March 2022 Current Affairs

1. India’s 73rd Republic Day:

• India celebrated its 73rd Republic day on January 26, 2022.
• There was a flypast of 75 aircraft and Helicopters.
• This year is the 75th anniversary of India’s independence.
• The 75th anniversary of the India’s Independence is celebrated as ‘the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’
• There were no foreign guests attended this year due to Covid.
• President Kovind awarded the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award posthumously to asst. sub inspector Babu Ram who was killed fighting terrorist in J&K.
• CPWD (Central Public Works Department) tableau paid tribute to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on the eve of his 125th anniversary.
• Country’s first women Rafale fighter jet pilot Shivangi Singh became a part of the Indian Air Force tableu.
• Ministry of culture is the nodal ministry for the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
• Vande Bharatm, countrywide dance competition was also organised with the collaboration of Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Defence.
• A horse named Virat retired after the parade, which attended 13 Republic Day parades. He was the top horse in the President’s Body Guard.

2. 19th meeting of NTCA (National Tiger Conservation Authority):

• Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav chairs the meeting.
• 14 tiger reserves of the country gets the CA | TS certification. CA TS is Conservation Assured Tiger Standards.
• There are 51 tiger reserves in the country, presently.
• The minister informed that the Tiger remains in the endangered category.
• There was an initiative to reintroduce Cheetah in India. It is to note that Cheetah has become extinct in the country.
• Another initiative named India for Tigers–A rally on wheels was launched.
• Another initiative named Water Atlas for mapping all water bodies in the tiger areas was launched.

3. 14 Tiger reserves have been accredited CA | TS certification:

• Out of the 14 tiger reserves that were accredited one is in Bihar, The Valmiki Tiger Reserve.
• CA | TS stands for conservation assured tiger reserve. It was launched in 2013, and sets best practices and standards to manage tigers.
• India is home to 70% global tiger population.

4. Trinconmalee Oil Tank Complex:

• India Sri lanka deal to redevelop Trincomalee oil tank complex or Trinco Oil Tank farm in Sri Lanka eastern port district of Trincomalee.

5. Maximum Poll expenditure limit for candidates raised:

• For Lok Sabha Elections: Maximum expenditure raised to Rs. 95 Lakhs. Previously it was Rs. 70 Lakhs.
• For Assembly Elections: Maximum expenditure raised to Rs 40 Lakhs. Previously it was Rs. 28 Lakhs.

6. Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas:

• Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas was convened on January 9, 2022.
• Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas is also known as Non Resident Indian or NRI day and celebrated on January 9, 2022 to acknowledge the contribution of overseas Indian community for the development of India.
• This years’ Pravsi Bhartiya Diwas was the 17th diwas. It is being celebrated from January 9, 2003.
• The date January 9, marks the return of Mahatma Gandhi to India from South Africa in 1915. Hence this date has been chosen.
• According to the Ministry of External Affairs, over 32 million NRI and PIOs (persons of Indian origin), reside outside India and consists of the world’s largest overseas diaspora.

7. ISRO new Chairman:

• Rocket scientist S. Somanath appointed as new ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) Chairman.
• The former chairman K. Sivan retired on January 14, 2022.
• S Somanath is the 10th Chairman of ISRO.
• He is the recipient of the Space Gold Medal from aeronautical society of India.

8. Test of advanced BrahMos supersonic cruise missile:

• India successfully testfires an advanced version of BrahMos sea to sea variant from INS Vishakhapatnam.
• The BrahMos missiles fly at a speed of 2.8 mach or 3 times that of sound.

9. MPATGM (Man Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile) tested by DRDO:

• It is low weight 15Kg fire and forget missile.
• It has a maximum range of 5 kms.

10. ISRO successfully tested cryogenic engine for Gaganyaan:

• Cryogenic engines are last stage of space launch vehicles which makes use of cryogenics. It is used to lift and place heavier objects in space. Cryogenics is the study of materials at very low temperatures.
• Gaganyaan is India’s first human space missions. It will be launched in 2023.
• India will become the 4th nation to launch human space flight after USA, Russia, and China.
• Four Indian astronauts were trained for the Gaganyaan mission by Russia.

11. What is Vyomitra?

• Vyomitra is a space faring human robot, developed by Indian Space Research Organisation.

