European Union Split over Expanding Bloc to Include Russia-hit Ukraine
After Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the European Union for Kyiv's inclusion in the top European body, there are reports of split within the organisation over the speculated merger. Top European Union official Charles Michel said that there were disagreements among the 27 member states on enlarging the power bloc.
As per Michel, Ukraine would have to officially submit a request to join EU before its member states, who would have to approve the membership unanimously.
Zelensky had appealed for Ukraine to be included in the EU amid its defence against the Russian invasion.
Zelensky's appeal comes amid the first round of negotiations between delegations between Russia and Ukraine in Belarus. Ahead of the meet, the Ukrainian President had demanded 'immediate ceasefire' and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukrainian territory.
UNGA President Shahid Calls for Immediate Ceasefire
Russia's military offensive is a violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty, President of the UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid said as he called for an immediate ceasefire and full return to diplomacy and dialogue.
Shahid, presiding over a rare emergency special session of the 193-member UN body on Ukraine, voiced grave concern about the fast-deteriorating situation and ongoing military action in Ukraine.
The military offensive by the Russian Federation is a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and is inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.
As Belarusian leader Aleksandr Lukashenko hosted the first face-to-face talks between the Russian and Ukrainian delegation since Russia's special military operation in eastern Ukraine, Shahid said this rare window of opportunity has opened up for dialogue.
Russian Forces Destroy World's Biggest Cargo plane in Ukraine
The world's largest aircraft, the Antonov An-225, nicknamed 'Mriya' (Dream in Ukrainian), was destroyed in the battle of Antonov Airport during the ongoing Russian onslaught on Ukraine.
The Antonov An-225 Mriya aircraft took its first flight on December 21, 1988.
Designed as a shuttle carrier aircraft for the Soviet space program, the 84-metres long Mriya could carry ultra-heavy and oversized freight weighing up to 250,000 kg internally or 200,000 kg on the upper fuselage at a speed of 850 km per hour.
It held multiple records, including being the heaviest aircraft ever built and having the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operation service. It had the wingspan of almost the length of a cricket stadium.
Unavoidable Multiple Climate Hazards in Next 2 Decades, Warns IPPC Report
Human-induced climate change is causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting the lives of billions around the world, despite efforts to reduce the risks, scientists warned in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
"This report is a dire warning about the consequences of inaction," said Hoesung Lee, Chair of the IPCC while releasing the report 'Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability'.
The world faces unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C, the report said, adding that even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible.
This critically important UN report, authored by 270 scientists from 67 countries and approved by 195 governments, shows that worsening climate impacts are wreaking havoc in every part of the world and are affecting every living thing on the planet – humans, animals, plants, entire ecosystems.
Standard Chartered India Appoints Saurabh Jain as Wealth Management Head
Standard Chartered Bank, India, appointed Saurabh Jain as its new head of wealth management.
Jain took over from Samrat Khosla, who moved to a new role within the bank.
He joined Standard Chartered Securities (India) as its CEO in October 2019 and later went on to be the head – deposit products and client acquisition with Standard Chartered Bank, India, a position he held before this current appointment.
He brings to the role over 20 years of experience in wealth management, private banking and retail banking products and distribution. He has held various senior roles in Citibank India and HDFC Bank as well.
Madhabi Puri Buch Becomes First Woman Chief of SEBI
Madhabi Puri Buch was appointed chairperson of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulator in charge of overseeing India's $3.3-trillion stock market ecosystem. She replaced Ajay Tyagi, whose tenure as SEBI chairman ended on February 28, 2022.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by the Prime Minister, approved her appointment for an initial period of three years.
Puri Buch is the first woman, and the first person from the private sector, to head the securities market watchdog.
She has had a more than four-year stint at SEBI as a whole-time member (WTM) -- a post just below the chairman. The IIM-Ahmedabad alumna will also be the youngest SEBI chief.
Buch has three decades of financial market experience. She joined ICICI Bank in 1989. Since then, she has worked as an investment banker, headed the country's leading broking outfit, held a senior position at a private equity major, and had a brief stint with the New Development Bank, set up by the BRICS bloc of nations.
Former Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia Nominated again as BoB Chairman
Former Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia was nominated again as the chairman of state-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB), according to a government order.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the proposal of the Department of Financial Services for re-nomination of Adhia as chairman of the BoB.
