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. Current Affairs Snippet – March 2019
NATIONAL
On 26th
February Indian Air Force attacked JeM terrorist
camps in POK. The terrorist camp located in Balakot was the
largest terrorist camp of JeM and
it was run by
MaulanaYousafAzhar (alias
UstadGhouri), the brother-in-
law of Masood Azhar, Chief of
JeM.
―The Government of India
selected the target in a manner so
that the civilian casualties were
avoided. The camp attacked was
situated on a hilltop at a distance
from civilian presence.
―The Government said that the strike was made after the
Indian intelligence reports confirmed that JeM was attempting
another suicide terror attack in various parts of the country,
and the fidayeenjihadis were being trained for this purpose.
―The Government described the strike as “non-military pre-
emptive strike”.
―The air strikes were made 12 days after the terror attack in
Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, for which Pakistan-based
terror group Jaish e Mohammad had taken responsibility; 40
soldiers of the CRPF were killed in the terror attack.
Wing Commander AbhinandanVarthaman was captured
by Pakistan.He was captured while he was part of an
engagement along the Line of Control with a package of 24
Pakistani aircrafts which was intercepted by eight IAF
fighters.
―His jet was shot down and he parachuted on Pakistan‟s
side of the Line of Control.
―This is the first time in last 48 years that the Indian and
Pakistani warplanes entered into
an aerial combat.
―The Government of India had
clarified that it would not enter
into any deal with Pakistan for
releasing of the captured Indian
Air Force pilot.
―The USA called on both India
and Pakistan and told them to
cease all cross-border military
actions.
―Pakistan on March 1, 2019
released the pilot as a good will gesture and lokedit de-
escalated the rising tensions in the region.
Pakistan has indefinitely stopped Samjhauta express.
―Samjhauta express is a train service that runs between India
and Pakistan.
―Pakistan has said that the service will be resumed once the
security situation between India and Pakistan improves.
The Government of India has stayed the order giving
powers to Assam Riffles to search and arrest without warrant.
―This was done after the protest lodged by the North Eastern
States.The order was apparently given without consulting the
states and they were not happy with it.
―The order was given to Assam Riffles for dealing with the
increasing unrest in North Eastern States of India.
―The Government of India had granted this power to Assam
Riffles in the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur,
Nagaland and Mizoram.
The Government of India has deployed 10,000 additional
paramilitary personnel in Jammu and Kashmir.
―The personnel have been deployed as part of routine pre-
election exercise ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
―The Centre government has deployed 100 companies of
paramilitary. 45 are from the CRPF, 35 are from the BSF and
10 each from the SSB and the ITBP.
―This move has brought BSF back to Srinagar after a period
of 14 years (except for a brief period of one week in 2016).
The Election Commission has approved the use of any of
the 12 approved IDcards for casting votes.
―Till now only photo voter slip was allowed as identification
document for casting vote.The step has been taken by the
Election Commission to ensure more voting.
―The use of photo voter slips has been questioned in recent
years as they are prepared after the finalising of the electoral
rolls and distributed close to the voting dates. This increases
chances of manipulation.
The Central Government has approved additional
assistance of Rs. 1,604.15 crore to Andhra Pradesh, Manipur,
Jharkhand and Rajasthan for damages incurred in natural
disasters during 2018. ―The assistance has been approved announced under the
National Disaster Fund.The assistance of Rs. 82.65 crore has
been announced for Andhra Pradesh for damages caused by
cyclonic storm "Phethai".
―The assistance of Rs. 42.46 crore has been announced for
Manipur for rehabilitation post floods and landslides.
―The assistance of Rs. 272.42 crore and Rs. 1,206.62 crore
have been announced for Jharkhand and Rajasthan
respectively for dealing with the drought in the state.
The Government of India has constructed National War
Memorial (NWM) at India Gate in memory of the war heroes
of Indian forces.
National War Memorial, New Delhi
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JeM Chief - Masood Azhar
AbhinandanVarthaman
―The memorial honours Indian soldiers who laid down their
lives in war and operations since independence of India.
―The memorial spread over an area of 40 acres is made up of
four concentric circles. Amar Chakra (circle of immortality),
Veer Chakra (circle of bravery), Tyag Chakra (circle of
sacrifice) and Rakshak Chakra (circle of protection).
―India Gate is a war memorial built by the British in
memory of 84,000 Indian soldiers killed during World War I
and the Afghan campaign.
―The memorial has been constructed at a cost of Rs 176
crore.
The Supreme Court of India has referred the Aydohya
case to mediation panel.
―The mediation will be held in Uttar Pradesh‟s Faizabad
district.
―The mediation will be headed by Justice (retd) F M
Kallifulla, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Senior Advocate
SriramPanchu be part of the mediation panel.
Justice (retd.) F.M. Kallifulla, Sri Ra, Panchu, and Sri Ravi Shankar
―The five judge Supreme Court Bench has asked the panel to
give progress report in four weeks and to complete the process
in eight.
―The order also empowers the mediators to co-opt more
members in case of difficulty.
―The Court ordered mediation saying that it only has power to
decide property matters, the mediation can provide possibility
of healing. ―The Court has also said that the case was not only about the
property but it was also related to religious sentiments of two
important communities.
The Election Commission in a statement has said that all the
political parties in Jammu and Kashmir support
simultaneous Lok Sabha and
Assembly polls at the earliest.
―The bureaucracy (including the
Chief Secretary and Home
Secretary) on the other hand want
separate Lok Sabha and
Assembly polls in the State.
The Pakistan‟s Foreign
Minister has admitted that Jaish-e-
Mohammad(JeM) chief MasoodAzhar is in Pakistan and is
“unwell”.
―The Minister also clarified that it could not act against Azhar
unless India presents “solid‖ and ―inalienable” evidence that
could stand in a court of law.
―Jaise-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the
Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF men were killed by a
suicide bomber.
―India and Pakistan are in state of high tension in the
aftermath of Pulwama attack, India‟s attack on terrorist camp
in PoK and
Pakistan‟s retaliation
against India.
The Central
Government has
banned Jamaat-e-
Islami(JeI) Jammu
and Kashmir under
the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
―The Central Government has delegated powers to the Jammu
and Kashmir Governor to order seizure of funds, properties
and assets of the outfit under Section 42 of the UAPA.
―The ban will remain in operation for a period of five years.
The Indian Government provided the United States proofs
that F-16 fighter jets were used by Pakistan in the recent
confrontation with India.
―United States is keeping an eye on the reports of the misuse
of these jets.
―Indian Air Force displayed parts
of AMRAAM beyond visual range
air-to-air missile as evidence that
Pakistan used F-16 to conduct
aerial raids on installations in
Kashmir.
―Pakistan claims that it did not
used F-16 fighter jets in the conflict.
―The use of American made F-16
fighter jets against India is a
violation of the end user
agreement signed between
Pakistan and America.
TheElection Commission announced that the Lok Sabha
elections will be held in seven phases, between April 11 and
May 19.
―Participation of more than 90 crore voters is expected in the
17th
Lok Sabha Elections.
―The results of the polling will be declared on May 23.
―The Election Commission also announced that the assembly
elections for Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and
Sikkim will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha
elections.
F-16 Pakistan Air Force
Sunil Arora - Chief Election Commissioner of India
JeM Chief Masood Azhar
Lok Sabha Election 2019 Phase―1 Phase―2 Phase―3 Phase―4 Phase―5 Phase―6 Phase―7
April 11 April 18 April 23 April 29 May 6 May 12 May 19 Andhra
Pradesh (25)
Assam(5) Assam(4) Bihar(5) Bihar(1) Bihar(8) Bihar(8)
Arunachal
Pradesh (2)
Bihar(5) Bihar(5) J&K(1) J&K(2) Haryana(10) Jharkhand(3)
Assam(5) Chhattisgarh
(3)
Chhattisgarh
(7)
Jharkhand
(3)
Jharkhand
(4)
Jharkhand
(4)
MP (8)
Bihar(4) J&K(2) Gujarat(26) MP(6) MP(7) MP(8) Punjab(13)
Chhattisgarh
(1)
Karnataka
(14)
Goa
(2)
Maharashtra
(17)
Raj
(12)
UP
(14)
WB
(9)
J&K(2) Maharashtra
(10)
J&K
(1)
Odisha (6) UP
(14)
WB
(8)
Chandigarh
(1)
Maharashtra
(7)
Manipur(1) Karnataka(14) Rajasthan
(13)
WB(7) Delhi(7) UP(13)
Manipur (1) Odisha(5) Kerala(20) UP(13) HP(4)
Meghalaya(2) TN(39) Maharashtra
(14)
WB(8)
Mizoram(1) Tripura(1) Odisha(6)
Nagaland(1) UP(8) UP(10)
Odisha(4) WB(3) WB(5)
Sikkim(1) Puducherry(1) Dadra &Ngr
Haveli(1)
Telangana(17) Daman and
Diu(1)
Tripura(1)
UP(8)
Uttarakhand
(5)
―The Election Commission (EC) decided against holding the
J&K state polls simultaneously with the Lok Sabha citing
security reasons.
―Lok
Sabha
polls in Bihar, UP and West Bengal will be conducted in seven
phases, in Jammu and Kashmir in five phases, in Jharkhand,
MP, Maharashtra and Odisha in four phases, in Assam and
Chhattisgarh in three phases, in Karnataka, Manipur,
Rajasthan and Tripura in two phases and remaining states will
go to poll on a single day
―This is the first general electionin India where there will be
100 percentuse of voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT)
units.
―A VVPAT produces a printout of the vote cast using an
Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), which can be shown to
the voter to dispel doubts.
The Election Commission has made it compulsory for
candidates to advertise their criminal records.
