09th March 2021 Current Affairs

1. Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was named as the Men’s Player of the Month (February) by the International Cricket Council (ICC) on March 9, 2021. England’s Tammy Beaumont was named as Women’s Player of the Month for February.
2. India and Nigeria held First Strategic and Counter-Terrorism Dialogue at the National Security Adviser level from March 4-5, 2021. The National Security Adviser of Nigeria Major General (Retd.) Babagana Monguno visited New Delhi, India at the invitation of India’s National Security Adviser Ajit K. Doval for the dialogue.
3. The United States has announced to offer temporary legal residency to the hundred thousand Venezuelans who have fled their country due to economic collapse. The United States has also decided to review the US sanctions intended to isolate the South American nation.
4. In a major move, the Indian Navy deployed four women officers onboard its warships recently after a gap of almost 23 years. Two women officers have been posted on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, while two others have been deployed on tanker ship INS Shakti. Women officers started getting deployed on warships for the first time in 1998 but the decision was changed later due to logistical and other issues.
5. Bareilly airport began its operations from March 8, 2021. Air India’s subsidiary company Alliance Air operated the first flight from Delhi to Bareilly with an all-women crew to celebrate International Women’s Day.
6. The World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and New Zealand will be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. The WTC final will be played from June 18 to 22 and June 23 has been kept as the reserve day.
7. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced a range of programmes on March 8, 2021 and a grant of USD 25 million to nonprofits and social enterprises working on empowering girls and women in India.
8. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) along with the US space agency NASA has completed the development of a Synthetic Aperture Radar- SAR which is capable of producing extremely high-resolution images for a joint Earth observation satellite mission.