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International Affairs
National Affairs
People in News
Awards & Honors
New Appointments
Business & Economy
Careers
- The UK today lifted a 15-year-old ban on the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISFY), a pro-Khalistan group.
National Affairs
- India has observed the 10th Earth Hour today between 8.30 pm and 9:30 pm.
- Important Points to Note :
- Earth Hour is a global movement dedicated to protecting the planet and highlighting the effects of climate change.
- The annual international event aims at conserving energy by urging people to voluntarily switch off non-essential lights and electrical appliances for an hour.
- Last year, Delhi saved 200 MWs of energy during the Earth Hour.
- The Maharashtra government will observe 2016 as the 'Year of Farmers Self-respect' in view of the prevailing drought across the state.
- The spirit of overall development of the farmers and rural development constitutes the core" of this year's state budget.
- Note : The state allocated Rs. 25,000 crore for various schemes in the agriculture sector.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated a 3 day 'Krishi Unnati Mela' in Delhi for disseminating information on modernising the country's agricultural practices.
- Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar today announced that the state government will set up 17 new colleges for girls, set to start from the coming academic session.
- The colleges will be located within 20 kilometres of villages, towns and cities.
- Note : An educational institute in the name of Captain Pawan Kumar, who was martyred in Pampore, will also be set up.
- Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul has asked Chief Minister Harish Rawat to prove majority in state Assembly by March 28.
- The move came after political crisis in the state deepened with BJP claiming the support of rebel Congress MLAs.
- BJP also claimed majority in the state Assembly and said the party should be invited to form a new government
People in News
- Pope Francis, the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, has officially joined photo-sharing social network Instagram today.
- Joined under the user handle 'Franciscus', his first image shows him praying, and has a caption saying “pray for me” in different languages.
- Note : He already has over one lakh followers on the platform.
- This mark’s his second social media presence after Twitter.
Awards & Honors
- 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' was named the Best Film at the Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA) 2016, held in Dubai today.
- Sanjay Leela Bhansali bagged the Best Director award.
- Ranveer Singh won the Best Actor award for 'Bajirao Mastani'.
- Kangana Ranaut won Best Actor (Female) award for 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns'.
- Amitabh Bachchan won the Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Union urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has been conferred with the Skoch Lifetime Achievement Award.
- He was bestowed with this award at 43rd SKOCH summit held in New Delhi for his contributions to inclusive growth and towards poverty alleviation in India.
New Appointments
- China-based multinational networking company Huawei appointed Barcelona and Argentina player Lionel Messi as their Global Ambassador.
- Jawaharlal Nehru University has appointed Pramod Kumar, currently an associate professor at Delhi University's Aurobindo College, as its new Registrar.
- He will be replacing Bhupinder Zutshi, whose tenure ends on March 31.
- Former Wipro finance chief Suresh Senapaty, who retired from the outsourcing firm after spending over three decades at the company, has been named chairman of Honeywell Automation's India operations.
Business & Economy
- Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today presented a ₹1.63 lakh crore annual budget for the state.
- The budget proposed a hike in the taxes on petrol, diesel, liquor and soft drinks along with abolishing the agriculture income tax.
- A new scheme Suvarna Krishi Grama Yojana to disburse ₹11,000 crore loans to 23 lakh farmers has also been proposed.
- Note : He was forced to present the state Budget for 2016-17 using the torch of a mobile phone, as the power went off twice in the Assembly.
- The RBI today said that it is discontinuing a two-year-old provision where banks had to submit data pertaining to NEFT transactions by walk-in customers not having a bank account, from the quarter ending March 31.
- However, banks should continue to maintain the relevant records, RBI added.
- Earlier, incognito visits by RBI at banks had resulted in the provision's introduction.
- The Finance Ministry today announced that artisans and job workers in the jewellery industry need not pay the proposed 1% levy on jewellery.
- In case the jewellery is manufactured on job work basis, the duty is to be paid by the manufacturer, it added.
- The government has relaxed FDI norms for the insurance sector by permitting overseas companies to buy 49% stake in domestic insurers, subject to verification by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.
- Important Note : Currently, FDI up to 26% is permitted through automatic approval route and up to 49% with the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
- The World Health Organization has suspended the approval of tuberculosis drugs made by Mumbai-based Svizera Labs, a major supplier to developing countries, citing the company's unreliable manufacturing standards as the reason.
- The company's recent batches of medicine in the market should also be retested for quality, it added.
- Earlier, WHO had issued a warning letter to Svizera last year for the same.
Careers
- The Indian Institutes of Technology have accepted a government proposal to set up an interactive learning portal called IITPAL (IIT professor-assisted learning) for giving free coaching to IIT aspirants for JEE exams.
- Former Director of IIT Bombay Ashok Misra will lead the initiative.
- The portal will have videos on physics, chemistry and mathematics as well as previous years' question papers.
- Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore declared the results of Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) 2016 on its official website on Friday.
- The list of toppers from various branches included Delhi's Ashok Bansal (Mechanical Engineering), Delhi's Swapnil Pandey (Instrumentation Engineering) and Jaya Jha (Electronics and Communication Engineering).
Sports
- Bangladesh left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny and pacer Taskin Ahmed were suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect after having been found guilty of illegal bowling actions.
- Defending champion Lewis Hamilton clinched his career's 50th pole position after finishing first in qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
- Shweta Rathore, the silver medallist at the 2015 Asian body building event, has bagged the Gold medal at the National body building Championship in New Delhi.
- Important Note : Shweta, who hails from Jaipur, now also has three titles to her name Miss Mumbai, Miss Maharashtra and Miss India.
- Haryana-born wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympics after defeating Lee S of South Korea in the semi-finals of the 65 kg Freestyle category at the Asian Olympic Qualifying event today.
- Note : This will be the fourth Olympic games for the Indian wrestler, who has won the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
- 10 soldiers of Indian Army qualified for Rio Olympics 2016.
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