―The candidates with criminal record will have to advertise
their criminal records on TV and newspapers at least three
times during the election campaigning.
― Candidates who do not have criminal records will have to
mention that they do not have criminal records against them.
The Election Commission made a number of
announcements related to Lok Sabha elections 2019. Few of
these are:
―Photographs of politicians will be printed on EVM ballot
paper to help electors identify the correct candidate and to
avoid confusions. ―In
2014
elections, nine lakh polling stations were set up. In 2019
Election Commission will set up ten lakh polling stations.
―Parties and candidates cannot issue any political
advertisement on social media without clearance from the
Election Commission first.
―The ads made on social media will count towards the total
poll expenditure of the parties.
―All the Lok Sabha 2019 candidates have to compulsorily
declare their social media
accounts while filing the
affidavit with the Election
Commission.
Biju Janta Dal (BJD)
announced that it would
reserve 33% tickets for
women in Lok Sabha
elections 2019.
―With this announcement BJD has become the first party in
India to implement the longstanding demand of women.
―BJD won 20 of 21Lok Sabha seats in Odisha in 2014
elections and it currently has three women MPs.
―BJD did not announce 33% reservation for women in the
Assembly Polls for Odisha that would take place
simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections.
On 13th
March, China once
again placed a technical hold on
the proposal in the UN Security
Council to ban chief of the terror
outfit, Jaish-e-
MohammedMaulanaMasood
Azhar. ―US, UK, France and Germany
supported the move of ban.
―Listing of Azharas a global
terrorist would have led to travel
ban on Azhar along with taking over of his assets. This in turn
would have put a substantial curb on the terrorist activities of
the outfit. It would also have supported India‟s assertion that
Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism in the South Asian
region.
―For last 10 years, India has been trying to get Azhar listed
as a “global terrorist” in the UN Security Council.
―India started its efforts after the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist
attack in 2008-9. China has been blocking this effort.
A BJP delegation comprising Union ministers and the
party‟s general secretaries approached the Election
Commission to declare West Bengal as a “super sensitive
state” to ensure fair elections.
―The BJP also demanded that the central forces should be
deployed at all the polling stations in the state.
―BJP also requested EC to transfer police officers where
their impartiality was questionable and asked EC to remove
Commissioner Rajeev Kumar from election duty.
India and USA entered into an understanding for
construction of six nuclear plants in India.
―The statement for the same was issued at the conclusion of
the 9th round of India-US Strategic Security Dialogue.
―The understanding was made possible due to the special
waiver given by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG),
―This waiver has allowed India to sign civil nuclear
cooperation agreements with the US, France, Russia, Canada,
Argentina, Australia, Sri Lanka, the UK, Japan, Vietnam,
Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and South Korea.
LAW
.TheSupreme Court of India has asked the Election
Commission of India to respond to the plea seeking an
independent review of the software used in Electronic Voting
Machines (EVMs), Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail
(VVPAT) and EVM Tracking Software (ETS).
―The Supreme Court has also asked the poll panel to respond
to the plea (PIL) that suggested making changes in the source
code of EVMs to make them tamper proof.
―The PILs have been filed by activists Sunil Ahya and
Ramesh Bellamkonda.
―According to the plea, software review of EVMs is
necessary because EC is not doing 100% verification of
VVPAT paper trail.
―The EC has decided to conduct the verification of VVPAT
paper slips of only one polling station per assembly
constituency.
The Supreme Court of India has stayed its order of evicting
approximately 11 lakh tribal families in 21 states of India.
―The Supreme Court passed the order to evict people who
were unable to prove their rights over the land on which they
lived.
―The Supreme Court was very hard on Central and State
Governments while passing the order. It asked them why they
took so much time to request for the review. The Court said
that they should have
raised objection when the order was
passed.
―The Court said that
after declaration of
an area as forest all the
unauthorised people
have to be removed from the area.
TheGovernment of India has promulgated an ordinance
allowing the voluntary use of Aadhaar for opening bank
accounts and purchasing mobile connections.
―The ordinance provides for voluntary use, i.e. nobody can
be denied service due to refusal of furnishing Aadhaar
number.
―The ordinance also bans storing of Aadhaar number and
other biometric information by the service providers.
―The ordinance will become law once it receives the
President‟s signature.
TheDelhi High Court has rejected the petition of TTV
Dinakaran and VK Sasikala for allotting the „two-leaves‟
symbol to the All India Anna
DravidaMunnetraKazhagam’s (AIADMK).
―The High Court has upheld the Election Commissions
decisions to allot the symbol to the Panneerselvam-
Palaniswami faction of the AIADMK. ―The EC has allotted „pressure cooker‟ symbol, as an
interim measure, to Dinakaran faction last year during the by
polls of the R K Nagar constituency in Tamil Nadu.
The Supreme Court of India has clarified that the Central
Government is not responsible for delays in the appointment
of High Court Judges.
―The Supreme Court took the onus of the delays of itself by
saying that nearly 70 to 80 files are pending before its
Collegium.
―The SC clarified that 27 recommendations are currently
pending before the Centre and about 70 to 80 are pending
before the Collegium.
―The clarification was issued in response to an PIL alleging
that the Centre was indefinitely sitting” on names
recommended by the Collegium for appointment to the
country‟s higher judiciary.
―The PIL was filed by an NGO Centre for Public Interest
Litigations.
On March 6, 2019 the Supreme Court reserved its verdict
on whether the Ayodhya title dispute case should be resolved
through court-monitored mediation.
―The five judge Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court
headed by the Chief Justice of India asked the petitioners to
suggest names for the mediator or panel of mediators.
―The Supreme Court also said that it would pass the order on
the issue very shortly.
―The parties (including UP Government) in favour of
constructing Ram Temple argued that the mediation is bound
to fail due to the sensitive nature of the case. They want the
Court to decide on the issue one way or other.
The Haryana Government passed a Bill that allows the use
of thousands of acres of protected Aravali land for real estate
and other non-forest activities.
―Among other things, the law will allow for the regulation of
unauthorised constructions in the area because it will come
into effect retrospectively.
―The Punjab Land Preservation (Haryana Amendment) Bill,
2019 has been sent to Governor for his assent. Congress has
requested Governor not to assent to the Bill.
Masood Azhar - JeM Chief
Andrea Thompson (US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security) and Vijay Gokhle (Foreign
Secretary of India)
―The Supreme Court has taken a strong exception to this
Bill. It has said that this step of Haryana Government will
destroy the forest and this cannot be permitted.
―The Supreme Court has asked the state not to take any
further action on the law and termed it “shocking” that the
Haryana government has taken this step despite being told
earlier by the Court not to do so.
―Environmentalists claim that allowing unrestricted
construction in Aravalis forest can create problems for
environment of Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad.
The Supreme Court has directed Attorney General K
KVenugopal to inform before 17th
March when it would be
possible to convene a meeting of the Lokpal Selection
Committee.
The Supreme Court has decided to look into a plea
questioning provisions in the law that allows courts to pass an
order for restitution of conjugal rights of separated couples.
―The plea states that these provisions are based on
patriarchal gender stereotype and violate the Constitutional
rights to privacy and individual autonomy.
―The plea challenges the validity of Section 9 of the Hindu
Marriage Act, 1955; Section 22 of the Special Marriage Act,
1954; and Order 21, Rules 32 and 33 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908, which provide the statutory scheme for the
Restitution of Conjugal Rights.
―The PIL has been made by two students of the Gujarat
National Law University, Gandhinagar
―Delhi High Court in 1984 upheld these provisions to be
Constitutional. But the culture has changed since then and the
right to privacy has been accepted as a fundamental right.
―The three-judge bench of the Supreme Court will look into
the issue.
The Supreme Court of India upheld the appointment of
Lieutenant Generals Dalbir Singh Suhag and
SanjivChachra as heads of the Eastern and Northern
Commands respectively made in 2012.
―While upholding the appointment, Supreme Court
clarified that seniority alone cannot be a criterion for
appointment to such important posts.
―The Court also said that the principle that the appointment
should be done by selection does not mean that the criterion of
seniority will be ignored while making the selection.
The Supreme Court of India has taken the Assam
Government to task over the functioning of the Foreigners’
Tribunals in the state.
―The Supreme Court asked the State why there were 90
inmates in detention centres when the tribunals have declared
over 58,000 as foreigners so far.
―The Supreme Court asked the Tribunal where all the
foreigners in the state have gone.
―The Supreme Court also warned the Government that it may
seek the personal presence of the state Chief Secretary and
Home Secretary to explain the position if the things do not
improve.
To protect the forests, the Supreme Court has completely
banned the felling of trees in Himachal Pradesh.
―The interim order of the Court also banned felling of trees
even in cases where the approvals have been granted by the
Divisional Forest Officers. ―The ban will remain in place till April 1, which is also the
date of the next hearing of the case.
The Supreme Court has directed the States to ensure that
only those police officers should be appointed as Director
General of Police who have at least six months of service left
before retirement.
―Supreme Court had earlier said that the appointment to the
post of Director General should be made solely on the basis
of merit and that the appointment should be made for a
minimum period of two years.
―As a consequence of the previous order, UPSC was only
looking for officers with at least two years of service left
before retirement. The Supreme Court clarified that this was
not the intension of the Court.
The Supreme Court Collegium has cleared appointment of
26 judges to 3 High Courts. ―Six judges each will be appointed to Madras and Patna
High Courts while 14 judges will be appointed to Bombay
High Court.
Supreme Courthas asked for the amicus curiae in the case
pertaining to BCCI’s administration pending before it, to
look into the claim that the new constitution of the board went
beyond the recommendations of the Justice R M Lodha
panel. ―The Supreme Court made this demand when some states h
raised an issue that in the BCCI Constitution, there are some
issues which are beyond the Lodha panel recommendations.
