Extensive Coverage Of Current Affairs 12/3/2016

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International Affairs

• Today (12th March) is World Day against Cyber Censorship.
• India and US launched the Fulbright-Kalam Climate Fellowship, in a new initiative to advance bilateral cooperation on climate change.
• This initiative will enable Indian research scholars to work with American institutions in the field.
• Note : The fellowship, named after the late Indian President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, is part of a commitment made by the US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to build long-term capacity to address climate change-related issues in both the countries.
• Citizens of Bhutan planted 1,08,000 trees to welcome the birth of a son to King Khesar and Queen Pema. T
• he trees, each sealed with a prayer, were planted a month after the couple announced the birth of their first child. 
• Exactly 1,08,000 trees were planted as the number 108 is considered sacred in Buddhism.
• US state, California had passed 'The End of Life Option Act'.
• With the help of this act, Terminally ill residents of the state will legally be allowed to end their lives with medication prescribed by doctors starting June 9 this year.
• Note : California became the fifth US state to allow physician-assisted suicide.  
  

National Affairs

• Haryana CM Manohar Lal formally launched the Ujala (LED bulbs) scheme of Haryana Power
  
  DISCOMs. 
• With this scheme, Haryana Govt is planning to distribute LED bulbs at highly discounted prices to nearly 44 lakh domestic consumers.
• Note : Replacing ordinary bulbs with LED bulbs will result in an estimated saving of 1165.76 Million Units of electricity annually in the state. 
• The Jammu and Kashmir government will provide a number of medicines free of charge, as part of its new drug policy. 
• The Parliament has passed the Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill.
• This bill promises to give increased compensation to air travellers in case of death, injury, delay in flights and loss of baggage. 
• Once the bill is approved by the President, Indian carriers will have to pay compensation amounts equivalent to the rates paid by their global counterparts.
• Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today announced that the government is planning to install computerised services at all the fair price shops by March 2019 by installing electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices.
• Note : Currently, around 91,000 of the 5.35 lakh ration shops are computerised and the aim is to increase the number to 3 lakh by March 2017.

Business & Economy

• Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh has presented Chattisgarh Budget 2016-17 (CG Budget 2016-17).
• With an outlay of 70,059 crore, the budget focuses on infrastructure, social sectors and agriculture.
• This is Raman Singh's 10th budget.
• Raman Singh unveiled seven-fold strategy for the all-round development of the state.
• The seven pillars on which his strategy is built are,
• Farmers, 
• Inclusive Development, 
• Communications, 
• Health, 
• Security, 
• Self-reliance and 
• Capacity-building.
• Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das today announced that the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) using the Aadhar card for fertiliser and food subsidy, will soon be implemented. 
• Currently, the unique identity number is primarily being used for transfer of LPG subsidy and other government programmes.
• The government has approved a new policy for oil and gas exploration, and defined the pricing norms for existing and new discoveries made in difficult areas. 
• The new policy will allow production of both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons under a single license. 
• Also, a ₹8,000 crore outlay was provided to extend subsidised cooking gas to 50 million poor families.

MOUs

• India and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)  signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to set up a Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre in New Delhi with a view to enhancing capacity development and training officials in dealing with macro-economic and financial issues.
• The MOU was signed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Science & Technology

• Google's DeepMind Artificial Intelligence (AI) 'AlphaGo' today won the five-game​ series 3-0 after defeating 'Go' World champion Lee Sedol in the third match of the series. 
• The South Korean has won a total of 18 international titles, which is the second most in the game's history. 

Awards & Honors

• Guinness World Records has confirmed that the world’s oldest living man at the age of 112 years and 179 days as of today is Israel Kristal from Israel. 
• Born in 1903, Kristal has lived through both World Wars and survived the Nazi war camp in Auschwitz in the 1940s. 
• Note : Currently, the oldest living person is the 115-year-old Susannah Mushatt Jones.

New Appointments

• Lieutenant General NPS Hira has been appointed the Deputy Chief of Army Staff.
• He will take charge at the Army Headquarters in New Delhi on March 14. 
• He is currently posted as the Indian Army's Northern Command at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir. 
• Transportation platform Ola today announced that it has appointed ex-Goldman Sachs executive, Sunil Shirguppi as Vice President, Engineering.

