Today Current Affairs for Competitive Exams - Current Affairs 2021 Online - Testbook.com

Today Current Affairs for Competitive
       Exams - Current Affairs 2021 Online
Railway surpasses cumulative freight loading           Retail sales increased 33.8% from a year
                                                        earlier in the first two months, compared with
 Indian Railways has surpassed 2020's total            a rise of 32% tipped by analysts.
  cumulative freight loading.
                                                       Fixed asset investment increased 35% in the
 On 11th March 2021, Indian Railways’                  first two months from the same period a year
  cumulative freight loading touched 1145.68            earlier, slower than a forecast 40.0% jump.
  million tonnes which is higher than the total
  cumulative loading of 2020 (1145.61 million         Adani Welspun announces gas discovery
  tonnes).
                                                       Adani Welspun Exploration Ltd (AWEL), a
 On a month-to-month basis, up to March 11,
                                                        joint venture between the Adani Group and
  2021, Indian Railways loading was 43.43
                                                        Welspun Enterprises, has announced its first-
  million tonnes, which is 10 % higher
                                                        ever gas discovery in Nelp-VII block MB-
  compared to 2020.
                                                        OSN-2005/2 in the Tapti-Daman sector of
Bank credit grows by 6.63%: RBI data                    Mumbai Offshore block.
                                                       AWEL holds 100% interest in the block and is
 Bank credit rose by 6.63% to ₹107.75 lakh             the operator of the block.
  crore and deposits grew by 12.06% to
                                                       AWEL was awarded the block under the New
  ₹149.34 lakh crore in the fortnight ended
                                                        Exploration Licensing Policy (Nelp) VII bid
  February 26, 2021, according to RBI data.
                                                        round.
 In the fortnight ended February 28, 2021,
  bank credit stood at ₹101.05 lakh crore.            Tech Mahindra acquires Perigord Asset Holdings
 Bank credit increased by 6.58% to ₹107.04
                                                       Tech Mahindra Ltd has acquired a 70% stake
  lakh crore and deposits rose by 11.75%
                                                        in Perigord Asset Holdings Ltd.
  to ₹147.81 lakh crore in the previous fortnight
  ended Feb 12, 2021.                                  The acquisition will help Tech Mahindra boost
                                                        expertise in the global pharmaceutical,
VW, BP to invest in a car-charging network              healthcare, and life science (HLS) sectors.
                                                       The acquisition underlines Tech Mahindra’s
 Volkswagen AG, BP Plc, and the oil
                                                        focus on digital growth, under the NXT.NOW
  company German gas station brand Aral are
                                                        framework, which focuses on leveraging next-
  planning to invest in an electric-car charging
                                                        generation technologies to
  network in Europe.
                                                        solve evolving customer needs.
 The plans involve more than 1,000 charging
  stations in cities and near highways.               Hardeep Singh Brar: Head in Kia Motors
 BP is also rolling out ultra-fast charging points
                                                       Kia Motors India Ltd has announced the
  in the UK and plans to expand in Germany.
                                                        appointment of Hardeep Singh Brar as the
China industrial output rises 35.1% in Jan-Feb          national Head of Sales and Marketing with
                                                        immediate effect.
 China's industrial output grew 35.1% in              He will join Kia Motors from the Chinese
  January-February 2021 from a year ago,                company Great Wall Motors, where he served
  faster than the 7.3% gain in December 2020.           as the Director of sales and marketing.

