• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is contemplating installing a wooden barricade around the stone chariot inside Vittala Temple complex at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hampi in a bid to protect it from vandalism.

About the Temple:

• Located near the banks of the Tungabhadra River, the Vittala Temple is sited in north eastern part of Hampi.
• The temple was built in the 15th century during the reign of King Devaraya II (1422- 1446 A.D.) of the Vijayanagara Empire.
• Several sections of the temple were expanded and renovated during the reign of Krishnadevaraya (1509- 1529 A.D.), the illustrious ruler of the Vijayanagara dynasty.
• The Vittala Temple is dedicated to Lord Vitthala, an avatar of Lord Vishnu.
• An idol of Vitthala-Vishnu was enshrined in the temple but lost in ravages of time. 
• This temple is a part of Group of Monuments at Hampi - UNESCO’s World Heritage Site.

• The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) is an international household survey programme developed by UNICEF in the 1990s.
• Since then, close to 330 surveys have been implemented in over 115 countries.
• The sixth round of MICS has about 70 surveys, making it the largest round and includes a range of low, middle and high-income countries and many which are in post-emergency periods.  

• Predatory marketing of junk food, sugary beverages, alcohol and tobacco products preys on children and must be regulated, said A Future for the World’s Children report by a commission of 40 global child and adolescent health experts by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and The Lancet.
• No single country is adequately protecting children’s health, their environment and their futures.
• Among 180 countries surveyed, India ranks 131 (Flourishing Index), mainly because of high infant mortality and poor child health.
• The ranking is based on the ability of a child to survive and thrive, and includes performances on health, education, and nutrition; sustainability, with a proxy for greenhouse gas emissions, and equity, or income gaps, among others.
• India ranked 77th on sustainability index that takes into account per capita carbon emissions and ability of children in a nation to live healthy lives.

• Kerala will become the first State to totally digitise the general education sector in March in the wake of the General Education Rejuvenation Mission, Nava Kerala Mission coordinator has recently said.
• Classrooms in State schools are going high-tech. As many as 44,705 classrooms from Classes 8 to 12 in 4,752 schools have been provided with laptop, multimedia projector, DSLR camera, speaker, television, and so on. An amount of Rs. 1 lakh is being spent on each smart classroom. Classrooms for Classes 1 to 7 in 9,941 schools would become high-tech soon, a statement from Mr. Philip said.

• Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary would be soon announced as a tiger reserve.
• The approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is expected any time now.
• Once notified, Chamarajanagar district will have the rare distinction in the country of harbouring three tiger reserves.
• Also, with this, Karnataka will have six tiger reserves, the others being Nagarahole, Bhadra, and Anshi-Dandeli, apart from Bandipur and BRT Tiger Reserves.

• Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) received bids worth Rs 1.23 trillion for Rs 25,000 crore on offer for its one-year Long-Term Repo Operations (LTRO).
• RBI also announced the infusion of Rs.1 lakh crore into the system in phases, through the LTRO.
• The LTRO is a tool under which the central bank provides one-year to three-year money to banks at the prevailing repo rate, accepting government securities with matching or higher tenure as the collateral.
• While the RBI’s current windows of liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) and marginal standing facility (MSF) offer banks money for their immediate needs ranging from 1-28 days, the LTRO supplies them with liquidity for their 1- to 3-year needs.
• LTRO operations are intended to prevent short-term interest rates in the market from drifting a long way away from the policy rate, which is the repo rate.
• Since January 2019, the repo rate (the rate at which banks borrows quick money from RBI) has been cut by 139 basis points.
• But only a part of these rate cuts have as yet been passed on to borrowers by banks and other lenders.
• The LTRO is a move in a direction in which an increase in the proportion of low-cost funds, banks may now be forced to bring down interest rates on loans.
• The LTRO will also help bring down the yields for shorter-term securities (in the 1-3-year tenor) in the bond market.
• This measure will prompt increased investment in corporate bonds.
• These LTROs, together with the RBI’s earlier introduced ‘Operation Twist’, are an attempt by the central bank to manage bond yields and push transmission of already announced interest rate cuts.

• The Martian Moon Exploration (MMX) Mission, which aims to haul pieces of the Mars moon Phobos to Earth, has officially become a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) project.
• The spacecraft will explore 2 moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos and collect a sample from one of the moons to bring back to Earth.
• The spacecraft will arrive in Martian space and enter into an orbit around Mars.
• It will then enter a Quasi Satellite Orbit (QSO) around one of the Martian moons to collect scientific data and gather a sample from the moon’s surface.
• The current schedule is launch data in 2024, Martian orbit insertion in 2025 and return to Earth in 2029.
• A major scientific goal for the mission is clarifying the origin of the two Martian moons and the evolution process of the Martian Sphere (Mars, Phobos and Deimos).
• The creation of this system is one of the keys to solving the mysteries of planetary formation in the Solar System.

• The Health Ministry has planned to increase the legal age for smoking tobacco from the present 18 year to 21 years.
• The ministry is also planning to increase the penalty for smoking at restricted areas which is currently upto Rs 200.
• This is being done under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) as stringent action to contain tobacco use in the country.
• Presently, people over 18 years of age can legally smoke tobacco in the country.
• As per the act, the tobacco products should not be sold to people who are below 18 years of age.
• The act gives the power to any police officer who is not below the rank of a sub-inspector can search any premises where the tobacco products are produced or sold.

• To accelerate the startup ecosystem in India, Microsoft launched the 100X100X100 program for B2B SaaS startups in India.
• A first of its kind program in India, this initiative will bring together 100 committed companies and 100 early and growth startups that have enterprise-ready solutions to offer.
• Each participating company will commit to spend $100K over a course of 18 months on solutions provided by the SaaS startups.
• More than 50 startups are part of the program at launch.
• The 100X100X100 program will help enterprises fast track their digital transformation through faster adoption of SaaS solutions.
• It will aim to create a profitable domestic market for the fast growing Indian B2B SaaS startup segment by increasing their revenue and customer base.

• An annual census found the number of dolphins at Odisha's Gahirmatha marine sanctuary has nearly halved over a year, pushing down the state's overall count.
• The January 2020 spotted only 62 of the marine mammals at Gahirmatha, also the world’s largest rookery of sea turtles — down from 126 found last year.
• Gahiramatha is located within Bhitarkanika National Park is a home to Irrawaddy dolphins.
• The state's total dolphin count was pegged at 233, down from 259 in 2019, according to census report released February 24, 2020.
• Gahirmatha is the lone mass nesting spot in Indian Ocean region and the only turtle sanctuary in Odisha.
• The marine sanctuary extends from Dhamra river mouth in the north to Mahanadi river mouth in south.
• The wetland is represented by as many as 3 protected Areas, namely The Bhitarkanika National Park, The Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary and The Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary.