Daily Current Affairs: 5 March 2021

The 228th meeting of Central Board of Trustees, EPF that was held in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir under the chairmanship of Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Union Minister of State for Labour & Employment(Independent Charge),Vice-Chairmanship of Shri Apurva Chandra, Secretary(L&E) and the Member Secretary Shri Sunil Barthwal, Central P F Commissioner recommended 8.50% annual rate of interest to be credited on EPF accumulations in members’ accounts for the financial year 2020-21. The recommended interest rate for FY21 will now need to be ratified by the Finance Ministry, following which it will be notified by the Labour Ministry. 
About EPFO- EPFO is one of the World's largest Social Security Organisations The Employees' Provident Fund came into existence with the promulgation of the Employees' Provident Funds Ordinance on the 15th November, 1951. It was replaced by the Employees' Provident Funds Act, 1952.The Act is now referred as the Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 which extends to the whole of India.

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Housing and Urban Affairs announced the release of the final rankings of Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020. Bengaluru emerged as the most liveable city in the Million+ population category, followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai. Delhi was ranked 13th. In Less than Million population category, Shimla was ranked the highest followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.
The Ease of Living Index (EoLI)- is an assessment tool that evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development. It provides a comprehensive understanding of participating cities across India based on quality of life, economic-ability of a city, and its sustainability and resilience. The assessment also incorporates the residents' view on the services provided by city administration through a Citizen Perception Survey.
The Municipal Performance Index (MPI) was also launched as an accompaniment to the Ease of Living Index. New Delhi Municipal Council emerged as the top performer in less than million category and Indore ranked highest in the Million+ category.It seeks to examine local government practice in municipalities across areas of services, finance, policy, technology and governance. 
 

In a major boost to India’s rice exports potential, the first consignment of ‘red rice’ was flagged off today to the US. This rice variety is referred as ‘Bao-dhaan’ and is grown in Brahmaputra valley of Assam, without the use of any chemical fertilizer.The rice is very rich in Iron.

 

CSIR Floriculture Mission has been approved for implementation in 21 States and Union Territories of India. This Mission is being implemented in collaboration with Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)-Directorate of Floriculture; Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC); Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce; Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED); Fragrance and Flavour Development Centre (FFDC), Kannauj, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Universities.
Floriculture is an important branch of horticulture, which deals with cut or loose flowers, ornamental plants, such as foliage plants, trees, shrubs, climbers, palms, bamboo, cacti and succulents, dried flowers, essential oils and landscape gardening.
Horticulture is a science, as well as, an art of production, utilisation and improvement of horticultural crops, such as fruits and vegetables, spices and condiments, ornamental, plantation, medicinal and aromatic plants. 

Chabahar Day was commemorated on the sidelines of the Second edition of International Maritime Summit-2021 in the virtual format. India also pushed for inclusion of Chabahar in India-Iran-Russia INSTC corridor.The INSTC project was originally conceived in 2000 in St Petersburg between India, Iran and Russia, and subsequently included 10 other central Asian and west Asian countries: Azerbaijan Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Oman, Syria and Bulgaria as an observer. It envisions a 7,200-km-long multi-mode network of ship, rail and road route for transporting freight, aimed at reducing the carriage cost between India and Russia by about 30% and bringing down the transit time from 40 days by more than half.
Few Important Ports in news-

 

12 Indian institutions have made it to the top 100 of the world - IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IISC Bangalore, IIT Guwahati,, IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, JNU, Anna University, University of Delhi, and O.P Jindal University .
QS World University Rankings by subject calculate performance based on four parameters — academic reputation, employer reputation, research impact (citations per paper) and the productivity of an institution’s research faculty.

Wipro, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, has signed an agreement to acquire Capco for $1.45 billion.
Capco is a global technology and management consultancy specializing in driving digital transformation across the financial services industry
 

A tsunami advisory was issued by  National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA)  for parts of New Zealand on 4 March after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck near the Kermadec Islands on the northeast of New Zealand's North Islan. It asked people located between the Bay of Islands and Whangarei to stay off beaches and shore areas. However the National Emergency Management Agency in its recent bulletin has advised that the largest waves have now passed, and therefore the threat level is now downgraded to a Beach and Marine threat for all areas which were previously under Land and Marine threat,
Tsunami- A tsunami is a very large and powerful wave caused by earthquakes under the sea
Capital of New Zealand: Wellington
Currency: New Zealand dollar


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