Important Monthly Current Affairs Capsule – March 2021 S. No Topics Page No 1 Important Days 2 2 Important Banking News 4 3 Important Financial & Economy Affairs 18 4 Important Business News 20 5 Important State Wise News 27 6 Important National News 51 7 Important International News 86 8 Important Appointments 100 9 Important Awards and Honours 104 10 Important MOU’s 113 11 Important Summit & Conference 119 12 Important Defence News 128 13 Important Science and Technology 135 14 Important Environment News 141 15 Important Rankings and Indexes 144 16 Important Books and Authors 151 17 Important Peoples’ in News 152 18 Important Mergers and Acquisitions 155 19 Important Web portals and Mobile Apps 160 20 Important Sports News 167 21 Important Obituaries 179 Click Here to Subscribe Our Yearly Platinum Package Follow us: Telegram , Facebook , Twitter , Instagram 1 Important Monthly Current Affairs Capsule – March 2021 Important Days Date Day Theme/Others March 1 Zero Discrimination Day (First End Inequalities celebrated in 2014) March 1 45th Civil Accounts Day Nirmala Sitharaman was the Chief Guest of the event March 1 Third Jan Aushadhi Diwas Jan Aushadhi Kendras conducted Health Check-up Camps across the country March 3 World Hearing Day Screen, Rehabilitate, Communicate March 3 World Wildlife Day (The day was Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People proposed by Thailand and and Planet recognised in 2013 by UNGA) March 4 National Safety Day (1st time Sadak Suraksha (Road Safety) celebrated in 1972) March 4 National Security Day (Rashtriya Honor of the Indian Security Forces. (First Suraksha Diwas) NSD was held in 1972.) March 8 International Women’s Day Women in leadership: Achieving an equal (It was first observed in 1909, future in a COVID-19 world adopted in 1975 by UN) March 11 (2nd World Kidney Day World Kidney Day Steering Committee has Thursday) declared 2021 the year of “Living Well with Kidney Disease” March 13 World Sleep Day Regular Sleep, Healthy Future March 14 International Day of Mathematics Mathematics for a Better World March 15 World Consumer Rights Day Tackle Plastic Pollution March 16 National Vaccination Day Observed to celebrate the Indian government's Pulse Polio Campaign (First dose of Oral Polio Vaccine was given in India in 1995) March 20 International Day of Happiness Happiness For All, Forever (established by the UNGA in 2012; 1st celebrated in 2013) Click Here to Subscribe Our Yearly Platinum Package Follow us: Telegram , Facebook , Twitter , Instagram 2 Important Monthly Current Affairs Capsule – March 2021 March 20 World Sparrow Day (First World I LOVE Sparrows (was initiated by the Sparrow Day was celebrated in Nature Forever Society of India in 2010) collaboration with the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France)) March 20 World Oral Health Day Be Proud Of Your Mouth March 21 International Day of Forests Forest restoration: a path to recovery and well-being (It was established by resolution of the UNGA on Nov 28, 2012) March 21 World Poetry Day The day was declared by UNESCO in 1999 March 21 International Day for the Youth standing up against racism Elimination of Racial Discrimination March 21 World Puppetry Day It was first held in 2003 March 22 World Water Day Valuing Water March 23 World Meteorological Day (It The Ocean, Our Climate and Weather was established on March 23, 1950) March 24 World Tuberculosis Day The Clock is Ticking March 24 International Day for the Right to The day proclaimed by the United Nations in the Truth concerning Gross December 2010 Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims March 27 World Theatre Day It was initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute. Author of Message: Helen MIRREN, United Kingdom March 27 Earth Hour Climate Change to Save Earth Last Saturday of (Organized by the World Wide (It was started as a lights-off event in the March Fund) Sydney, Australia, in 2007) March 31 World Backup Day World Backup Day began as World Backup Month, by a hard drive company named Maxtor which was later acquired by Seagate Technology. Click Here to Subscribe Our Yearly Platinum Package Follow us: Telegram , Facebook , Twitter , Instagram 3 Important Monthly Current Affairs Capsule – March 2021 March 31 International Transgender Day of It was founded by US-based transgender Visibility activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009 March 31 International Day of Drug It was celebrated since 2017 Checking Important Banking News RBI RBI imposes Rs.2 crore penalty to SBI • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs.2 crore on State Bank of India (SBI) for contravention of certain provisions of Section 10 of the Banking Regulation (BR) Act, 1949 and the central bank’s specific directions issued to the bank on payment of remuneration to employees in the form of commission. • This penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested with RBI under the provisions of BR Act, it