Correct Answer :   Shaktikanta Das

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* Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das on Monday (March 6, 2023), launched the mission Har Payment Digital Payments Awareness Week 2023.

* Theme 2023 : With the theme “Digital Payment Apnao; Auron ko Bhi Sikhao”, amid Digital Payments Awareness Week 2023 (DPAW).

* "The message of “Digital Payment Apnao, Auron ko bhi Sikhao” – “Adopt digital payments and Also teach others” – under the mission Har Payment Digital – is very relevant and expected to create greater awareness and usage among the people," said Das.

* India's central bank governor further noted that it is a matter of pride that payment systems in India have witnessed over 1,000 crore transactions every month since December 2022.

* "This speaks volumes of the robustness of our payments ecosystem and acceptance by consumers," said the RBI governor.

* A recent pan-India digital payments survey (covering 90,000 respondents) revealed that 42 percent of respondents have used digital payments.

* Das further pointed out that the mission “Har Payment Digital” is aimed at reinforcing the ease and convenience of digital payments and facilitate the onboarding of new consumers into the digital fold.

Source : Money Control

Correct Answer :   UN Women India

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* The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and UN Women India joined hands together to launch a new programme “FinEmPower” which aims to empower women towards financial security.

* In commemoration of International Women's Day, BSE and UN Women India organised the 'Ring the Bell for Gender Equality' initiative to accelerate investment for women leaders and entrepreneurs in BSE.

* Sundararaman Ramamurthy, MD & CEO, BSE and Susan Ferguson, representative of UN Women India jointly attended the function 'Ring the Bell for Gender Equality'.

Correct Answer :   Delhi Airport

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Delhi Airport has been ranked among the cleanest airports in Asia-Pacific as a part of Airport Council International (ACI)’s annual service quality award. ACI is a trade association of global airports.

* The airport service quality award is based on passenger surveys carried out to rate customer satisfaction on the day of travel.

* The surveys cover over 30 performance indicators across key elements of a passenger’s airport experience such as ease of finding your way, check-in, shopping, and dining offerings.

* According to ACI, 144 awards have been won by 75 airports globally based on over 465,000 surveys collected in 2022.

* In addition to the award for best airports by size and region, four new categories were introduced in 2022--airport with the most dedicated staff; the easiest airport journey; the most enjoyable airport, and the cleanest airport.

* While Delhi was ranked among the top airports for cleanliness, none of the Indian airports made it to the winners list in the other new categories.

* The airports were ranked for their cleanliness based on passenger feedback on cleanliness of washrooms/toilets, health safety among others.

* “At Delhi airport, consistency in enhancing service standards is paramount. This honour resonates with our values and relentless commitment towards providing travelers a truly world-class experience,” said Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO of Delhi International Airport Limited...

Source : Business Standard

Correct Answer :   Conrad K Sangma

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Conrad K Sangma, National People's Party president, 7th March 2023 took oath as the chief minister of Meghalaya for the second consecutive term.

* Later 7th Mar 2023, Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP)'s Neiphiu Rio will take oath as Nagaland chief minister.

* Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar, both from the NPP, took oath as deputy chief ministers, underlining the strength of the regional party in the rainbow coalition which has come to power.

* BJP's Alexander Laloo Hek, UDP's Paul Lyngdoh and Kyrmen Shylla, and Shakliar Warjri of the HSPDP also took oath as ministers.

* In all seven other MLAs from the National People's Party (NPP), two from the UDP and one each from BJP and HSPDP were also administered the oath of secrecy as members in Sangma's cabinet by Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan.

* Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit attended the swearing in ceremony as did BJP president J P Nadda.

* Interestingly the saffron party had described Sangma's government as "most corrupt" in the run up to the election but was the among the first parties to strike a post election deal to set up a government in the northeastern state.

* Marcuise N Marak, Rakkam A Sangma, Ampareen Lyngdoh, Comingone Ymbon and A T Mondal were among those from the NPP who were sworn-in as cabinet ministers.

