• India’s biggest maritime exercise, which included warships from the navies of Russia and the Quad countries, concluded on March 5 . Russia and the US relations are under strain since Russia initiated military operations in Ukraine.

• “The sea phase of the eleventh edition of MNILA which witnessed participation of 26 ships, one submarine and 21 aircraft, culminated on March 4,” the Indian Navy said. A delegation of Russia, Navy Chief of Australia, Chief of Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force and the Chief of the United States Indo-Pacific Command attended the exercise.

The exercise was significant as, “A series of complex and advanced exercises were undertaken in all three dimensions of Naval operations to enhance compatibility, interoperability, mutual understanding and maritime cooperation amongst the partner Navies.” the Indian Navy said in a statement.

• The first two days of exercises at sea included complex Anti Air Warfare drills with US P8A aircraft shepherding a strike of Indian fighter aircraft on a formation of warships of the participating navies, the Navy said.

• Additionally, weapon firings against low flying air targets were conducted, which reflected the high levels of interoperability. The exercise also “saw an increase in complexity including underway replenishment, advanced anti-submarine exercises with participation by aircraft, surface target firings and simulation of complex operational scenarios.”

• MILAN Series of Multilateral Naval Exercise, made a modest beginning in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1995 with participation of four littoral navies of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand.

• After weeks of speculation, Mayank Joshi, son of BJP MP from Allahabad Rita Bahuguna Joshi, joined the Samajwadi Party (SP).

• Mayank Joshi, who is also the grandson of former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna, joined the Samajwadi Party at an election meeting of party president Akhilesh Yadav in Azamgarh.

• In the wake of the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict, the government  has announced postponement of the 12th edition of Defence Expo while the IAF has cancelled its triennial exercise Vayushakti, scheduled on March 7.

• The Defence Expo 2022, proposed to be held in Gandhinagar from March 10 till March 14 is postponed due to logistics problems being experienced by participants. The new dates will be communicated in due course.

• The biennial defence exhibition was scheduled to be inaugurated by PM Modi. Defexpo began in 1996 and has been growing in profile, with the number of participating foreign and domestic companies rising with every event. This edition was expected to see more than 900 exhibitors from over 55 countries.

• Among foreign countries, the US had booked the largest space at the pavilion. Over 50 defence ministers and heads of armed forces had confirmed to attend the event. Vayushakti was to be the IAF’s largest-ever exercise, with 148 aircraft set to take part in the event.

• Sikkim government will give Rs 20,000 each to all non-working mothers and free sanitary napkins to all girl students of class 9 and above in the state, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has said.

• Addressing a function at Melli, the CM announced that the state government will implement the 'Aama Yojna' for non-working mothers and Bahini scheme for girl students.

• Under the 'Aama Yojna' scheme all non-working mothers in the state will receive Rs 20,000 each annually in their bank accounts, Tamang said, adding that only those whose names are in the electoral roll of the state will get the money.

• He said the scheme will be implemented from this year and all the required formalities for the efficient implementation of the scheme was under process.

• The said a sum of Rs 100 crore has been earmarked in the budget for the scheme and hoped that it will inculcate the habit of saving among non-working mothers.

• In the 'Bahini' scheme the state government will provide free sanitary napkins to girl students studying in class 9 and above.

• Over 18,000 girl students study in class 9 and above in the state.

• The state government also plans to establish sanitary napkin vending machines in schools and also increase awareness and sensitisation programmes about menstrual health and hygiene, he added.

• A local court in Assam's Golaghat district  handed down two years imprisonment to two former MLAs of the state in an over 10-year-old case of illegal angling inside Kaziranga National Park (KNP) and physical assault of a forest ranger.

• The two have also been slapped with fine of Rs 5,000 each, failing to pay which would entail an additional two months of jail.

• Additional district judge Kaushik Hazarika gave the verdict in the 2009 case against five persons, including ex-MLAs Jiten Gogoi and Kushal Dowari.

• Gogoi and Dowari were Independent legislators from Bokakhat and Thowra constituencies respectively at that time and were accused of forcibly entering the national park with their companions and angling illegally inside it.

• The Uttar Pradesh government has got registered the maximum number of its unorganised sector workers, a whopping 8.22 crore, far surpassing the number from all labour-intensive states, on the Centre's e-Shram portal.