Sports

• Five-time World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand defeated Bulgaria's Veselin Topalov in the opening round match to take the sole lead in the 2016 Candidates Tournament. 
• Important Points to Note : 
• The winner of this eight-player round-robin tournament will challenge World Champion Magnus Carlsen for the World title in New York in November. 
• Anand is set to face Armenia's Levon Aronian in the next round.

NATIONAL:

1.Union Power Minister announces name 'UJALA' for LED based Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme:

·         Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal has announced the name 'UJALA' for the LED based Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme, which is currently running successfully in over 120 cities across India.

·         Energy Efficiency Services Limited is implementing UJALA, an acronym for Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said, UJALA, shall reinvigorate the way people look at LED bulbs and in turn energy efficiency as a whole.

·         The National LED programme was launched by the Prime Minister on January 2015 with a target of replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs.

2.President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates Festival of Innovations at Rashtrapati Bhavan today:

·         President Pranab Mukherjee today inaugurated Festival of Innovations at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

·         The week-long festival is being organised by Rashtrapati Bhavan in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation. A total of 65 grassroots innovations will be part of the festival.

3.Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched “Clean My Coach” service:

·         Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched an online Clean My Coach service.

·         The service allows travelers to get their compartments cleaned by sending an SMS or by using an app or a designated website. 

·         The service was launched through Video Conferencing from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi/Northern Railway, Mumbai Central/Western Railway and Lucknow Jn/North Eastern Railway.

4.Lok Sabha passes Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016:

·         The Lok Sabha has passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016.

·         The Bill is aimed at giving statutory backing for transferring government subsidies and benefits to targeted people.

·         It also lays down a regulatory framework to protect core biometric information of Aadhaar cardholders from any unauthorised disclosure or sharing.

5.India to Supply 18 Meter Gauge Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar:

·         RITES (Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways) signed a contract to supply 18 Meter Gauge 1350 HP Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar Railways. This supply will help Myanmar to meet increasing demand for passenger and freight traffic.This contract was signed atNaypyitaw, Myanmar.

·         The supply contract of locomotives is a vital project being funded under an existing line of credit extended to Myanmar by Union Government. These locomotives will be manufactured by Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi with several modern features like microprocessor controls, fuel-efficient engine and ergonomic cab design etc.

6.Long march against Indo-Bangladesh power plant near Sundarbans started:

·         A 250 km-long protest march against plans to build Rampal Power Station, Indo-Bangladesh coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans, was kick-started on 10 March 2016.

·         The protest march calls for scrapping the project that supposedly will harm the ecosystem of the world's largest mangrove forest.

7.State Budget of Chhattisgarh presented:

·         Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh presented the State Budget for the fiscal year 2016-17.

·         More budget allocation to drought affected Agriculture sector.

·         Announcements to the Maoists affected Bastar Region.

8.Cabinet approves amendment to mining law, move to spur M&As:

·         Cabinet Approved Amendment to mining law The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill 2015 to transfer of mining lease for captive mines.

·         The proposed amendment will permit transfer of captive mines granted on discretion to spur merger and acquisitions in the mining sector.

·         The amended bill to help in checking the stressed and non-performing assets of Indian Banking industry also push the stuck M&A deals could be moved in the right direction.

9.Capacity utilisation criteria for SSP Manufacturing Units scrapped:

·         Union Cabinet approved the proposal to remove the criteria of minimum capacity utilisation for Single Super Phosphate (SSP) units that are eligible for subsidy, under the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Scheme.

·         The decision, which comes into effect immediately, will enable small units to avail the subsidy and resulting in availability of cheaper fertilizers for farmers.

·         This new policy will put the SSP units on the same footing as other fertilisers, and they will be eligible for subsidy irrespective of quantity of SSP produced and sold for agriculture purposes. It will also help revive smaller SSP units and encourage new SSP units to come up.

INTERNATIONAL:

10.Snowden starts campaign against cyber censorship:

·         Prominent activists ranging from Edward Snowden to Pussy Riot have planned to spread online protests against growing government restrictions on citizens’ expression, marking an annual world day against cyber censorship.

·         The online messages are part of activities to mark World Day Against Cyber Censorship, an annual online event started in 2008 by Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International. This year, Amnesty has teamed up with the controversial online advertisement-blocking company AdBlock to bring activists’ voices to the public.

