Current Affairs

March 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 1 Current Affairs

PREFACE 15

PICK OF THE MONTH 16 RBI adopted Inflation Targeting under Monetary Policy Framework 16 RBI reduced Repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 percent 20 Supreme Court struck down Section 66A of IT Act, 2000 21 Australia won ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 23 CCEA approved the National Super Computing Mission 25 Global CO2 emissions from energy sector stalled for the first time in 40 years in 2014: IEA 27 SIPRI released Trends in International Arms Transfers 2014 28 62nd National Film Awards 30 Shashi Kapoor selected for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2014 32 ADB released Asian Development Outlook 2015 34 Haryana Assembly passed Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill, 2015 37 Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan named as President of Britain’s Royal Society 39

INTERNATIONAL 41 Myanmar Government and 16 Ethnic Rebel Groups signed draft cease-fire agreement 41 Peru Prime Minister Ana Jara sacked over alleged domestic spying 42 China and Sri Lanka inked five agreements during visit of Maithripala Sirisena to China 43 WJP released Open Government Index 2015 Report 44 India and ADB signed 300 million US dollar loan agreement to improve connectivity in NE Region 45 Saudi Arabia launched military operation against Houthi rebels in Yemen 46 India and Qatar inked six agreements to increase commercial and economic exchanges 47 18th Round of Talks between India and China on the Boundary Question held in New Delhi 48 US agreed to keep 9800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015 49 Benjamin Nethanyahu of Likud Party won the Israel Elections 2015 50 British Irish Visa Scheme came into force in India 51

March 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 2 Current Affairs

India and Mauritius inked five MoUs to give impetus to bilateral elationsr 51 India and Seychelles signed four agreements to boost security cooperation 53 Sri Lanka temporarily suspended Colombo Port City Project of China 54 India and Spain signed an agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified Information 55 Istanbul Civil Court of Peace fined Turkish President for calling Monument to Humanity a Mon- strosity 56 Royal Mint unveiled new Coinage Portrait of the Queen Elizabeth II 57 Egyptian court declared Hamas as terrorist group 58 China launched Silk Road Infrastructure project in Northwest Province of Gansu 58

NATIONAL 60 Union Cabinet gave its approval for the Approach and Key Components of e-Kranti 60 Union Ministry of Home Affairs proposed initiatives for women security under Nirbhaya Fund 61 Union Cabinet gave approval for the concept and institutional framework of Sagarmala Project 63 Union Ministry of Coal launched Electronic Coal Projects Monitoring Portal (e-CPMP) 65 Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched PRAGATI platform for redressal of grievances 66 Union Ministry of Food Processing Industries sanctioned 17 Mega Food Parks 68 Twitter Samvad launched for direct communication between Government and Citizens 69 Union Ministry of Health and Welfare launched Media Campaign for Mission Indradhanush 70 Union Cabinet approved the Appropriation Acts (Repeal) Bill, 2015 71 National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities launched in New Delhi 72 Union Cabinet approved 33% women reservation in police forces of all Union Territories 74 Hyderabad International Airport handled record 10 million passengers in 2014-15 75 Lok Sabha passed the Warehousing Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2015 77 Lok Sabha passed Repealing and Amending Bill, 2014 78 Rajya Sabha passed Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by voice vote 79 Supreme Court quashed the Union Government’s decision to include Jats in the Central OBC list 82 Supreme Court cautioned government officials not to insist on Aadhaar 83

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Development officers working in LIC are not workmen under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947: SC 84 Supreme Court sought information on number of prisoners in jail from Union Government 85 Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers launched Pharma Jan Samadhan scheme 87 High Courts cannot entertain plea against Armed Forces Tribunal: Supreme Court 87 Indian Railways signed MoU with LIC for implementing Railway projects 88 Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs released the data of top ten Corporate of 2014 89 Land Acquisition (amendment) Bill, 2015 passed in Lok Sabha 90 Attorney General is a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005: High Court of Delhi 91 Prime Minister launched India’s first indigenously developed rotavirus vaccine Rotavac 92 Union Government released Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls Education 93 NRDC, CCRAS signed Memorandum of Agreement to commercialise ayurvedic medicines 94 Rajya Sabha passed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 95 Lok Sabha passed Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015 96 Lok Sabha passed Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 96 Union Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways launched a website Shipping Samvad 97 Lok Sabha passed Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015 98 Lok Sabha passed Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015 98 ECI launched National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme 100 Union Railways Ministry launched Customer Complaint Web Portal and Mobile Application 101 Lok Sabha passed Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2015 103 Defence Acquisition Council approved buying of 38 Pilatus trainer aircraft for Indian Air Force 104

ECONOMY 105 Department of Agriculture and Cooperation approved the creation of Price Stabilisation Fund Scheme 105 RBI imposed 5 lakh rupees fine on 16 Central Co-operative Banks for violation of norms 108 RBI signed Currency Swap Agreement with Central Bank of Sri Lanka 109 SEBI Board approved SEBI (International Financial Services Centres) Guidelines, 2015 110 SEBI Board approved SEBI (Issue and Listing of Debt Securities by Municipality) Regulations,

