March 2015 Current Affairs

www.talentsprint.com March 2015 Current Affairs

2nd March, 2015

1. 8 schemes delinked from Central support:  The government has decided to delink eight Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS), including National e-Governance Plan, Backward Regions Grant Funds, Modernisation of Police Forces and Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyaan (RGPSA), from its support. Why?  As much as 42% of union taxes will go to States as per the recommendation of 14th Finance Commission. The government has decided to accept this recommendation so as to reduce its fiscal burden.  The 8 schemes delinked from Centre’s support are: National e-Governance Plan, Backward Regions Grant Funds, Modernisation of Police Forces, Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyaan (RGPSA), Scheme for Central Assistance to the States for developing export infrastructure, Scheme for setting up of 6000 Model Schools, National Mission on Food processing and Tourist Infrastructure. 2. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna and PradhanMantri Gram Sinchai Yojna to be Fully Supported:  Reinforcing the government’s commitment to farmers, Union Finance Minister has flagged the PradhanMantri Gram SinchaiYojna aimed at ‘per drop more crop’ and ParamparagatKrishiVikasYojna (organic farming) as the two most important progammes in the farm sector to enhance productivity and production.  ParamparagatKrishiVikasYojna:www.talentsprint.com It has been formulated to promote Organic Farming. The objective is to promote eco-friendly concept of cultivation reducing the dependency on agro-chemicals and fertilizers and to optimally utilize the locally available natural resources for input production.  Pradhanmantri Gram Sinchai Yojana is aimed at irrigating the field of every farmer and improving water use efficiently to provide ‘Per Drop More Crop’. 3. Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank:  The Finance Minister has proposed to create a Micro Units Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore, and credit guarantee corpus of Rs. 3,000 crore. What it does?

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 1 www.talentsprint.com  MUDRA Bank will refinance Micro-Finance Institutions through a PradhanMantri Mudra Yojana.  In lending, priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises. Benefits:  These measures will greatly increase the confidence of young, educated or skilled workers who would now be able to aspire to become first generation entrepreneurs.  Existing small businesses, too, will be able to expand their activities.  By floating MUDRA bank, the Centre has ensured credit flow to SMEs sector and has also identified NBFCs as a good fit to reach out to them.  People will now be able to get refinance at subsidised rate and it would be passed on to the SMEs. Moreover, it would enable SMEs to expand their activities 4. ‘Act East’ Policy of the Government:  The Union Finance Minister has announced setting-up of manufacturing hubs in CMLV countries, namely, Combodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam.  This ‘Act East’ policy of the Government endeavours to cultivate extensive economic and strategic relations in South-East Asia.

 In order to catalyse investments from the Indian private sector in this region, a project development company wills set-up the manufacturing hubs in CMLV countries through separate Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). ||<><><>||

3rd March, 2015

1. Durban to become the first African city to host Commonwealth games in 2022  The 71-memberwww.talentsprint.com multisport event is played every four year by nations erstwhile under the British colonial rule.  The hosting rights went to South Africa by default as there was no other bidder left to compete.  The country sees it as the dress rehearsal for possible Olympics bid for 2024 or 2028 edition.  No African country has hosted either event.  South Africa has successfully hosted the football, rugby union and cricket World Cup tournaments so far.  The mega event was hosted by Glasgow in 2014 whereas the next (2018) edition will

2. INS Alleppey - is going to be decommissioned this year. Its a Russian Natya Class Mine Sweeper which has been in service since 1980.

Key Points  Indian Navy has earmarked 14 ports - 12 of them very sensitive - to be protected by Mine Sweepers Ships which clears mines laid out by enemy.  These ships keep critical strategic and communication points like shipping lines and ports safe by detecting and defusing such mines.  India needs at least two mine sweepers per port making it 28 for our 14 ports; this translate into a deficit of 22. 3. JagmohanDalmiya unanimously elected as the new President of the BCCI for a 3-year stint

 BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) - the governing body of cricket in India - is the richest Cricket body in the world.

Other appointments

 Anurag Thakur: Secretary, Amitabh Choudhary: Joint Secretary and AnirudhChaudhry: Treasurer

4. 'Ola' - India's largest Cab Hiring startup - buys out its nearest rival Taxi For Sure in a deal worth $200 million

 However, both the companies will continue to have separate existence and operation as earlier.  Market leader Olawww.talentsprint.com has over one lakh vehicles on its platform and this deal will only strengthen its position among other rivals like Uber.

5. Arun Singh is appointed as the new Indian Ambassador to US.

 The post was lying vacant since the incumbent S Jaishankar was promoted as the Foreign Secretary of India by the centre.

6. FICCI appoints eminent economist ArvindVirmani as the new Economic Mentor for Ficci's public policy and economic work

 Earlier he had served as the nation's Chief Economic Advisor and Principal Advisor in

7. Harendra Gupta lifts the inaugural PGTI Golconda Masters golf championship beating Shamim Khan in the final face-off.

 The Chandigarh golfer bags a cash reward of Rs 6 lakhs through this victory.

||<><><>|| 4th March, 2015

1. Richest Indian 'Mukesh Amabani' is the 29th wealthiest in the world: Forbes' world's billionaires list 2015

 He is holding his fort here for the last 8 years in a row.  Microsoft's Bill Gates retains his top spot with a net worth of $79 billion.  Gates has topped this list for the 16 of the last 21 years.  There are 1826 billionaires in the world as per the list; 90 of them are from India.  Top 5 billionaires: Bill Gates ($79 billion), Carlos Slim Helu ($77.1 billion), Warren Buffett ($72.7 billion), Amancio Ortega ($64.5 billion) and Larry Ellison ($54.3 billion).  Richest woman: Christy Walton (8th rank overall)  Youngest billionaire: Evan Spiegel (1250th rank): founder of Snapchat

2. There are 2.68 crore persons with disabilities in the country as per Census 2011; 1.18 crore of them being women As per Section 2(i) of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995 www.talentsprint.com  Blindness, low vision, leprosy-cured, hearing impairment, loco motor disability, mental retardation, and mental illness.  Moreover, Centre has introduced 'The Rights of Persons with Disability Bill 2014' in the Rajya Sabha which recognizes 19 specified disabilities based on an evolving and dynamic concept.  The new legislation mandates framing of guidelines by the Central Government for the purpose of assessing the extent of specified disability in a person.

3. Centre appoints Baldev Sharma as the new chairman of the National Book Trust

 The former 'Panchajanya' editor succeeds A Sethumadhavan to this office.

 'Panchajanya' is the mouthpiece of BJP's ideological mentor RSS (RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh).

4. Ministry of Shipping launches a website "Shipping Samvad" to invite innovative ideas and suggestions from general public and experts related to Indian maritime sector for improvements in the shipping, ports and inland waterways sector.

5. Election Commission has launched a program namely 'NERPAP' to cleanse its erroneous database. The scheme "National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme" seeks to authenticate electoral rolls by linking and syncing it to Aadhar data. Voter IDs are notorious for poor profile image and faulty address; the new program will also address this grievance. The nationwide drive will culminate on 15th August, 2015.

||<><><>|| 5th March, 2015

1. World's largest and tallest 'Indian flag' is unfurled at Town Park in Faridabad, Haryana.

 The mammoth Tricolor has a dimension of 96 feet by 64 feet and weighs 48 kilograms.  Its only fitting that the organizers created another benchmark by hosting it at a record height of 250 feet (75 meters) - the tallest ever for it.  It was hoisted by the BJP president Amit Shah in presence of state CM ML Khattar and other guests.www.talentsprint.com

2. 3 South Asian women to be honoured by US with prestigious International Women of Courage Award 2015 They are:  Captain NiloofarRahmani from Afghanistan Air Force  Nadia Sharmeen - Journalist and women’s rights activist from Bangladesh.  Tabassum Adnan - founder of Khwendo Jirga from Pakistan

In total, the prize this year has gone to 10 women from 10 countries.