―The Cricket Association of Bihar, also raised the issue of
some officials of the rival Bihar Cricket Association being
allegedly caught on camera demanding bribes from players.
―The Court also refused to grant an urgent hearing to former
BCCI chief Anurag Thakur’s plea. He has submitted a plea
seeking expunction of certain remarks against him in the
Supreme Court judgment following which he had to quit his
post.
STATES
22 percent of Assam’s total forest land is under
encroachment.
―Of total forest land of 17,39,301.72 hectares, 3,87,885.45
hectares are encroached.
―Assam has 312 reserved forest with 13,54,467.62 hectares
of land, out of which 3,73,876.95 hectares are illegally
occupied, while 3,971 hectares are encroached in five
national parks that have a total area of 1,97,826 hectares.
―Likewise, 10,037.50 hectares across 18 wildlife sanctuaries
of 1,87,008.1 hectares are also under encroachment,
―In the reserved forests, there are 499 forest villages with
534.35 square km of land and total population of 2,34,113
dwellers.
Kerala has become the first state in India to have inducted a
robot in the police force.
KP-Bot, inducted in Kerala State Police Force
―The robot KP-Bot is modelled after a woman sub-inspector.
―KP-Bot has been developed by Asimov Robotics Pvt Ltd in
association with Cyberdome, Kerala Police’s research centre.
―KP-Bot is capable of identifying people using facial
recognition and can interact based on answers in its database.
―Kerala Police is planning to use robots for traffic control
and bomb disposal in future.
Delhi Government has released the latest economic figures.
The main points of the data are:
―The Delhi economy grew at the rate of 8.61% in 2018-19.
―Tax collection grew 14.07% in 2017-18
―The main sources of tax revenue in 2017-18 were GST at
Rs 13,620.84 crore and VAT at Rs 11,149.17 crore.
―The tax collection growth for 2018-19 has been projected at
17.69% over 2017-18.
―According to the data an average resident in Delhi earns
three times the national average.
―The per capita income of Delhi is Rs 3,65,529 against the
national average of Rs 1,25,397 as per current prices.
Delhi has become the first state in India to implement the
recommendation of Swaminathan Commission related to
MSP. ―Delhi has allocated Rs 100 crore in its current budget for
providing 1.5 times of Minimum Support Price to farmers.
Maharashtra government has formed a Transgender
Welfare Board. ―The board has been formed with the objective of providing
formal education, employment opportunities, conducting
health programmes and giving legal help to the transgender
community.
―The members of the community will be issued community
identity cards which will help them in availing the benefits
like education, medical treatment etc.
―The eligible members of the community will be provided
hostel facilities and scholarship of Rs 48,000 to 60,000 under
Babasaheb Ambedkar Swadhar Scheme.
The milk production in Goa increased by 22% in 2017-18.
―The milk production till December 2018 was 81,655 litres
per day while in 2016-17 it was 66,000 litres per day and in
2017-18 it was 72,000 litres per day.
―Even after this increase, the state still struggles to meet its
requirement of 3,50,000 litres per day.
―The Goa Government credits its “Kamdhenu” scheme for
this success. Under this scheme farmer are given financial
incentives to buy milch cattle.
The Election Commission found 3,565 defective Electronic
Voting Machines and 2,594 defective VVPAT machines
during First Level Checks in Gujarat.
―The Commission is ordering new EVM and VVPAT
machines from Rajasthan to replace the defective machines.
―The defective machines have been sent to Bharat
Electronic Limited for repairs.
Maharashtra is developing five export clusters under the
agriculture export policy of the Central Government.
―These clusters will promote export of mangoes, grapes,
pomegranates, onions and oranges.
―50% of India’s agriculture export comes from
Maharashtra.
―Maharashtra leads in the export of mangoes, grapes,
oranges, onions etc.
―The districts of Solapur, Ahmednagar and Pune
(pomegranates), Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri (mangoes), Nashik,
Pune and Sangli (grapes), Nashik (onions), and Nagpur,
Wardhaand Amravati (oranges) have been identified for
creation for clusters.
The Maharashtra Government has released new Five
Years Industrial Policy (2019-24).
―The policy calls for investment to the tune of Rs 10 lakh
crores which will have the potential of creating 40 lakh new
jobs.
―The focus of the new policy is on development of industries
in the backward regions of VidarbhaandMarathwada.
―The policy includes Chief Minister Employment
Generation Programme which is aimed at creating two lakh
youth entrepreneurs in manufacturing and service sectors in
the next five years.
―The Government of Maharashtra has also decided to set up
Maharashtra Export Promotion Council to attract global
investors.
According to the Gender Statistics 2017-18 released by
Economics and Statistics Department of Kerala
Government, there are wide gender disparities in the state‟s
labour markets. According to the report:
―Female unemployment rate is higher than the male
unemployment rate in most of the districts in Kerala.
―Kerala has the highest femaleunemployment rate in India.
―Men casual labourers are paid almost twice the wages paid
to female causal labourers. This is true for both urban and
rural areas.
―Male employees earn more than female employees in
almost all of the employment categories.
Uttar Pradesh is all set to emerge as India‟s top
producer of sugar in 2018-19
―This is also be the first time that UP will overtake
Maharashtra in sugar production from cane.
―Uttar Pradesh was the top producer of sugar in 2017-18
also.
―These successes have been made possible due to the wonder
cane variety, Co-0238, developed by Bakshi Ram, director of
the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Sugarcane
Breeding Institute (SBI) at Coimbatore.
Supreme Court of India struck down tenders worth Rs
6,300 crore issued in 2016 by the Maharashtra women and
child development department for supplying Take Home
Ration (THR).
―While striking down the tenders, Supreme Court made
observations that some of the conditions stated in the tender
notice were “arbitrary” and favoured ―big players and
industrialists‖ at the cost of women self-help groups (SHGs).
―The Court ordered the issue of fresh tenders within four
weeks.
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
The GST Council has lowered the GST rate on under
construction flats to 5 percent without input tax from the
existing 12 percent.
―The GST rate on affordable housing has been reduced to 1
per cent from the existing 8 percent.
―Under the new decision the affordable houses are the ones
that cost less than Rs 45 lakhs and cover area of less than 60
square meters in metros and less than 90 square meters in
non-metro cities.
―The council did not take any decision on the issue of
lotteries. Currently, state run lotteries attract 12 per cent GST
while state-authorised lotteries attract 28 per cent GST.
The Government of India has decided to delay the
implementation of higher tariffs on goods imported from
United States to April 1.
―The increase in tariffs has been done in response to USA‟s
refusal to exempt India from the application of new steel and
aluminium. According to Crisil report, companies in India spent
nearly Rs 50,000 crores on Corporate Social Responsibility
between financial year 2015 and 2018.
―Between 2015 and 2018, the unspent amount (the amount
that the Companies have yet to spend on CSR) was
approximately Rs 60,000 crores.
The latest data released by the Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade shows that the
FDI (equity) inflow into the chemicals fell significantly during
April-December 2018.
―According to the data the Government is revising the FDI
flow to $1.82 billion for the April-December 2018 period
from $6.06 billion.
The data released by Central Government shows that fiscal
deficit reached 121.5 per cent of the full-year revised target
of Rs 6.34 lakh crore at the end of January, 2019.
―The increase in fiscal deficit is due to lower revenue
collections.
Singapore became the largest source of FDI into India for
the period April-December 2018.
―The Singapore‟s FDI into India increased by 41% during
the period for nearly reaching the USD 13 billion amount.
―The Mauritius‟ FDI into India for the same period fell by
55% to reach USD 6 billion.
―The total FDI into India fell by 7% to USD 33.5 billion.
The Reserve Bank of India is planning to release new
series of Rs 100 denomination bank notes.
―The notes will be released under the Mahatma Gandhi
(new) series.
―These new bank notes will bear the signature of the new
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.
―The RBI has also clarified that all the previously issued bank
noted of Rs 100 denomination will continue to be legal
tender.
Afghanistan has started exports to India through the
Chabahar Port in Iran.
The shipment of 23 trucks carrying 57 tonnes of dried fruits,
textiles, carpets and mineral products were dispatched from
western Afghan city of Zaranj to Iran‟s Chabahar port from
where it will be transported to Mumbai, India.
―This export route to India completely bypassesPakistan.
The India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) cannot be
finalised without lowering duties on cars and car parts.
―The European Union‟s ambassador to India clarified that
lowering of duties on cars and car parts is political sensitive
issue in Europe and that European Parliament will not clear
the agreement unless they are included in it.
―India and Europe has been negotiating on Broad-based
Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) since 2007, but no
agreement has been reached till date.
―Europe is not happy with India‟s stance on automobiles and
wines & spirits.
―India wants more access for its professionals and
recognition as a data secure country.
WTO is looking into the Indian Minimum Support Price
program for pulses.
―USA, Australia and Canada has served formal counter-
notification citing that the subsidy involved under the program
was much higher than allowed by WTO.
― EU, New Zealand, Ukraine and Paraguay are also making
the same claim.
―India is defending its stance by saying that the calculation
used by US and Canada was wrong and the program was only
aimed at ensuring nutrition supply for 195 million poor
Indians.
―India has reported the subsidies at 1.5% of the total value of
production. US and Canada claim that this subsidy is between
31–85%. ―The WTO allows for 10% subsidy of the total value of
production.
―Chickpeas, pigeon peas, black matpe, mung beans and
lentils are covered under this program.
―In the past, India has been served threecounter-
notifications related to wheat, rice, sugar and cotton.