His term was extended by another two years as chairman with effect from March 1, 2022.
BoB is the third biggest public sector lender after State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.
Adhia retired as Revenue-cum-Finance Secretary in November 2018.
It was during his tenure as Financial Services Secretary that the decision to split the post of Chairman and Managing Director of public sector banks was taken to foster greater transparency in decision making.
Using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio, more than a quarter of the northern sky was mapped by astronomers from Durham University who collaborated with a team of international scientists for this project. This map provides an incredibly detailed radio image of over 4.4 million objects, as well as a very dynamic picture of our Universe.
The vast majority of these mapped objects are galaxies with huge black holes or rapidly growing young stars that are billions of light-years away.
Flaring stars within the Milky Way and colliding groups of faraway galaxies are among the rarer objects discovered.
This is by far the largest data release from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey.
This data release includes nearly four million objects that at radio wavelengths are new discoveries and around a million objects that have never been seen before with any telescope.
Daniil Medvedev Dethrones Novak Djokovic to Become World No 1
Daniil Medvedev became the 27th player to reach No. 1 in the ATP Rankings. The 26-year-old (8,615 points) passed Serbian Novak Djokovic (8,465), who has held the top spot in men's tennis for a record 361 total weeks.
Medvedev is the first player outside the 'Big Four' of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray to hold the top spot in 18 years, three weeks and six days, since Andy Roddick on 1 February 2004.
Medvedev is the third Russian to achieve the feat, joining Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin.
Team India Equals Record for most Consecutive T20I Wins
After defeating Sri Lanka in the third and final T20I, Rohit Sharma-led Team India equalled the world record for registering the most consecutive T20I victories.
With this victory over Sri Lanka, Team India registered their 12th consecutive win in the shortest format and they have now equalled Afghanistan's record for most consecutive T20I wins by a Test-playing nation.
India is currently the No.1 ranked team in the shortest format of the game.
Four new judges, including a woman, administered the oath of office as judges of the Delhi High Court, taking its strength to 34.
Delhi HC Chief Justice D. N. Patel administered the oath of office to Neena Bansal Krishna, Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Anoop Kumar Mendiratta and Sudhir Kumar Jain as Judges of the Delhi High Court.
Centre to Send Four MINISTERS to Countries Neighbouring Ukraine to Oversee Evacuation Ops
Ramping up diplomatic efforts to evacuate Indian nationals stuck in cities and border points of Ukraine, the government decided to send four Union Ministers to supervise the evacuation, announced plans for more flights to bring back students not just from India but also from neighbouring and developing countries, and send relief supplies to Ukraine as a humanitarian gesture.
The decision to send four Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri, Kiren Rijiju, Jyotiradtiya Scindia and General (retd) V. K. Singh was taken during the meeting chaired by the Prime Minister. Puri headed to Hungary, Rijiju to Slovakia, Scindia would look at Romania and Moldova while Singh would oversee the evacuation in Poland. They will visit these countries as Special Envoys of the Indian government.
Nagaland Gives 2 Years of Age Relaxation for Entry into Government Jobs
The Nagaland government announced the relaxation of 2 years of age for entry into the government services which will come into effect from 22 April 2021.
The Nagaland government in a statement said that this relaxation will be a one-time relaxation as the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the recruitment activities in the state.
IAF's Biggest Firepower Drill to be Held on March 7
The Indian Air Force will conduct its biggest firepower demonstration, Vayu Shakti-2022, on March 7 at Pokhran Firing Range, Rajasthan. They will also hold full dress reharsals on March 4. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rajasthan Governor, Kalraj Mishra, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and more than 50 dignitaries from friendly countries will attend the event, strict security arrangements are being made.
Around 150 aircraft, including frontline fighters, Rafale, Mig-21 Bison, Mig-27, Mig-29, Mirage-2000, Su-30 MKI, Jaguars, Tejas LCA, transport aircraft C130, IL78, Hercules, AN-32, Mi-17 1V, Rudra and Mi-35 gunships are going to participate in the exercise. Other unseen force multipliers, including mid-air refuellers, AWACS, and UAV will be seen.
