Current Affairs Update – 20th – 21st March, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 20 and 21 March, 2016.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
  19 March 2016 launched Kisan Suvidha mobile application for farmers. It will
  provide information on subjects such as weather, market prices, seeds,
  fertilizers, pesticides and agriculture machinery.
• Kisaan Suvidha is an omnibus
  mobile app developed to help farmers by providing relevant information to them
  quickly.

• Union Agriculture Minister Radha
  Mohan Singh today launched a new mobile app ‘Pusa Krishi’ for farmers in order
  to take the technology to farm fields.
• The mobile app was launched at
  the valedictory session of the three-day ‘Krishi Unnati Mela’ here.
• The app will provide farmers with
  information related to new varieties of crops developed by Indian Council of
  Agriculture Research (ICAR), resource conserving cultivation practices as well
  as farm machinery and its implementation will help in increasing returns to
  farmers.

• In its latest bid to revive the
  ‘Mahila Haat’, an ambitious project of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to
  provide space and impetus to women entrepreneurs, the corporation has signed a
  Memorandum of Understanding with the FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO).
• With the objective of serving as
  a marketplace for women artisans and entrepreneurs, the Haat will also serve as
  a cultural centre, “thereby encouraging and promoting entrepreneurship and
  skill development at the grassroots level among women”.
• The project was relaunched Sunday
  and “a centrally located area has been allocated by the Delhi government”.

• To activate the programme, users
  are required to sign in to their Microsoft accounts (or create it if they don’t
  have one) and start using Bing. For every unique search query, Bing will award
  users one point and a maximum of ten points can be earned in one day. Users are
  awarded ten free points for signing up for the programme and will need to
  remain signed in while using Bing for the points to accrue.
• Microsoft has tied up with
  FreeCharge to offer users cash coupons that can be earned by redeeming points
  earned.
• Currently, users have two options
  of redeeming their earned points. They can either accrue 90 points or redeem
  them for an Rs 30 FreeCharge coupon, or they can accrue 210 points and receive
  a coupon worth Rs 70 in exchange.
• The cash value of these coupons
  can be realised by entering the coupon code in the FreeCharge app or at
  FreeCharge’s website.

• Ola, India’s largest taxi
  aggregator recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the
  Maharashtra government, to skill, develop and create opportunities for
  entrepreneurship for 1,00,000 youth in the state.
• The MoU, which will also take
  into consideration the employment of women, will work towards skilling people
  to be independent driver-entrepreneurs over the next five years.
• The company will work closely
  with the Maharashtra government to expand its network of driver owned cabs
  across multiple categories like Micro, Mini, Prime etc.
• The government will also work
  with Ola towards making concerted efforts in providing the right training
  infrastructure and technology framework to make a meaningful difference in the
  current employment scenario.

• Cinema exhibition chain PVR
  cinemas and mobile payments and commerce platform Paytm have announced a
  strategic relationship today that will bring PVR’s movie tickets to Paytm’s
  e-commerce platform as a part of its nationwide foray in the online movie ticket
  segment.
• In the first year of this
  relationship, PVR targets to sell tickets worth Rs 250-300 crore on Paytm’s
  e-commerce platforms in addition to revenues from ticket sales at box offices
  and other channels.

• Union Environment Ministry on 18
  March 2016 notified new Plastic Waste Management Rules to curb over 6000 tonnes
  of uncollected plastic waste generated daily by industries.
• It made the rules related to
  usage and production of plastic to be more stringent as it tries to bring in
  more eco friendly society.
• Rules related to plastic waste
  management to give thrust on plastic waste minimization, source
  segregation,recycling, involving waste pickers, recyclers and waste processors
  in collection of plastic waste were also reviewed and revised.

• Rural areas have been included
  and Gram Panchayats were given responsibility and the concept of extended
  producer responsibility (EPR) is introduced.
• Responsibility of waste
  generators is being introduced.
• It also banned plastic carry bags
  thinner than 50 microns and the producers are asked to keep record of vendors
  to whom they supply raw material for manufacturing carry bags, plastic sheets
  and multilayered packaging to curb manufacturing of the products in the
  unorganized sector
• The rules also have the provision
  to fine retailers and street vendors who provide their products in plastic
  packaging which do not conform to the new rules.