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 5 www.talentsprint.com  Established in 2007, the global Prize recognize women for their exceptional contribution in the field of peace, justice, human rights and gender equality.  Till date, 86 women from 50 different countries have recieved this recognition.  Indian recipients - Delhi gang rape (2013) victim 'Nirbhaya' and 'Laxmi' - an acid attack victim (2014).

3. Centre decides to set up a 'National Marine Police Training Institute' in Gujarat at Pindara village of DevbhoomiDwarka district

 It will impart training to the marine Police personnel of all the coastal States/Union Territories in the country.  Its expected to take at least 4 years to start operation.

4. Ministry of Tourism is going to set up an ‘Indian Culinary Institute’ at Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) with a northern region Centre at Noida

 A technical committee is being constituted - having academic and industry experts - to plan and design course structure for basics and advance culinary studies.

5. Rani Mukerji becomes first ever film personality to bag the prestigious 'National Award' for creating awareness about child trafficking through her work

 The award - presented by National Institute of Gender Justice - recognizes contributions in the field of promoting the Safety, Security and Protection of Women and Girl Child.  The past awardees include Anna Hazare, PratibhaPatil, PanditJasraj and Mahashweta Devi.

6. Estimated 77 lakhswww.talentsprint.com 'Foreign Tourist' visited India in the year 2014; a growth of 10.6 percent on last year 6.97 million. 7. To boost Buddhist pilgrimage in the country, Government has identified 3 special tourist circuits  Ministry of Tourism will develop theses circuits with the help of other public and private stake holders.

The Dharmayatra or the Sacred Circuit  Gaya (Bodhgaya), Varanasi (Sarnath), Kushinagar, Piparva (Kapilvastu). Extended Dharmayatra or Extended Sacred Circuit or Retracing Buddha's Footsteps  Bodhgaya (Nalanda, Rajgir, Barabar caves, Pragbodhi Hill, Gaya), Patna (Vaishali,

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 6 www.talentsprint.com LauriyaNandangarh, LauriyaAreraj, Kesariya, Patna Museum), Varanasi (Sarnath), Kushinagar, Piparva (Kapilvastu, Shravasti, Sankisa) Buddhist Heritage Trails  Jammu and Kashmir - Ladakh, Srinagar (Harwan, Parihaspora) and Jammu (Ambaran).  Himachal Pradesh - Dharamshala, Spiti, Kinnaur and Lahaul.  Punjab - Sanghon.  Haryana – Jind (Assan), Yamunanagar (Sugh).  Maharashtra - Aurangabad (Ajanta, Ellora, Pithalkora Caves), Pune (Karla Caves), Mumbai (Kanheri Caves), Pune (Bhaja Caves) and Nashik (Pandavleni Caves).  Andhra Pradesh - Amravati, Nagarjunakonda, Vizag (Borra Caves, Salihundum Caves).  Madhya Pradesh - Sanchi, Satdhara, Andher, Sonari, Murulkurd. Odisha (Dhauli, Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri, Udaygiri, Langudi, Khandagiri).  Chhattisgarh – Sirpur.  West Bengal - Kolkata (Indian Museum)  Sikkim - Rumtek, Enchay and other Monasteries.  Arunachal Pradesh –Tawang and Bomdila. ||<><><>||

6th March, 2015

1. Maharashtra scraps Muslim quota  The Maharashtra government has officially scrapped the five per cent reservation for Muslims in educational institutions, despite a Bombay High Court ruling in its favour. The governmentwww.talentsprint.com has also said that admissions in educational institutions and jobs already granted under the quota would be protected.  The previous government had announced reservation in education and jobs for Marathas (16%) and Muslims (5%) ahead of the Assembly polls in October 2014.  This was challenged in court through several petitions. Eventually, the court scrapped the reservation altogether for Marathas, but allowed it for Muslims in education alone.  The Maharashtra state government had challenged the Bombay High Court order in the Supreme Court, which refused to interfere with the interim decision of the High Court but asked the Maharashtra state government to go back to the Bombay High

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 7 www.talentsprint.com Court on the issue. Why was it scrapped?  The government says that the Muslim quota in educational institutions was scrapped because the ordinance granting it had lapsed on the penultimate day of the Winter Session of the Assembly. 2. Investors rue absence of triple E status for NPS

 The Union budget recently proposed an additional tax deduction of Rs.50, 000 for investments in National Pension Scheme (NPS) under Section 80 CCD, with a view to giving a major boost to the new pension scheme.  This will be over and above the deduction of Rs.1.5 lakh available under Section 80C of the Income-Tax Act.

 This is a welcome move to rope in more investors into NPS.  However, investors are disappointed. For, the accumulated investment in NPS will continue to be taxable at the time of withdrawal. The government has not made investments in NPS tax-free at the time of withdrawal. The accumulated corpus at the time of withdrawal will continue to be taxable.  Experts also say that the absence of EEE (triple E) status for NPS was preventing faster enrolment into the scheme. ||<><><>||

7th March, 2015

1. India is just 4 satellites away from having its own GPS. The third in the series of seven navigational satellites, namely 'IRNSS 1C', has successfully beenwww.talentsprint.com placed into the geosynchronous orbit. Some Facts  PSLV-C26 (Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle) rocket carried it into the space from the launchpad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh).  The 1,425 kg satellite, originally scheduled for launch on October 10, was delayed due to some technical snag.  The first two in the series IRNSS 1A (July 2013) and IRNSS 1B (April 2014) has already been launched. 2. Centre to roll out Aadhar Linked Digital Locker facility to replace the usage of physical documents with e-documents.

 It will quicken and ease up the process of sharing our certificates and other such documents with various agencies.  Digital Locker is one of the key initiatives under the Digital India Programme and a beta version of the same has already been released in February 2015 by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (Deit).  E-documents will be shared through registered repositories thereby ensuring the authenticity of the documents online.  Residents can also upload their own electronic documents and digitally sign them using the e-sign facility.  These digitally signed documents can be shared with Government organisations or other entities.

3. Railways launches program for restoration and rehabilitation of helpless children in contact with Railways.

 There are at least 5-6 lakh children who either use railways or arrive on railway stations, and are either runaway or abandoned or trafficked and are in need of assistance.  The scheme named 'Special Operating Procedures' is a joint initiative of Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Railways.  20 railway stations have already started implementing these SOPs.  These railway stations will have NGOs/Child Help Groups working with them for restoration of children to their parents/guardians or their rehabilitation in absence of the former.  These stations will also help Child Help Desk/kiosk/Booths with a telephone facility to call child helplinewww.talentsprint.com 1098.  NCPCR will soon work out a Programme, along the lines of STEP(for women), of training those children who are not restored to their parents to enable them to acquire skills to be able to gradually earn their livelihood.

4. Hyderabad is the best city to live in India as per the Mercer's Quality of Living Report 2015

 The city of Charminar, offers the best quality of life in the country, and 138th in the world.  It is followed by Pune (145th), Mumbai (152nd) and New Delhi (154th) in the list.

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 9 www.talentsprint.com  Top 5 cities in the world: Vienna, Zurich, Auckland, Munich and Vancouver 5. ISRO is going to carry out a test flight of Reusable Launch Vehicle - Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) by second quarter of 2015.

 The reusable vehicle will bring down the cost of satellite launches.  Technology Demonstrator winged body vehicle weighing 1.5T will be lofted to a height of 70 km using solid booster, thus attaining 5 times the speed of sound.  It will be recovered ultimately from the sea after it descend from the sky into the ocean.  The magnitude of cost reduction depends on development and realization of fully reusable launch vehicle and its degree of reusability.

