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National Affairs
Awards & Honors
- Today (28th February 2016) is National Science Day.
- On this day, the nation pays tributes to the legacy of the great scientist, Dr C V Raman, who brought Nobel Prize in Science to Asia and India for the first time for his ground-breaking achievement of the Raman effect.
- Professor Raman disclosed this discovery to the world on 28th of February, 1928 and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930.
- In 1986, The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) had urged the Indian government to declare February 28 as National Science Day.
- Themes of National Science Day
- First President of Republic of India, Bharat Ratna, Dr. Rajendra Prasad's Death Anniversary today.
- President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated India's first "Gender Park" in Kozhikode, Kerala.
- The main aim of the park is to promote research and other initiatives to facilitate complete gender equality.
- Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) has directed all its schools to hoist the national flag at a prominent location on their campuses daily.
- KVS, which runs over 1000 schools in India and abroad, is chaired by Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani.
- As per a study by the University of Toronto, the number of male smokers in India rose by 36% in 17 years, from 79 million in 1998 to 108 million in 2015.
- This represents an annual average increase of 1.7 million. In 2010, around 10% of all deaths in India (around 1 million) were caused by smoking.
Awards & Honors
- Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty and his team won a Golden Reel Award for the documentary film 'India's Daughter'.
- They won this award in the 'Best Sound & Music Editing: Television Documentary Short Form' category.
- Three Indian beaches have been named among the Top 10 in 'Asia’s Travellers’ Choice Award-Winning Beaches’ by travel website TripAdvisor.
- Goa's Agonda and Palolem beaches were ranked fourth and eighth respectively while Radhanagar Beach on the Havelock Island in the Andamans has been placed at rank ten.
- Note : No Indian beach was named in the world's top 10.
People in News
- Indian Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has joined ICC and UNICEF’s ‘Team Swachh’ initiative to build a social movement for sanitation and toilet use, aiming for an open defecation-free India.
- Sachin, who is the Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia, will be joined by other cricketers for the initiative, which will lend support to the Government of India’s ‘Swachh Bharat’ Mission.
Business & Economy
- The Indian Railways is set to lay 7 km of tracks every day in 2016-17 as against an average of 4.3 km per day in the last six years, as part of its capacity augmentation plan.
- Note : The Railways is expected to lay 13 km per day in 2017-18, and 19 km per day in 2018-19.
- According to the US Treasury Department, India hiked its exposure to US government securities by nearly $34 billion to touch $116.8 billion in 2015, up from $83 billion in 2014.
- This comes against the backdrop of the global economy witnessing uneven growth trends in 2015.
- Note : China remained the largest holder of US government securities worth $1.246 trillion.
New Appointments
- Former CAG Vinod Rai was today appointed first Chairman of the Banks Board Bureau, which will advise the government on top-level appointments at public sector lenders and ways to address the bad loans problem among other issues.
- Important Note : ICICI Bank's former Joint Managing Director H N Sinor, Bank of Baroda's former CMD Anil K Khandelwal and rating agency CRISIL's former chief Rupa Kudwa have been appointed as Members of Banks Board Bureau.
- Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik was today elected as the President of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) for the 7th consecutive term.
- He is the founder president of the party, which was formed after the death of former CM Biju Patnaik in 1997.
Science & Technology
- On the eve National Science Day today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) will be set up in India to study gravitational waves.
- Note : Physicists have recently discovered gravitational waves, a theory first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916.
- China will launch its second space laboratory, Tiangong 2, into Earth’s orbit in the third quarter of 2016.
- The country also plans to launch its Shenzhou 11 spacecraft, that will carry two astronauts, in the fourth quarter to dock with Tiangong 2.
- Note : China had launched its first space laboratory, Tiangong 1, into orbit in 2011.
- Drug firm Aurobindo Pharma has received tentative approval from the US health regulator for its Ritonavir tablets used for treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection.
Sports
- International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) super bantamweight world champion Carl Frampton has defeated World Boxing Association’s (WBA) super bantamweight world champion Scott Quigg.
- Note : Frampton now holds both the IBF and WBA super-bantamweight titles after winning the 12-round-bout.
- British national newspaper, The Guardian's Tom Jenkins was named as the Sports Photographer of the Year at the 2015 Picture Editors’ Guild awards.
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