• Moody’s has raised its forecast for India’s GDP growth in FY24 to 8% from 6.6% on the back of strong government expenditure and domestic consumption.
• The upgrade comes a week after the rating agency raised its forecast for India’s GDP growth in calendar 2024 to 6.8% from 6.1%.
• Earlier, the Indian economy soared ahead in the December quarter with a surprise growth of 8.4%, belying fears of tempering as manufacturing, electricity and construction put up a robust show.

The rating agency also expects India to be the fastest-growing economy among the major G20 countries

• Jan Aushadhi Diwas is observed on March 7 every year in India.
• This day serves as the culmination of a week-long event commencing on March 1, aimed at raising awareness about generic medicines and their potential to benefit millions of individuals nationwide.
• The Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Bureau of India (PMBI), under the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers (MoC&F), spearheads the organization of Jan Aushadhi Diwas.
• The inception of Jan Aushadi Diwas can be traced back to March 7, 2019, when Prime Minister introduced it as part of the Pradhan Mantri BharatiyaJanaushadhiPariyojana (PMBJP).
• The government has set a target to increase the number of Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya JanaushadhiKendras (PMBJKs) to 10,500 by March 2025.

• President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards for the years 2022 and 2023 to eminent artists in the field of performing arts, including music, dance, drama, folk and tribal arts.
• Besides the Akademi Awards, the President of India also bestowed the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship to 6 eminent artists.
  • These include- folklorist from Goa Vinayak Khedekar, Veena virutoso from Karnataka Visweswaran, Kathak exponent Sunayana Hazarilal, famous Kuchipudi dancers Raja and Radha Reddy, theatre artists Dulal Roy and D.P. Sinha.
  • The Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship or “Akademi Ratna” is the highest honor given to eminent artists in the field of performing arts for his or her exceptional contribution to performing art form.
  • It is restricted to 40 at any given time.
• The Akademi Awards have been conferred since 1952.
  • Awards in Hindustani and Carnatic music were instituted in 1951, even before Sangeet Natak Akademi was set up and these were known as Presidential Awards.
• While the honour of Akademi Fellow carries a purse money of ₹3,00,000, the Akademi Award carries a purse money of ₹1,00,000.

• International Women’s Day is an annual event celebrated on March 8^th.
• The day raises awareness of a number of issues, including violence and abuse against women, women’s reproductive rights, gender equality and women’s achievements in various fields.
  • March also marks the start of Women’s History Month around the world.
  • It begins on March 1 and ends on March 31.
• The United Nations began celebrating the day in 1975, and two years later, in 1977, the UN General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for Women’s Rights and World Peace.
• The United Nations has designated the year 2024’s theme as ‘Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress’ with a focus on addressing economic disempowerment, while the campaign theme for this year is ‘Inspire Inclusion.’

• The United States and India have reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation in multilateral forums like Global Counterterrorism Forum for advancing shared security interests within the region while supporting a free and open Indo-Pacific.

ABOUT GCTF

• The GCTF is an informal, apolitical, multilateral counterterrorism (CT) platform that contributes to the international architecture for addressing terrorism.
• Launched in
• In addition to the commitment of 32 Members of the GCTF, it welcomes valuable contributions of non-GCTF countries and international and regional organizations as well as civil society organizations.
  • India is a founding member.
• Its overarching mission is to reduce the vulnerability of people worldwide to terrorism by mobilizing expertise and resources to prevent, combat, and prosecute terrorist acts and counter incitement and recruitment to terrorism.
• The GCTF is currently co-chaired by Egypt and the European Union.

Panama has officially ratified the International Solar Alliance (ISA), marking its entry as the 97th member nation.

ABOUT ISA

• The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an action-oriented, member-driven, collaborative platform for increased deployment of solar energy technologies as a means for bringing energy access, ensuring energy security, and driving energy transition in its member countries.
• HQ- Gurugram
• ISA was conceived as a joint effort by India and France.
• It was conceptualized on the sidelines of the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Paris in 2015.
• With the amendment of its Framework Agreement in 2020, all member states of the United Nations are now eligible to join the ISA.
• Currently, 116 countries are signatories to the ISA Framework Agreement.
• The ISA is guided by its ‘Towards 1000’ strategy which aims to
  • mobilise USD 1,000 billion of investments in solar energy solutions by 2030,
  • while delivering energy access to 1,000 million people using clean energy solutions and
  • resulting in installation of 1,000 GW of solar energy capacity.