• The state has alone surpassed the 6.66 crore target set by the Centre at the time of the launch of the portal on August 26 last year.

• With the registration of 8.22 crore of its workers on the e-Shram portal, Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the state with the maximum number of registered workers also far surpassing even Bihar which has been able to register only 2.8 crore of its workers on the portal.

• The national database of unorganized workers registered on the portal till March 5 shows that after Bihar, West Bengal has got registered 2.5 crore workers, Madhya Pradesh 1.5 crore and Odisha 1.3 crore.

• Within UP, the district of Prayagraj registered the maximum 22 lakh unorganized workers followed by Jaunpur (21 lakh), Sitapur (20 lakh), Bareilly and Azamgarh (both 19 lakh), according to the national database.

• Gorakhpur registered 18 lakh unorganized workers, while Lucknow and Kanpur Nagar both had 15 lakh, Varanasi and Aligarh both had 14 lakh, Moradabad 12 lakh, Meerut 11 lakh, Ghaziabad 9 lakh and Gautam Buddh Nagar 5.61 lakh, among other districts, it showed.

• The Ministry of Labour and Employment has developed e-Shram portal for creating a national database of unorganized workers (NDUW), which is to be seeded with Aadhaar.

• It will have details of name, occupation, address, occupation type, educational qualification, skill types and family details etc for the optimum realization of their employability and extend the benefits of the social security schemes to them.

• India's biggest maritime exercise which included officials and warships from the navies of the Quad countries and Russia culminated . The exercise took place amid deteriorating US-Russia relations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

• The Indian Navy in a statement said, "The sea phase of the 11th edition of MILAN, which witnessed participation of 26 ships, one submarine and 21 aircraft, culminated on March 4."

• The first two days of exercises at sea included complex Anti Air Warfare drills with US P8A aircraft shepherding a strike of Indian fighter aircraft on a formation of warships of the participating navies, the Navy said.

• Additionally, weapon firings against low-flying air targets were conducted, which reflected the proficiency of the crews and high levels of interoperability.

• The exercise also "witnessed an increase in the complexity of exercises including underway replenishment, advanced anti-submarine exercises with participation by aircraft, surface target firings and simulation of complex operational scenarios."

• The closing ceremony of MILAN 22 was held in a unique format with Commanding Officers of participating ships arriving by helicopters and boats on board INS Jalashwa at anchorage. Six foreign ships attended the closing ceremony in virtual mode.

• The MILAN Series of Multilateral Naval Exercise made a modest beginning in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in 1995 with the participation of four littoral navies of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand.

• This biennial congregation of friendly navies, over the last two-and-a-half decades, has progressively grown in magnitude with the previous edition in 2018 being attended by 17 countries.

• During this period, the scope of the exercise too has seen a progressive transformation.

• India and Bangladesh will soon finalise a joint study on the prospects of entering into a bilateral free trade agreement, which aims at further strengthening economic ties between the countries.

• The issue was discussed during a meeting between Commerce Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and Bangladesh's Senior Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Tapan Kanti Ghosh on March 4.

• Both sides held extensive discussions on a variety of issues including the development of railway infrastructure, port infrastructure, joint study on Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Border Haats, regional connectivity through multi-modal transportation, harmonisation of standards, mutual recognition agreement.

• CEPA is a kind of comprehensive free trade pact under which two trading partners significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them.

• They also liberalise norms to facilitate trade in services and boost investments.

• Bangladesh is the sixth largest trade partner of India.

• To facilitate bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh, several steps are underway including approval of a Detailed Project Proposal for developing container handling facility at Sirajganj Bazar.

• Other steps include construction of a new 900-meter siding line at Benapole for running freight trains between India-Bangladesh; completion of construction of a loading and unloading platform at Darshana for allowing import of all commodities from India by rail, it said.

• Besides, there was a consensus over the use of returning empty railway wagons/containers by Bangladesh as this would reduce overall logistics cost of India's exports to Bangladesh.

• Closed Border Haats due to COVID restriction would be opened soon and 24x7 operationalization of Petrapole-Benapole Integrated Check Post (ICP) would be implemented soon.

• The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 10.8 billion in 2020-21, as against USD 9.5 billion in 2019-20.

• Major exports from India to Bangladesh include cotton, cereals, fuel, vehicle parts and machinery and mechanical appliances.