6. BJP-led Maharashtra government withdraws the 5% reservation quota for Muslims in government jobs

 The quota was introduced by the previous NCP-Congress regime just before the assembly election in July 2014.  The reservation was given to, two separate categories the namely the educationally and Socially Backward Category (ESBC) for Marathas as well as a Special Backward Class (Muslims) segment for the Muslims.

||<><><>|| 9th March, 2015

1. NASA's Dawn has become the first spacecraft to reach the orbit of a dwarf planet called Ceres.

 It was approximatelywww.talentsprint.com 61000 km from Ceres when the spacecraft began to feel the gravitational pull of the dwarf planet.  Since its discovery in 1801, Ceres has undergone multiple identities from being discovered as a planet - then called an asteroid and finally settling down as a dwarf planet.  Dawn also has the distinction of being the first mission to orbit two extraterrestrial targets namely Ceres and Vesta.  Earlier, from 2011 to 2012, the spacecraft explored the giant asteroid Vesta.  Ceres and Vesta are the two most massive residents of our solar system's main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

 Carolina Marin - the current World and European champion in women's badminton - thus became the first Spaniard to lift this coveted trophy.  This is her first ever win over Saina in four meetings.  Only 2 Indians - PullellaGopichand (2001) and PrakashPadukone (1980) - have so far bagged this title.

3. India-Nepal opens 2ndbus service between them on the Varanasi- Kathmandu route

 This daily link service will cover around 600 km over 12 hours reaching the destination via Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Sonauli.  The 1st direct bus link is operational from last November (2014) connecting the capitals (Delhi- Kathmandu) of both the nations.

4. President confers Stree Shakti Puraskars and Nari Shakti Puraskars for the year 2014.

 The Stree Shakti puraskars are conferred to six women in the area of women’s endeavor and exceptional contribution each year.  The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 300000 and a citation.  The inaugural 'Nari Shakti Puraskars' were also conferred this year.  The award carries a cash prize of Rs 100,000 and a citation.  They have been instituted by the Ministry of Women and Child Development to honour 8 women to recognize their individual contribution in specific areas.

5. Veteran journalistwww.talentsprint.com Vinod Mehta - founder-Editor-in-Chief of the 'Outlook' magazine - breathes his last at 74.  He launched a number of successful publications such as the Sunday Observer, Indian Post, The Independent, The Pioneer (Delhi edition) and, finally, Outlook. 6. G Karthikeyan, Speaker of Kerala's legislative assembly, passes away aged 66.

 The congress legislator was given this office after his party came to power in the state in 2011.

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TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 11 www.talentsprint.com 10th March, 2015 1. India ranks 4th in the world in terms of power generation; 5th in Wind Energy and 11th in terms of Solar Energy (installed capacity).

 As per Global Status Report, REN 21, India's global position in 'Renewable Energy' capacity installation is 5th in the world.  India already has installed capacity of over 34 GW from various renewable energy sources which is 13% of the total installed capacity of power generation in the country.

Solar Energy

 With an installed capacity of about 3000 MW solar power, the share of solar energy is about 2% in the power sector of the country.  Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has proposed to scale up Grid Connected Solar Power targets from 20000 MW to 100000 MW by 2022.  The target includes 40,000 MW roof-top solar photovoltaic, 57,000 MW large solar projects and 3,000 MW already installed.

2. India plans to establish cross cultural linkages with 39 Indian Ocean Countries under Project 'Mausam'

 The move seek to revive historic maritime cultural and economic ties with these 39 littoral countries which include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Iraq, Mauritius, Singapore, Thailand , Yemen, South Africa, Philippines and Pakistan among others.  The Project is a Ministry of Culture project with Archaeological Society of India (ASI), New Delhi as thewww.talentsprint.com nodal agency and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi as its Research Unit.

3. New schemes PRASAD and SWADESH DARSHAN launched by the govt. to promote tourism in the country.  "National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive(PRASAD)"  "SwadeshDarshan"  Under PRASAD, initially, twelve cities namely Amritsar, Ajmer, Amaravati, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Kedarnath, Kamakhya, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi and Vellankani have been identified for development.

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 12 www.talentsprint.com  Developing world-class infrastructure in the respective destinations/circuits is one of the mission objectives of the schemes.  Both the schemes are to be implemented in mission mode.

4. Centre takes steps to minimize dependence on Foreign Transshipment Terminals

 The measures will also promote development of transshipment hub in the country together with decreasing the dependence of Indian EXIM cargo on foreign transshipment terminals.  The main measures taken by the Government are:

(i) Relaxation of cabotage restrictions was granted to the International Container Transit Terminal (ICTT), Vallarpadam of Cochin Port Trust on 21 September, 2012 initially for a period of three years.

(ii) The Government of India has exempted Customs and Excise Duty leviable on specified bunker fuels used in Indian flag vessels for transportation of EXIM and empty containers between two or more ports in India.

 As per available information, during the year 2012-13, from major ports of India, 72.6% of the containers were transported to their destination and 27.4% of the containers were transshipped through Colombo, Singapore and other international ports.  The shipping lines decide to use a port for transshipment depending upon several factors such as availability of vessels, availability of cargo for onward journey, cost of transshipment at the port, convenient geographical location of the port, access to major trading centerwww.talentsprint.com etc.

5. The first bullet trains in India will play on 'Mumbai-Ahmedabad' route.

 Two separate feasibility study done on this project has already been submitted.  Government is undertaking a feasibility study to set up a Diamond Quadrilateral Network of High Speed trains in the country on... (i) Delhi-Mumbai, (ii) Mumbai- Chennai, (iii) Chennai-Kolkata, (iv) Kolkata-Delhi (v) Delhi- Chennai and (vi) Mumbai-Kolkata routes.  The total length of network will be almost 10000 km.

6. There are 289 communities identified as Scheduled Tribes in the Presidential

 Apart from that, requests of another 373 communities for inclusion have been received so far.  Government of India on June 15,1999 (further amended on June 25,2002) has laid down the modalities for determining the claims for inclusion in, exclusion from and other modifications.  According to these modalities, only those proposals which have been recommended and justified by the concerned State Government/Union Territory Administration and concurred in by the Registrar General of India (RGI) and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) are to be considered for amendment of legislation.

||<><><>|| 11th March, 2015

1. M VeerappaMoily - former union minister - has been awarded with the PrestigiousSaraswatiSamman 2014 for his Kannada poem Ramayana Mahanveshanam

 SaraswatiSamman, established by the KK Birla Foundation in 1991, is an annual award that is given in recognition of outstanding prose or poetry literary works in Indian languages that are listed in Schedule VIII of the constitution of India.  It carries a prize amount of 10 lakh rupees along with citation and a plaque.

2. "AapkiBetiHumariBeti": new scheme launched by Haryana government to Reversedeclining sex ratio in the state.

 The scheme will www.talentsprint.comcover first-born girl child of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and all second girl child born on or after 22nd January 2015 of all families in the state.  All such girls will get a cash reward of 21000 from the government.  The prize also covers twin or multiple girls born after the cut-off date.

3. A total 42 Mega Food Parks (MFPs) have been sanctioned by the government for setting-up in the country

 The project aims to boost the food-processing industry by providing direct linkages from the farm to processing and on to the consumer markets, through a network of

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 14 www.talentsprint.com collection centres and Primary Processing Centres.  It includes creation of infrastructure for primary processing and storage near the farm in the form of Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and Collection Centres (CCs) and common facilities and enabling infrastructure at Central Processing Centre (CPC).  Each state will have at least one Mega Food Park.  Out of the approved 42, 21 parks have been accorded final approval and are at various stages of implementation, while 4 parks are progressing towards meeting the conditions for final approval.

4. Centre launches a Web Portal to induce transparency in supply of raw materials for infrastructure projects.

 "INAM-PRO" is a web based application (www.inampro.nic.in) for infrastructure and materials providers and would act as a common platform for infrastructure materials providers viz. Cement Companies, Infrastructure providers, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and other stakeholders.  The portal, designed by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, shall ensure complete transparency in the supply chain together with reducing the cost overruns and delay.  Government can now track and monitor the activities of buyers and suppliers, and remove impediments of either of the parties and help accelerate the execution of infrastructure projects in the most cost effective manner.