• The Indian Air Force (IAF) on 18
  March 2016 successfully conducted Exercise Iron Fist in Pokhran, Rajasthan.
• The event was attended by the
  President of India Pranab Mukherjee, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Air
  Chief Marshal Arup Raha.
• The day-night exercise was aimed
  at demonstrating IAF’s combat and fire power and reassure the nation about its
  commitment and capabilities in safeguarding the national interests.
• It also showcased more than 22
  types of platforms and Weapons Systems including Sukhoi-30, Mirage-2000,
  Jaguar, MiG-29, Attack helicopters, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), etc.
• The event comprised six packages
  depicting six themes in which more than 180 aircraft, including fighters,
  transport and helicopters participated.

• India’s “unique” Agasthyamala
  Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats is among 20 new sites added by the
  United Nations’ top cultural body UNESCO to its World Network of Biosphere
  Reserves.
• The International Coordinating
  Council added the new sites during a two-day meeting on Saturday in Lima,
  capital of Peru, bringing the total number of biosphere reserves to 669 sites
  in 120 countries, including 16 trans-boundary sites.
• The newly adopted sites include
  18 national sites and one trans-boundary site shared between Spain and Portugal.
• The Agasthyamalai Biosphere
  Reserve (ABR) was established in 2001 and is spread across the two States of
  Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• Biosphere reserves are places for
  learning about sustainable development aiming to reconcile the conservation of
  biodiversity with the sustainable use of natural resources.
• New reserves are designated each
  year by the International Coordinating Council of the UNESCO’s Man and the
  Biosphere (MAB) Programme, which brings together elected representatives of 34
  UNESCO Member States.

• The Government of Andhra Pradesh
  and Cisco on 17 March 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to design
  and implement the AP Fiber Net project.
• The MoU was signed during the
  launch of phase one of the project by State Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in
  Visakhapatnam.

• It is aimed at providing
  broadband connectivity at affordable rates to all households and institutions
  in the State.
• It is considered as the first
  statewide broadband project in India and was launched to realize the vision of
  Digital Andhra Pradesh.

• The International Day for the
  Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2016 was observed on 21 March 2016 with
  the theme Challenges and Achievements of the Durban Declaration and Programme
  of Action.
• In 2016, the day is marked by the
  fifteenth anniversary of the adoption of the Durban Declaration and Programme
  of Action at the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
  Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in 2001.

• International Day of Forests was
  observed on 21 March 2016 across the globe with the theme Forest and Water. The
  theme highlights the importance of forests in sustaining planet’s supply of
  freshwater, which is essential for life.
• To mark the Day, a joint celebration
  of the International Day of Forests and World Water Day was held on 21 March
  2016 in New York. The UNFF Secretariat and UN-Water are organizing the event,
  in collaboration with the Sweden Government.
• The event entitled Forests and
  Water|Sustain Life and Livelihoods will raise awareness of the interconnections
  between forests and water, and their contributions to implementation of the
  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• The tenth edition of the Earth
  Hour was observed globally on 19 March 2016 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time.

• While the focus of the global
  event was to engage people in critical climate conversations and solutions, the
  country-specific theme for India was to encourage usage of solar energy by
  individuals and organizations.

• International Day of Happiness
  was observed on 20 March 2016 across the world.
• On the other hand, Red, the
  leader of the Angry Birds mobile game characters, was appointed by the United
  Nations as an envoy to inspire climate action toward a sustainable and happier
  future for all.
• Red’s appointment, as Honorary
  Ambassador for Green, is part of a UN campaign launched on 18 March 2016 in
  partnership with the globally renowned characters to make a direct link between
  tackling climate change and people’s happiness and well-being on the occasion
  of the International Day of Happiness.

• The World Sparrow Day was
  observed across the world on 20 March 2016 with the theme Rise for the
  SPARROW-Experience the power of one. The theme has been inspired by the hope
  that more and more of us will celebrate the relationship between People and
  Sparrows.
• The day is designated to raise
  awareness of the house sparrow and other common birds to urban environments,
  and of threats to their populations.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
  19 March 2016 conferred National Krishi Karman Awards for the year 2014-15 in
  New Delhi. The awards were presented to 8 State Governments, which were
  received by the Chief Minister of respective states.
• The objective of these awards is
  to encourage and motivate the states to enhance production and productivity of
  rice, wheat, pulses and coarse cereals and oilseeds.