• Sweden has officially become the 32^nd member of NATO after it completed its accession process in Washington.
• Sweden applied to join the defence alliance after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – but its request was blocked by two members- Turkey and Hungary.
• Prior to Sweden,Finland – which has a 1,340km (832 mile) land border with Russia – joined in April 2023.
• With Sweden and Finland joining NATO, it is seeing its biggest expansion since the 1990s. They will add nearly 300,000 active and reserve troops to the alliance’s ranks.

 ABOUT NATO

• NATO– the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the US, UK, Canada and France.
  • It is a multinational military alliance founded on the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty.
  • Its aim was to block expansion by the Soviet Union – a group of communist states which included Russia.
• HQ- Brussels, Belgium
• NATO does not have an army of its own, but member countries can take collective military action in response to crises.
• They also coordinate military plans and carry out joint military exercises.
• NATO has 31 members across Europe and North America, including the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey.
• After the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, many Eastern European countries joined: Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

• Naval Detachment Minicoy has been commissioned as INS Jatayu, an upgraded naval base
• While India has had a naval detachment in Minicoy, the southernmost atoll of the Lakshwadeep archipelago, since the 1980s, INS Jatayu will effectively be the country’s second naval base in Lakshadweep.
• The Navy’s first base on the islands, INS Dweeprakshak in Kavaratti, was commissioned in 2012.
• It marks an important milestone in the Indian Navy’s resolve to incrementally augment security infrastructure at the strategic Lakshadweep Islands.

ABOUT THE ISLANDS

• Lakshadweep, ‘a hundred thousand islands’in Sanskrit and Malayalam, is an archipelago of 36 islands.
• The islands, only 11 of which are inhabited, have a total area of only 32 sq km.
• The Lakshadweep are part of a chain of coralline islands in the Indian Ocean that includes Maldives to the south, and the Chagos archipelago farther beyond, to the south of the equator.
• Given their location in the Indian Ocean, the Lakshadweep are of huge strategic importance to India.
• Minicoy straddles vital Sea Lines of Communications (SLOCs) — the world’s main maritime highways — including the Eight Degree Channel (between Minicoy and Maldives) and the Nine Degree Channel (between Minicoy and the main cluster of Lakshadweep islands).

ABOUT INS JATAYU

• The existing Naval Detachment Minicoy, which is under the operational command of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Lakshadweep), will be commissioned as INS Jatayu.
• A naval detachment has administrative, logistics, and medical facilities.
• INS Jatayu will be upgraded to a naval base with additional infrastructure such as an airfield, housing, and personnel, after obtaining the requisite environmental and other clearances.
• The establishment of the base is in line with the government’s focus on comprehensive development of the islands.
• The Naval base will enhance operational reach, facilitate its anti-piracy and anti-narcotics operations in the western Arabian Sea, and augment Indian Navy’s capability as the first responder in the region.

• Himachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister recently inaugurated the Asian River Rafting Championship on the Sutlej River at Basantpur near Shimla.
• About 20 national and international teams from Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Indonesia, are participating in the championship,
• It has drawn international attention, showcasing the global appeal of river rafting as a sport and Himachal Pradesh as a prime destination for adventure tourism.

• Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu recently announced that monthly financial assistance of ₹1,500 will be given to women above 18 years, during the ongoing financial year.
• Under ‘Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh Samman Nidhi Yojana’, all the women above 18 years of age of the State will be given ₹1,500 per month.
• It will put an additional financial burden of about ₹800 crore annually on the State exchequer.
• Around five lakh women were expected to benefit from the scheme.
• The government was already providing ₹1,500 to all the women of district Lahaul-Spiti and to all women of the State aged above 60 years since February, 2024, under the ‘Indira Gandhi Pyari Behna Sukh-Sammaan Nidhi Yojana’