5. Centre devise incentive scheme to help major ports go 'Green'.

 Green projects such as waste water treatment, renewable energy generation, use of bio-diesel and provisionwww.talentsprint.com of shore power would be supported upto 50% of the project cost.  Each major port would be given a financial grant of upto Rs 25 cr for undertaking these initiatives.  Nine major ports have also given a commitment to generate 150 MW of non- conventional energy through solar and wind power in the next five years.  This includes 25 MW generation by Jawaharlal Nehru Port and 20 MW each by Paradip Port, Kamarajar Port and Kandla Port.

6. 7th edition of 'Delhi Dialogue' - a forum to promote ASEAN-India relations –

 Delhi Dialogue is an annual Track 1.5 dialogue process for brainstorming on all aspects of the ASEAN-India relationship and aimed at further strengthening of the ASEAN-India Strategic Partnership.  The 2 day meeting has 'Shaping the Post 2015Agenda' as its theme. 7. Railway has introduced 'Go-India' Smart Cards with aim to reduce the transaction time at the booking counters.  The facility has been launched on pilot basis on two sectors: New Delhi- Mumbai and New Delhi- Howrah.  Passengers can use this card to purchase both reserved and unreserved tickets at select Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) & Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counters and at Automatic Ticket Vending Machines (ATVMs) on these two sectors.  The scheme is intended to reduce the transaction time at the booking counters for the convenience of passengers as it facilitates cashless transaction.

Salient Features  The card can be purchased by paying Rs 70 - 50 for card and 20 as balance.  The card can later be recharged with a minimum of Rs 20 or in multiple of Rs 50 upto Rs 5000.  The next and highest recharge limit (beyond 5000) is Rs 10,000.  Though the card has life time validity, it may be temporarily deactivated in case of no usage in six months from the date of last transaction.  The reactivation charge is Rs.50. ||<><><>||

12th March, 2015 www.talentsprint.com

1. Kumar Sangakkara becomes the first batsman to score four successive centuries in ODIs.

 The veteran Sri Lankan batsman also becomes the first wicket-keeper to register over 500 dismissals behind the wicket.  He scripted his name in the record books in the match against Scotland where he scored 124 runs.  Prior to this, he had scored a hat-trick of centuries (chronological order) against

2. Subsidy on petroleum products in 2014-15 is almost half of what was incurred in the previous year (2013-14).

 The data (estimated only upto October 2014) shows the burden to be just Rs. 72,415 crore (as against 1,46,339 crore previous year) on regulated petroleum products like Diesel, PDS Kerosene and Subsidized Domestic LPG.  The saving is result of the falling prices of crude oil in world market.

3. David Hale is nominated as the next US ambassador to Pakistan by the President Obama.  In the meanwhile, Pakistan has successfully tested nuclear capable surface-to- surface missile Shaheen-III which has an impressive strike range of 2,750 km. 4. India stands 7thin the world for number of nuclear reactors in operations; 14thin terms of net installed capacity among countries with nuclear power

 We are 3rd in number of reactors under construction and sixth in terms of net capacity under construction.

5. Centre is going to set up 50 Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy with necessary emphasis on Maths and Science; under the newly launched scheme Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching (PMMMNMTT). 6. Shillong is hosting the 'Indian Panorama Film Festival 2015' for the 3rd year in a row.

 The festival showcasewww.talentsprint.com best of contemporary Indian Cinema produced in different languages with a view to promoting quality cinema from different parts of the country.  Eight feature films and three non-feature films will be screened over three days.

||<><><>|| 13th March, 2015

1. ISRO plans to set up a new launch pad, referred as Third Launch Pad, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

 The project seeks to support increased launch frequency, launching requirements of future advanced launch vehicles and serve as a redundant launch pad for the GSLV MIII class of vehicles.

2. Centre launches "Pharma Jan Samadhan" - a web platform - for redressal of consumers' grievances relating to pricing and availability of medicines.

 It will provide consumers and others with an on-line facility to redress their complaints relating to over-pricing of medicines, non-availability or shortage of medicines, sale of new medicines without prior price approval of NPPA, and refusal of supply for sale of any medicine without good and sufficient reason.  The online tool - created by 'National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority' - will protect consumer’s interests through effective implementation of the Drugs (Price Control) Order 2013.  NPPA will also initiate action on complaints within 48 hr of its receipt.

3. Centre rolls out 'Short Code SMS services' for the UAN activated members of EPFO; will help them track their details along with contribution and PF Balance. How to Use:

 Member will send an SMS in predefined format from his/her mobile number registered during UAN activation.  The EPFO on receipt of such SMS will send the members details available with EPFO along with details of KYC seeded, Last Contribution and Total PF Balance.  UAN or Universal Account Number is a service which provides the users different services such as passbook, monthly SMS of contributions etc.  The SMS servicewww.talentsprint.com will speed up the UAN activation process by the members.  The scheme has been launched in 10 languages namely English, Hindi, Telugu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Bengali.

4. NSCI Safety Awards-2014 presented.

 75 Organizations won the honour in four award categories – Sarva Shreshtha Suraksha Puraskar, Shreshtha Suraksha Puraskar, Suraksha Puraskar and Prashansa Patra.  This national level awards are given in the field of Workplace Safety, Health and Environment which recognize establishment of effective Safety Management System

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 18 www.talentsprint.com and excellent safety and health performance by the organizations in Manufacturing, Construction and MSME Sectors during the relevant assessment periods.  These Awards are presented every year by the National Safety Council.  The National Safety Council - non-commercial, non-profit making autonomous society - was set up by the Ministry of Labour in 1966 to generate, develop and sustain a voluntary movement on Safety, Health and Environment in the country.

5. Narendra Modi becomes the first Indian PM to visit Sri Lanka after Rajiv Gandhi trip way back in 1987

 Sri Lanka is the final stop of his 3-nation tour which began with visiting Seychelles and Mauritius.  He will be the first Indian Prime Minister and only the second foreign leader after British Premier David Cameron to visit war-torn Jaffna, where he will hand over some 20000 homes - built with Indian assistance - to locals.

6. 2014-15 Ranji Trophy goes to Karnataka  Riding on the maiden triple ton by Karun Nair (338), Karnataka successfully defended their title by beating Tamil Nadu in the final.  They crushed their neighbour by an inning and 217 runs to lift their 2nd successive and 8thoverall Ranji Trophy. About  The Ranji Trophy is a premier domestic cricket tournament of India.  The competition is named after former Indian cricketer Kumar Shri Ranjitsinghji who had also represented England in test cricket.  The competition was launched as "The Cricket Championship of India" in 1934.  The first Ranji www.talentsprint.com Trophy Championship (1934-35) was won by Bombay after they defeated North India in the final.  Syed Mohammed Hadi of Hyderabad was the first batsman to score a hundred ||<><><>||

14th March, 2015

1. UK to join China-backed Asian development bank  Britain has said that it has sought to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), making it the first Western nation to embrace

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 19 www.talentsprint.com the China-backed institution, but the United States reacted frostily to the development.  The AIIB was launched in Beijing last year to spur investment in Asia in transportation, energy, telecommunications and other infrastructure. ||<><><>||

16th March, 2015

1. Services are crowned champion of Santosh Trophy 2014-15.  They beat Punjab in the final of 69th edition of this premier football tournament to clinch their 4th overall title here. The match - having remained goal-less in the regulation time - had to be decided by the penalty shootout. Services prevailed in the shootout by 5-4 over Punjab. They have earlier won this trophy in years 1961, 2012 and 2013 besides finishing up as runner on 5 other occasions. 2. Dr Alka Beotra gets nominated to the Executive Board of WAADS (World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists) for a 3-year stint.

 She is the Scientific Director in National Dope Testing Laboratory under the aegis of Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.  The WAADS is an organisation comprising anti-doping scientists from all the WADA- accredited labs across the world.  WAADS seek to curb issue of doping in sport by facilitating such laboratories to counter this threat.

3. Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinches $120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title in Men's singleswww.talentsprint.com category.  He defeated defending champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark to become the first Indian male to grab this prestigious badminton title.

4. 9,36,488 registered doctors in the country (till 2014) as per Medical Council of India report.

 India has 19 health workers (doctors - 6, nurses & midwives - 13) per 10,000 people as per the report of the Steering Committee on Health for the 12th Five Year Plan of the Planning Commission.  WHO calls for a minimum of 25 doctors per 10,000 people

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 20 www.talentsprint.com  Additionally, there are 7.9 Lakh AYUSH practitioners registered in the country (approx. 6.5 per 10,000).  Data in respect of health professionals in rural and urban areas is not maintained centrally.

5. Uttar Pradesh (265) registered the highest number of cases under Domestic Violence Act followed by Kerala (124) during 2014.

 The number of cases registered under Domestic Violence Act, 2005 has gone down over the last three years.  As per the provisional data of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) - the number of such cases registered were 531 in 2014, 4204 in 2013 and 16351 in 2012.

6. In a controversial ruling, Ex-Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed is sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.

 Mohamed Nasheed - the first democratically elected President of Maldives - was found guilty of arresting and illegally detaining judge Abdulla Mohamed during his reign.  The move has been termed malafide and politically motivated by the Nasheed supporters who view it as an attempt by incumbent President Yameen Abdul Gayoom to eliminate any challenge in the 2018 presidential election.

7. International Financial Services Centres (IFSC) to be set up to help India become a Producerand Exporter of global financial services.

 The IFSCs will provide avenues to finest financial minds in the country to fully exhibit and exploit theirwww.talentsprint.com strength to make India a hub of international financial services.  The IFSCs will be set-up in the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and appropriate regulations in this regard will be issued by the end of this month.  The first IFSC is proposed to be set up in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, which is located in the notified Special Economic Zone.

||<><><>|| 17th March, 2015

1. China becomes the world's 3rd largest arms exporter after the US and Russia:

 It overtook Germany, France and the UK in terms of exporting weapons between 2010 and 2014.  China accounts for nearly 5% of total arms exported globally making loyal customers out of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

2. Super Cyclone 'Pam' stormed Vanuatu - a small impoverished island nation in the Pacific - into stone age

 The deadly 'category five' storm with Tip's winds reaching the speed over 300 km/hr wiped away all the recent development happened in this country with a population of some 2.5 lakh.  The extent of damage is still being assessed as all communication links with many islands is yet to be established.  Aid has begun to pour in from the neighbouring countries of Australia and New Zealand.

3. World Consumer Rights Day 2015 was observed on March 15

 The day is celebrated globally to promote the basic rights of all consumers.  The theme of this year is "Helping consumers choose healthy diets".

4. Only 7 railway stations boast of Wi-Fi facility at present in India.

 These are: Bengaluru, New Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Agra Cantt, Varanasi and Secunderabad  The internet access is provided free to the users for first 30 minutes.  For usage beyondwww.talentsprint.com that, it is priced at Rs.25 for 30 minutes and Rs.35 for 1 Hour and is valid through 24 hours.  Such facility is proposed to be provided to all 'A-1' & 'A' category stations (Total 75+332 = 407 stations).

5. Center launches a 'National Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Awareness Week' at Gurgaon (Haryana)

 The week-long national campaign will conclude at Kohima (Nagaland) on 22nd March commemorating the celebration of World Water Day.  During the campaign, there will be an extensive awareness drive on construction and

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 22 www.talentsprint.com use of household toilets, keeping the villages clean, safe handling and use of drinking water, awareness of quality of drinking water, water conservation, community managed water supply systems in rural areas involving grassroots level institutions like Village Water and Sanitation Committees, Panchayati Raj Institutions, Anganwadi, ASHA Workers, schools teachers, Women Self Help Groups and Youth Clubs.

6. Lifts and Escalators at Indian Railway Stations: 244 escalators at 96 stations while 44 railway stations are equipped with 101 lifts as of today.

 As per the existing guidelines, escalators/elevators to be provided at 'A1' category and escalators at 'A' category, 'C' category and stations of tourist importance under desirable amenities based on techno commercial feasibility & availability of fund.  The total number of railway stations in the country is estimated to be close to 8000.

||<><><>|| 18th March, 2015

1. Supreme Court scraps 'Jat Reservation' through the central OBC list.

 The Apex court questioned the centre's move to include them in the list despite objection by the 'National Commission for Backward Classes' which deemed them too well-off and politically organized for reservation in jobs and educational institutions.  The court prefers the benefit to go to deserving communities who are really backward in socio- economic terms; and one of those should be the 'Transgenders'.  It observes that the Caste should not be only criteria to decide the beneficiary.

2. Ashu Suyash to bewww.talentsprint.com the MD & CEO of CRISIL - Indian arm of credit rating agency 'Standard & Poor's'

 She will join the company from June 1, 2015 replacing RoopaKudva as such.  The post was vacant eversince RoopaKudva had quit the office last September after a seven-year stint.

3. The Government has approved for establishment of All India Institute of Ayurveda at SaritaVihar, New Delhi

 It has been conceived as an Apex Institute of Ayurveda with 200 bedded referral

4. India will host the first Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction of the post-2015 era

 The Conference is set to endorse a Regional Implementation Plan of the new post- 2015 framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).

5. Snapdeal plans to acquire logistics firm GoJavas to boost its delivery operations.

 The deal, estimated to be in the range of 150-200 crore, is the 6th acquisition by the Snapdeal till date.  The 2nd biggest e-commerce platform of India is also going to acquire mobile recharge platform, Freecharge, for about Rs 2,800 crore.  GoJavas - which works with eCommerce companies like HealthKart, Jabong, Yepme and Lenskart - covers over 2500 pincodes in the country for its delivery operation.

6. Ministry of Home Affairs is going to launch a web portal 'MySecurity.in'  Provide a platform for developing security related web applications. Any individual, company, student, NGO etc. can develop and deploy on this portal such security applications which may be useful to the people. General public can then pick and choose apps as per the requirement from this trusted platform. The main objective of the web portal is to promote innovation in developing security related applications as well as offer to the people safe and trusted applications for their security needs. ||<><><>||

19th March, 2015 www.talentsprint.com

1. Mumbai gets its first local train with automatic sliding doors.

 The train was introduced on the Churchgate to Borivali route.  Railway plans to add at least four rakes on both Central and Western Railway with closed doors in the next one year.  The local trains ferry 7.5 million commuters daily - roughly 30 per cent of the daily national rail traffic.  Some 37,383 persons were killed in local train accidents in the past decade.

 The all-weather 'Beyond Visual Range (BVR)' missile can destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speed.  This 3.8 meters long missile is the smallest of the DRDO-developed missiles.  Its also capable of being launched from different altitudes.

3. Littering railway tracks and platform will cost you a fine of Rs 5000 from now on.

 The ruling has been given by National Green Tribunal to help the cleanliness drive in the country.  The bench, headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, also passed a slew of instructions to Railways and other authorities on how to keep the premises clean.

4. Department of Consumer Affairs launches a web portal "GAMA" (Grievances Against Misleading Advertisements) for redressal of grievances against misleading advertisements

 It also introduced "GrahakSuvidhaKendras" - one stop consumer service centers, in six cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Patna and Delhi.  This new initiative aims to enhance consumer awareness and strengthen support services to them across the country.

5. For every convict, there are more than 2 undertrials in Indian jails.

 As per the data compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau at the end of 2013, there were 4,11,992www.talentsprint.com inmates in the jails of the country, out of which the number of convict prisoners was 1,29,608 and the number of undertrials was 2,78,503.  'Prisons' is a state subject under Entry 4 of List II of the 7th schedule to the Constitution and prison administration is primarily the responsibility of the state governments.