Every year March 1 is celebrated as World Civil Defence Day around the globe. This day was declared as a global holiday by the International Civil Defence Organization (ICDO) in 1990 and honours the significance of Civil Defence and the personnel who have sacrificed their lives for it. The ICDO is an intergovernmental organisation that helps citizens develop and stay secure while also protecting infrastructure and the environment.
World Civil Defence Day was established by the International Civil Defence Organization. The International Civil Defence Organization, or ICDO, was created in 1931 by Surgeon-General George Saint-Paul who founded the Association of Geneva Zones, which later became the ICDO. Saint-Paul intended to build safe zones where residents may take refuge in times of war after witnessing the consequences of war on the populace.
Every year, the International Civil Defense Organization chooses a topic to drive World Civil Defense Day events. The theme for World Civil Defence Day 2022 was "Civil Defence and the First Aider in every Home."
Zero Discrimination Day
The Zero Discrimination Day is held every year on the 1st of March. The day aims to ensure right to equality, inclusion and protection of all people without any discrimination in their law and policies to live a full life with dignity regardless of any barriers. Zero Discrimination Day highlights how people can become informed about and promote inclusion, compassion, peace and, above all, a movement for change. Zero Discrimination Day is helping to create a global movement of solidarity to end all forms of discrimination.
Zero Discrimination Day was first celebrated on March 1, 2014, and was launched by UNAIDS Executive Director at Beijing after UNAIDS launched its Zero Discrimination Campaign on World AIDS Day in December 2013.
The theme of Zero Discrimination Day 2022 was "Remove Laws that Harm, Create Laws that Empower". The theme signifies the ardent need to fight and take action against the myriad discriminatory laws in multiple countries that result in people being treated differently. While some laws harm the sanctity of human rights, some seem to cripple the fundamental freedom in society.
Prof. Deepak Dhar from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune (IISER Pune) was chosen for the prestigious Boltzmann Medal for the year 2022. He became the first Indian to be awarded the Boltzmann Medal. He was chosen for his contribution in the field of 'Statistical Physics'. A small function was held at IISER Pune campus to felicitate the physicist from his fellow colleagues and director of IISER Pune.
This prestigious medal is awarded in every three years by the Commission on Statistical Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) at the Statphys Conference.
Prof Dhar was born 1951 and completed his graduation in Science in 1970 from University of Allahabad, then Masters in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1972. Then he went to the US for PhD and after completing his PhD joined Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) as a research fellow in 1978. He worked at TIFR over the years as a full-time professor and retired in 2016. Since then, he has joined IISER Pune as a visiting faculty.
IIT-Madras Offers International Interdisciplinary Master's Programme
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras launched an International Interdisciplinary Master's Programme (I2MP) in nine areas that include next-generation technologies such as quantum science.
International students from any engineering background can apply for the two-year-long master's programmes at IIT Madras. Scholarships will be provided for accepted international students with outstanding records.
The international interdisciplinary master's degrees are available in nine interdisciplinary areas: energy systems, robotics, quantum science and technology, computational engineering, advanced materials and nanotechnology, data science, cyber-physical systems, complex systems and dynamics, and biomedical engineering.
Ukraine a Hotspot for Indian Medical Students
War-hit Ukraine is the third most popular destination after China and the Philippines for Indian students pursuing medical studies. Every year, thousands of Indian students choose Ukraine for many reasons.
The fees are near to half in Ukraine as compared to India. Apart from lower fees, better infrastructure and different patterns of study attract students from India.
As per Educationist C.S. Kandpal, one of the major reasons for the popularity of medical courses in Ukraine is that students do not have to take any separate examination to join them, whereas NEET is conducted in India for admission to medical courses.
While lakhs of students appear in NEET every year, only about 40,000 get admission in government medical colleges. In such a situation, a large number of NEET qualified Indian students turn to Ukraine.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi released the autobiography of Tamil Nadu CM and DMK president M.K. Stalin titled "Ungalil Oruvan" (One Among You) at Chennai Trade Centre. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Jammu Kashmir National Conference's Omar Abdullah were also present.
Stalin's book released, written in Tamil, is the first of a reported three-volume autobiography, capturing the first 23 years of his life, including his early days in politics.
The DMK chief's autobiography release was organised as a "grand event", with prominent guests brought to Chennai in chartered aircraft for it.
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