1. Category I States (production
   greater than 10 million tonnes): Madhya Pradesh
2. Category II States (production
   between 1 and 10 million tonnes): Himachal Pradesh and Odisha
3. Category III States (production
   less than 1 million tonnes):  Arunachal
   Pradesh and Meghalaya

1. Rice – Haryana, Assam
2. Wheat- Rajasthan
3. Pulses – Chhattisgarh
4. Oil Seeds-West Bengal

• The royal scion of Kapurthala’s
  Ahluwalia dynasty, Tikka Shatrujit Singh on 17 March 2016 was conferred the
  Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour).
• French ambassador to India
  Francois Richier bestowed the honour on Singh in a ceremony held in New Delhi.
• Singh was chosen for the highest
  French civilian distinction in recognition of his extraordinary work in
  exchanging the French lifestyle and Indian culture with each other.
• He is known as the guru of
  luxury.

• Wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt on 19
  March 2016 won a gold medal in the Asian Olympic Qualification tournament at
  Astana in Kazakhstan.
• With the win, Dutt secured an
  Olympic quota place for India in the men’s 65kg freestyle category.
• Dutt became the second Indian
  wrestler after Narsingh Yadav to qualify for the Rio Games, to be held in
  August 2016.
• The Asian Olympic Qualification
  Tournament is the second qualifying event for the Rio Games. The first was 2015
  World Championship in Las Vegas, where only Narsingh Yadav bagged a quota place
  for the country in men’s 74kg freestyle.

• Gurmeet Singh on 20 March 2016
  became the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal in the Asian 20 Kilometer
  (km) Race Walk Championships.
• His feat was the first time in 34
  years that an Indian won a gold in either an Asian Championships or Asian Games
  in this event.
• Hakam Singh and Chand Ram won a
  Gold medal each in 20-km road walk in 1978 and 1982 Asian Games respectively.
  Since then, no Indian won a Gold medal at the continental level in this event.
• Gurmeet Singh took 1 hour 20
  minutes and 29 seconds to complete the race while his close competitor Isamu
  Fujisawa of Japan took 1:20:49 with close fight in the last 5-km. Georgiy
  Sheiko of Kazakhstan won the bronze medal in 1:21:52.

• India’s fourth highest ranked
  men’s badminton player HS Prannoy on 20 March 2016 won the men’s singles title
  at the 2016 Swiss Open in Basel, Switzerland. He clinched the title by
  defeating Marc Zwiebler of Germany 21-18, 21-15 in the final.
• The 2016 Swiss Open men’s singles
  title is Prannoy’s second title at a Grand Prix Gold tournament, after he won
  the 2014 Indonesian Masters.

• Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia on
  20 March 2016 won the Hero Indian Open title of golf played at the Golf Course
  in New Delhi.
• He won the title with 71 points
  in the final round to defeat the defending champion Anirban Lahiri with 69 who
  stood second. Jeunghun Wang of Korea stood third with a score of 68 totaling
  15-under 273.  In the past, Chawrasia had
  ended runner-up four times in the Hero Indian Open.
• With this win, He pocketed 276660
  US Dollars and moved to the fourth place in the Asian Tour Order of Merit.

Appointments –

• Fashion designer Ritu Beri on 17
  March 2016 was appointed advisor to the Khadi and Village Industries Commission
  (KVIC) for promotion of khadi in India and across the world.
• The commission appointed Beri as
  an advisor for a period of one year during which she will advise on ways to
  promote khadi.

Obituaries –

• Former Prime Minister of Denmark
  Anker Joergensen passed away on 20 March 2016 in Copenhagen. He was 93.
• Joergensen served as the Prime
  Minister of the country from 1972 to 1973 and again from 1975 to 1982.
• In 1950, Joergensen became a
  member of a trade union. He led the Danish Workers Union, SiD, between 1968 and
  1972. While he served as the chairman of the Danish Workers Union, he was
  elected to the Parliament of Denmark for the first time in 1964.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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