) GST collections in Feb stand at Rs 1.3L cr
•Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection crossed the Rs 1.30-lakh crores mark for the fifth time in February 2022. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of February 2022 is Rs 1,33,026 crore of which CGST is Rs 24,435 crore, SGST is Rs 30,779 crore, IGST is Rs 67,471crore (including Rs 33,837 crores collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,340 crore (including ₹638 crores collected on import of goods).
•The February mop-up was impacted by the Omicron wave that swept through the country and hence, the gross sales tax collection was lower than the record Rs 1,40,986 crore netted in January. The revenues for the month of February 2022 are 18% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 26% higher than the GST revenues in February 2020.