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 He has held senior leadership positions            She was honored for 'Savage' and 'Black
  across sales functions at Maruti Suzuki,            Parade'.
  Volkswagen, General Motors, and Nissan.            Beyoncé and her nine-year-old daughter Blue
                                                      Ivy Carter won the best music video award for
Clubhouse announces first programme
                                                      "Brown Skin Girl" making Carter one of the
 Voice-based social media platform Clubhouse         youngest Grammy winners in history.
  announced its first creators' programme on 14      British singer Dua Lipa won best pop vocal
  March 2021.                                         album for “Future Nostalgia.”
 The initiative is called Clubhouse Creator
                                                    World Consumer Rights Day: 15 March
  First.
 It is an accelerator programme designed to         World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated on
  help aspiring creators on Clubhouse host            the 15th of March every year to raise global
  amazing conversations, build their audience,        awareness about consumer rights and needs.
  and monetize.                                      The day was inspired by US President John F
 The programme will accept 20 creators and           Kennedy’s special message to the US
  applications will be accepted till 31 March         Congress on March 15, 1962.
  2021.                                              The day is being observed since 1983.
Jammu and Kashmir paired with Tamil Nadu             The theme of the World Consumer Rights
                                                      Day 2021 is ‘tackle plastic pollution'.
 Under the Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat, Jammu
                                                    Retail inflation rises to 5.03% in February
  and Kashmir has been linked with the state of
  Tamil Nadu.                                        Retail inflation (CPI) inched up to 5.03 percent
 In this connection, the Ek Bharat Shrestha          in February 2021.
  Bharat Club of Anna University conducted an        According to the Ministry of Statistics and
  elocution competition on 4 March 2021 and           Programme implementation data, food
  the topic of the event was ‘the remarkable          inflation rose to 3.87 percent in February,
  historical places of Jammu and Kashmir and          compared to 1.89 percent in Jan 2021.
  Tamil Nadu.’                                       The consumer price index (CPI) based retail
 The first 3 winners were awarded                    inflation was at 4.06 percent in January which
  achievement certificates.                           was the lowest since October 2019.
63rd Grammy Awards- I                               Civil Aviation Ministry proposes 392 routes
 At the 63rd Grammy Awards, held in Los             Ministry of Civil Aviation has proposed about
  Angeles, on 14 March 2021, Taylor Swift and         392 routes under UDAN 4.1 bidding process
  Billie Eilish won the top prizes.                   on the occasion of commencement of the
 Taylor Swift was awarded 'album of the              Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
  year' for her lockdown album 'Folklore', while     The UDAN 4.1 round is focused on
  Billie Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” won           connecting smaller airports, along with special
  'record of the year'.                               helicopter and seaplane routes.
 Swift is the first female artist ever to win an    To date, 325 routes and 56 airports including
  album of the year three times.                      5 heliports have been operationalized under
 She won the award previously in 2010                the UDAN scheme.
  and 2016.
                                                    ECI appoints observers in Puducherry
63rd Grammy Awards- II
                                                     To conduct the General Election to
 Beyonce became the most awarded female              Puducherry Legislative Assembly 2021, the
  artist in Grammy history with her 28th win.         Election Commission of India has appointed

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10 expenditure observers, 10 General                System, OTPRMS certificates with
  Observers, and 4 police observers to the UT.        DigiLocker.
 The expenditure observers will monitor the         This has been done in order to ensure hassle-
  Election Expenditure of contesting candidates       free access to verified OTPRMS Certificates.
  and verify the day-to-day expenses, bank           The issued certificates will automatically be
  transactions made by the contesting                 transferred to DigiLocker.
  candidates.                                        The registration fee on it will be waived off.
Marvin Hagler passes away                           Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair passes away
 Former undisputed middleweight world               Kathakali legend Chemancheri Kunhiraman
  champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler passed             Nair passed away in March 2021.
  away in March 2021.                                He won accolades Kerala Sangeetha Nataka
 The American dominated the middleweight             Akademi (KSNA) fellowship in 1999 and
  division from 1979 until his controversial          Padma Shri in 2017.
  defeat by Sugar Ray Leonard in April 1987.         Amid a lifetime of undevoted attention to
 Hagler fought 67 times during his 14-year           Kathakali, he started the famed Bharatheeya
  professional career, winning 62.                    Nritha Kalalayam.
 He made 12 successful title defenses.              Actor Vineeth is among his most popular
Virat: 1st to score 3,000 runs in T-20                disciples.
                                                    Afghanistan's Rashid Khan sets new record
 Virat Kohli has become the first-ever batsman
  to score 3,000 runs in T-20 International.         Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan broke
 Kohli achieved the milestone during the             Australian spin legend Shane Warne’s mega
  second T20-International against England at         record on 14 Mar 2021 as he bowled the most
  Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on 14            number of overs in a single Test in the 21st
  March 2021.                                         century.
 He now has 3,001 runs from 87 T20I                 Warne had bowled 98 overs in a Test match
  matches.                                            against South Africa in Cape Town in 2002.
 New Zealand's Martin Guptill is second on the      The 22-yr-old Afghan spinner achieved this
  list of T20I cricket, having scored 2,839 runs      feat in ongoing 2nd Test against Zimbabwe at
  in 99 matches.                                      Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Interaction program with fishermen community        Mithali Raj creates another huge record
 7 teams comprising of personnel from the           Indian Women's ODI team captain Mithali
  Indian Navy and Coast Guard, and State              Raj became the first female cricketer in
  Fisheries Department jointly interacted with        history to score 7,000 ODI runs.
  the fishermen communities in the coastal           She achieved this landmark in her 213th ODI
  districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram,              on 15 March 2021.
  Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Guntur,              This feat comes after Mithali Raj, on 12 March
  Prakasam and Nellore on 13 March'21.                2021, became the first Indian woman cricketer
 This was a part of a nationwide campaign to         and only the second overall to score 10000
  kick-start the celebrations of 75th Anniversary     international runs.
  of Indian independence.
                                                    India holds world's 4th largest forex reserve
Linking of OTPRMS certificates with DigiLocker
                                                     India’s foreign-exchange reserves surpassed
 Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal           Russia’s to become the world’s fourth-largest
  Nishank has announced linking of Online             reserve in March 2021.
  Teacher Pupil Registration Management