―USA and Canada are also not happy with the methodology
used by India in this regard. They say that India reports figures
in USD rather than in rupees, only reports the volume actually
purchased, does not mention total value of production, and
only provides the aggregate MSP support without breaking it
down for each pulse separately.
―India will have to remove its MSP program or it will have to
face penalties if it loses this case in WTO.
Indian Government and World Bank has entered into an
agreement of $ 250 million for National Rural Economic
Transformation Project (NRETP). ―NTERP will help rural women to develop viable businesses
for farm and non-farm products.
―The World Bank‟s assistance will come in the form of 20
years $250 million loan from International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development with 5 years grace period.
OCED has once again cut its forecast for global economic
growth.
―According to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation
& Development, the world economy will grow 3.3 per cent in
2019 and 3.4 per cent in 2020.
―These forecasts place a cut of 0.2 percentage points for 2019
and 0.1 percentage points for 2020 compared to OCED‟s
forecast released in November, 2019.
―These cuts have been made mainly due to the increasing
trade disputes due to Trump policies and uncertainty over
Brexit.
―Other issues affecting the global economy include recession
in Italy, slowing down of Chinese economy and raising trade
barriers etc.
The Government has collected to the tune of Rs 10.70
lakh crore as Goods and Service Tax till February, 2019.
―The Government has revised its GST collection targets for
2018-19 to Rs. 11.47 lakh crore from Rs. 13.71 lakh crore
budgeted initially.
―GST collection target for 2019-20 has been set at Rs. 13.71
lakh crore.
The Central Board of
Direct Taxes (CBDT) set a
deadline of March 31 or
latest by June 30 for
completing assessment of
individuals who made
substantial cash deposits in
their bank accounts
following demonetisation in November, 2016.
―The department sent notice to 3 lakh individuals who made
substantial cash deposit into their account during the period
87,000 out of them did not file their return.
According to a report, Indian online gaming industry
will start generating income of Rs 11,900 crore by 2023.
―The report released by KPMG and Indian Federation of
Sports Gaming states that the Indian online gaming industry
will witness a growth rate of 22 per cent from 2018 to 2023.
According to the data released by Centre for Monitoring
Indian Economy the unemployment rate in India rose to 7.2
percent in February 2019.
―The CMIE report states that 11 million people lost jobs in
2018 after the demonetisation of high value notes in late 2016
and the launch of a new goods and services tax in 2017 hit
millions of small businesses.
―The Government says that is does not have any data
showing the effect of demonetisation on jobs in small
businesses.
―The Government of India has recently withheld jobs related
data citing the need of checking its veracity. The leaked data
showed that unemployment rate in 2017-18 reached 45 years
high.
―The CMIE data is based on the survey of tens of thousands
of households across India.
The United States is removing India‟s status as the
beneficiary of its Generalised System of Preferences (GSP)
duty concession programme.
―United States clarified India failed to provide assurances that
it would provide USA equitable and reasonable access to its
markets in number of sectors.
―The programme allows export of certain products to USA
duty free if the developing countries meet eligibility
conditions.
―The withdrawing of the status will affect more than 1,900
Indian products. ―The Indian Government has clarified that withdrawing of
status will have minimal impact on India and that it is in talk
with the USA to arrive at a balance on the issue.
―The concerns raised by the US include India‟s decision in
2017 to cap prices of cardiac stents, slashing their maximum
retail prices over 70% in a move that impacted US stent giants
Abbott, Medtronic and Boston Scientific.
―USA has recently withdrawn the GSP status from Turkey
on the grounds that Turkey is sufficiently economically
developedand it should no longer be provided with preferential
market access to USA markets.
The Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs clarified a
number of issues recently.
―The board clarified that the GST will be levied on the value
of supply excluding the tax collected at source (TCS).This
clarification of overturned the circular issued on December
2018.
―The Government levies TCS to track certain high-value
transactions.
―In case of „buy one get one free‟ and „buy more and save
more schemes‟ the tax will be paid on the amount of money
recovered from the customer.
―The CBIC also clarified that free samples and gifts are
outside the ambit of GST as they are not treated as supply of
goods.
According to a report released by TransunionCibil, a
credit information company, number of women creditors is
growing faster than the number of men creditors.
―According to the report, between 2015 and 2018, the number
of successful credit application for females grew at 48% and
for males at 35%.
―Cibil data shows that around 8.6 million new to credit
women borrowers are opening new loan accounts in India
annually. ―Approximately 66% of these women are from five
states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh
and Karnataka.
―In India Tamil Nadu and Kerala have the lowest
borrowing risk in the country with an average Cibil score
among women of 781.
SEBI has sought direct powers to grant immunity in select
cases and to impose lesser penalty if the accused agrees to
provide assistance against other wrongdoers.
―Currently, only Central Government is authorised to grant
full or partial immunity in cases related to securities law
violations. The SEBI has not asked for power to grant
immunity, it has asked for power to make deals and impose
lesser penalties in certain cases.
―SEBI argued that similar powers are available tofair trade
watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI).
DEFENCE & SECURITY
The Defence Acquisition Council has cleared purchase of
defence equipment to the tune of Rs 2,700 crores.
―The Council has approved the purchase of three cadet
training ships for the Indian Navy.
India handed over a dossier on “specific details” of
involvement of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in the
Pulwama terror attack on CRPF and the presence of its camps
in Pakistan.
India has successfully tested indigenously developed
Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missiles.
―The missiles were test fired from Integrated Test Range
(ITR) Chandipur, off the Odisha Coast.
―These missiles have been developed to replace the current
Akash missile system.
―These missiles have 360-degree coverage, light weight,
high mobility and shorter reaction time as compared to
„Akash’.
―These missiles use solid fuel propellant and have a range of
25 to 30 kilometers.
―The missiles were developed by DRDO.
The Indian Air
Force is in the
process of
equipping its
Sukhoi-30MKI with Israeli SPICE-
2000 bombs.
―SPICE-2000 are
laser guided bombs
which are expected to increase the capability of Sukhoi-
30MKIs.
―Currently IAF's Mirage 2000 are equipped with these
bombs.
―Mirage 2000 were used for Balakot air strike.
Indian Government has decided to provide Z-plus security
cover to the Chiefs of the Indian Air Force and Indian
Navy.
―This decision was taken because perceived threats against
them have increased after a fresh threat assessment was done
by the security agencies.
―The fresh assessment was done in the backdrop of increasing
Indo-Pak tensions.
―Army Chief already enjoys Z-plus protection.
Indian Government has launched 28 major infrastructure
projects for Central Armed Police Forces across the nation.
Sikhoi-30MKI
―The projects will cost estimated Rs1,895.28 crore to Indian
exchequers.
―These projects will benefit CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP and
SSB, Delhi Police, Land Ports Authority of India, NDRF,
Central Forensic Science Laboratory etc.
―These projects involve construction of 71 non-residential
buildings, 5,283 residential quarters and 34 barracks.
―These projects will be taken up in the states of Assam,
Kerala, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Tripura, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana, Rajasthan, Haryana and
Uttarakhand.
The Government
of India has signed a
$3 billion deal for
leasing a nuclear-
powered attack
submarine for a
period of 10 years.
―Russia will deliver
Akula class submarine- to be
renamed as Chakra III- to the Indian Navy by 2025.
―This will be the third Russian submarine to be leased by
the Indian Navy.
―The first Russian nuclear-powered submarine INS Chakra
was leased in 1988 for a period of three years.
―The second INS Chakra was taken on lease in 2012 for a
period of 10 years.
The Government of India has decided to bring certain
sections of Indo-Bangladeshi border in Assam under
electronic surveillance.
―The decision has been taken to check illegal immigration
and smuggling of arms, ammunition, drugs and cattle.
―The BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT
Interception Technique), has been launched under the
Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System
(CIBMS)
―The electronic surveillance will be used on 61 km riverine
section of the international border in Dhubri district of Assam.
The Brahmaputra river enters into Bangladesh in this section.
India and Russiaentered into an agreement to
manufacture the 200 series Kalashnikov assault rifles.
―The AK-203manufactured under the agreement will replace
the INSAS rifles being used by the Army and other forces.
―The AK-203 assault riflewill be manufactured at the Korwa
ordnance factory in the Amethi district, Uttar Pradesh.
―The immediate target is to produce 7,00,000 AK-203 rifles
in the facility.
With time, the assault rifles will be produced with 100% local
content.
―The AK-203 is the latest and most advanced version of the
legendary AK-47 rifle.
―The AK-203’sis capable of holding 30 bullets.
―The rifle has an effective range of 400 metres and is
considered to be 100% accurate.
―AK-series riflesnever get jammed. The Kalashnikovs can
work under extreme climatic conditions and are effective even
in sand, soil and water.
The AK-47 was first produced by engineers of Stalin’s USSR,
working in secret at the Machine, Engineering, and Motor
Plant Complex in Izhevskin Ural mountains, about 1,200 km
east of Moscow.
POLICY & GOVT. INITIATIVES
The Department of
Atomic Energy (DAE) is
going to gradually increase
the production of
radioisotopes used in nuclear
medicine for treatment of
cancer and for the accurate
diagnosis of thyroid, renal
and cardiac diseases.
―Nuclear medicine uses
radiation to provide
information about the functioning of a person’s specific
organs, or to treat certain specific diseases like cancer.
―The radioisotopes normally used in nuclear medicines is
Technetium 99.
The Government of India has recently released draft of a
new e-commerce policy.
―The draft policy aims to invite and encourage foreign
investment in the marketplace model “alone”. This is in line
with the Government‟s stand of fully blocking foreign-funded
e-commerce companies from holding inventory.
―The policy states that online marketplaces should not adopt
business models or strategies which are discriminatory and
which favour one or few sellers/traders operating on their
platforms over others.
