Current Affairs March 2016 - Miscellaneous


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  • BK Prasad was appointed as the head of a high level committee to look into issue of missing files related to Ishrat Jahan case.

  • An international team of scientists discovered 250-million-year-old new fossil of reptile, from Rio Grande do Sul, southernmost Brazil named - Teyujagua (fierce lizard).

  • American mathematician and Nobel Prize-winning economist, Lloyd Stowell Shapley, died on 12 March 2012. He won the Prize in 2012 for his contribution for the field of Game theory.

  • The Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1998 batch who on 12 March 2016 was appointed as the High Commissioner of India to Fiji is Vishvas Vidu Sapkal.

  • A new species of thumbnail size frog, named Microhyla laterite, was discovered in Coastal town of Manipal, Udupi District, Karnataka.

  • UNESCO signed an agreement with CJ Better Life to start a pre-school animation series for the education of girls globally called Rainbow Ruby.

  • R. Ravindra, a 1999 batch IFS officer, was appointed as the Ambassador of India to Cote d'Ivoire.

  • The Wholesale Price Index for February 2016 was pegged at (-) 0.91%.

  • Andhra Pradesh became the first state to presented the first e-Budget of India on 10 March 2016.

  • On 15 March 2016, the Supreme Court asked the Centre and states to frame rules, regulations and guidelines related to adoption under The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.

  • On 15 March 2016, food processing industries minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated international food and hospitality fair AAHAR 2016 in New Delhi.

  • As recommended by the Thirteenth Finance Commission, the Union Government on 15 March 2016 released 609 crore rupees for upgrading prisons in eight States.

  • Australia re-opened its trade office in Iran in March 2016.

  • Venezuela declared a two-month extension on emergency powers meant to help shore up the country's crippled economy.

  • As per the ILO study, 90 percent of world’s domestic workers are excluded from social protection.

  • Mauritania became the second African nation to commit to end modern slavery.

  • The 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women was inaugurated on 14 March 2016 in New York.

  • The theme of the 60th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development.

  • The State Cabinet of Odisha on 14 March 2016 approved a proposal to constitute a State Food Commission (SFC) as per the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013.

  • Delhi won the 20th edition of the Lloyd Business Today Pro-Am of Champions golf tournament.

  • Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has tied up with marquee sports car maker Ferrari to launch a co-branded credit card.

  • Every year World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) is being observed on 15th March for celebration and solidarity within the international consumer movement.

  • The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) suspended Maria Sharapova as a goodwill ambassador.

  • Lok Sabha passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2016 that seeks to amend Constitution Scheduled Castes Order 1950.

  • London's transport authority launched the world's first fully electric double decker bus.

  • Punjab’s Finance Minister, Parminder Singh Dhindsa presented the 2016-17 budget for estimates of 86 thousand 387 crore rupees.

  • The pilots of Royal Brunei Airlines made history by becoming the company's first all-female flight crew when they flew the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Brunei to Jeddah.

  • The Reserve Bank Governor of Bangladesh, Atiur Rahman, resigned following an 80-million-dollar cyber theft from the Bank's Reserve Fund Account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

  • An army plane with 22 people and Ecuadorian soldiers on board crashed in Ecuador's Amazon region.

  • Thai capital Bangkok will impose a curfew during Thailand's annual water festival next month to show solidarity with Farmers hit by drought.

  • Maharashtra Assembly passed a bill to amend the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act 1950 that provides for De-registration of long-defunct trusts.

  • The book titled Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography was written by Pramod Kapoor.

  • The theme of the World Consumer Rights Day that was observed on 15 March 2016 was Antibiotics off the Menu.

  • The theme for the World Kidney Day that was observed on 10 March 2016 Kidney Disease & Children. Act Early to Prevent It!

  • India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi stood 16th in the list of 30 Most Influential People on the Internet list released by Time magazine.

  • Federal Open Market Committee of US Federal Reserve decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0.25 to 0.5%.

  • Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar announced launch of his premium menswear apparel and accessories brand named True Blue.

  • Punjab notified swine flu (H1N1) disease under the Epidemic Disease Act.

  • As per the UNESCO eAtlas of Gender Inequality in Education, 63 million girls between 6 and 15 age are out of school in the world.