6. Indian Oil Corporation is in talks with Nepal Oil Corporation for setting up a petroleum product pipeline from Raxaul in India to Amlekhganj in Nepal.

 The proposed pipeline, measuring some 38 Km, would come up at estimated cost of

||<><><>|| 20th March, 2015

1.Ratan Tata to head the "Kayakulp" Council to bring innovation in the operation of Indian Railways

 The newly constituted Council will recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of the Railways.

2. Centre to develop a 1620-km long navigable waterway between Allahabad and Haldia.

 The waterway - called "JalMargVikas" (National Waterway-1) - will take around 6 years to complete with an estimated cost of 4200 crore.  This would enable commercial navigation of at least 1500 ton vessels.  Technical assistance and investment support is being provided by the World Bank.

3. SohailAman becomes the new chief of Pakistan Air Force.

 He replaces the incumbent Air Chief Marshal TahirRafique Butt.

4. Mahendra Singh Dhoni becomes the first Indian and Non-Australian to have won 100 ODIs’ as captain in world.

 He is the 3rd in the world to achieve this distinction, after Allan Border (107 wins) and Ricky Ponting (165 wins).  The feat was achievedwww.talentsprint.com in the quarter-final match of the '2015 World Cup' played against Bangladesh.

5. Union HRD Minister 'SmritiIrani' is one of the 11 Indians named in the 'Young Global Leader' list released by the World Economic Forum (WEF)

 British Prime Minister David Cameron, Alibaba Group chief Jack Ma, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer have been part of this coveted list in the past.  GauravGogoi - son of Assam Chief Minister TarunGogoi - also feature in the list that contains 187 YGLs for this year (2015).

6. Maharashtra is set to rename the iconic beach of 'Girgaum Chowpatty'

 The beach - oldest and most famous of Mumbai - offers scenic sunset which attracts thousands footfalls daily.  By 2019, India's total nuclear power installed capacity is expected to reach 10,080 MW from the present 5780 MW.  This will happen after the progressive completion of the projects presently under construction/commissioning. ||<><><>||

21st March, 2015

1. India Pavilion wins the 2nd place for the Best Stand in the Asia, Australia and Oceania category at ITB Berlin trade fair.

 The ITB Berlin (International Tourismus-Börse Berlin) is the largest tourism trade fair in the world.  India showcased its rich cultural heritage at the fair that included; 'Yoga workshops' marketing the brand 'Incredible India', evoking the Buddhist heritage of India by putting the theSanchiStupa in the middle of the pavilion with trade partners all around and various other activities.

2. Centre to introduce the Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2015 in Parliament so as to repeal 758 Appropriation Acts.

 These are the laws which have either lost their relevance or become dysfunctional over a period of time.  The list includeswww.talentsprint.com Appropriation (Railways) Acts and 111 State Appropriation Acts enacted by Parliament since 1950 to 1976.  This is in keeping with the Prime Minister's commitment to bring reform in the country's legal system, so as to make it more accessible to the common man.  The Commission on Review of Administrative Laws (PC Jain Commission) gave its Report in 1998 identifying a large body of laws for the purposes of repeal.  It had recommended the repeal of 700 Appropriation Acts passed by Parliament from time to time since 1950 as they are, in terms, temporary in nature.

3. Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has become the first person of Indian origin to head the 'Royal Society' - an iconic society of science in Britain.

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 27 www.talentsprint.com  He will take over from geneticist Sir Paul Nurse - another Nobel laureate - on December 1, 2015. The prestigious gathering (Royal Society) - a communion of the world's most distinguished scientists - has been there since the time of legendary Issac Newton, year 1660 to be precise 4. Union Cabinet clears the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) with an outlay of Rs 1500 crore.

 This is the flagship scheme for skill training of youth to be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).  The scheme will cover 24 lakh persons. Skill training would be done based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry led standards.  Under the scheme, a monetary reward is given to trainees on assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies.  The average monetary reward would be around Rs 8000 per trainee.

5. Wi-Fi in Indian trains: Howrah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express is the only train to enjoy this facility.

 Further, work for provision of Wi-Fi in 12957/12958 Ahmedabad Rajdhani Express, 12005/12006 Kalka Shatabdi Express and 12045/12046 Chandigarh Shatabdi Express is also in progress.  Providing reliable Wi-Fi in a moving train is a costly affair as the Satellite Communication technology - capital intensive due to high cost of bandwidth rentals - is the only way to offer this facility. 6. Over 30 dead in a www.talentsprint.comTrain accident near Rae Bareli.  It was 'Dehradun-Varanasi Express' which slipped off the track some 30 kilometres from Rae Bareli while on its way to the Varanasi.

||<><><>|| 23rd March, 2015

1. Iconic statesman 'Lee Kuan Yew' - the architect of modern Singapore –breathes his last at 91.

 He is credited with transforming the tiny island into one of the wealthiest and least

2. Sri Lankan War-Hero SarathFonseka is conferred on the highest military rank of Field Marshal by the President MaithripalaSirisena.

 Political differences with previous president Rajapaksa has landed him in jail over alleged charges of treason.  The new government has finally restored his pride and position clearing him of all charges.  Fonseka had led the Sri Lankan army to victory over the LTTE in 2009.

3. Martina Hingis and SaniaMirza lift women's doubles title at BNP Paribas Open.

 They beat the pair of Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina by 6-3, 6-4 in the final to grab their first title together.  Hingis has won 11 Grand Slams in the team discipline (nine in women's and two in mixed) while Sania has claimed 3 Grand Slams (all in mixed) so far. 4. International Day of Forests is observed on March 21, 2015 with the theme 'Forests and Climate Change'

 The theme highlights forest-based solutions to address climate change mitigation and adaptation, and to ensure sustainable development.  31 percent of global land area is covered by forests providing life to almost 80 percent of the terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects.  Around 1.6 billion people, including 2000 indigenous cultures, depend on forests for their livelihood. 5. Jammu & Kashmirwww.talentsprint.com to soon have a massive network of seismic stations.  The station will be equipped with accelerometers and GPS instruments giving the quake-prone region some control to limit the damage.  Kashmir Valley is few of the most vulnerable (seismic zone 5) regions to earthquake in India alongwith entire North-East.  Though, the region had not experienced a major earthquake (of more than magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale) for the past 400 years; the possibility of one can't be denied.

6. Novak Djokovic clinches men's singles crown at Indian Wells Open 2015; his 4th so far

 The Serbian icon humbled Swiss great Roger Federer 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2.  Its been the 50th tour-level title for Djokovic making him the 12th player in the Open Era to win 50 titles.  Female singles winner: SimonaHalep of Romania ||<><><>||

24th March, 2015

1. 'Amaravati' to be the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.

 The town, some 32 km from the ancient Buddhist centre of Amravati, is situated at the banks of river Krishna.  The historical town attracts attention for a famous Buddhist Stupa and a temple of Lord Shiva among many other sites worth visiting.  As per historical data, Amaravati and nearby locations including Dharanikota served as capital of Satavahanas and later to other rulers.

2. To rein in touts, Railways restrict sale of e-tickets during peak hours.

 One user login can now generate just one booking before its forced out of the session.  This restriction will be applicable while booking of e-ticket between 8 AM to 12 PM (4 hours).  The new rule - however - excludes defence booking under warrant, and the cases of booking onward journey/ return journey through e-tickets.

3. Indian ecologist 'www.talentsprint.comMadhav Gadgil' is honoured with prestigious 'Tyler Prize' for Environmental Achievement 2015

 He will share the $200,000 cash prize with American marine ecologist Dr Jane Lubchenco.  Both have been recognized for their significant contributions in the development of conservation and sustainability policies with their efforts.  The 'Tyler Prize' is awarded for work in the areas of environmental science, environmental health, and energy.  The prize is administered by the University of Southern California and was established by John and Alice Tyler in 1973.

