. 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

All copyrights to this material vests with IMS Learning Resources Pvt Ltd. No part of this material either in part or as a whole shall be copied,

reprinted, reproduced, sold, distributed or transmitted in any form in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature without the permission of IMS Learning Resources Pvt Ltd., and any

such violation would entail initiation of suitable legal proceedings.

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‟.