―The government has proposed the creation of a legal and
technological framework to restrict cross-border data flow,
while laying conditions for businesses regarding collection or
processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad.
―The draft policy focuses on ten multi-disciplinary
regulatory points for the e-commerce sector such as data,
taxation, consumer protection, payments etc.
―There is nothing in the policy regarding the need for an
independent e-commerce regulatory authority.
The Government of India has changed the rules for future
exploration of oil and gas blocks.
―These changes are made with the intention of attracting
private investment and increasing domestic production.
―The new rules are aimed at increasing the hydrocarbon
production in the country by giving pricing and marketing
freedom to the companies involved in exploration.
―The Government of India wants to reduce India‟s
dependence on imported oil by 10 percent by 2022.
―The new rules also allow state owned companies to enter
into strategic partnership for enhancing production from
current blocks.
―India has 26 known sedimentary basins. But, only 7 of
these basins are producing.
―Currently India exports around 80% of its crude oil
requirements. In 2018-19 till now India has already paid more
than $100 billion for purchasing oil.
The Government of India has released an anthem “Plastic
Waste-Free India” in seven languages (Hindi, Marathi,
Gujarati, Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam and Kannada.).
―The anthem has been launched under the Government
initiative for making India plastic free by 2022.
The Government of India has announced formation of a
new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh.
―The newSouthern Coast Railway Zone will be
headquartered in Vishakhapatnam.
―This change will transfer Guntakal, Guntur and
Vijayawada divisions from South Central Railways to
Southern Coast Railways.
INS Chakra III
―The Waltair division of East Coast Railways will be
divided into two and one of the parts will be included in the
Southern Coast Railways.
―Between 2009 and 2013 92 and 45 requests for new zones
and new divisions respectively were received.
―The committee looking into these requests said that
implementation of these requests was not justified.
The Indian Government has cleared the second phase if
FAME India policy to promote use of electric vehicles in
India.
―The Government has set the total outlay of the second phase
of the scheme at Rs 10,000 crore. The total amount allocated
for the first phase was Rs 895 crore.
―The FAME policy was launched in April 2015.
―The scheme allows state and city transport corporations to
deliver demand incentives for electric buses.
―The Government is planning to support 10 lakh private
vehicles and five lakh e-3W category vehicles, 55,000
thousand 4W category vehicles and 7,000 buses under the
scheme.
―The incentives under the scheme will be restricted to
vehicles that use Lithium Ion batteries or other new
technology batteries.
―The scheme envisions setting up of 2,700 charging stations
across India. The aim is to provide a charging station in a grid
of 3 by 3 kilometres.
―The scheme also envisions setting up of charging stations
on the either side of major highways at a distance of 25
kilometres.
The Government of India has made it compulsory for
election candidates to declare their income tax returns of the
last five years, details of foreign assets and Permanent
Account Number (PAN).
―Under the new order spouse, members of the Hindu
Undivided Family and dependents are also required to declare
all the details at the time of filing nomination.
―Under former rules the candidate contesting election had to
only disclose the last I-T return for self, spouse and
dependents in Form 26
The Central Government has asked states to ensure 24 X 7
power supply to all households barring agriculture sector.
―For agriculture consumers the Government has set a target
of 8-19 hours of power supply.
The National Electronic Policy 2019 has a provision for
creating a Sovereign Patent Fund.
―The fund will allow the State to acquire Intellectual
Property Rights that are important to achieve national
economic objectives.
―This will encourage domestic innovations because the
Government will be able to acquire critical IP rights and
reduce the knowledge gap.
―The SPF was first used in South Korea. This was later on
used by France and Japan.
―The SPF will benefit small and medium players because
they will be able to make use of critical knowledge at low
cost.
The Government of India has amended Hazardous and
Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary
Movement) Rules, 2016
―The import of solid plastic waste has been banned under the
amended rules.
―The import is banned even in special economic zones (SEZ)
and by export-oriented units (EOUs).
―The amended rules have also removed the requirement of
getting permission from Ministry of Environment, Forest
and Climate Change for exporting silk waste.
The Government of India has released the Model
Retirement Homes Guidelines.
―These guidelines set the requirements for safety, physical
infrastructure, and running of private real estate projects
developed specifically for those over 60 years of age.
―According to the guidelines, the buildings should be barrier
free, should provide complete wheelchair access, elevators
with audio and visual signalling systems, anti-skid tiles in
certain areas, gas leak detection systems in cooking areas,
power back-up facilities etc.
―The States and Union Territories will have to incorporate
these guidelines into their respective state law before they
come into force.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) has purposed amendment of the existing law for
aligning them with the WHO goals related to trans fats.
―The WHO wants to
globally eliminate the
use of industrially
produced trans fats by
2023. ―FSSAI wants to
amend Food Products
Standards and Food
Addictive Regulations,
2011 to limit trans-fatty acids in all oils and fats to 3 per cent
by January, 2021 and to 2 per cent by January, 2022.
Indian Railways has announced that all the trains coming to
the NCR region will run on electricity from December 2019.
―This decision has been taken to curbincreasing pollution in
the region.
―Due to this, the Indian railways will be able to save on fuel
cost and increase the speed of the trains.
―Indian railways has identified 118 pairs of trains for
switchover to electric traction.
―The switchover will be done in three phases, with 39 pairs
in phase 1, 60 pairs in phase 2 and 19 pairs in phase 3.
―In 2019, the Government of India approved a proposal for
the complete electrification of the Indian Railways. ―The total
cost of the proposal is expected to be Rs 12,134 crores.
SPORTS
The Asian Hockey Federation
has honoured Harmanpreet Singh
with the Player of the Year 2018
award and Lalremsiami with the
Rising Player of the Year 2018 award.
―The Best Performance Team
award was given to Indian men‟s
team.
―Harmanpreet was the captain of
the Indian team that had an unbeaten
streak at the Asian Champions
Trophy in Muscat in which the team
was declared joint winner with
Pakistan.
―Lalremsiami is a striker in the
Indian Women Team and she gave
Harmanpreet Singh
Lalremsiami
impressive performance in 2018 World Cup and the Asian
Games where the team won a historic silver.
ApurviChandela won the first
gold medal at the ISSF World Cup
2019.
―Apurvi won the medal by
breaking the world record in
Women 10m Riffle. All India Football Federation is
all set to bring the first Futsal Cup
to India.
―Fursal is a short variant of the
football which is played indoor. It
is one of the fastest growing
indoor games in the world today.
Switzerland‟s Belinda Bencic won the Dubai Duty Free
Tennis Tournament.
―This was first win for Belinda in four years.
The Asian Tour 10 Reds Snooker tournament scheduled to
be held in Bengaluru during the last week of March was
cancelled.
―The cancellation happened because India refused visas to six
Pakistani and Pakistan origin.
―The tournament was cancelled by the Asian Confederation
of Billiard Sport.
―This is the first time that the tournament was cancelled
because the government denied visas to Pakistani players.
―The Indian Olympic Committee has already advised all the
International Sports Federations to not to hold sport events
in India until the government guarantees that the athletes from
all countries will be allowed to compete in India.
The National Anti-Doping Agency has put the onus of
implementing the no needle policy in India on the national
sport federations. ―The no needle policy restricts use of needles to only those
athletes who have Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). Even
then the needles have to be used under the supervision of a
qualified medical practitioner.
Six young athletes at the Khelo India Youth Games failed
the dope test.
―Three athletes from wrestling and one each from
archery,track and field and weightlifting tested positive for
banned drugs in the test conducted by National Anti-doping
Agency (NADA).
International Cricket Council has banned former Zimbabwe
Cricket director EnockIkope.
―The ban will stay in place for a
period of 10 years.
―Enock has been charged with
violation of three counts of ICC‟s
anti-corruption code.
―Enock is the second official
from the Harare Metropolitan
Cricket Association to be banned
by the ICC. RajanNayer from the
same association was banned from all cricket activities for 20
yearsmatch fixing charges.
ViratKohli has become the
fasted cricketer to score 9000
international runs as
captain.
―Kohli made 9000 runs in
159 innings whereas the
previous record holder
Ponting took 203 innings.
India has become the second team to win 500 One-Day
International (ODI) cricket matches.
―Australia is the only other country which has won 500 One-
Day International (ODI) cricket matches.
―India has played 963 matches out of which, it has won 500,
lost 414 and tied 9 matches.
BCCI has announced
new annual player
contracts for 2019.
―ViratKohli, Rohit
Sharma and
JaspritBumrah have
been awarded Grade A
Plus contracts.
―MS Dhoni, R Ashwin,
RavindraJadeja,
CheteshwarPujara,
AjinkyaRahane,
Bhuvneshwar Kumar,
ShikharDhawan, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep
Yadav and Rishabh Pant have been awarded Grade A
contacts. ―KL Rahul, Umesh Yadav, YuzvendraChahal and Hardik
Pandya have been awarded Grade B contacts.
―KedarJadhav, Manish Pandey, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati
Rayudu, HanumaVihari, Khaleel Ahmed and WriddhimanSaha
have been awarded Grade C contracts
Sixteen-year-old P. Iniyan became the 61st Grandmaster
from India.
―P. Iniyanwon the Noisiel Open in France by defeating GM
Sergey Fedorchuk of Ukraine in the sixth round.
―P. Iniyanbecame the 61st Grandmaster for India when he
crossed the 2500-point in ELO ratings.
―Inyan is from Erode Tamil Nadu
Naomi Osaka has taken Jermaine Jenkins as her new
coach.
―Naomi is an International No. 1-ranked Tennis player who
plays for Japan.