4. Maharashtra to make selling Gutka a non-bailable offence.

 The Sale & Manufacture of gutka is already banned in Maharashtra, but the administration is struggling to enforce it in the face of rampant smuggling from the neighbouring state where its legal.  The new law will render possessing or selling 'gutkha' (including scented beetle nuts, tobacco or lime paste) a non-bailable offense with a provision to send offender into 3-5 years of rigorous imprisonment coupled with cancellation of license.

5. Indian Navy launches its 4th Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Ship - in a series of 8 - at the Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata.  The ship is called 'Yard 2095' and has been constructed under the Mk IV project.  These ships will play significant role in transportation of main battle tanks, armoured vehicles and troops of the Indian Army during amphibious operations.  The ship can be deployed for maritime roles like maritime security, beaching and un- beaching operations, humanitarian relief operations and evacuation from distant islands, search and rescue operations besides peacekeeping missions.

6. CLRI develops a "Green" technology for leather tanning; will save massive amount of water.

 This biodegradable dispersing agent enables the chrome tanning of leather with just half the normal usage of water.  This ensures the saving of water by 15 million litres per day in the Indian leather sector alone - www.talentsprint.comand an estimated 200 million litres per day if this revolutionary technology is applied globally.  Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) is a unit of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

7. Veteran Bollywood actor ShashiKapoor has been selected for the highest cinematic honour of the country – Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He will be the 3rd in his family to grab a pair of 'Phalke Award' and 'Padma Bhushan' after his father 'Prithviraj Kapoor' and the brother 'Raj Kapoor'. The award comprises of a Swarna Kamal, a cash reward of Rupees Ten Lakhs and a shawl.

25th March, 2015

1. Supreme Court upholds 'Freedom of Speech'; scraps 'vaguely-worded', 'Overarching' Section 66A of the Information Technology Act.

 The act - used to censor online content - has led to the arrest and plight of many.  It has been used by the administration to gag and punish even the genuine criticism and objections - contrary to the right to Freedom of Speech - in the guise of it being 'Objectionable'.  The legislation is advised to come up with more definite definition of what makes 'the content' really 'a threat to public order'.  So that, ordinary people should be able to clearly understand what conduct is prohibited and what is permitted online.

2. Indian-American author Akhil Sharma bags £40,000 Folio prize for fiction for his book 'Family Life'.

 The prize, sponsored by the Folio Society, was created last year with the aim of celebrating the year's best English-language fiction, regardless of form, genre and geography.  Its first winner was the American short story writer George Saunders for his collection Tenth of December.

3. Indian author 'Amitav Ghosh' is among the 10-short listed writer for coveted literary award 'Man Bookerwww.talentsprint.com International Prize 2015'.  The £60,000 honour recognizes outstanding contribution to the English language writing.  The biennial prize is given to a living author who has published fiction either originally in English or whose work is generally available in translation in the English language.  A writer can win it only once in his/her career.  The Kolkata-born writer had narrowly missed out on the Booker Prize back in 2008 when he was shortlisted for his work 'Sea of Poppies'.

4. Centre rolls out 'Twitter Samvad' - a digital initiative to enable government

 The service is expected to boost the e-governance plan of PM Modi where he looks to reduce the corruption and inefficiency steeped in government welfare services through the use of technology.  Every day a set of curated Tweets will be delivered from the government and leaders' accounts to registered mobile users across the country as SMS.  It will include updates on government services, policies and activities.  Anyone with a mobile phone, with our without a data plan, can register for the service by giving a missed call to a unique number for each of the 16 partners.

5. Germanwings plane 4U 9525 - carrying 150 people from Barcelona to Duesseldorf - crashesin French Alps killing all aboard.

 Germanwings is a low-cost airline owned by Germany's main carrier Lufthansa and so far had maintained an excellent safety record.

6. 'Court' has been adjudged the Best Feature Film for the year 2014 at the 62nd National Film Awards  The declaration comes a day after the ShashiKapoor grabbed the highest cinematic honour of the country - DadasahebPhalke Award for 2014.  Srijit Mukherjee wins the 'Best Direction Award' for Bengali Film Shotushkone while the Mary Kom became the Best Popular Film providing Wholesome Entertainment.  KanganaRanaut gets 'Best Actress' prize for 'Queen' whereas Vijay wins the Best Actor award for Kannada film NanuAvanallaAvalu. . List of Prominent Awardees  Best Feature Filmwww.talentsprint.com: 'Court'  Best Director- SrijitMukherji for Bengali film 'Chotushkone'  Best Supporting Actor: 'Bobby Simha' for the film JigarThanda  Best Supporting Actress: 'BaljinderKaur' for Pagdi the Honour  Indira Gandhi Award For Best Debut Film Of A Director - AshaJaoarMajhe (Bengali)  Best Film On Environment Conservation/Preservation : Ottaal (Malayalam)  Best Popular Film : Mary Kom (Hindi) ||<><><>||

27th March, 2015

1. Ruth Porat to be the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Google from May 26, 2015

 She replaces Patrick Pichette to this office of the world's largest search engine giant.

2. 3-years-old Dolly ShivaniCherukuri set the national record in archery: India Book of Records

 She becomes the youngest Indian to score over 200 points (388 to be exact) over five and seven metres, as per the India Book of Records.

3. Railways set up a Committee to review the existing Public Private Partnership (PPP) Cell in the Railway Board with Ajay Shankar as its head

 The Committee will recommend measures needed to make the PPP Cell more efficient and user friendly.

4. Eminent Hindi poet Gopaldas Neeraj has been awarded with first National Kavi Pradeep Samman.

 The Prize - instituted by the government of Madhya Pradesh in the memory of late renowned poet and songwriter KaviPradeep - carries a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, a shawl and a citation.

5. India inks $300 million loan agreement with ADB for improving regional road connectivity along the North Bengal-North Eastern Region (NER).

 About 500 km of roads will be constructed under the Program which is expected to boost the domesticwww.talentsprint.com and regional trade across the region.

6. I & B Ministry bags Platinum icon in Web Ratna Awards 2014 in Comprehensive Web Presence Category

 Web Ratna Awards - set up in the year 2009 by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology - honours outstanding e-governance initiatives/practices of government agencies which ensure delivery of information/services with adoption of best ICT practices.

7. Carpet Export Promotion Council is organizing the 29th Edition of India Carpet

 The exhibition aims to promote the cultural heritage and weaving skills of Indian hand-made carpets and other floor coverings amongst the visiting overseas carpet buyers.  One of the largest Handmade Carpet Fairs in Asia, the expo is hosting around 450 carpet importers from 57 countries mainly from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Mexico, Russia, UK, US etc.

8. PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation) platform will keep an eye on the important programmes and projects of the governments so that they get completed in a time-bound and efficient manner. This IT-based system will not only iron out the lag and complications in the projects but also act as a grievances redressal mechanism. It will employ Digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology to take stock of progress or the lack of it.

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28th March, 2015

1. ISRO bags 'Gandhi Peace Prize' for the year 2014.

 The Gandhi Peace Prize for social, economic and political transformation through non-violence was instituted in the year 1995.  The Award comprises an amount of Rupees One crore and a citation.  Prominent Awardees:www.talentsprint.com Dr. Nelson Mandela, Mr. Vaclav Havel, Dr. Julius K. Nyerere, Baba Amte, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, BharatiyaVidyaBhawan and Ramkrishna Mission.

2. Centre inaugurates Urja Sangam 2015 - India's biggest global hydrocarbon meet with aim to achieve energy security and reliance.

 UrjaSangam aims to market nation's potential in the hydrocarbon globally to bring investment and expertize to provide the necessary boost to this sector.  He urged all stakeholders to increase the domestic production of Oil and Gas to reduce import dependence from 77 % to 67% by the year 2022, and down to 50 %

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 35 www.talentsprint.com by the year 2030.  National gas grid network to be increased from its current length of 15,000 kms pipeline to 30,000 kms cross country gas pipeline.  The said move would help connect Eastern states with the rest of the country which will boost industrial development.  India currently has 99 trillion cubic feet of shale gas reserves and 800 MMT of oil reserves.