11.India and China discuss possibility of jointly producing and distributing films in the two countries:

·         India and China have discussed the possibility of jointly producing and distributing films in the two countries.

·         Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sunil Arora met Yang Yue, President, Fuzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and his delegation members Friday and discussed co-production of films and import of more Indian movies to China, a Ministry release said.

·         India and China had signed an audio-visual co-production agreement in September 2014. Also, three Chinese films were permitted to be shot in India recently.

12.Japan Tsunami: Japan holds ceremony of remembrance in Tokyo for victims:

·         In Japan, a ceremony of remembrance has been held in Tokyo for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011.

·         Around 1200 people attended the government-sponsored event today, the 5th anniversary of the disaster that also triggered the nuclear plant accident in Fukushima.

·         Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe joined others in observing a moment of silence at 2:46 PM, the exact time the 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck.

13.Arab League declares Lebanese movement Hezbollah a terrorist group:

·         The Arab League has declared Lebanese movement Hezbollah a terrorist group.

·         The move came during the Arab League Foreign Ministers' meeting at the organisation's seat in Egypt's capital Cairo. Nearly all-22 Arab League members supported the decision, except Lebanon and Iraq, which expressed reservations. This Arab League decision came a day after Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leadar, accused Saudi Arabia of pressuring Lebanon to silence his group.

·         Hezbollah, a Shia political organisation with an armed wing, fights in neighbouring Syria to support the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

APPOINTMENTS:

14.Ola appoints former Goldman Sachs executive Sunil Shirguppi as VP for engineer:

·         Taxi aggregator Ola has appointed Sunil Shirguppi, former vice-president at Goldman Sachs, as its vice-president for engineering.

·         Shirguppi, who holds a bachelor's degree in engineering, has over 15 years of experience in data sciences across global majors like Goldman Sachs, LinkedIn and Electronic Arts. He has done his MBA from San Jose State University, California. 

BANKING :

15.HDFC Bank ties up with 5 start ups:

·         The HDFC bank has chosen five start ups from 30 applications to work together in its field of operations.

·         The company chose five start ups from 30 applicants during its maiden Digital summit

·         The bank previously tied up with Chillr to enable its customers pay without a wallet.

16.PSUs Spent Over Rs 2400 Crore In CSR In 2014-15:

·         Government of India has announced today that in 2014-2015, 116 Public Sector Enterprises (PSUs) have spent an amount of rs. 2447.59 Crore on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)activities and no complaint has been received on misuse of these funds.

·         Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete said in Rajya Sabha during the question hour after several members expressed concern over media reports suggesting that there have been misuse of CSR funds, especially by private companies.

17.Government relaxes norms under public procurement for start-up MSMEs:

·         The Union government relaxed procurement norms related to experience and turnover for micro, small and medium start-ups with a view to enabling these ventures to be part of its public procurement.

·         From April 2015, all PSUs, central government ministries and departments have been directed to procure at least 20 per cent of products and services required by them from micro and small enterprises.

·         The move will enable start-up MSMEs to be a part of the mandatory 20 per cent public procurement, it said.

·         A review of the mandatory procurement policy by MSME Minister Kalraj Mishra last month had found that less than half of the PSUs were complying with the mandatory 20 per cent procurement of products and services from micro and small enterprises.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY:

18.Union Cabinet approves New price formula for Undeveloped Gas Discoveries:

·         The Union Cabinet approved a new price formula for their undeveloped gas discoveries in difficult areas, which will lead to a near-doubling of rates.

·         Domestically produced gas costs at average of rates in US, Russia and Canada.

·         Deep sea discoveries which are unexplored will be given the cost of alternative fuels.

·         The price will be the lowest of weighted average of fuel oil and imported LNG or weighted average of fuel oil, naphtha and imported coal.

19.Call drops in India above global average : Survey

·         A survey has found out that on average 4.73 per cent of calls get dropped in the country, much higher than the global average of three per cent.

·         By the RedMango Analytics report, 59.1 per cent of dropped calls were due to poor quality and 36.9 per cent of all the dropped calls were due to network faults.

·         RedMango Analytics conducted the survey across 20 cities, including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Jammu.

20.Wikipedia to develop speech engine for blind:

·         The Wikimedia Foundation is currently developing a speech synthesis engine to its encyclopedia.