―Naomi‟s previous coach SaschaBajin started coaching
Osaka before the 2018 season. He played a major role in
helping Naomi win U.S. Open Title in September 2018 and
the Australian Open Title in February 2019 when she also
rose to No. 1 for the first time
―Jenkins has recently been hired by the US Tennis
Association as the national coach for
women‟s tennis.
Malaysia‟s Tan KimHer has
resignedas India‟s doubles badminton
coach, citing personal reasons
―Kim had one-and-a-half-year contract
pending with the Badminton Association
of India. His contact was supposed to end
AprnviChandela
EnockIkope
ViratKohli
Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI)
IM Iniyan P.
Tan Kim Her
after 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
―Kim‟s coaching helped Chirag and
SatwiksairajRankireddyto become India‟s premier men‟s
doubles pair. The pain won the silver medal at the
Commonwealth Games.
―Kim‟s leadership also paved the way for India’sfirst gold in
mixed team.
―After Kim‟s departure, new double coaches FlandyLimpele
and NamrihSurotowill continue the coaching of the Indian
doubles pair.
Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has decided to included
cricket in the sports programme for the 2022 edition of Asian
Games.
―Cricket was included in 2010 and 2014 Asian Games, but
was dropped from the 2018 edition.
―The Indian Olympic Association has welcomed the decision
of including Cricket in the 2022 Asian Games.
―Asian Games 2010 and 2014 featured T20 format of the
cricket. Experts believe that in all probability the same format
will be played at the 2020 Asian Games at Hangzhou, China.
―In 1998 edition of the Commonwealth Games was the only
edition in which cricket was included.
―OCA has also decided to invite Oceania countries
(including Australia) to the 2022 Asian Games.
FIFA is considering to
schedule some of the 2022
World Cup matches at
Oman and Kuwait.
―World Cup 2022 is
expected to be held at
Qatar.
―FIFA will consider Oman
and Kuwait only if the number of teams are increased from 32
to 48.
―FIFA has already taken a decision to expand the World Cup
from 32 to 48 teams in 2026 but FIFA president Gianni
Infantino has proposed to implement the enlarged format
from 2022 itself.
―Global players union FIFPro has asked FIFA to stop its
plans for new competitions and a potential expansion of the
2022 World Cup until it reviewed the game‟s
“crowded‖international match calendar.
―Using Kuwait and Oman will not be easy because both the
countries severed political, trade and transport ties with Qatar
in June, 2017 accusing it of supporting terrorism.
Australia won the ODI series against India.
―Australia achieved the win in the fifth and final ODI
against India at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi where they
defeated India by 35 runs,
―This is the first series win for Australia in the last two
years.
―This is the first Australian series win in India since 2009.
United World Wrestling has asked all the nation federations
under it to stop communication with the wrestling Federation
of India.
―The step has been taken in response to India’s denial to
issue visa to Pakistani shooters in the recent World Cup.
INTERNATIONAL
Sudan has declared one-year state emergency.The
emergency has been declared in light of opposition to Sudan’s
President Omar al-Bashir.
―Omar has been ruling the country for last 30 years. He has
postponed the Constitutional Amendment that will allow him
to be elected as President for another term in 2020
Presidential elections.
―The Sudanese protesters are demanding the resignation of
Omar. The protests started on December 19, 2018 due to
inflation and cash shortage.
―Omar is a strong supporter of Islam and is a former army
officer. He came to power after military coup in 1989.
―Omar has won elections in both 2010 and 2015. These
elections were held after making constitutional amendment.
―Omar is wanted by the International Criminal Court for
his role in the genocide in the Darfur region. Omar denies this
and he has been trying to get Sudan to be removed from the
list of countries which USA deems state sponsors of terrorism.
TheUS Government has started the process of creating a
US Space Force.
―The US President has signed the Space Policy Directive 4.
This directive lays down the foundation for a legislative
initiative that can establish a Space Force as a new military
service.
―The Space Force will be part of Air Force. The
establishment of the Space Force will require congressional
approval.
The US trade deficit reached a 10-year high in 2018.
―The American trade deficit condition has worsened even
though the Government has taken protectionist tradepolicies
for protecting US markets against unfair foreign competition.
―The United States has imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth
of goods imported from China.
―China has imposed tariffs on $110 billion worth of goods
imported from USA.
―United States has imposed duties on imported steel,
aluminium, solar panels and washing machines.
―The US imports in 2018 touched an all-time high of $2.6
trillion.
Pakistan has sealed the Lahore headquarters of Saeed-led
Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).
―The Pakistani authorities have also confiscated 56 facilities
and seminaries of Saeed in the Sindh province.
―This move was made after the United Nationsrejected
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed‟s appeal for
removal of his name from the list of banned terrorists.
An Ethiopian passenger jet to Nairobi crashed a few
minutes after leaving the airport.
―There were no survivors abroad the Boeing 737-800MAX.
149 passengers and 8 crew members died in the crash.
Boeing 737 Max
―The pilot abroad the flight alerted the controllers at the
Addis Ababa airport saying that he was experiencing some
difficulties and he was granted permission to turn back the
plane.
―Four Indians, including an Environment Ministry
consultant were killed in the crash.
―This is the second crash of Boeing 737 MAX in a short
period of time. In October 2018, a Boeing 737 MAX operated
by Lion Air crashed killing more than 180 people.
―The Governments of Australia, China, India, Indonesia,
Kazakhstan Malaysia, New Zealand, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon,
Oman, United Arab Emirates and Namibia have
groundedBoeing 737 MAX planes.
―Argentinas, Aeromexico, Cayman Airways, Comair (South
Africa),Eastar Jet (South Korea), Ethiopian Airlines,
GolAirlines (Brazil), Icelandair, MIAT Mongolian Airlines,
Norwegian Air Shuttle and S7 (Russia)airlines have also
grounded their fleets ofBoeing 737 MAX planes.
China has clarified once again that it has never recognised
India and Pakistan as nuclear states.
―The clarification was issued while China was making it
clear that it will not acknowledgeNorth Korea as a nuclear
state. ―The second summit between US President Donald Trump
and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam has been
unsuccessful leading to different speculations.
―China is also blocking India‟s entry into the 48-member
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on the ground that New
Delhi has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT).
More than nine people were killed in Brazil Elementary
School shooting.
―On 13th
March, two young men entered the Raul Brasil
elementary school in Sao Paula and fired at children and
caretakers before killing themselves.
―Nine people (including 5 children) were confirmed dead
and 17 others were injured.
―Brazil is one of the most violent countries in the World.
―Brazil has the highest homicide rate in the world, but
school shootings are rare in the country.
―Brazil has extremely strict gun laws, but it is not difficult
to get weapons in the country.
Malaysia closed more than 111 schools after suspected
chemical leak left more than 200 children, teachers and others
sick.
―According to the authorities the poisoningwas most likely
caused by toxic waste dumped into a river near the schools in
the southern state of Johor.
United States is withdrawing all of its diplomats from its
embassy in Venezuela. ―The decision was taken in the light of deteriorating
situation in the country.
―Previously USA had decided to keep some of its diplomatic
staff in a bid to legitimize the opposition challenger to
President Nicolás Maduro ―President Maduro has remained in power because of backing
by the military. The American authorities and opposition
leaders did not expect this.
―The present crisis in Venezuela erupted after Maduro was
elected as President for a second term. Both the opposition and
the USA claimed that the elections were a sham.
―Guaidó, head of the National Assembly declared himself as
the interim President of the country. The USA, most of the
Latin American Countries and some European
Governments recognised Guaidó as the legitimate head of the
country.
―President Maduro accused United States of interfering in
the country and cut all the diplomatic terms with it.
―In February USA sent food and medical supply overland
to the county. This made position of army officers difficult
because they were left with a choice of blocking the needed
supplies or deflecting from the army. The officers chose to
block the conveys.
United Kingdom has launched a global “period poverty”
fund to help women across the globe to access sanitary
products by 2050 and to deal with the stigma around
menstruation.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
China is planning to build a solar power station in space.
―Initially, China will build small power stations in space
between 2021 and 2025. This will be followed by a 1 megawatt
station by 2030.
―China is also planning to build its own space station
Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace by 2022.
An HIV-positive man in England has become the second
known adult in the world to be cleared of AIDS virus.
―The man was cleared of the virus after he received a bone
marrow transplant from an HIV resistant donor.
―This discovery does not mean that the cure of AIDS has
been found, but it means that one day a cure will be found.
―The doctors have been unable to find any HIV virus in the
patient even after three years of the treatment and 18 months
after stopping of antiretroviral drug.
―The first known adult to be cleared of the AIDS is known as
Berlin patient because he underwent the similar treatment in
Germany in 2007. He is also HIV free till now.
―Many scientists have tried to replicate the success of the
Berlin patient and this is the only time when they have
succeeded. ―Some people of Northern European decent have a genetic
mutation known as 'CCR5 delta 32’, which make them
resistant to HIV Virus.
―Approximately 37 million people worldwide are currently
infected with HIV and the AIDS has killed around 35 million
people worldwide since it was recognised.
NASA‟s new telescope Wide Field Infrared Survey
Telescope (WFIRST) can help in finding 1,400 new planets
beyond our solar system.
―The $3.2 billion WFIRST project is scheduled for lunch in
2020.
―The new telescope will be able to map the universe at rate
that is 100 times faster than that of Hubble Space Telescope.
―WFIRST is equipped with 300-megapixel Wide Field
Instrument.
The doctors in Australia have identified a set of semi-
identical twins during gestation.
―This is the first time that a set of semi-identical twins have
been identified during gestation.
―This is the second known case of semi identical twins in the
world.
―Semi-identical or sesquizygotic twins represent a third type
of "twinning", the other two being identical (zygotic) and
fraternal (dizygotic) twins.
―Semi identical twins are extremely rare in nature. They are
born when two sperms fertilise the same egg.