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 India’s foreign currency holdings fell by $4.3    Indian Navy Ship Jalashwa arrived at the port
  billion to $580.3 billion as of 5 March            of Anjouan in Comoros with 1000 metric
  2021, edging out Russia’s $580.1 billion pile.     tonnes of rice on 14 March'21.
 China has the largest reserves, followed by       The consignment of 1000 metric tonnes of
  Japan and Switzerland on the International         rice will be received by the Foreign Minister of
  Monetary Fund table.                               Comoros Dhoihir Dhoulkamal in a ceremony
                                                     on Mar 15.
India, Pakistan Indus Commissioner's meet
                                                    The VP Venkaiah Naidu had promised to
 The Indus Commissioners of India and               send the consignment of 1k mt tonnes as food
  Pakistan are set to meet on March 23-24,           assistance, during his visit to Comoros in
  2021 in New Delhi.                                 Oct 2019.
 Under the provisions of the Indus Waters         India supplies over 5.86 cr vaccine doses
  Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in
  1960, the Commission shall meet regularly at      India has supplied over 5 crore 86 lakh doses
  least once a year, alternately in India and        of indigenous Covid19 vaccines to nearly 71
  Pakistan.                                          countries, as of 14 March 2021.
 The last meeting of the India-Pakistan            Out of the total supply, over 81 lakh doses
  Permanent Indus Commission was held in             have been given free of cost as grant aid to
  Lahore from Aug 29-30, 2018.                       37 countries.
                                                    Whereas 1 crore 65 lakh doses have been
Interest-free loan for PMAY-U beneficiaries
                                                     sent under the COVAX facility route to around
 Jammu and Kashmir govt has approved a              31 countries.
  proposal to provide interest-free loan up to
                                                   Parcel Management System of Railways
  Rs. 2 lakh for beneficiaries of PMAY-U.
 The loan will be provided to the urban            The provision of 120 days advance booking of
  homeless economically weaker section               parcel space has been enabled in the Parcel
  beneficiaries under the Beneficiary Led            Management System of Indian Railways.
  Construction (BLC) component of the               In the enhanced features, barcoding will be
  Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.                  done on each consignment for tracking of
 The tenure of this loan has been fixed at 10       parcel status updation of packages through
  yrs, at instalment of ₹2,500 per month.            the GPRS network.
                                                    Small businesses and traders have been
ECI transfers Morigaon DC, ADC in Assam
                                                     using these services for the transportation of
 The Assam govt has replaced Morigaon               their merchandise.
  Deputy Commissioner Leena Das and
                                                   New scheme for tourist vehicle operators
  Additional Deputy Commissioner Debajani
  Choudhury on the recommendations of the           The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways
  Election Commission of India (ECI) on March        has announced a new scheme for tourist
  14, 2021.                                          vehicle operators.
 Home Secretary Seema Rekha Bhuyan has             Any tourist vehicle operator may apply for an
  been appointed as the new Morigaon DC.             All India tourist authorization and
 Skill Employment and Entrepreneurship              permit through online mode.
  dept secy Hanif Noorani has been transferred      The new set of rules, to be known as, All India
  as the ADC of Morigaon.                            Tourist Vehicles Authorization and Permit
                                                     Rules, 2021, will be applicable from 1st April
INS Jalashwa arrives in Comoros
                                                     2021.

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