12. India State of Forest Report (ISFR):

• On January 13, 2022 India State of Forest Report was released by India’s Environment minister Bhupendra Yadav.
• The report is a Biennial report (once every two years), prepared by the Forest Survey of India.
• Forest and tree cover of India has risen by 2261 square kilometres in 2 years, (compared to 2019)
• 1540 sqKm rise in forest cover and 721 sqKm rise of tree cover.
• Andhra Pradesh has a maximum rise in forest cover of 647 sqKm.
• India’s total Forest and Tree cover is 80.9 million hectares.
• India’s total Forest and Tree cover in percentage terms is 24.62 percent of India’s geographical area.
• Total Mangrove cover 4992 sqkm.
• Total carbon stock in India’s forest: 7204 million tonnes.
• States/UT with more than 75% forest cover: Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. A total of 5 states/UT have more than 75% cover.
• North east India has a decrease in forest cover in the report. The decrease is reported as 1020 sqkm. Arunachal Pradesh has lost the maximum forest cover of 257 sqkm.
• Maximum increase of 647 sqkm in forest cover is reported in Andhra Pradesh.
• Maximum forest cover (84.53%) as percentage of total geographical area is in Mizoram.
• Maximum forest cover areawise is in Madhya Pradesh.
• Highest Mangrove cover (8 sqkm) is in Odisha.

13. Philippines to purchase BrahMos missile system from India:

• Philippines is the first country to purchase BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system worth 374.96 million dollars from India.
• India has set a target of achieving defence exports worth of 5 billion dollars by 2024.

14. India assisted projects in Mauritius launched virtually:

• The projects include: Metro Express Project, New ENT hospital project, A new Supreme Court Building Project, and Supply of digital tablets to primary school children and social housing project. Other projects include solar farm project and a civil service project.
• In 2016 Government of India has extended a grant of 353 million US dollars to Mauritius as a special economic package.
• Mauritius Government has decided to name one of its metro station as Mahatma Gandhi station.
• India honoured former PM of Mauritius Aneerud Jagnout with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2020.
• Current Prime Minister of Mauritius is Pravind Kumar Jugnauth.

15. President of Chile Constitutional Convention:

• Maria Elisa Quinteros elected as the President of the Chilean Constitutional Convention.
• The convention will craft a new constitution of the Republic of Chile.
• Maria is an epidemiologist by profession.
• The President of Chile is Gabriel Boric. His party’s name is social convergence.

16. Myanmar’s Aung San Su Kyi jailed for 4 years:

• Aung San Suu Kyi was a State counsellor of Myanmar which is equivalent to the Prime Minister and also served as foreign affairs minister from 2016 to 2021.
• It is to be noted that a military coup in Myanmar began from February 1, 2021. Democratically elected members of the country were deposed by the Myanmar’s military.

17. The P5 or the N5 nations:

• France, China, UK, USA and Russia, these five nations are the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Hence, they are known as P5.
• In January, 2022 these countries pledged to prevent atomic weapons from spreading and to ensure that a nuclear war is never fought.
• These five states are the nuclear weapon states recognised by 1968 treaty of non proliferation of nuclear weapons treaty or NPT.
• The NPT was enfored in 1970. A total of 191 states have joined the NPT.
• India, Israel, Pakistan and South Sudan has not signed the NPT.
• North Korea is the only country to withdraw from he NPT.

18. New Prime Minister of Kazakhstan:

1. Alikhan Smailov became the new PM of Kazakhstan.
2. He was appointed by the president of Kazakhstan Kassym Jomart Tokayev.

19. OPEC’s new Secretary General:

• Organisation of petroleum exporting countries has appointed Kuwait’s Haitham AL Ghais as its Secretary General.
• He will have a three year tenure.
• OPEC is a permanent intergovernmental organisation.
• It was created at the Baghdad conference in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Venezuela.
• Currently it has 13 members.
• Its headquarters is at Vienna, Austria.

20. President of Nicaragua:

• Daniel Ortega became the President of Nicaragua.
• He is sworn in for 5th term as President of Nicaragua.
• He is from the party Sandinista National Liberation Fund.
• Capital of Nicargua is Managua.

21. US aid for Afghanistan:

• US announces USD 308 Million in aid to Afghanistan.

22. Pakistan PM launches National Security Policy:

• Pakistan PM Imran Khan launches the country’s first National Security Policy.
• It is a five year policy document covering the period from 2022-2026.

23. South Africa launches its first indigenous satellite:

• South Africa launched its first indigenous maritime domain awareness (MDA) satellite constellation.
• The launch was provided by SpaceX. It was launched from Cape Canaveral in the USA.
• The launch was a part of SpaceX transporter-3 mission.