―If one egg is fertilised by two sperms, it results in three sets
of chromosomes, one from the mother and two from the father
and the embryos normally do not survive.
―Sesquizygotic twins were first reported in the US in 2007.
Google has launched a new app called Bolo.
―This app will help students in India to read in Hindi and
English.
―The google is developing the app after running a pilot
project in 200 villages of Uttar Pradesh involving more than
900 children.
―Bolo works as personalised reading and provides both
positive feedback and feedback which helps child in taking
corrective actions.
―The app is capable of working offline and does not collect
any information like age, name, gender, email etc.
―Google will work with Pratham Education Foundation,
Room to Read, Saajha and Kaivalya Education Foundation –
a Piramal Initiative for taking this app to children.
CERN, is planning a new experiment FASER (Forward
Search Experiment) to look for particles associated with the
dark matter.
―The Dark Matter makes approximately 27 percent of the
Universe but our knowledge of dark matter is very limited.
―CERN has the world‟s largestand most powerful particle
accelerator. American astronauts Christina Koch and Anne McClain
will become the first NASA astronaut to conduct the first-all
female spacewalk on March 29
―The spacewalk will be carried out at the International Space
Station under Expedition 59
―Expedition 59 will take around seven hours of spacewalk
and will involve replacing batteries that were installed last
year.
―A total of 213 spacewalks have been performed at the
International Space Station since December 1998.
―Soviet’s Svetlana Savitskayais the first woman to perform
a spacewalk. She did that on July 25 1984.
SUMMITS & ORGANIZATIONS
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) invited
India as a guest of Honour for its March 1, 2019 held at Abu
Dhabi.
Indian Foreign Minister MsSushma Swaraj at OIC Meeting 2019
―The Indian External Affairs attended the foreign ministers’
meeting of OIC held in Abu Dhabi, on March 1-2, at the
invitation of the UAE‟s Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al
Nahyan.
―India was invited to the meeting last time in 1969. India was
disinvited for that meeting on the lobbying by Pakistan.
―Pakistan, who is founder-member of OIC, did not attend the
OIC meeting over special honour to Sushma Swaraj.
―OIC in its Abu Dhabi Declaration, the joint Communique of
OIC members, Kashmir was not included at all; however, a
separate resolution on Kashmir was passed by the OIC.
According to the latest report released by World Bank and
International labour Organisation, India should increase
exports to provide higher wages to labour.
―The report shows how exports and increased trade helps
move people from unorganised sector to organised sector,
increase wages and reduce poverty.
―According to the report between 1999 and 2001 estimated
8,00,000 jobs moved from unorganised sector to organised
sector in India due to growth in exports.
―According to WTO data, India contributes 1.7 per cent to
the world exports and consumes 2.5 per cent of the world
imports.
ENVIRONMENT & ECOLOGY
According to the scientists managing India‟s real time
drought prediction system, 47 percent of the country is facing
drought. ―At least 16 percent of India is facing exceptional or
extreme drought.
―This drought can create water problems during summer
2019.
―Arunachal Pradesh received poor rain and parts of
Jharkhand, southern Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and
northern part of Tamil Nadu are under drought.
―There is little risk of famine like conditions, but the
economy will be significantly affected.
National Green Tribunal has ordered both Uttarakhand
and Uttar Pradeshpollution control boards to publicise the
water quality of the Ganga river at all important locations in
the state.
―This water quality should be updated on monthly basis.
―This publication should also tell if the water is fit for
drinking and for bathing.
―NGT also told National Mission for Clean Ganga that
there is no justification for the delay in filing of the action plan
to clean Ganga as the river has been declared the ’national
river’.
MISCELLANEOUS
According to the data released by WHO, the number of
reported measles cases in 2018 were double the number of
reported cases in 2017. ―Total of 229,068 measles cases were reported in 2018.
―In 2017 an estimated 110,000 people died from measles.
―The vaccine coverage for measles is stable at 85 percent.
―The vaccine coverage of 95% is required for preventing
future outbreaks of the disease.
―Measles is a highly infectious but easily preventable
disease.
The Modern Coach Factory (MCF)Rae Bareli will export
customised „Make in India’ coaches to Mozambique.
―MCF has received an order to export 90 coaches to South
Africa’s Mozambique through RITES.
―In Budget2018-2019,the Government had sanctioned Rs 480
crore for increasing the production capacity of MCF from
1,000 coaches to 3,000 coaches per year by the end of 2020-
2021.
―Indian railways is
also considering
transfer of technology
for manufacturing
Vande Bharat
Express-type train sets
Vande Bharat Express
from ICF to MCF. The transfer (if done) will help to
significantly scale up the production of these next-
generationtrain sets.
National Anti-Profiteering Authority has found the
online seller Cloudtail guilty of profiteering.
―The seller made profit of around Rs 10.8 lakh through sale
of printer cartridges at a higher base price after Goods and
Services Tax (GST) rates were reduced in November, 2017.
―The seller has been asked to deposit the illegal profit along
with 18% interest in the consumer welfare account.
―Cloudtail has argued that it cannot be held responsible
because the price of the products are set by the manufacturer
or importers.
Around 101 out of top 500 listed companies have not yet
appointed an independent woman director on their boards.
―Indian Oil Corporation, Bharti Airtel, Procter & Gamble
Hygiene, Godrej Industries, Jindal Steel and Power etc. have
all failed to make the appointment.
―Appointment of an independent woman director on the
boards of the corporate companies was one of the key
recommendations of the Kotak Committeeon Corporate
Governance. SEBI has accepted the recommendation.
―According to the SEBI, there must be one independent
director on the board of directors of the top 500 listed
companies by market capitalisation by April 1, 2019 and of
the top 1,000 listed companies by April 1, 2020.
According to the scientists managing India‟s real time
drought prediction system, 47 percent of the country is facing
drought. ―At least 16 percent of India is facing exceptional or
extreme drought.
―This drought can create water problems during summer
2019.
―Arunachal Pradesh received poor rain and parts of
Jharkhand, southern Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and
northern part of Tamil Nadu are under drought.
―There is little risk of famine like conditions, but the
economy will be significantly affected.
According to the Skymet
(India‟s only private weather
forecasting agency) Monsoon
2019 will be a normal monsoon.
In the preliminary Southwest
Monsoon forecast, the Skymet
has predicted more than fifty per
cent chance of normal
monsoons.
―Rainfall between 96 percent
and 104 percent of the long-
term average of about 89
centimetres (35 inches) is
considered normal.
―Annual monsoon season in India is responsible for nearly
70 per cent of the rainfall in India.
According to IMD data, Delhi has experienced its coldest
and longest winter season in last seven years.
―The average maximum temperature in February was the
lowest since 2011 at 21.9 degree Celsius against the average of
23.1 degree Celsius. ―According to IMD this happened due to continuing cold
wave that affected North Western India in February.
The Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd is going to set up
network of solar-based electric vehicle chargers on the Delhi-
Chandigarh Highway.
―The network will be
established under the
FAME Faster
Adoption and
Manufacturing of
(Hybrid) & Electric
Vehicles in India)
scheme.
According to the
latest data released by IQAirAirVisual and Greenpeace,
Gurugram was the most polluted city in the world in 2018.
―According to the data 22 out of 30 of the most polluted
cities in the world are in India, 5 are in China, 2 are in
Pakistan and 1 is in Bangladesh.
―According to the data, seven of the 10 most polluted cities
in the world are in India.
―According to the World Bank health-care, costs and
productivity losses from pollution in India impacts as much as
8.5 per cent of the gross domestic product of India.
BASIC GK ASPECTS
BOOKS AND AUTHORS
Media shifting Terrain―by Pamela Philipose
The Scent of God―by SaikatMajumdar
The Hindi Cannon―by MrityunjayTripathi
Fierce Fairy Tales―by Nikita Gill
Dissent on Aadhaar―edited by ReetikaKhera
DipaKarmakar: The small wonder―by Bishweshwar Nandi,
Digvijay Singh Deo and Vimal Mohan
The Queen of Jasmine Country―by SharanyaManivannan
Winter of the Witch―by Katherine Arden
Doab Dil―by Sarnath Banerjee
Deities and Devotees — Cinema, Religion and Politics in
South India―by Uma MaheswariBhrugubanda
Around the World in 80 Trains―byMonisha Rajesh
The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the
Community Behind―by RaghuramRajan
Birds of Bhutan and the Eastern Himalayas―by Richard
Grimmett, Carol Inskipp, Tim Inskipp and Sherub Helm
Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality: Sri Ramakrishna and
Cross Cultural Philosophy of Religion―by AyonMahara
Every Vote Counts: The Story of India’s
Elections―byNavin Chawla
The Great March of Democracy: Seven Decades of India’s
Elections―byS.Y. Quraishi.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prizes were awarded on
February 28, the National Science Day.
―Total of 34 awards were presented for the years 2016, 2017
and 2018. Out of 34 awards only one was awarded to a female,
Aditi Sen in physics category.
―The awards are given out in seven disciplines of Biological,
Engineering, Medical, Chemical, Physical, Mathematical,
Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean and Plenary Sciences.
―The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is among the most
sought-after multidisciplinary awards in the fields of science
and technology in India.
SKYMET (India's only private weather forecasting Agency)
―The award is given by the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) since 1958.
Journalist Priyanka Dubey, has
been honoured with the Chameli
Devi Jain Award for Outstanding
Woman Journalist in the year
2018. ―Priyanka works as a bilingual
journalist with BBC at its Delhi
bureau.
―Priyanka was honoured due to
her multi-faceted, investigative
and interrogative reportage.
Julie Andrews will be honoured with
the Golden Lion for Lifetime
Achievement at the 76th edition of
Venice Film Festival.
