Current Affairs March 2020 - Reports
1 - Maharaja Ranjit Singh named World’s Greatest Leader in BBC Poll
The founder and ruler of the Sikh Empire in India, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, has been voted to be named the “Greatest Leader of All Time”, from around the world in a poll conducted by ‘BBC World Histories Magazine’. Singh was praised for creating a new tolerant empire.
African independence fighter Amílcar Cabral was second in the poll, who is remembered for united over a million Guineans to free themselves from Portuguese occupation. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill came in third in the list.
2 - Byju, Zomato founders on WEF's Young Global Leaders list
Byju Classes’ founder Byju Raveendran and Zomato’s co-founder Gaurav Gupta are among the five Indians named by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its new list of 115 Young Global Leaders.
The other three Indians on the list are Tara Singh Vachani (CEO of Antara Senior Living), Vinati Mutreja (Managing Director and CEO, Vinati Organics Limited), and Swapan Mehra (CEO, Iora Ecological Solutions). This year, over half the new members are women and nearly half of YGLs are from emerging economies.
3 - India the second largest arms importer in the world
India remained the world’s second largest arms importer during the period 2015-19. The annual report “Trends in international arms transfers 2019" is published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The top five arms importers during the five-year period are Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, Australia and China. The report placed India 23rd among the world’s 25 largest arms exporters, with its main clients being Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
4 - India ranks 12th in presence of women in boardrooms
According to a recent study on 'Women On Board 2020' by global recruitment tendering platform MyHiringClub.com and Sarkari-Naukri.info, India ranked 12th worldwide in women member presence on board. This study was done online amongst 7,824 listed companies across 36 countries, including India. It found that women's director on board percentage is 14.87%.
Norway continued to top the list with 40.72% women on board, followed by Sweden with 30.84%, Finland 29.91%, Germany 29.70%, South Africa 19.84% and the US 20.41%.
5 - India became third largest producer of electricity in the world
As per the latest key world energy statistics published by the IEA in 2019, India is the third largest producer of electricity in the world and it ranked 106th in terms of per capita consumption in 2017.
India has become power surplus from power deficit situation. Thus, power sector reforms now, focus on supply of 24x7 quality power to consumers, higher standards of service, promotion of renewable energy sources and development of hydro power. Reforms linked distribution scheme and changes in tariff policy are some of the measures under consideration in this regard.
6 - UN released World Happiness Report 2020
The World Happiness Report 2020 was released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network of United Nations. Finland was ranked as the world's happiest country followed by Denmark and Switzerland among 156 countries. The remaining countries in the top ten are Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, New Zealand, and Austria, followed by top-10 newcomer Luxembourg.
India was ranked 144 in report. World Happiness Report 2020 for the first time ranked cities around the world by their subjective well-being.