·         In parallel with the release of its new app for iOS , the Wikimedia Foundation is currently developing a multilingual engine in partnership with the Royal Institute of Technology KHT. It will be optimized for Wikipedia but available as open source.

·         Joakim Gustafson, professor of speech synthesis technology said in a statement that the project aims to facilitate access content from Wikipedia to the visually impaired or have difficulty reading.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY:

21.Scientists find Plastic eating bacteria:

·         Scientists in Japan have discovered a form of bacteria that can digest the plastic in disposable plastic water bottles, raising hopes it could be used to dispose of some of the 311 million tons of plastic produced annually worldwide.

·         Plastic bottles contain polyethylene terephalate, or PET, a plastic ingredient which is also found in lots of other products, like polyester clothing, soda bottles, and tennis balls.

·         PET is great for products but terrible for the environment, because until now it was believed to be unable to be broken down by microbes, which means it couldn’t be biodegradable. Much of the pollution in the ocean is made of PET.

22.Kakrapar power station shuts down after leakage:

·         One of the two 220 MWe units at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) in Gujarat had to be shut down after leakage of heavy water from its coolant system.

·         The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has sent a team of experts for an independent assessment of the situation.

 SPORTS:

23.JituRai wins gold at Shooting World Cup:

·         Indian Shooter jiturai bagged gold at ISSF World cup held in Bangkok Thailand. Shooters will put upon test their form ahead of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games will start in September this year.

·         Rai clinched gold in the men’s 50m pistol event shooting World Cup. Jitu scored 191.3 points in the final round.

24.Saina Nehwal crashes out of the All England Badminton Championship:

·         India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has crashed out of the All
England Badminton Championship after suffering a straight-game defeat against Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals of the women's singles event.

·         World no. 2 and second seed Saina was India's lone hope after the exits of the trio of B Sai Praneeth, Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma in the second round of the men's singles event. But the London Olympics bronze medallist, was skittled out 15-21 16-21 yesterday at the Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham

1. IMF and India to set-up South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center in Delhi

1. India and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have decided to set up South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre (SARTTC) in New Delhi. 

2. In this regard, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, International Monetary Fund (IMF) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

3. SARTTC will set up for enhancing capacity development and training officials in dealing with macro-economic and financial issues in the South Asia region. It will become the focal point for planning, coordinating, and implementing the IMF’s capacity development activities in the region on a wide range of areas.

2. Anand Mahindra conferred with France’s Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur

1. Mahindra & Mahindra Chairman and Managing Director (MD) Anand Mahindra was conferred with Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by French Government. 

2. He was presented with this award by Francois Richier, Ambassador of France to India in recognition of his outstanding national and international achievements. Anand Mahindra is one of the most prominent business leaders in India. Under his leadership Mahindra & Mahindra group has turned into a global company of outstanding repute.

3. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched “Clean My Coach” service

1. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu  launched an online Clean My Coach service. The service allows travelers to get their compartments cleaned by sending an SMS or by using an app or a designated website. 

2. The service was launched through Video Conferencing from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi/Northern Railway, Mumbai Central/Western Railway and Lucknow Jn/North Eastern Railway.

Salient Features of Clean My Coach service

• As per the scheme, for any cleaning requirement in the coach, passenger will have to send an SMS on a mobile number 58888. Alternatively, passenger can also use android app ‘Cleanmycoach Indian Railways’ or webpage ‘cleanmycoach.com’ for logging the request.

• Passenger’s request is immediately acknowledged via SMS on mobile phone along with a code.

4. India to supply 18 Meter Gauge Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar

1. RITES (Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways) signed a contract to supply 18 Meter Gauge 1350 HP Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar Railways. This supply will help Myanmar to meet increasing demand for passenger and freight traffic.This contract was signed at Naypyitaw, Myanmar on 4 March 2016.

2. The supply contract of locomotives is a vital project being funded under an existing line of credit extended to Myanmar by Union Government. These locomotives will be manufactured by Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi with several modern features like microprocessor controls, fuel-efficient engine and ergonomic cab design etc.

5. Union Power Ministry named LED based Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme as UJALA

1. Union Power Ministry has announced name UJALA for the LED based Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). UJALA is acronym for Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All. The National LED based DELP programme was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 2015 for energy conservation by reducing energy consumption. 

2. The target of programme is to replace 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs. Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is implementing it and is currently running successfully in over 120 cities across India.

