1. *The Western Railway zone of the Indian Railways has introduced the “Mobile Train Radio Communication (MTRC) system”.* This system will play a significant role of preventing the train accidents by effective communication.
2. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Thursday clarified that the Bharatiya Janata Party has not yet decided to nominate former Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan, popularly known as ‘Metro Man’, as the chief ministerial candidate of the party for the upcoming Kerala assembly polls.
3. *Phase 3 Clinical Trial of COVAXIN, developed by ICMR & Bharat Biotech, shows 81% efficacy*
4. *Sikkim has been trying to bring the number of coronavirus cases down to a single-digit and to maintain such a streak, the government has imposed new restrictions for travellers from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana and Karnataka.*
5. *Shiv Sena has decided not to contest the West Bengal polls and stand in solidarity with WB. CM Mamata Banerjee,* Senior Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said.
6. *WB Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to announce the entire list of candidates for the 294 assembly seats from her Kalighat home on Friday before hitting the campaign trail with a roadshow in Siliguri on March 7, the day PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend a BJP rally at Brigade.*
7. *The government of Jammu & Kashmir has withdrawn the nomination of former HDFC bank senior vice president, Zubair Iqbal as MD of Jammu and Kashmir Bank* .
8. The Congress has found itself in choppy waters in poll-bound Kerala after four prominent party leaders tendered their resignation in Wayanad district, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi. Former Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee member KK Vishwanathan, KPCC secretary MS Vishwanathan, DCC general secretary PK Anil Kumar and Mahila Congress leader Sujaya Venugopal resigned from the party in a week.
9. Labour activist Shiv Kumar, an associate of activist Nodeep Kaur, on Thursday got bail in connection with an alleged attempt to murder case which was registered on January 12.
10. *Centre issues new COVID-19 guidelines for malls, religious places, restaurants*
11. *PM Modi addressed a webinar on effective implementation of Budget provisions regarding the Education sector.* He said the second biggest focus after health in this year’s budget is on education, skill, research and innovation. He called for a better synergy between Colleges and Universities of the country.
12. *The Income Tax Department conducted raids on the properties of filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and actress Taapsee Pannu and director-producer Vikas Bahl on Wednesday (March 3) in relation to a tax evasion probe against now shut production house Phantom Films* . As per initial reports, a discrepancy of around Rs 300 crore has been uncovered during the probe.
13. *UPSC Prelims 2021: Registration open for 712 positions, IAS, IPS aspirants can apply before March 24*
14. *Three security personnel were killed and two injured in a Naxal-triggered IED blast in the forests of Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district on Thursday* : Three men of the special unit of the state police, Jharkhand Jaguars, were killed in the improvised explosive device blast that took place around 8.45 am at Hoyahatu village under Toklo police station area of the district.
15. *Coronavirus Cases:*
11,171,166
Deaths: 157,562
Recovered: 10,836,798
*✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS*
1. *World leaders thank PM Narendra Modi as India sends COVID-19 vaccines to 47 countries* : India has supplied over 4.64 crore made-in-India COVID-19 vaccine doses to 47 countries as of Thursday (March 4). The outreach has won New Delhi a lot of goodwill from the global community.
2. *Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ on Thursday (March 4) congratulated 12 Indian Institutions on securing a position in the top 100 in the QS Subject Rankings for the year 2021.* It including IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, IISC Bangalore, IIT Guwahati, IIM Bangalore, IIM Ahmedabad, JNU, Anna University, University of Delhi and O.P. Jindal University.
3. *External Affairs Minister Jaishankar arrived on a day-long visit to prepare the ground for Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Bangladesh later this month to participate in the celebrations of 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s Independence and 50 years of Bangladesh-India diplomatic relations* .
4. *The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has declared the year 2023 as “International Year of Millets”.* The resolution to declare the year was sponsored by India. The resolution was adopted by consensus and the support of over 70 nations out of 193.
5. *Later this year the Philippines could be the first Southeast Asian country to get the Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic missile.* both India and Philippines inked a critical defence pact which has now paved the way for exports of the military platforms and weapons to the ASEAN nation.
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