24. North Macedonia New Prime Minister:

• Dimitar Kovaceveski became the new Prime Minister of North Macedonia.
• His party is Social Democratic Union of Macedonia.
• Macedonia is a country in Southeast Europe.
• Its capital is Skopje.

25. Iran’s Solid Fuel satellite launcher Rocket:

• Iran launched solid fuel satellite carrier rocket.

26. Zara Rutherford:

• 19 years old Zara Rutherford became the youngest women to fly solo around the world.
• Male record holder for flying solo around the globe is Mason Andrews.

27. The World Economic Forum:

• The world economic forum five day virtual conference on Davos Agenda Summit 2022 was held from January 17, to 21.
• The theme of the conference was: ‘The State of The World’.
• PM Modi introduced the P3 Pro Planet People movement that underlines India’s climate change commitment at WEF Davos agenda 2022.

28. New Secretary General of SCO:

• Chinese diplomat Zhang Ming appointed as new secretary general of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, (SCO).
• His tenure will be of 3 years.

29. Vice President of AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank) : Urjit Patel

30. Pierre Oliver replaces Gita Gopinath as IMF’s economic counsellor and head of research department. Gita Gopinath will be the deputy managing director of IMF.

31. Dean of Oxford University Business School: Soumitra Dutta

32. Alka Mittal first women to Head ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation).

33. First Women of color to make Solo expedition to the South Pole: Harpreet Chandi.

34. Chair of UN counter terrorism committee for 2022: India’s T.S. Tirumurti

35. Legendary Kathak dancer Birju Maharaj passed away:

• He was a recipient of Padma Vibhushan, India’ second highest civilian award.

36. Clive Lloyd from West Indies gets the Knighthood honour.

• He is a legendary cricketer and captain from West Indies.

37. Best Player award in FIFA for 2021:

• Robert Lewandowski in Men category.
• Alexia Putellas in Women category.

38. 3rd National Water Awards:

• Union Minister of Jal Shakti Mr. Gajendra Singh Sekhaawat announced the National water awards.
• Major Winners are: Best State – Uttar Pradesh, Best district East Zone – East Champaran Bihar.

39. Pradhanmantri Rashrtriya Bal Puraskaar 2022:

• 29 children got PM Rashtriya Bal Puraskaar.
• There are 15 boys and 14 girls.
• Dhiraj Kumar in Bravery and Pal Sakshi in Social service were the awardees from Bihar.

40. New Chairman of the Railway Board:

• Vinay Kumar Tripathi is appointed a the new chairman and CEO of the Railway Board.

41. India’s first cryptocurrency index: IC 15 by Cryptowire.

42. Theme of the National Youth Day : It’s all in the mind.

• The national youth day was organised on January 12, 2022 on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda’s birth anniveraary.

43. A total of 128 Padma awards are announced this year.

44. 13 new districts are announced to be formed in Andhra Pradesh.

45. Winnner of Subhash Chandra Bose Aapada Prabandhan Puraskaar 2022: Gujarat Institute of Disaster anagement and Prof. Vinod Sharma.

46. Indian Sportsperson who won world games Athlete of the year 2021 honour: P R Sreejesh.

• He is an Indian Hockey Goalkeeper.

47. New Chief Economist of IMF: Pieere Olivier Gourinchas

48. New President of European Parliament: Roberta Metsola

49. First Women President of Honduras: Xiomara Castro.

50. China successfully tested an artificial Sun.

51. Philippines declared child marriage illegal.

52. Which country signed a deal of US $ 375 million to buy BrahMos Missile System from India: Philippines.

53. Global corruption perception index:

• Denmark, Finland and New Zealand topped in the index.
• India’s rank is 85.
• South Sudan lowest in the list.
• The index is released by transparency International.

54. Winner of Women’s Asia Cup Hockey Title: Japan.

55. Winner of Australian Open Men’s single title: Rafael Nadal of Spain.

55. India’s first Open Rock Museum inaugurated in Hyderabad.

56. PM Modi declares December 26 as Veer Bal Diwas as a tribute to 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singhji’s four sons who were executed by Aurangzeb.

57. India’s first intelligent chronic disease Patients habit tracking system:

• Nitin Gadkari inaugurrates Madhavbaugs power MAP India’s first intelligent chronic disease patients habit tracking system.

58. Water Metro Project:

• Kochi first city to get water metro project.
• It will have 23 battery powered electric boats. First such boats’ name is Muziris.

Note: This is the most valuable Current Affairs from BPSC Exam perspective. Sports current affairs are not included in this post. Do sports Current from any good magazine like Pratiyogita Darpan or Speedy.