3. Vikas Swarup - author of 'Slumdog Millionaire' - replaces Syed Akbaruddin as the new Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs.

 The senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer is also a novelist and the famous film 'Slumdog Millionaire' was based on one of his books.  Syed Akbaruddin will be promoted as Additional Secretary and has been appointed as 'Chief Coordinator' of the Indo-Africa Forum Summit.  Kerala Tourism bags the national Web Ratna Award for 2014 for ‘exemplary e- governance initiative through the Internet.’  Their website www.keralatourism.org gets the Golden Icon award in the 'outstanding content' category of the Web Ratna Awards.

4. PM launches "Give it up" campaign for voluntarily giving up LPG subsidy.

 He appealed to well-off sections of society to voluntarily give up LPG subsidy, so that the benefit of the same could reach those who genuinely deserve it.  2.8lakh people from across the country had already given up LPG subsidy.

5. India is still moving towards boasting a 100 percent rail connectivity. Railway took another step inwww.talentsprint.com that direction with opening of a 210-km long new line in the North- East connecting Lumding to Silchar over a broad guage network. The region makes its debut on the Railway Map with flagging off a goods train while the Passenger Services will follow soon. The new line will boost connectivity in the North-Eastern Region and work as Lifeline for Bark Valley in Assam and the States of Tripura, Manipur & Mizoram. These parts are dependent on this line for supply of food grains, fertilisers and petroleum products among other goods.

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1. Double delight for Saina Nehwal clinches World no 1 rank and women's crown at India Open Super Series 2015.

 Another Indian KidambiSrikanth prevails in men's version by overcoming Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the final.  Saina beat former world champion RatchanokIntanon of Thailand to clinch her maiden title here.  She has just replaced the Chineses Li Xuerui from the top spot finishing her reign of 119 weeks since December 20, 2012.  Saina is only the second Indian badminton player - first female - to reach the world number one ranking after PrakashPadukone.

2. Europe makes a beeline to join China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

 Denmark has applied while to Russia, Australia and the Netherlands are set to follow suit.  The nations joining before March 31 would get to be the founding member of the AIIB.  Its a sign of shifting of global balance of economic power towards Eurasia as the AIIB - a challenge to the US-led 'World Bank' and 'Asian Development Bank' is gaining clout much to the frustration of the US.  There is another massive global infrastructural project by China known as "One belt One road" initiative which seeks to connect the Pacific coast with Europe by an extensive transportwww.talentsprint.com (sea and land), cyber and energy network along the Eurasian corridor.  More than 4.4 billion people, or 63 per cent of the global population countries, are expected to benefit from this economic corridor.

3. Australia is crowned World Champion for the record 5th time; wins 2015 Cricket World Cup by defeating New Zealand in the final

 The 11th edition of this tournament - held every four years since 1975 - was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.  Australians had also grabbed this coveted trophy in the years 1987, 1999, 2003 and

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 37 www.talentsprint.com 2007.  England will host the next World Cup in 2019.  India (1983 & 2011), West Indies (1975 & 1979), Pakistan (1992), and Sri Lanka (1996) are the only other nations to have won this title.

4. With 8.8 cr members, BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) becomes the worlds largest political party.

 Communist Party of China has so far held this spot with 8.6 crore members.  The sudden surge is result of the hi-tech membership drive introduced by the right- wing outfit whereby one can become a member by merely dialing a mobile number.  The original target was to register 10 crore members across the country by March 31; however that couldn't happen.  Uttar Pradesh accounts for the largest chunk of this enrollment drive.

5. The 4th in the series of 7 navigational satellites, namely 'IRNSS 1D', has successfully been placed into the geosynchronous orbit aboard the PSLV-C27 from Sriharikota.  Its predecessors namely IRNSS-1A, 1B and 1C, are successfully operating in their space.  The entire IRNSS constellation of seven satellites is planned to be completed by 2016.  This is the twenty eighth consecutively successful mission of the PSLV.

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31st March, 2015 www.talentsprint.com

1. Poonam Mahajan - daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan - becomes the first woman President of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI) since its inception in 1950.

 She, a BJP leader herself, was unanimously elected to this office that governs and control the game of basketball in India.  In another first, Roopam Harish Sharma was elected as the first woman Secretary General of this sports body.

 He receives a trophy and a cash prize of 30 lakh rupees.  He scored 5 goals in the 1952 Olympic final - a record which still stand tall even after over six decades.  He was a member of three Olympic gold medal winning Indian team; London Olympics (1948), Helsinki Olympics (1952) and Melbourne Olympics (1956).

3. TRAI initiate process to regulate for over-the-top (OTT) services like WhatsApp, Skype, Viber etc.  It has sought comments and views from all stakeholders to prepare the regulatory framework.  Telecom Service Providers accuse these OTT services for sabotaging their revenue by offering free services riding on their network.  Then there are issues of regulations for safety & security and to ensure net neutrality.

What is OTT?

 The term over-the-top (OTT) refers to applications and services which are accessible over the internet and ride on operators' networks offering internet access services e.g. social networks, search engines, amateur video aggregation sites etc.  OTT providers make use of the TSPs' infrastructure to reach their customers and offer products/ services that not only make money for them but also compete with the traditional services offered by TSPs

4. Katsushi Inoue is www.talentsprint.comappointed as the new President & CEO of Indian wing of the Japanese auto major Honda beginning April this year.

 He succeeds Hironori Kanayama as such.

5. 'Multi-Parametric Geophysical Observatory' comes up at Port Blair in Andaman& Nicobar Islands

 This early warning system will alert us about the impending natural disaster minimizing the damage caused.  It has been set up by the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism.

 This would enable beneficiaries to print the ration card from Delhi govt. web portal "http://nfs.delhi.gov.in" as soon as it is approved by the department of food supplies.  This new system will end corrupt practices and bring transparency.  Now people would be able to apply online for food security and get sms alert as soon as their application gets approved by the food supply officer concerned. e-Ration Card  "e-ration card" or electronic ration card would cut short the long traditional method of applying and getting one's ration card user friendly portal is hoped to increase transparency and end corrupt practices.  Complete detail regarding availability, price and location of a nearby FPS can be accessed easily by just logging on to the web portal ||<><><>||

Current RBI Rates 2015 1. Bank Rate - 8.50% - 4th March 2015 2. Repo Rate - 7.50% - 4th March 2015 3. Reverse Repo Rate - 6.50% - 4th March 2015 4. Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) - 4.00% - 9th February 2013 5. Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) - 21.50% - 3rd February 2015 6. Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) - 8.50% - 4th March Important days in March 1st March - 25th foundation day of NASSCOM 3rd March - World Wildlifewww.talentsprint.com Day 4th March - National Safety Day 8th March - International Women's Day 10th March - Tibetan Uprising Day 12th March - World Kidney Day 14th March - Pi Day 15th March - World Consumer Rights Day 20th March - World Sparrow Day 20th March - International Day of Happiness 20th March - World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People

TALENTSPRINT | © Copyright 2015 40 www.talentsprint.com 21st March - World Puppet Day 21st March - World Down syndrome Day 21st March - International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 22nd March - World Water Day 23rd March - World Meteorological Day 24th March - World Tuberculosis Day (TB Day) 27th March - World Theatre Day New Executive Directors (EDs) of Public Sector Banks Allahabad Bank - NK Sahoo Bank of Baroda - K Venkata Rama Moorthy Bank of India- RP Marathe Canara Bank - Harideesh Kumar B Central Bank of India - RC Lodha Indian Overseas Bank - Pawan Kumar Bajaj Syndicate Bank - Ravi Shankar Pandey Union Bank of India – Kishore pirajikhara UCO Bank – Charan Singh ||<><><>||