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National News
Distribution of Energy Efficient Smart Agriculture Pumps & Fans
- National Energy Efficient Agriculture Pumps Program
- National Energy Efficient Fan Program.
- Schemes will be implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited under Power ministry.
National Family Planning Summit 2016 in New Delhi
- Summit had New Choices, New Horizons as its theme.
- Launched first indigenously developed natural latex-based female condom.
- New latex version of female condom is manufactured by Kerala based HLL Lifecare Ltd under the brand name Velve
Pact with Sweden for cooperation in rail sector
- cooperation in areas of benchmarking railway policy and regulation development, exchange of knowledge and technical expertise, freight operations in colder regions and tilting coaches.
- Cooperation is achieved through exchange of information on developments in areas of railways technology and operations, knowledge sharing, technical visits, training and seminars and workshops in areas of mutual interest.
New oil import policy approved
- Decision will provide a more efficient, flexible and dynamic policy for crude procurement, eventually benefiting the consumers.
- Oil marketing PSUs have been allowed to buy crude on a day-to-day basis
- Prevailing practice is calling tenders two-months before purchase.
36 new CNG stations in Delhi & NCR
- Three stations were by Haryana City Gas in Gurgaon, one by GAIL Gas in Sonepat and two stations by Adani Gas in Faridabad and Khurja have been set up.
Promulgation of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Anatomy Regulation, 2016
- Procedures for providing supply or availability of unclaimed of dead bodies to the Medical College for the purpose of studying the human anatomy in all systems of medicine.
3rd phase of Mission Indradhanush begins on 7th April
- 216 Districts across several States including Bihar, Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh will be covered
- Under the last two phases nearly 39 lakh children have been fully immunized.
- Aims to cover all those children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated, or are partially vaccinated against seven vaccine preventable diseases.
- Diseases include diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.
First Horticulture University in Haryana at Karnal
- will cater the needs to support the gap between teaching, research and extension activities in the state
- will establish the convergence and synergy to disseminate latest technology and horticulture education to our young generation
- Will identify strategies for further development.
National Hydrology Project
- Aims to collect hydro-metrological data across India and use it for efficient water management in the country.
- Project intends to set up a system for timely and reliable water resource data acquisition, storage, collation and management.
OROP gets retrospective Cabinet nod
- One Rank-One Pension scheme to benefit more than 5 million ex- servicemen and war widows
- Pension would be revised on the basis of the pension of retirees of calendar year 2013 and the benefit will be effective from July 1, 2014.
- Financial implications on account of grant of OROP, including pre-matured retiree cases, would be Rs 10,925.11 crore for payment of arrears and annual financial implication would be Rs 7,488.7 crore.
International
Bronze bust of Aryabhatta unveiled at UNESCO Headquarters
- Bronze bust of ancient Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhatta has been unveiled at the UNESCO by the HRD Minister Smriti Irani
- Bust has been sculpted by renowned Indian sculptor Ram Sutar who was awarded the Padma Bhushan.
2015 report on “World Military Expenditure”
- India has been ranked at 6th Position in the 2015 report on Trends in world military expenditure.
- Chart has been topped by the USA as the world’s biggest spender
- Top 5 countries – USA, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and UK.
Business and Economy
Recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission on Fiscal Deficit approved
- Permitted to the states with adequate finance to borrow an extra 0.5% of their GDP, beyond the 3% stipulated by the 14th Finance Commission, in order to help them to meet their development needs.
- Approved it with year to year flexibility for additional deficit of about 0.5%.
CCEA consented ATC Asia Pacific & Andrew Yule proposals
- Approval would bring in a total foreign direct investment inflow of ₹5, 856.51 crore into the telecom base of the nation.
WTO cuts 2016 world trade growth forecast to 2.8%
- Global Growth will come to 8% this year, lower than a previous forecast of 8.9%
- Economic growth of 4% in 2016 and 2.7% in 2017.
- Trade is likely to rise to 6% in 2017
BHEL commissions tiltable canal top solar plant in Andhra
- First canal top project in Andhra Pradesh and also first such project executed by the company.
Future Group acquires online furniture retailer FabFurnish for Rs.20 Crore
- It is the first acquisition of an Internet Store.
- FabFurnish’s management team and about 100 employees are likely to join Future Group.
- will use the online platform to take Home Town online.
CSIR in the Thomson Reuters Top 50 Indian Innovator Companies and Research Organizations
- CSIR was also the recipient of the Thomson Reuters India Innovation Awards 2013 in the category of Hi-Tech Academic & Government
- Known for its cutting-edge R&D knowledgebase in diverse S&T areas,
- Having pan-India presence, with a dynamic network of 38 national laboratories, 39 outreach centers, 3 Innovation Complexes and 5 units.
Science and Technology
Low cost and environment-friendly solar lighting device launched
- This technology would lead to the saving of fossil fuels to a great extent as 1 unit of energy saved is equivalent to 3 units of energy generated.
Whatsapp introduces end-to-end encryption
- All private communications now would be protected by enabling end-to-end encryption.
- New feature will allow users to access messages while barring everybody else, including government agencies, from snooping.
Environment and Ecology
Teak absorbs max CO2 from air, helps check global warming
- Teak has the highest capacity for carbon sequestration among trees in India.
- A teak tree with a girth of 10-30 cm can absorb 70 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
People in News
Debraj Pradhan appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway
- Holds Master’s Degree in Political Science.
- Joined the Indian Foreign Service in August 1981.
- He was posted as Third Secretary/Second Secretary to High Commission of India, Nairobi
C.P. Gurnani appointed as Chairman of NASSCOM
- Raman Roy, Chairman and Managing Director of Quatrro Global Services, appointed as the Vice Chairman of NASSCOM for 2016-17.
- NASSCOM, a non-profit organization is a tra
- de association of Indian Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing industry
Asia’s 50 most powerful businesswoman list topped by Nita Ambani
- Featuring business women from 14 countries, including China, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Philippines and New Zealand.
- 8 Indian women have made their mark in the list of 50 women leaders
- Topped by Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Ambani
Sports
India wins 2016 Asian Nations Cup Chess tournament
- India defeated Vietnam in the finals
- Kazakhstan and Iran took the third and fourth places
- India earned 17 points, two more than World and Olympiad champions China, to clinch the title