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2015 111 Indian Railways launched RuPay pre-paid debit cards 113 RBI eased the norms for Housing Loans 113 CCEA gave nod to extend PDS Kerosene, Domestic LPG Subsidy Scheme 114 Core sector growth of India declined to 13-month low in January 2015 115

ENVIRONMENT | ECOLOGY 117 China announced to shut down last coal-fired power plant in Beijing by 2016 to cut pollution 117 India’s first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle operationalised in North Antarctica 118 Union Ministry of Environment to launch National Air Quality Index in April 2015 119 Eco-restoration project for Kinnersani Sanctuary in Telangana announced 120 NGT directed Indian Railways to impose a fine of 5000 rupees for littering on railway property 121 Tripura Biodiversity Board launched a project to link conservation to economic concerns 122 Tropical grass Darbha identified as an eco-friendly food preservative by SASTRA University 122 Mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles started in Ganjam district of Odisha 124

CORPORATE 125 Fortune released the list of 2015 roster othe World’s 50 Greatest Leaders 125 Cipla launched generic of drug Sofosbuvir under the brand name Hepcvir for treating Hepatitis C 126 Katsushi Inoue appointed as President and CEO of Honda Cars India 126 Australia’s IAG to raise stake in SBI General Insurance to 49 percent 127 Vikramjit Singh Oberoi appointed as Managing Director of EIH Limited 127 Google Inc appointed Ruth Porat as Chief Financial Officer 128 Renault Nissan Automotive India appointed Colin Macdonald as Managing Director 129 Delhi High Court restrained Glenmark from manufacturing its anti-diabetes drugs Zita and Zita- Met 129 HDFC Bank launched mobile app Chillr to instantly transfer money to any person in India 130 Times Higher Education released The World Reputation Rankings 2015 131

March 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 5 Current Affairs

Wipro appointed Abid Ali Neemuchwala as COO and Group president 133 Mirach decided to file 400 million US dollar defamation suit against Sahara Group 134 Facebook acquired shopping search engine The Find 135 Aditya Birla Retail acquired Total hypermarket 135 Blackstone appointed former COO of Unilever Harish Manwani as Global Executive Adviser 136 Ashwin Mittal appointed as CFO of Walmart India Private Limited 137 Subway opened an all-women operated outlet in 137 Reliance Infrastructure Ltd announced acquisition of Pipavav Defence Company Ltd 138 Forbes magazine released Global Billionaire’s 2015 annual list 138 Union Ministry of Shipping signed agreement with Toyota for Export of Automobile Units 139 Sun Pharmaceutical announced to buy GlaxoSmithKline’s opiates business in Australia 140 Online Taxi-service aggregator Olacabs acquired TaxiForSure 141

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY 143 ISRO successfully launched IRNSS 1-D Navigational Satellite 143 Researchers at York University provided experimental evidence that stars may generate sound 144 Port Blair Magnetic Observatory inaugurated to monitor seismic activities 145 NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered biologically useful Nitrogen on Mars 145 Air-to-Air missile Astra successfully test fired from ITR Chandipur in Odisha 146

Solar powered plane Solar Impulse-2 took off to round-the-world odyssey from Abu Dhabi 147

SPORTS 149 Hockey India conferred inaugural Hockey India Annual Awards 149 Daniel Vettori retired from all forms of International Cricket 150 Michael Clarke retired from ODI cricket 151 Michael Clarke in the cricketing world 151 Saina, Srikant won India Open Super Series Badminton Women’s & Men’s Singles titles 152 Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won the women doubles title of BNP Paribas Tennis Open 152

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Novak Djokovic won Indian Wells Open Tennis Men’s Singles title 153 Martin Guptill scored the highest-ever score of 237 in Cricket World Cup history 153 Pakistani cricketers Misbah-ul-Haq, Shaid Afridi retired from ODI cricket 154 Mahendra Singh Dhoni became first Indian Captain to register 100 ODI wins 155 Ramachandran appointed as vice-chair of International Relations Commission of ANOC 155 Sri Lankan duo Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara retired from ODI cricket 156 Services won the 69th edition of Santosh Trophy of Football 157 Kidambi Srikanth won the Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title of Badminton 158 Lewis Hamilton of Britain won Australian Grand Prix of Formula One 159 Karnataka clinched eighth Ranji title of cricket 159 Kumar Sangakkara created history by scoring four successive centuries in a Cricket World Cup 160 United Arab Emirates won the bid to host AFC Asian Cup 2019 160 Sri Lankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara announced retirement from Test cricket 161 Australia created the record for highest ever score of 417 in Cricket World Cup 162 Mary Kom to quit boxing after 2016 Rio Olympics 163 Roger Federer won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 164 Rafael Nadal of Spain won the Argentina Tennis Open 164 Jagmohan Dalmiya unanimously elected as President of BCCI 165

STATE 166 Gujarat Assembly passed the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill 2015 166 Himachal Pradesh Government launched India’s first e-Vidhan Mobile app 167 Delhi Government launched India’s first e-ration card Service 168 Railway Minister flagged off first goods train from Lumding to Silchar in Assam 169 Union Government announced 430 crore rupees project for production of Geo-textile in NE region 170 Land customs station inaugurated at Zokhawthar in Mizoram along the Indo-Myanmar border 170 Delhi HC became the first court in India to set up commercial courts for speedy disposal of cases

