National

Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd's

• PM Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd's (HURL) Sindri fertiliser plant, in order to attain self-sufficiency in the urea sector.
• The plant has been developed at a cost of over 8,900 crore rupees.

SHAKTI International Women Entrepreneurs Summit 

• MSME Minister, Narayan Rane launched multiple women-oriented Entrepreneurial projects at the 9th SHAKTI International Women Entrepreneurs Summit in New Delhi.
• Three new initiatives launched to give impetus to women entrepreneurship Panjikaran se Pragati, WEP- Unnati-Udyamita se Pragati and Mentorship Platform.
• Shakti International Women Entrepreneurs Summit 2024 is an annual Conference on the occasion of International Women’s Day to promote entrepreneurship amongst women.

National Birth Defects Awareness Month 2024

• NITI Aayog Member Dr V K Paul launched the National Birth Defects Awareness Month 2024 at a function in New Delhi.
• The theme of National Birth Defect Awareness Month 2024 is “Breaking barriers: inclusive support for children with birth defects”.

International

India - Bhutan

• India and Bhutan reviewed the progress of the projects supported by Government of India under the 12th Five Year Plan of Bhutan.
• The annual India-Bhutan Development Cooperation Talks were held in New Delhi.

India-Italy

• 2nd India-Italy Consular Dialogue was held in New Delhi.
• Indian delegation was led by the Secretary (Consular, Passport, Visa, and Overseas Indian Affairs) in the Ministry of External Affairs Muktesh Kumar Pardeshi.

Economy

8.4 per cent GDP growth rate

• India has registered 8.4 per cent GDP growth rate in the third quarter of this financial year.
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the final value of the goods and services produced within the geographic boundaries of a country during a specified period of time, normally a year.

Defence

Samudra Laksamana

• Exercise Samudra Laksamana kicked off on February 28 and will continue until March 2, taking place at or off the coast of Visakhapatnam.
• The exercise aims to strengthen bonds and enhance interoperability between the Indian and Royal Malaysian Navy.

Sports

Khelo India University Games 2023

• Khelo India University Games 2023 concluded in Guwahati.
• Chandigarh University clinched the overall championships.

Ranji Trophy

• In Ranji Trophy, Mumbai's Tanush Kotian and Tushar Deshpande created history by becoming the first batters in 78 years to score centuries at number 10 and 11.

Person in News

S. Ravindran

• Reserve Bank has appointed Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd.’s independent director S. Ravindran as part-time chairman of the bank.

Anurag Agarwal

• Senior IPS officer Anurag Agarwal has been appointed as Parliament security chief.

Sridhar Ramaswamy

• Data cloud company Snowflake has appointed IIT Madras alumnus Sridhar Ramaswamy as its CEO.

Miscellaneous

Status of Leopards in India

• The estimated leopard population in India is now 13874 up from 12852 in 2018.
• The survey was conducted across 70% of leopards’ habitat, having excluded the Himalayas and semi-arid parts of the country.
• Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest population having 3907 leopards followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• Areas with the largest leopard populations were Nagarajunasagar Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh, and Panna and Satpura in Madhya Pradesh.

Zero Discrimination Day

• Zero Discrimination Day is celebrated on 1 March each year to promote inclusion, equality, and peace and raise awareness about the impact of discrimination worldwide.
• The day was first celebrated on March 1, 2014.