6. Lt Gen N P S Hira appointed Deputy Chief of Army

1. Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) N P S Hira has been appointed as Deputy Chief of Army Staff. He will be now moving to Army Headquarters in New Delhi. Presently he is posted as Chief of Staff of Northern command at Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir. He was commissioned in the Sikh Light Infantry. 

2. He has a rich experience of counter insurgency operations in J&K and in the northeast region, as well as conventional operations in Western command. He had commanded the Battalion in Assam (Op Rhino) during high violence period. The unit under his command has bagged 32 gallantry awards and COAS citation.

1. India to supply 18 Meter Gauge Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar

i. RITES (Public Sector Enterprise under Ministry of Railways) signed a contract to supply 18 Meter Gauge 1350 HP Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar Railways.

ii. This supply will help Myanmar to meet increasing demand for passenger and freight traffic.

iii. This contract was signed at Naypyitaw, Myanmar on 4 March 2016.

iv. The supply contract of locomotives is a vital project being funded under an existing line of credit extended to Myanmar by Union Government. 

v. These locomotives will be manufactured by Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi with several modern features like microprocessor controls, fuel-efficient engine and ergonomic cab design etc.

2. Suresh Prabhu Has Launched "Clean My Coach" Service

i. Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu on 11th march 2016 has launched the 'clean my coach' service. 

ii. The service allows a passenger to make request for a dirty coach to be swept and cleaned by sending an SMS on mobile number 58888 or by using an app or a designated website. Prabhu had announced the scheme in the Rail Budget last month. 

iii. The service is in keeping with the railways 'cleanliness drive' Swachh Rail Swachh Bharat', was launched through Video Conferencing from Rail Bhawan in New Delhi/Northern Railway, Mumbai Central/Western Railway and Lucknow Jn/North Eastern Railway.

iv. As per the scheme for any cleaning requirement in the coach, passenger will have to send an SMS on a mobile number 58888. 

v. A passenger can also use the android app 'Cleanmycoach Indian Railways' or webpage 'cleanmycoach.com' for logging the request which will be immediately acknowledged via SMS on mobile phone along with a code. 

3. Govt sets new norms for Hydrocarbons licensing

i. Government of India has approved a new policy for exploration and also defined the norms for pricing of existing and new discoveries made in difficult areas. 

ii. The petroleum minister said the new oil and gas exploration policy will now be based on a revenue-sharing model, as opposed to cost-and-output-based norms earlier. iii. The difficult areas for which the new pricing norms have now been formulated are defined as those from deep-water, ultra deep-water and high pressure-high temperature areas. Such areas were not considered when prices were fixed for normal gas discoveries in 2014. 

iv. The bulk of such fields are with Reliance Industries and state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

v. He said the new exploration licensing policy will allow production of both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbons, including shale gas, under a single license. 

4. Aadhar Scheme Collects Biometric Data of 99 Crore Indians

i. The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, was passed by a voice vote after a brief debate, during which Finance Minister Arun Jaitley assured the House that details provided for the card will not be misused in any manner.

ii. When enacted, the Bill intends to empower the government in providing targeted services to the intended beneficiaries by assigning them unique identity numbers, called Aadhaar. 

iii. It will be given to every person, who has stayed in India for 182 days in the year preceding the date of application.

iv. The Biometric data of about 99 crore Indians have been collected so far under the Aadhaar scheme and the data is encrypted and its secrecy and security ensured. v. The government have got 99 crore Indians on Aadhaar. In the case of Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, Rs. 15,000 crore was saved and in the case of PDS, Rs. 2,346 crore was saved in four states through Aadhaar card.

5. Union Cabinet gave green signal for amendment to Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925

i. The Union Cabinet on 10 March 2016 approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs to amend the Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 through the Parliament retrospectively with effect from 8 October 2013.

ii. A meeting of the Union Cabinet, presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, considered the proposal and gave green signal to remove the exception given to Sehajdhari Sikhs in 1944 to vote in the elections for selecting members of the board and the committees constituted under the Act.

iii. The Sehajdhari Sikhs were continuously exercising their voting rights in the SGPC elections since 1949.

iv. In 2003, the Union Home Ministry debarred the Sehajdhari Sikhs from voting by amending the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925 vide a notification dated 8 October 2003, in exercise of the powers conferred by Parliament under Section 72 of the Punjab Re-organisation Act, 1966.

v. However, the notification was nullified by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on 20 December 2011 leaving it to the appropriate and competent legislature to decide whether to amend the Act to that effect.

6. Long march against Indo-Bangladesh power plant near Sundarbans started

i. A 250 km-long protest march against plans to build Rampal Power Station, Indo-Bangladesh coal-fired power plant near the Sundarbans, was kick-started on 10 March 2016.

ii. The protest march calls for scrapping the project that supposedly will harm the ecosystem of the world's largest mangrove forest.

iii. Environmentalists, cultural and political activists, and eminent individuals began the four-day march from Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka to persuade the Bangladeshi Government to drop its backing for construction of the plants near the Sundarbans, an area of rice paddies, shrimp farms and vast mangrove forests.

iv. The Rampal Power Station is a proposed 1320 megawatt coal-fired power station at Rampal Upazila of Bagerhat District in Khulna, Bangladesh.

v.It is a joint partnership between India's state owned National Thermal Power Corporation and Bangladesh Power Development Board.

7. PM Modi to unveil railway project in Bihar

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Patna today on a day-long visit to Bihar where he will dedicate to the nation the newly constructed Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge and inaugurate a new rail bridge in Munger.

ii. The Prime Minister will also kick-start the operation of the goods trains on the newly constructed rail portion of Munger Rail-Cum Road Bridge from Sahebpur Kamal end in Begusarai district.

iii. He will also lay the foundation stone of the additional rail bridge near existing Rajendra Bridge in Mokama over the river Ganga.

iv. The Prime Minister will attend the concluding function of the centenary celebrations of Patna High Court.

v. He will also address public meetings at Chhaukia in Hajipur.

8. Gujarat: Leaks In Kakrapar Nuclear Plant, One Unit Shut

i. A power generation unit at Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in Surat was shut down after leakage of heavy water.

ii. Leakage in the primary heat transport system of unit one of Kakrapar atomic power station in Gujarat has forced the authorities to shut down the unit as an emergency measure.

iii. The leakage occurred but officials maintained that “no nuclear radiation has occurred due to the leakage.”

iv. Consequent to a small leak in primary heat transport (PHT) system, the reactor was shut down as intended as per design provisions. 

v. All safety systems are working as intended. The radioactivity/radiation levels in the plant premises and outside are normal.

9. Crisil Sees GDP growing at 7.9% in 2016-17

i. The country’s GDP can grow by 7.9 per cent next fiscal if the monsoon is normal and the government implements the reform measures announced so far, domestic rating agency Crisil. 

ii. Even though he flagged concerns on the banking front, It implementation of reforms should help the economy achieve higher growth and termed 2016-17 as the “year of reckoning” which has the potential to illustrate the path which the economy can take.

iii. India has faced weather shocks for three consecutive years, including two years of deficient rains in 2014 and 2015, and a normal monsoon season this year can lead to a 4% growth in agriculture on lower base effect.

10. HDFC Bank Ties Up With 5 Start Ups

i. HDFC Bank has chosen five start-ups it will work with to strengthen their web, mobile and payment offerings. 

ii. The Bank shortlisted these five from 30 applications to work together in its field of operations at its maiden Digital Innovation Summit.

iii. Five start ups  companies with whom HDFC Bank has tied up are Sense forth Technologies into AI customer response, Tagnpin -a marketing and customer engagement company, Safe 2 Pay-a point of sale-free payment system, Bugclipper-an in-app feedback tool, Taptis Technology– a bio metric payment company.

iv. The bank had previously tied up with Chillr, which had raised $6 million from Sequoia Capital, where it developed a system which helped customers pay without a wallet. 

v. Nitin Chugh, country head, digital banking, said the bank wanted to break out from these one-off ties and open themselves to new and innovative ideas. 

