* Lieutenant General GAV Reddy, SC, has been appointed as the new head of the Defence Intelligence Agency.

* General Reddy would be succeeding Lt Gen KJS Dhillon. The Director-General of the Defence Intelligence Agency is the head of the organisation and is among the principal advisors on intelligence to the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff.

* The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency responsible for providing and coordinating defence and military intelligence to the Indian Armed Forces.

* It was formed in March 2002 and is administered within and directly under the due guidance of the Ministry of Defence.

* The fifth submarine of Project 75, Yard 11879, of the Scorpene class commenced her sea trials .

* The submarine, launched in November 2020 from the Kanhoji Angre Wet Basin of Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL), would be named Vagir, after commissioning.

* Last year, INS Vela, the fourth submarine in the series of six submarines of Project-75, was inducted into the Navy.

* The Scorpene Class submarines are being built in India by the MDL, under collaboration with Naval Group, earlier DCNS, France.

* INS Kalvari is the first of the six Scorpene class submarines built under Project 75.

* The government has approved the continuation of the Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations with an outlay of Rs.1575 crore for the 15th Finance Commission Cycle 2021-22 to 2025-26.

* It is the main source of funding for the preparation of national teams for all major national, international competitions.

* Funding will be used by National Sports Federations to conduct national coaching camps and provide training of international standards to athletes.

* Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Neeraj Chopra has been nominated for the prestigious 2022 Laureus World Breakthrough of the Year Award

* The other 5 nominees are Daniil Medvedev(Australian Open runner-up), Emma Raducanu(British tennis star), Pedri(Barcelona and Spain footballer), Yulimar Rojas (Venezuelan athlete) and Ariarne Titmus(Australian swimmer)

* The winners will be revealed in April following a vote by the Laureus World Sports Academy, made up of 71 sporting greats.

* Punjab National Bank (PNB), and Patanjali Ayurved Limited (PAL) have launched co-branded credit cards in partnership with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

* The co-branded credit cards are offered on NCPI's RuPay Platform and is available in two variants – PNB RuPay Platinum and PNB RuPay Select.

* Both the co-branded cards offer a hassle-free credit service to purchase day-to-day Patanjali products, along with cash backs, loyalty points, insurance cover and more.

* Bharat Dynamics Limited signed a contract worth ₹3131.82 crores for the manufacture and supply of Konkurs anti-tank missiles for the Indian Army.

* Bharat Dynamics will manufacture and supply Konkurs anti-tank missiles to the Indian Army

* Konkurs - M is a second generation, mechanized infantry anti-tank guided missile, to destroy armored vehicle equipped with explosive reactive armour.

* BDL is also offering Man Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missiles, Nag, Milan-2T and Amogha, in addition to Konkurs - M, for exports.

* Dukaan, a platform that enables small and medium-sized businesses to set up online stores and sell products digitally, has partnered with Simpl to provide BNPL services to Dukaan's merchants.

* Simpl is a marquee buy-now-pay-later platform.

* Dukaan is a Bangalore-based startup that enables D2C and SMB merchants to set up online stores and sell products digitally.

* It has customers across multiple industries in the D2C space, including food & beverage, fashion, home décor, electronics and digital products, to name a few.

* Domestic rating agency CRISIL estimated FY23 real GDP growth at 7.8 per cent as compared with the 8.5 per cent projected in the Economic Survey.

* This estimate is owing to Budget proposals focused on loosening the purse strings by boosting capital expenditure and going slow on fiscal consolidation.

* The agency said global growth is expected to slow this year as major economies see a withdrawal of monetary and fiscal stimulus.

* According to the London-based Brand Finance, LIC is the strongest and the largest brand in the country with a valuation of $8.656 bn.

* Also, LIC is ranked third in brand strength globally after Poste Italiane of Italy and Mapfre of Spain and is also the 10th most valued insurance brand globally.

* The market value of LIC will become Rs 43.40 lakh crore or $59.21 billion by 2022, and Rs 58.9-lakh crore or $78.63 billion by 2027.

* LIC's brand value also climbed in overall global brand rankings by 32 places to become the world's 206th most valuable brand in 2021, from 238th slot in 2020.

* Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat declared Ramsar sites on the occasion of World Wetland Day 2022.

* Khijadia Wildlife Sanctuary (Ramsar site No. 2464), a freshwater wetland near the coast of the Gulf of Kutch, was formed following the creation of a bund (dike) in 1920 by the then ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Nawanagar to protect farmlands from saltwater ingress.

* The sanctuary is now part of Marine National Park, Jamnagar, the first marine national park in the country.

* Khijadiya, which is part of the Central Asian Flyway, has become the fourth wetland of Gujarat to get the Ramsar tag.