World Tuberculosis Day: 24 March
The day of 24 March is celebrated every year worldwide as World Tuberculosis (TB) Day or World Tuberculosis Day.
The main purpose of this day is to make people aware of this global pandemic and try to eradicate the disease. On March 24, 1882, the German physicist and microbiologist Robert Couch discovered the bacterium of TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The theme of World Tuberculosis Day 2021 is “The clock is ticking”.
Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara won the women’s singles title at the All England Open
Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara won the All England Women’s Class title by defeating Pornpavi Chochuwong of Thailand in the All England Badminton Championship final.
| category | the winner | runner up |
| Male singles | Li Zi Jia (Malaysia) | Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) |
| Male double | Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe (Japan) | Takeshi Room and Kigo Sonora (Japan) |
| Female singles | Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) | Pornpavi Chochuwong (Thailand) |
| Female double | Mayu Matsumoto and Wakana Naghara (Japan) | UK Fukoshima and Sayaka Heroata (Japan) |
| Mixed double | yutas ninety two and Arisa Higashino (Japan) | Yuki Kaneko and Misaki Matsutomo (Japan) |
Russia successfully launches 38 satellites of 18 countries
On 22 March 2021, the Russian space agency ‘Roskosmos‘ launched 38 foreign satellites into space. A Russian Soyuz rocket took off from the Baconur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With the launch, satellites from countries including Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Italy, Germany and Brazil were successfully placed into orbit.
Of the 38 satellites, the “Challenge-1” satellite was also included, which is Tunisia’s first indigenously built satellite. It was created by Telnet Telecom Group.
Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu launches book “Bringing Governments and People Closer”
Vice President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu launched the book “Bringi Governments and People Closure” virtually.
The book is written by Dr. M. Ramachandran, IAS (Retd.).
Pabbi Anti-Terror 2021: India, Pakistan and China to participate in joint anti-terrorism exercise of SCO
According to the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structure (RATS) of the eight-member Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Pakistan will host a joint anti-terrorism exercise ‘Pabbi-Anti-Terror 2021’ later this year. The decision to hold a joint exercise ‘Pabbi-Anti-Terror 2021’ was announced during the 36th meeting of the Regional Anti-Terrorism Structures Council (RATS) held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, including India, Pakistan and China, will conduct joint anti-terrorism exercises this year.
The SCO, an economic and security bloc, has China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as its founding members. India and Pakistan became members of the grouping in 2017.
SCO Headquarters: Beijing, China
Establishment: 15 June 2001
Bihar becomes first state to bring ethanol production policy
On 19 March 2021, Bihar State Industries Minister, Syed Shahnawaz Hussain launched the Ethanol Production Promotion Policy, 2021.
After the state cabinet gave this approval to the policy, Bihar has become the first state in India to implement ethanol enrichment policy under the National Policy of Biofuels, 2018.
This policy would allow the extraction of ethanol, which was previously limited to sugarcane along with surplus quantities of sugarcane. Till now, the Indian government has allowed production of B-heavy jaggery, C-heavy jaggery, cereals for human consumption, sugarcane juice, sugar, sugar syrup, surplus rice and ethanol for maize.
The Ethanol Production Promotion Policy of Bihar, 2021, promotes new standalone ethanol manufacturing units by providing additional capital subsidy up to a maximum of Rs 05 crore at 15% of the cost of plant and machinery.
This policy will provide remunerative returns to investors as well as other stakeholders.
This will directly increase the income of those farmers who are producing feedstock or raw materials for manufacturing ethanol.
This policy will help in creating employment as well as help in reducing pollution. Currently, the bioethanol blending in petrol in the country is 6.2%, while the government has set a target of 20% blending by the year 2030.
Andhra Pradesh will start establishing India’s first animal ambulance network
Andhra Pradesh has announced the establishment of India’s first ambulance network to provide animal healthcare to the afflicted animals. Under the animal ambulance network, 175 mobile ambulance (veterinary) clinics will be housed in the assembly constituency.
These clinics are being set up on the lines of 108 services so that veterinary services can be provided at home. In the emergency case, on-the-spot animals will be treated with a kit kept in an ambulance.
POWERGRID Launches Certified E-Tendering Portal “PRANIT”
Power Grid Corporation of India has established an e-tendering portal named “PRANIT”. This portal will help in reducing paperwork, ease of operation and making the tendering process more transparent. The portal has been certified by the Directorate of Standardization, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Power Grid is the only organization in India with an e-procurement solution on SAP supplier relationship management, which caters to all the requirements related to security and transparency.
Power Grid is an Indian central public sector unit and a Maharatna company. This company is owned by the Ministry of Energy.
Headquarters: Gurugram
Founded: 23 October 1989
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan started “Mission Gramodaya”
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh “Mission Gramodaya” has been started in the entire state. Overall development of rural areas will be done through this mission. Under the mission, along with providing housing facilities in rural areas, basic and basic infrastructure will also be expanded.
The Chief Minister handed over the keys of the houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to 1,25,000 families under ‘Mission Gramodaya’.
67th National Film Awards
The Central Government has announced the 67th National Film Award for the year 2019. The event is organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, which comes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The ceremony was scheduled to be held in May last year but was delayed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 epidemic.
In the year 2021, there were a total of 461 films in the feature film category and 220 films in the non-feature film category.
Best Feature Film: ‘Merkar Arabikaladine Simham’ (Malayalam); Best Direction: Sanjay Purn Singh Chauhan (‘seventy-two hurray’); Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut (‘Manikarnika’, ‘Panga’); Best Actor: Manoj Bajpayee for ‘Bhonsle’ and Dhanush for ‘Asuran’ (Tamil); Best Supporting Actress: ‘The Tashkent Files’, Pallavi Joshi; Best Supporting Actor: ‘Super Deluxe’ (Tamil), Vijaya Sethupathi.
The award for Most Film Friendly State was given to Sikkim.
The Best Book for Cinema award was given to Sanjay Suri’s “A Gandhian Affair: India’s Curious Portrayal of Love in Cinema”.
The award for Best Film Critic was given to Sohini Chattopadhyay.
In the non-feature film category, the Best Narration Award was given to Sir David Aton 67th National Film Awards 67th National Film Awards 67th National Film Awards 67th National Film Awardsborough for Wild Karnataka.
Best editing award was given to Arjun Gaurisariya for ‘Shut Up Sona’.
The award for Best Audiography was presented to Radha (music), Allwyn Rego and Sanjay Maurya.
The best on-location sound recordist award was given to Saptarshi Sarkar.
Savita Singh was awarded the Best Cinematography Award to Sonsi.
Sudhanshu Saria was awarded the Best Direction Award for ‘Knock Knock Knock’ (English / Bengali).
The award for Best Short Fiction Film was given to ‘Custody’.
‘Small Scale Societies’ was awarded the Special Jury Award.
The award for Best Animation Film was given to Radha (music).
