current affairs 21 March 2022

NPCI launches "UPI Lite – On-Device wallet" functionality for UPI user.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) designed the UPI Lite – On-Device wallet (UPI Lite) functionality for UPI user for small value transactions.
In phase 1, UPI Lite will process transactions in near offline mode i.e. debit offline and credit online, and at a later point, UPI Lite will process transactions in complete offline mode i.e. debit and credit both offline.
The upper limit of a UPI Lite payment transaction shall be Rs 200.
The total limit of UPI Lite balance for an On-device wallet shall be Rs 2,000 at any point of time.

RBI Innovation Hub (RBIH) and IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) have signed an MoU to work together in developing the ecosystem necessary to support and scale fintech startups in India.
RBIH is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reserve Bank of India.
Rajesh Bansal is the CEO of RBI Innovation Hub (RBIH).
Select startups incubated at IITM Incubation Cell will be considered from time to time by RBIH for co-incubation and thereby receive strategic and operational guidance, training and mentoring sessions by RBIH leadership.

The NATO has organised the massive military drill Cold Response 2022 in Norway from March 14, 2022 and will continue till April 01, 2022.
The exercise is held in Norway every second year, for NATO Allies and partners.
The Norwegian-led exercise provides an opportunity to train together in cold weather conditions over challenging terrain and demonstrates NATO’s ability to respond decisively to any threat, from any direction.

India has improved its rank by three spots to acquire 136th position in the United Nations’ World Happiness Report for the year 2022, which ranked 146 countries.
In 2021, India’s rank was 139.
Finland has topped the 2022 World Happiness Report, for fifth continuous year.
Afghanistan has been ranked as the unhappiest country in the world, at 149th position.
The World Happiness Report is being published by United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, since 2012.
The 2022 World Happiness Report was released on March 18, 2022.
It is the 10th edition of the report.

The National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. (NMDC), has signed an MoU for Drone-Based Mineral Exploration with IIT Kharagpur.
The NMDC Limited is a government owned mineral producer, under Ministry of Steel, and the largest Iron Ore producer in India.
With this MoU, NMDC becomes the first CPSE in India to conduct Drone-based Geophysical Surveys and Hyperspectral Studies for Mineral Exploration in the country.