―Julie is knows for her work in classic
movies like Mary Poppins and The
Sound of Music.
―Julie Andrews will receive the award
during the Venice Film Festival, which is
schedule from August 28 to September 7.
APPOINTMENTS
Ajay Narayan Jha has been
appointed as a member of the
15th
finance commission.
―Ajay will replace Shaktikanta who
resigned from the commission
following his appointment as the
governor of Reserve Bank. NishiKulshreshthaChaturvedi has
been appointed as Coca Cola’sVice
President for India and South West
Asia.
―Nishi, a Coca-Cola veteran who has
joined through the ranks within the
Coca-Cola system, joined the company
in 2012, as National Head―Human
Resource as part of Hindustan Coca-
Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. (HCCB).
―She has played a significant role in
the leading talent management strategy
and ensuring legal workplace
compliance with in the Coca-Cola system.
Subhash Chandra Garghas been appointed as the new
Finance Secretary.
Garg is a 1983 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.
―Garg previously served as the Secretary in Department of
Economic Affairs.
―The senior-most secretary among the five secretaries in the
Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary.
MR Kumar has been appointed as the Chairperson of Life
Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), ―The Appointments Committee of
the Cabinet approved the proposal of
the Department of Financial Services
to appoint MR Kumar, Zonal Manager,
North Zone as the Chairperson. ―The Government of India has also
appointedT C Suseel Kumar, Zonal
Manager, South Central Zone, and
VipinAnand, Zonal Manager, Western Zone, as managing
directors of the Corporation.
―Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is the largest
financial institution in India with assets worth more than Rs
28.45 lakh crore.
―The appointments to the top positions in LIC are always
from within the organisation. This position is similar to the
appointment to the top positions in SBI.
Padma Lakshmi has been appointed by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) as its latest Goodwill Ambassador,
―Padma will help with the UNDP‟s
mission of fighting against inequality
and discrimination across the world.
―Lakshmi‟s appointment was
announced by UNDP on the eve of
International Women Day.
―Lakshmi is a New York Times
bestselling author
―Lakshmi is one of the founders of
the Endometriosis Foundation of America
―Lakshmi is an ambassador for the American Civil Liberties
Union advocating
―Lakshmi is an Indian-American
television personality and food
expert.
E. Sreedharan has been
appointed as the principal advisor
for two mass rapid transit systems to
be built in Jammu and Srinagar.
―Jammu and Kashmir
administration has cleared setting up
of Jammu Mass Rapid Transit Corporation and the Srinagar
Mass Rapid Transit Corporation.
―Sreedharan, is a retired IES (IRSE) officer.
―Sreedharan is popularly known as the “Metro Man”
because his contributions towards Konkan Railway and Delhi
Metro
changed the face of public transport in India.
―From 2015 to 2018Sreedharan served
on the United Nations High Level
Advisory Group on Sustainable
Transport.
HasmukhAdhiahas been appointed
Chancellor of Central University of
Gujarat.
―Adhia will succeed Yoginder K
Alagh.
―HasmukhAdhia is the Former
Finance Secretary of India.
―Adhia is a 1981-batch Gujarat
cadre officer of the IAS.
Former Lok Sabha MP Baijayant
Jay Pandawas appointed as the
National Vice-President and
Ajay Narayan Jha
Nishi KulshreshtaChaturved
i
Priyanka Dubey
Julie Andrews
Subash Chandra Garg
MR Kumar
Padma Lakshmi
E. Sreedharan
HasmukhAdhia
Jay Panda
World Wide Developers Council (WWDC)
Spokesperson of theBharatiya Janata Party on March 8.
Former BJD leader Baijayant joined BJP on March 8.
―Baiijayant was suspended from BJD almost a year ago for
alleged anti-party activities, which he has denied.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Nepal’s Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister
RabindraAdhikari was killed in a helicopter crash along
with six other individuals.
―The helicopter caught fire after it hit Chuchche Dada hill in
Taplejung district in the mountain region of northeastNepal.
All the individuals in the helicopter died in the crash.
―The minister was going to Pathibhara Temple after
attending a programme at ChuhanDanda in Panchthar.
Veteran CPI(M) leader and former
Kerala minister, V J Thankappan died on 9
th March due to age-related
ailments at his residence.
―Thankappan started his political
career in the left party in 1963, and he
served as a minister in the E K
Nayanar cabinet during 1987-91.
Former Formula One race director
Charlie Whiting died on 14March
2019, at the age of 66.
―Charlie Whiting died three days
before the season-opening
Australian Grand Prix.
―As FIA director, Whiting is best
known for pushing the improved
safety norms. He was instrumental in
introducing the halo. Halo is the ring
like barrier that is fitted over the
drivers‟ heads to protect them from
heavy impacts and missiles.
Three Norwegian lawmakers have nominated Swedish teen
activist Greta Thunberg for the
Nobel Peace Prize.
―Greta Thunberg, aged 16, has
become a prominent voice in
campaigns against climate change.
―Greta has been encouraging
students to skip school to join
protests demanding faster action on
climate change. This movement has
started moving from Sweden to other
European countries.
PLACES/EVENTS IN NEWS
The Dhasal Literature Festival was held from 24th
February, 2019 to 25th
February, 2019 in Mumbai University‟s
Kalina campus. ―This is the fourth edition of the festival which was started
in 2016 to pay tribute to Marathi poet, writer and
Ambedkarite-Dalit movement activist VaibhavChhaya.
―This year‟s festival was titled „Sara KaahiSamashtisathi’,
and it addressed the issue of lumpenproletariat.
―In 2018, 22 artists from across Maharashtra participated in
the festival. ―This year, a total of 142 artists from across
India participated in the programme.
International Festival of Spiritual India was held from
22nd
February, 2019 to 24th
February, 2019 in Pune.
CSIR-NIIST (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-
National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and
Technology), Thiruvananthapuram, hosted the eighth
annual meeting of the Indian Academy of Biomedical
Sciences and the conference on 'Deliberation on translation
of basic scientific insights into affordable healthcare
products' from 25th
to 27th
February.
The 8th
edition of the Youth Festival was held from
February 22 to 27 at Central Park, Delhi.
―The festival is organised by Sahitya Kala Parishad and the
Department of Art, Culture and Language, Delhi Government.
―This festival celebrates music dance and Arts.
―The 2019 edition of the festival saw participation of more
than 1200 artists.
Apple is hosting 30th edition of its annual Worldwide
Developers Conference from June 3 to 7 at the McEnery
Convention Centre in San Jose, California.
―WWDC is Apple’s biggest event of the year. In the
event,thousand of developers from across the globe gather
alongwith the thousands of engineersfrom Apple to learn about
the latest Apple innovations and to be a part of the
community.
―Apple will be introducing macOS 10.15and is thinking
about introducing iOS 13 in this convention.
IMPORTANT ABBREVIATIONS
POK: Pakistan Occupied Kashmir
JeM: Jaish-e-Mohammed
GOI: Government of India
SSB: Sashastra Seema Bal
IAF: Indian Air Force
ITBP: Indo-Tibetan Border Police
GSP: Generalized System of Preferences
MSP: Minimum Support Price
CSR: Corporate Social Responsibility
DRDO: Defence Research and Development Organisation
FAME: Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric
Vehicles
ACBS: Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports
OIC: Organization of Islamic Cooperation
NADA: National Anti-Doping Agency
IMD: India Meteorological Department
WHO: World Health Organization
EVM: Electronic Voting Machines
PIL: Public Interest Litigation
NGO: Non- Governmental Organization
AFCs: Automatic Fare Collection Counters
ONOC: Once Nation Once Card
AAMRAM: Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile
NSG: National Suppliers Group
SHG: Self Help Groups
THR: Take Home Ration
TCS: Tax Collected at Source
SEBI: Security and Exchange Board of India
CCI: Competition Commission of India
VJ Thankappan
Charlie Whiting
Greta Thunberg
INSAS: Indian Small Arms System
NCR: National Capital Region
BCCI: Board of Control for Cricket in India
OCA: Olympic Council of Asia
FIFA: Fédération Internationale de Football Association
ODI: One Day International
FATF: Financial Action Task Force
NGT: National Green Tribunal
MCF: Modern Coach Factory
ICF: Integral Coach Factory
IES: Indian Engineering Service
IRSE: Indian Railways Service of Engineers
UPSC: Union Public Service Commission
WLA: White Label ATM
ATM: Automatic Teller Machines
DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
February 28: National Science Day ―Sir ChandrasekharaVenkata Raman or CV Raman
discovered the Raman Effect on this day in 1928.
―Sir CV Raman was awarded Nobel Prize for his discovery
in 1930.
―In 2018, the day was celebrated with the theme of “Science
and Technology for a sustainable future”. This year it was
celebrated with the theme of “Science for people and people
for science”.
. February 27 is remembered as the death anniversary of
Chandra Shekhar Azad.
―One of the heroes of the Indian freedom struggle, Chandra
Shekhar Azad was born on July 23, 1906 in Madhya Pradesh.
―Azad at the age of 24, made a choice to shoot himself rather
than allowing British to capture him alive.
―Azad, Bhagat Singh and friends are known for the incidents
like Kakori train robbery, Central Legislative Assembly
bombing and the shooting of British Police officerJohn
Saunders in Lahore
World Kidney Day was celebrated on March 14.
―World Kidney Day is held to bring focus on global
awareness for the importance of kidneys.
―World Kidney Day 2018 was celebrated with the theme of
„Kidneys & Women‟s Health. Include, Value, Empower‟. The
theme of World Kidney Day in 2017 was „Kidney Disease &
Obesity – Healthy Lifestyle for Healthy Kidney‟.