11. Uber Opens Asia's 1st Engineering Hub In India

i. Uber, the ride sharing service provider has opened its first Asian engineering center in Bengaluru highlighting the focus on India to solve the localized challenges of Uber users in the country. 

ii. The center will focus on software engineers, product developers and others working initially on problems specific to users in India.

iii. The center will eventually play a role in improving Uber’s customer-facing technologies worldwide. Worldwide, Uber has about a 1,000 engineers spread over nine engineering centers.

iv. The engineering center in Bangalore is different from the Center of Excellence the company opened in Hyderabad which deals with operations and provides multi-channel support via email, phone and social media to ensure seamless experience before, during and after a ride.

v. The company is investing over $1 billion in India to build its network of cabs and has pumped in $50 million to open an operations-support center in Hyderabad last month. Uber engineering center currently has 8 engineers and plans to increase the head count to over 100 employees this year. The center, temporarily headed by Jaikumar Ganesh, is looking to hire more people in the near future, including a permanent India engineering head.

12. Defence Ministry gives nod to 7 stealth frigates worth Rs 13,000 crore 

i. The defence ministry on Friday approved a Rs 13,000 crore weapons and sensors package for the seven new stealth frigates being constructed by defence shipyards for the Navy as well as accorded the initial approval for the Rs 7,200 crore project to indigenously manufacture 244 air defence guns for the IAF.

ii. The defence acquisitions council (DAC), chaired by defence minister Manohar Parrikar, also discussed the new defence procurement procedure (DPP), which will have a pronounced thrust on the 'Make in India' endeavour as well as the "strategic partnerships" provision for private sector companies. 

iii. Another DAC meeting is likely to be held this month to clear the final policy.

iv. The Rs 13,000 crore package for stealth frigates will be undertaken on a "single vendor and repeat order basis". Basically, this means the frigates will be equipped with long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM) systems, jointly developed by DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries, which are already fitted on the three Kolkata-class destroyers. 

v. The package will also include BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, Ajanta electronic warfare systems and Humsa-NG radars.

13. Cabinet approves ratification of BIMSTEC Convention

i. The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing and ratification of the Bay of Bengal Initiative on Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. 

ii. The Ministry of Home Affairs has been designated as the Central Authority under Article 15 of the Convention. 

iii. The BIMSTEC comprises of seven countries viz., Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

iv. The establishment of regional arrangements for mutual assistance in criminal matters will greatly contribute to more effective cooperation in the control of criminal activities. 

v. The Convention aims to extend widest measures of assistance to each other through mutual cooperation for enhancing capability and effectiveness of the Member States in investigation and prosecution of crimes, including crimes related to terrorism, transnational organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and cyber-crimes.

14. Tezpur University and JNU won the annual Visitor’s Awards for Central Universities

i. Tezpur University on 10 March 2016 won the annual Visitor’s Award for the Best University. 

ii. Rakesh Bhatnagar and the Molecular Parasitology Group of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have also won the Visitor’s Awards for Research and Innovation respectively.

iii. President Pranab Mukherjee will present Visitor’s Awards for 2016 to the winners at a function to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on 14 March 2016, as part of the Festival of Innovations.

iv. The Visitor’s Award for Innovation will be given to Professor Rakesh Bhatnagar of Jawaharlal Nehru University for development of a genetically engineered vaccine and a therapeutic antibody against anthrax.

v. The Visitor’s Award for Research will be presented to the Molecular Parasitology Group of Jawaharlal Nehru University of pioneering work in the area of molecular parasitology, especially anti-malaria, leishmaniasis and amoebiasis. The Best University will receive a Citation and Trophy while winners of Visitor’s Award for Innovation and Research will receive a citation and cash award of one lakh rupees.

15. Honey festival in Mangaluru from March 12

i. The Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, in association with the Karnataka Horticulture Department, will conduct a ‘honey festival’ in Mangaluru on March 12 and 13.

ii. Addressing presspersons in Mangaluru on Thursday, PI Sreevidya, Chief Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat, said horticulture crops are the mainstay of the district and the festival is aimed at encouraging apiculture among farmers in the district.

iii. Apart from increasing the productivity of horticulture crops, apiculture also provides a source of income to farmers, she said.

iv. Yogish HR, Deputy Director of the Karnataka Horticulture Department, said bee colonies of various species and materials required for bee-keeping would be on display at the festival.

v. The Dakshina Kannada Bee-Keepers’ Cooperative Society will make arrangements for the sale of honey at the festival. The organisers will also conduct a bee-keeping training programme as part of the honey festival on March 13, he said.

