9th March 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a 100 MW power supply to Bangladesh by remote control from Tripura’s Palatana plant on 23rd March 2016. 
• Note : Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would provide 10 GB Internet bandwidth to India on the same day. 
• The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) jointly launched the Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage.
• It is a multi-country initiative and is part of a global effort to prevent girls from marrying too young.

National Affairs

• In collaboration with New York-based National Resources Defence Council, the government is launching a programme to protect people from extreme heat in Bhubaneswar and Nagpur.
• Under the programme, weekly weather forecasts, extra water supplies, cool-air shelters, and afternoon breaks for workers, will be introduced. 
• Note : A heat wave killed at least 2,500 people across the country last year.
  
• Karnataka government has launched Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana to provide Free medical treatment to road accident victims for the first 48 hours (2 days) in the nearest government or private hospital. 
• The scheme has been named after Harish Nanjappa who had donated his eyes moments before his death. 
• He had died as no help was provided to him after he was  severely injured in mishap in February 2016 .
• Government has announced that more than four lakh Jobs will be generated under Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) during 2016-17. 
• Minister of Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises Mr Kalraj Mishra informed,that a sum of Rs 1,139 crore will be utilized during the next financial year under PMEGP to assist 55 thousand projects with Margin Money. 
• The Maharashtra government has distributed ₹2,536 crore to drought-affected farmers.
• The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) is planning to install sound-level meters at wedding venues to keep a check on noise pollution. 

Business & Economy

• Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today presented a ₹99,693 crore annual budget for the state. 
• Social and community services accounted for 38.22% of the budget allocations while the power sector constituted 31.64%. 
• Further, two initiatives, one which incentivises the girl child's education and the other which aims at training 1.5 lakh schoolgirls in self-defence, were introduced.
• Mozilla today rolled out an update for its open-source web browser Firefox for Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android platforms, featuring a new free cross-browser video chat app called 'Firefox Hello'. 
• Technology non-profit organisation Nasscom Foundation has received $4.78 million in donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to modernise public libraries with the help of technology. 
• Note : Nasscom Foundation has launched Indian Public Library Movement under which it will provide computers, training staff and supporting classes and programs at 300 district-level libraries across India.
• The government is going sell up to 5% of its stake in the Railways Ministry-controlled company Container Corporation of India (Concor) at a floor price of ₹1,195 per share starting today. 
• Note : The government currently holds 61.79% stake in the company.
• Private lender Yes Bank yesterday launched an all-women operated bank branch ‘Yes Grace’ on Cunningham Road, Bengaluru aimed at offering customised banking solutions to women.
• The new branch, served by eight employees currently and with plans to raise the count to 12, will also drive for financial literacy, family banking, safety and wellness amongst women.
• Bajaj Power Generation Company has signed an agreement with Indian Railways for electrification of the Lalitpur-Udaipura rail section under the public private partnership (PPP).
• The Railways would complete the electrification work in a year's time under its customer funding scheme, which would cost nearly Rs 47 crore.

New Appointments

• CA Media Digital today said it has appointed Vivek Jain as Chief Executive Officer.
• Prior to joining CA Media Digital, Jain was associated with Reliance Jio as vice president, Digital Media Products. He has also worked with Amazon, Google and Motorola.

Awards & Honors

• Actress Sonakshi Sinha was awarded a certificate for a Guinness World Record as part of 'most people painting their fingernails simultaneously’. 
• For setting the record, 1,328 women in unison painted their nails at the event held by makeup brand 'Inglot' at the Palladium in Mumbai. The event was held on the occasion of International Women’s Day yesterday.

Science & Technology

• NASA today announced that it has delayed the launch of its next Mars mission 'InSight' to May 5, 2018. 
• The mission is aimed at studying and learning more about the Red Planet's interior and the surface. The launch was originally scheduled for this month but was put on hold indefinitely after a leak was discovered in a spacecraft instrument.
• Autorickshaws that run on solar power were launched in Bengaluru. 
• The electric auto is named ElecRic and it does not emit any air pollutants. 
• ElecRic has been designed by RJMS-EV, a private company that manufactures electric vehicles and their components in Bengaluru. 
• Google's DeepMind Artificial Intelligence (AI) 'AlphaGo' today defeated the 33-year-old 'Go' World champion Lee Sedol from Korea in the first match of their five-match battle. 
• Note : China-originated 'Go' is a board game played on a 19x19 matrix and is considered to be more complex than chess.

Deaths

• George Martin, the producer of British rock band 'The Beatles', passed away. 
• Popularly known as the 'fifth Beatle', Martin served as producer, collaborator and mentor to Beatles John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Starr.

Sports

• The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that the ICC World Twenty20 match between India and Pakistan, which was scheduled to be played in Dharamsala on March 19, will be shifted to Eden Gardens, Kolkata. 
• Note : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had asked the ICC for a change in venue because of security concerns over the original venue Dharamsala.

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