current affairs 17 March 2022

Power Minister RK Singh inaugurates India’s 1st Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Centre in Manesar.

The Union Minister for Power, Shri Raj Kumar Singh virtually launched the first of its kind Virtual Smart Grid Knowledge Center (Virtual SGKC) and Innovation Park, as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav Programme.
The Virtual SGKC will give a digital footprint of the physical setup of SGKC, established by POWERGRID in 2018 at its centre in Manesar, Haryana.
Virtual SGKC is housed within the POWERGRID centre in Manesar and the solutions which are physically present at SGKC premises will also be hosted on this platform.
The Virtual SGKC is conceptualized and developed by POWERGRID with support from Ministry of Power and technical supoort from USAID.
The new initiative will prove to be one of the leading Centers of Excellence globally to foster innovation, entrepreneurship and research in smart grid technologies.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced to release a book on the life of Prime Minister Narendra Modi titled Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery.
The book captures political life of PM Modi’s past 20 years, ranging from his tenure as Gujarat CM to Prime Minister of India.
The book is a compilation of pieces written by intellectuals & experts and has been edited & compiled by BlueKraft Digital Foundation.
It is set to hit stands in April 2022.

The Government of India has approved USD 1 billion line of credit (LoC) for Sri Lanka, to help the Island nation for importing food, essential items and medicine.
Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa is visiting India on March 15, 2022 to seal the deal.
The island nation Sri Lanka is currently facing severe economic crisis.
The LoC is being extended by India in line with its efforts to assist its neighbouring country in fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and to mitigate its adverse impact and its developmental priorities.

Bangladesh tops the list in terms of women on board of listed companies in South Asia, as per the study conducted by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
According to data, there was an increase in the percentage of women who are independent directors on listed companies from 5% in 2020 to 6%, despite COVID-19.
2020 IFC-DSE study showed at the time around 18% of listed company board directors were women, which has remained the same.

1st Digital Water Bank of India AQVERIUM has been launched in Bengaluru, which is an innovative initiative aimed at better water management.
It is formed by AquaKraft Group Ventures.
It is a very unique innovation combining sustainable & green technologies along with information technology, skill development & entrepreneurship.
It is a curated list of water data from all institutions and sources, that will help tackle some common development challenges.