added. • RBI said the statutory inspection of the bank with reference to its financial position as on March 31, 2017 and March 31, 2018 and the Risk Assessment Reports (RARs) pertaining thereto, and examination of the correspondence with the bank regarding payment of remuneration to its employees in the form of commission, revealed, inter alia, contravention of the provisions of the Act and aforesaid specific directions issued by RBI. RBI to examine a proposal to merge two or more Urban Cooperative Banks • As per the 'Amalgamation of Urban Cooperative Banks, Directions, 2020', issued by the RBI, it may consider proposals for merger and amalgamation among UCBs under three circumstances, including when the net worth of the amalgamated bank is positive, and the amalgamating bank assures to protect entire deposits. RBI set up a panel to examine applications for banks, SFBs • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set up a five-member Standing External Advisory Committee for the purpose of evaluating applications for Universal Banks as well as Small Finance Banks. • The panel will be headed by former RBI Deputy Governor Shyamala Gopinath and the other members are: Revathy Iyer, Director, Central Board, Reserve Bank of India; B Mahapatra, former executive director, RBI and presently chairman of National Payments Corporation of India; TN Manoharan, former chairman, Canara Bank; and Hemant G Contractor, former MD, State Bank of India and former chairman, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. • The tenure of this SEAC will be for three years. • In November 2020, the RBI made public a working group report that recommended that well-run large non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), with an asset size of Rs 50,000 crore and above, including those which are owned by a corporate house, should be considered for conversion into banks. RBI announces average base rate of 7.81% for NBFC-MFIs Click Here to Subscribe Our Yearly Platinum Package Follow us: Telegram , Facebook , Twitter , Instagram 4 Important Monthly Current Affairs Capsule – March 2021 • Various loans offered by Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) and Micro Finance institutes (MFI) are expected to be cheaper from April 1. • Reserve bank of India communicated that the applicable base rate to be charged as 7.81 per cent. • It is lower by 15 basis points (0.15 %) as compared to the current quarter. • Last year it was 8.76 during the same period. • On the last working day of every quarter, RBI advises interest rates to be charged by NBFC-MFIs to their borrowers in the ensuing quarter. • It is based on the average of the base rates of the five largest commercial banks. RBI further extends limitations on PMC Bank for 3 months till 30 June 2021 • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has once again extended the restriction imposed on scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank for a further period of 3 months till June 30, 2021. • The restriction puts curbs on the withdrawals and deposits activity of the lender. • This restriction was first placed in September 2019, and since then has been consecutively extended. • The previous restriction was set to expire on March 31, 2021. Policy Rates Parameter Percentage Repo Rate 4% Reverse Repo Rate 3.35% Marginal Standing Facility Rate 4.25% Bank Rate 4.25% Cash Reserve Ratio 3% Statutory Liquidity Ratio 18% SBI SBI-sponsored RRBs launched video-KYC facility • Telangana Grameena Bank, Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank becomes first RRBs in the country to adopt this tech that offers zero contact onboarding of customers, at par with commercial banks. • The Digital Insta Savings Account mobile app of Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB) and Telangana Grameena Bank (TGB) was launched recently by State Bank of India chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara. • The app will be at the heart of the Digital Insta Savings Account (DISA) launched by the two regional rural banks. • The benefits of DISA include zero balance account; can be opened within 10 minutes and activation of mobile banking and SMS alerts immediately. Click Here to Subscribe Our Yearly Platinum Package Follow us: Telegram , Facebook , Twitter , Instagram 5 Important Monthly Current Affairs Capsule – March 2021 • Rupay debit cards will be issued and the account holders need to successfully complete e-KYC at home branch or video-KYC within one year. SBI MF Launches First Overseas Fund • The State Bank of India (SBI) Mutual Funds has launched its first overseas offering on 1 March 2021. • The fund titled SBI International Access US Equity FOF is an open-ended fund of funds scheme investing in mutual fund schemes/ETFs that invest in US markets, which are domiciled overseas. • The scheme will invest 95-100 percent of its net assets generally in Amundi Funds US Pioneer Fund (including ETFs), which invest predominantly in the US markets.