  • The 5th edition of India Aviation was inaugurated by the President Pranab Mukherjee in Hyderabad.

  • Songkran festival that marks Thai New Year and often referred to as the world's biggest water fight was in news in third week of March 2016.

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi in April 2016 will join the ranks of prominent global leaders at the famous wax museum Madame Tussauds in London, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

  • The Supreme Court has allowed publication of photographs of Governors, Chief Ministers and the Ministers of the department concerned in Government Advertisements.

  • Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on 18 March 2016 launched the first phase of Fiber Grid project to provide broadband connectivity to all the households at a throwaway price in Visakhapatnam.

  • New Delhi is hosting the first-ever World Sufi Forum.

  • Suryassangyini Chaudhary, has become the youngest person to climb the Mt. Kangchenjunga base camp in Sikkim.

  • Cameroon sentenced 89 members of Nigerian militant group Boko Haram to death.

  • The Orissa High Court asked the state Endowment Commissioner to file an affidavit within two weeks on protection of temples.

  • Union Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the 6th National Community Radio Sammelan in New Delhi.

  • Germany decided to close its embassy in Ankara and its consulate in Istanbul.

  • China unveiled its latest spy plane equipped to handle electronic warfare, dubbed as Scout Electronic Reconnaissance Aircraft CSA-003.

  • A team of biologists from Yokohama City University, Japan successfully created a tiny liver that functions as efficiently as human one.

  • Lower house of Congress of Chile approved a proposal that lifts a ban on abortion in cases of rape, when there is health risk for the mother, or when the foetus is not viable.

  • Venkaiah Naidu was conferred with Skoch Lifetime Achievement Award on 17 March 2016.

  • State Bank of India claimed the top slot in mobile banking on 17 March 2016.

  • Tripura received Krishi Karman Awards 2014-15 in the Category – III states (food grain production less than 1 million tonnes) on 19 March 2016.

  • Karnataka received Krishi Karman Awards 2014-15 for the production of coarse cereals in the individual crops category.

  • Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified new Plastic Waste Management Rules to curb over 6000 tonnes of uncollected plastic waste generated daily by industries on 18 March 2016.

  • The theme of the World Sparrow Day 2016 that was observed on 20 March 2016 is Rise for the SPARROW-Experience the power of one.

  • The theme of the International Day of Forests 2016 that was observed on 21 March 2016 is Forests and Water.

  • ICC suspended Bangladesh’s Arafat Sunny and Taskin from bowling in international cricket due to their Illegal bowling action.

  • Cisco announced to set up an Internet of Everything (IoE) Innovation Centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh to foster regional innovation.

  • The Earth Hour 2016 was observed on 19 March 2016.

  • Nepal signed 10 agreements with China to extend the strategic Tibet rail link to Nepal on 21 March 2016.

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to Krishi Unnati Mela in New Delhi announced to double farmer’s income by the year 2022.

  • 21st March every year is observed as World Poetry Day by UNESCO.

  • The name of the campaign that will be launched by the UN illustrating water-environment-climate change link is - #Climatechain.

  • The theme of the World Down Syndrome Day observed on 21 March 2016 is My Friends, My Community.

  • Jean-Pierre Bemba is a Congolese national who was found guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

  • The Mobile application that was launched by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in New Delhi to help farmers to bring technology to farm fields on 21 March 2016 is Pusa Krishi.

  • French aviation companies Aero Campus Aquitaine and Bordeaux Metropole signed MoU to establish training centre in the State of Telangana.

  • Union Ministry of Minority Affairs is hosting the Everlasting Flame International program.

  • The noted Malayalam writer, M Sukumaran, was chosen for the CV Kunhiraman Literary Prize.

  • The Fast Patrol Vessel that was commissioned on 21 March 2016 in Visakhapatnam is ICGS Arnvesh.

  • Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India.

  • Mahamadou Issoufou was re-elected as the president of Niger in March 2016.

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated broadband connectivity to North Eastern States via Bangladesh.

  • European Space Agency (ESA) announced plans to construct lunar villages on the Moon.

  • The theme for the World Tuberculosis Day that was observed on 24 March 2016 is United to End TB.