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171 Union Government sanctioned 2000 crore rupees under NDRF for drought-hit districts of Maha- rashtra 172 PM announced to set up Shaheed Bhagat Singh PG Institute for Horticulture Research & Educa- tion 172 Government announced to make Sale of Gutka a non-bailable offence 173 Maharashtra Government announced to rename Girgaum Chowpatty as Swaraj Bhoomi 174 Haryana Budget 2015-16: Highlights 177 Haryana Government decided to issue UIDAI-like numbers for cows 179 State Government of Haryana in third week of March 2015 decided to introduce Special Identifi- cation Tags with unique identification numbers for Haryana cows, an indigenous breed found in the state. 179 BJP MLA Kavinder Gupta elected as Speaker of 12th Legislative Assembly of J&K 180 Union Environment Ministry revoked suspension of Goa mines 180 PHD Research Bureau released a Survey on working women in Delhi 181 Mumbai HC directed Maharashtra Government to set up a redressal mechanism against noise pollution 183 Delhi government decided to enhance financial powers of bureaucrats 184 Maharashtra government started helpline for distressed adolescents 185 First Kisan Call Centre of North-East opened in Agartala, Tripura 185

Maharashtra launched Bhagyashree scheme for girl child 186 Kerala Tourism won the silver prize of Golden Gate award for promoting the backwaters of Kerala 186 Aapki Beti Humari Beti scheme launched in Haryana 187 UST Global launched Women’s Safety App iSafe for Thiruvananthapuram City Police 189 Prime Minister inaugurated two units of Shree Singaji Thermal Power Project in Khandwa, MP 189 Maharashtra Government scrapped 5% reservations to Muslims in government jobs 190 Assam Assembly passed a resolution on continuation of Special Category status of the state 191 Maharashtra Government approved the proposal to issue Aadhar-linked ration cards 193

March 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 8 Current Affairs

Kirket, a film on former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad’s life launched 194 President gave assent to Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill 1995 194 Mufti Mohammed Sayeed sworn-in as Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir 195

NEWS CAPSULE 197 PERSON IN NEWS 197 Dolly Shivani Cherukuri became the youngest Archer to enter India Book of Records 197 Former Army Chief Sarath Fonseka became first Field Marshal of Sri Lanka 198 Indian-American Renu Khator elected as Chairperson of Board of Director of ACE 198 roped in as Brand Ambassador for Campaign against Hepatitis B 199 Union Ministry DoNER announced to appoint Mary Kom as the brand ambassador of the NE regi 200 Google CFO Patrick Pichette announced his retirement 201 Visit Britain roped in to promote Bollywood Britain campaign 201 1998 Asian Games gold-medallist Dingko Singh included in National Boxing Selection panel 202 Simone Gbagbo, the former first lady of Ivory Coast, jailed for 20 years 203 German professor Beck-Sickinger rejected Indian intern application citing rape problem 204 Indian-American Kumar P Barve decided to run for US Congress in 2016 elections 204

Person Appointed 205 Vikas Swarup appointed as MEA spokesman 205 KM Mani appointed as chairman of the Empowered Committee of State FM’S on GST 205 Indian Railways roped in Ratan Tata to lead Kaya Kalp council 206 Air Marshal Sohail Aman appointed as Chief of Pakistan Air Force 207 Union Government appointed VK Mathur, Girija Shankar as Chairmen of Allahabad, Chennai bench of DRAT 208 Union Government appointed Nine Executive Directors in Public Sector Banks 209 N Sakthan elected as Speaker of Kerala Assembly 209 US President Barack Obama nominated David Hale as Ambassador to Pakistan 210

March 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 9 Current Affairs

Indian-American Sunil Sabharwal re-nominated as Alternate Executive Director at IMF by the US 211 IAS officer Kewal K Sharma appointed as Delhi Chief Secretary 212 Baldev Sharma appointed as chairman of National Book Trust 212

Person RESIGNED 213 Anil Kakodkar resigned from the post of Chairman of Board of Governors of IIT Bombay 213

Science | Space 214 NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft completed its Orbit around Dwarf Planet Ceres 214

Person on Visit 216 Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sri Lanka 216 Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Seychelles 217 Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Mauritius 218 Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar completed his SAARC Yatra 219

Person Died 221 Former Union Minister and veteran Congress Party leader Paty Ripple Kyndiah died 221 Marathi Folk legend Shahir died 222

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser died 223 Pioneer of Israeli Cinema Lia van Leer died 224 Veteran Gandhian Narayanbhai Desai died 224 Veteran fantasy author Sir Terence David John Pratchett passed away 225 Veteran sports journalist K Baskaran died 226 Industrialist Deepak Khaitan died 227 Former Lok Sabha member Sadashivrao Dadoba Mandlik died 227 Former Bihar Chief Minister Ramsundar Das died 228 Kerala Assembly speaker G Karthikeyan passed away 228

March 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 10 Current Affairs March 2015

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