Current affairs 24 March 2023

HP signs MoU with French Agency to improve drinking water, sanitation.

• Himachal Pradesh signed an MoU with the French Development Agency Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) for Rs 817.12 crore project.
• Objective: To develop better sewerage facilities in five towns of the state - Manali, Bilaspur, Palampur, Nahan and Karsog.
• It also aims to improve drinking water supply in Manali and Palampur towns.
• The beneficiaries of the project would receive house service connections in these five cities.
• HP CM: Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

QS World subject rankings 2023: 44 Indian programmes feature in top 100.

• According to the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023, a total of 44 programs from various campuses have been featured in the global top 100 list.
• In 2022, only 35 Indian programs were featured in the list.
• Five broader areas of University ranking: Engineering and Technology, Arts and Humanities, Life Sciences and Medicine, Natural Science and Social Sciences and Management.
• IIT Delhi’s Electrical engineering ranked 49 and IIT Bombay's mathematics ranked 92.

Stadium named after Indian hockey star Rani Rampal.

• Indian team’s star hockey player Rani Rampal has become the 1st woman in the sport to have a stadium named after her, in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.
• The MCF Rae Bareli has renamed the hockey stadium as Rani’s Girls Hockey Turf.
• Earlier this year, She made a successful comeback to the Indian hockey team during the tour of South Africa, where she was selected as one of the 22 players in the squad.

Amazon Pay ties up with NPCI’s Bharat BillPay for loan repayments.

• Amazon Pay has collaborated with Bharat BillPay to strengthen its loan repayment facility.
• Bharat BillPay is a biller platform of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
• Loan repayment is one of the top categories in terms of bill payment, amongst other options such as electricity and municipal tax payments.
• The category facilitates loan repayment options for customers who avail of their loans through banks, microfinance institutions, and NBFCs.

India’s Sarabjot Singh wins gold in 10m air pistol at ISSF World Cup.

• India's pistol shooter, Sarabjot Singh has clinched the gold medal in the men's 10m Air Pistol event at the ISSF Rifle and Pistol World Cup 2023 held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
• While Varun Tomar secured bronze in the same event.
• In the women’s 10m Air Pistol event, Li Xue from China won the gold and Germany’s Doreen Vennekamp settled for silver.
• China’s Qian Wei completed the podium with a bronze medal finish.