  • 9th International Abilympics started on 23 March 2016 at Bordeaux in France.

  • The ICTY tribunal of the UN sentenced the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to 40-year imprisonment for war crimes. The ICTY stands for International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

  • Famous soccer player Johan Cruyff died on 24 March 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. He played for the national football team of The Netherlands.

  • The Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interferometer or GIRI Radar System was established by the ISRO near – Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

  • The States/UTs which are not covered for the implementation of rural housing scheme of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin from 2016 to 2019 are Delhi and Chandigarh.

  • The Union Cabinet in March 2016 approved transfer of 50 acre of land from Central Sheep & Wool Research Institute (CSWRI) to Rajasthan for establishment of Veterinary University Training and Research Centre.

  • The Union Cabinet gave its approval to Revised Cost Estimate (RCE) of 4020.63 crore rupees for the ongoing 720 MW Mangadechhu Hydroelectric Project (HEP) of Bhutan.

  • Union Cabinet approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agriculture with Lithuania.

  • Middle East region will dominate the India’s import of oil as the country demands increases to 5 million barrels by 2021.

  • Manipur will host the North East Business Summit from 7 April – 9 April 2016.

  • Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) and other mercury containing lamps e-wastes have been covered under the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016 notified by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

  • About 7008 villages were electrified under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY) in the year 2015-16 as on 23 March 2016.

  • The World War I era tug whose wreck was discovered after 95 years is USS Conestoga.

  • The journal that revealed that the spin axis of Earth’s moon shifted by about five degrees roughly three billion years ago on 23 March 2016 is Nature.

  • The English word that made its first printed appearance in the 23 March 1839 in issue of the Boston Morning Post of the Providence Journal and completed 177 years on 23 March 2016 is OK (Oll Korrect)

  • India's biggest ever land, naval and homeland security exhibition, Defence Expo 2016 began on 28 March 2016 in, Goa.

  • The state government of Haryana launched a new scheme, ‘Adapting homes for the differently-abled’ on 26 March 2016.

  • As per the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment, China made highest investments in the renewable energy sector in the world in 2015 worth 102.9 billion US dollars.

  • The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016 was released by the United Nations Environment Program.

  • As per the UNEP’s Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016, India invested 10.2 billion US dollars in the renewable energy sector in 2015.

  • The National Tsunami Early Warning Centre (NTEWC) of the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Service (INCOIS) installed a Sea-Level Tide Gauge at Gilakaladindi village in AP.

  • Former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan, conferred with Padma Vibhushan Award on 28 March 2016.

  • Virat Kohli topped the T20 rankings released by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

  • Huang Yuxiang from China won the New Zealand Open Grand Prix 2016.

  • The American Franciscan nun and founder of the internationally-broadcast cable television and radio networks Eternal Word Television Network, Mother Angelica, died on 27 March 2016.

  • The Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Project connects Godavari & Krishna rivers in Southern India.

  • The Supreme Court of Bangladesh on 28 March 2016 upheld the constitutional provision that declares Islam as the state religion.

  • Delhi government presented 2016-17 annual budget for Delhi on 28 March 2016 which was worth 46600 crore rupees.

  • According to Brisbane researchers, New Zealand overtook Australia as the world leader in invasive melanoma rates.

  • The rule notified by the Environment Ministry on 29 March 2016 for the first time is Construction & Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016.

  • Indian Institute of Technology Patna organized the First International Symposium on Fifth Generation (5G) technology.

  • Indian Medical Association (IMA) urged the Union Government to ensure timely implementation of the 85 percent pictorial health warnings display on both sides of tobacco packages from 1 April 2016.

  • The third Asian Kho-Kho championship will begin on 8 April 2016 in Indore.

  • Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated a new branch of the Union Bank of India in Sydney, Australia.

  • Union Health and Family Welfare launched GIS-enabled HMIS application and the self-printing of e-CGHS.

  • Union Minority Affairs Ministry launched innovative entrepreneurship and skill development program of MANAS through leading national and international experts in different skill sets on 29 March 2016.

  • The Supreme Court approved the guidelines given by Union Government on 30 March 2016 to protect Good Samaritans.

  • Arun Jaitley launched the “Made In India” conference in Sydney.

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