1) What is the title of the controversial 3-day mega cultural event organized by Art of Living (AOL) founder Sri Sri Ravishankar that started on the banks of Yamuna River in Delhi from 11 March 2016? – ‘World Culture Festival’

Explanation: World Culture Festival is the name given to a mega event organized as a celebration of The Art of Living’s 35 years of service. The Art of Living founder and spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishankar is the main organizer of this event.

– The event held from 11 to 13 March 2016 features cultural events from all parts of the world featuring thousands of artists. Nearly 36,000 artistes from around the world will perform on what is claimed to be the world’s largest stage.

– However the event ran into rough weather as environmentalist Manoj Misra petitioned the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that the World Cultural Festival not be allowed to use the floodplains near Mayur Vihar as it was an ecologically-sensitive venue.

– The NGT on 9 March 2016 gave its go ahead to the event but also clamped Rs. 5 crore fines on The Art of Living claiming that the floodplains had been damaged in the preparations for the event. After coming out against this fine, Sri Sri Ravishankar later asked for more time to pay the fine.

– In the wake of controversies surrounding the event, several world leaders expected to attend the festival and the AOL Global Leaders Forum at the same time on 12 -13 March, cancelled their participation. They include the ‘guest of honour’ Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Nepal President Bidhiya Devi Bhandari, and former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, who was due to give valedictory address at the event, didn’t attended the event as he had to attend another function.

– However, the inaugural function was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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2) Google released the preview version of its latest Android operating system on 9 March 2016. What is the name given to this initial preview release which is meant for developers only and not intended for daily use or consumers? – ‘Android N’

Explanation: Google released the developer preview of Android N on 9 March 2016 in a hush-up affair. Unlike its earlier versions, which were released amid much fanfare at the Google I/O in May every year, the release of ‘Android N’ was just for a select tribe of developers.

– The earlier preview allows Google to hand off the final N release to device makers later this year, so they can get their hands on the latest version of Android earlier than ever.

– Some of the new features available in ‘Android N’ are – a multi-window support, redesigned notification features, more efficient doze system, number-blocking facility in the platform and much enhanced local language support.

– However Android N will not be the official name of this version and the final market-release version could be known by any name from ‘Nuts’ to ‘Nutella’.

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3) Indian credit ratings agency Crisil on 10 March 2016 downgraded the ratings of which 8 public sector banks? – Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Dena Bank, IDBI Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Syndicate Bank and Uco Bank

Explanation: The ratings of these 8 PSU banks were downgraded by Crisil on 10 March 2016. On the other hand the agency also changed the outlook, to negative from stable, on certain securities of five other banks- Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Punjab and Sindh Bank.

– The ratings were downgraded primarily due to increase in banks’ non-performing assets (NPAs).

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4) On 10 March 2016 the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) decided to revert the award of Ratna and R-series oil-fields to the public sector Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) after approving the cancellation of the letter of award in favour of the consortium of Essar Oil Limited and Oil Pacific UK Ltd. This award was done in which year? – 1996

Explanation: The Ratna and R-series oil-fields (lying 130 km off Mumbai coast) were planned to be awarded under the Discovered Field Policy (DFP) of the then Narasimha Rao Government as announced during 1992-93 in the wake of economic liberalization. The letter of award in favour of Essar and Oil Pacific was issued on 3 December 1996.

– It was envisaged that the development of these fields through private sector/joint sector development by signing the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) would facilitate in creating additional value for the country from such projects.

– However, the PSC in respect of these fields could not be signed during the last two decades owing to a number of reasons. Apart from this the intended contribution of the Ratna and R-series fields in achievement of overall policy objective could not be attained.

– In view of this, the CCEA has now decided that the fields may be reverted back to the original licensee, ONGC, who had initially developed these fields partially and operated and obtained production from these fields till 1994.

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5) Indian two-wheeler company Hero MotoCorp Limited on 10 March 2016 inaugurated the world’s first integrated R&D centre for two wheelers. This facility, boasting a 16-km-long track with 45 different surfaces spread over a 250-acre plot, has been established near which city? – Jaipur

Explanation: This state-of-the-art R&D centre will include facilities such as concept design, sketch generation, clay modelling, engineering design and prototype testing.

– Markus Braunsperger, Hero’s chief technology officer and a BMW veteran, will head the R&D centre.

– When Hero MotoCorp was part of the erstwhile joint venture with Honda Motor Co. (Japan), these advanced functions were performed by Honda Motor at its R&D centre in Tochigi, Japan.

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