* The NPP-led alliance has 45 MLAs including 26 from NPP and two from the BJP.

* On Monday (6th Mar 2023), 58 newly elected MLAs were sworn in as members of the assembly with pro-tem speaker Timothy D Shira administering the oath of office and secrecy to them..

Source : NDTV

Correct Answer :   Shivraj Singh Chouhan

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Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday (4th Mar 2023) made an announcement to make Mauganj tehsil a separate district.

Four tehsils which fall in the limits of Rewa district, Mauganj, Hanumana, Naigarhi and Dev Talab will be merged to form the new district Mauganj of the state.

The Chief Minister announced while addressing a public welfare program organised at Mauganj in Rewa district on Saturday (4th Mar 2023).

He added that the process of making the district would start from Saturday itself and the National Flag would be hoisted at the district headquarters on August 15.

On the occasion Chouhan transferred an ex-gratia amount of Rs 605 crore to 27,310 labour families of the state with a single click in their accounts under Mukhyamantri Jan-Kalyan (Sambal) Yojana 2.0. Besides, he performed bhoomi-pujan and inaugurated development works worth Rs 738.92 crore.

Addressing the program CM Chouhan said, “Sambal is a scheme for the welfare of the poor. In this, poor families are given various types of help from birth to education etc. Rs 4 lakh is given to the family in case of accidental death, Rs 2 lakh in case of normal death and Rs 1 lakh in case of disability.

The previous government had stopped this scheme and struck off the names of a large number of beneficiaries. Our government has started the scheme again and has also done the work of adding names. So far 13 lakh deleted names have been added.”..

Source : The Print

Correct Answer :   Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

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Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has announced a nearly five-fold increase in the monetary award under the Himachal Pradesh Mahila Vikas Protsahan Puraskar.

Presiding over a state-level event for International Women's Day (8th March), Sukhu on Monday (6th Mar 2023) said the monetary award for the Mahila Vikas Protsahan Puraskar has been hiked to Rs 1 lakh from the current Rs 21,000.

The allowance for district-level awards has been raised from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000..

Source : Ptinews

Correct Answer :   Jitendra Singh

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Dr Jitendra Singh informed (6th March 2023) that the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has decided that all the pension portals like Pension Disbursing Bank portals, ANUBHAV, CPENGRAMS, CGHS etc. will be integrated in a single portal in the form of the newly created “Integrated Pensioners’ Portal” (https://ipension.nic.in) to ensure “Ease of Living for the elder citizens”.

* Addressing the Bankers Awareness Workshop in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in tune with Vision of Prime Minister for an “Integrated Approach to bring Ease of Living”.

* The move will mitigate the problems faced by the pensioners with the banks like Change of bank, Submission of life certificate, Submission of death certificate of pensioners, Pension slip and retrieval of pension slip, Income tax deduction data/form 16, Pension receipt information, the websites of Pension Disbursing Banks will also be integrated with the Integrated Pensioners Portal.

* The Minister also pointed out that the task of Integration of Pension Seva Portal of SBI and Canara Bank with Bhavishya portal have been completed.

* With this integration, the pensioners can now get their pension slip, status of submission of Life Certificate and Form-16 through the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal.

* He also informed that all 18 Pension disbursing banks will be integrated in Integrated Pensioners’ Portal.

* Dr Jitendra Singh said, DoPPW will take care of not only serving/retiring employees but also work for the Ease of Living of our pensioners and Digital Life Certificate is another step towards this direction.

* He pointed out that in November 2014, an Aadhar based scheme for online submission of digital life certificate, “Jeevan Pramaan” was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure transparency and “Ease of Living” for pensioners while submitting their life certificate...

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   HDFC Bank

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HDFC Bank on Saturday (4th March 2023) announced that it's board of directors have recommended the re-appointment of "Sashidhar Jagdishan" as managing director and CEO for a period of three years with effect from 27 October,2023.

* The Bank further said that it is subject to the approval of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the shareholders.

* This is to inform you that the Board of Directors of the Bank, at their meeting held today, has recommended the re-appointment of Mr. Sashidhar Jagdishan (DIN: 08614396) as the Managing Director and CEO of the Bank, to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), for a further period of three years w.e.f. October 27, 2023, subject to approval of RBI and shareholders.

* In April last year (2022), HDFC Bank announced that parent HDFC will merge with the bank to enable seamless delivery of home loans and leverage on the large base of over 68 million customers of HDFC Bank and inter alia improve the pace of credit growth in the economy.

* Under the scheme, HDFC shareholders will receive 42 shares of HDFC Bank having a face value of Re 1 each for 25 shares of HDFC having a face value of ₹2 each. Further, HDFC shareholding in HDFC Bank will be extinguished as per the scheme of amalgamation.

* Post the merger, HDFC Bank will be 100% owned by public shareholders and existing shareholders of HDFC will own 41% of the former.

* Sashidhar Jagdishan joined the Bank in 1996 and was appointed as chief financial officer in 2008, after which he was appointed as the MD and CEO.

* HDFC Bank Ltd reported 18.5% year-on-year (YoY) rise in net profit for the quarter ended December 2022 to ₹12,259 crore. This is against net profit of ₹10,342.20 crore in the year ago period..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   United Nations (UN)

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The United Nations (UN) inked the first ‘High Seas Treaty’ in a bid to protect the ocean bodies of the world that lie outside the national boundaries and form almost two-thirds of the world's oceans.

* The treaty is an outcome of a decade of talks on this environmental concern. The agreement was reached on Saturday (4th Mar 2023) evening, after 38 hours of talks, at UN headquarters in New York.

* The previous negotiations failed to conclude due to disagreements on funding and fishing rights. The last international agreement on ocean protection was signed 40 years ago in 1982 - the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

* The UN High Seas Treaty now brings 30 percent of the world's oceans into the protected domain, puts more money into marine conservation and sets new rules for mining at sea.

* Previously these water bodies were open for fishing, shipping and to conduct research and only about 1 percent of these waters also known as high seas were under protection which left the marine lives in these waters at high risk of exploitation from threats including climate change, overfishing and shipping traffic.

* As per the red data book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), nearly 10 percent of marine species, were found to be at risk of extinction. Further, the IUCN estimates that 41 percent of the threatened species are also affected by climate change.

* The High Seas Treaty now places 30 percent of the world's international waters into protected areas (MPAs) by 2030. The treaty aims to protect against potential impacts like deep sea mining.

* This is the process of collecting minerals from the ocean bed. The treaty amongst other things will put a restriction on how much fishing can be done on the high seas.

* According to the International Seabed Authority that oversees licensing any future activity in the deep seabed will be subject to strict environmental regulations and oversight to ensure that they are carried out sustainably and responsibly...

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   108th

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India ranks 108th in the Electoral Democracy Index of the V-dem Democracy report 2023. The country ranks way below countries such as Tanzania, Bolivia, Mexico, Singapore and Nigeria.

* India has also been named in the top 10 autocratising countries in the last 10 years in the report released on Thursday (2nd March 2023).

* India's ranking dipped from the 100th position in 2022 to 108th this year in the report's Electoral Democracy Index (EDI) while it was 97th in the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI). Pakistan slipped two steps lower at 106th in the LDI and 110th in the EDI.

* The Liberal Democracy Index captures both liberal and electoral aspects of democracy based on 71 indicators such as free and fair elections, political and civil rights and more.

* No 1: Denmark | The country was ranked first with the highest comprehensive score of 0.89 in the LDI.

* The US ranked 23 in the LDI while Canada and the UK occupied 24th and 20th spots, respectively. The Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) report is based on the global dataset on democracy with over 31 million data points for 202 countries from 1789 to 2022. Here's a look at the top 10 democracies in the world..

Source : CNBC