Current Affairs Update – 26th March, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the current affairs for 26th March, 2015. India lost to Australia in the Semis of WC 2015 but we have not given the detailed news.

• India and Qatar on 25 March 2015 signed six agreements to increase commercial and economic exchanges between India and Qatar. The deals have a special focus on the Make in India initiative.
• These six agreements were inked in New Delhi in presence of Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani was on a two day official visit to India on 25 March and 26 March 2015.

1. Agreement on Transfer of Sentenced Persons: Under this agreement, Indian prisoners convicted in Qatar can be brought to India to serve the remaining part of their sentence. Similarly Qatari Citizens convicted in India can be sent to his home country to serve their sentence.
2. MoU for Cooperation in the field of Information and Communication Technology: This MoU would provide enhanced business opportunities for Indian IT industry in Qatar. Qatar has embarked on an ambitious programme for overall development as part of their Qatar 2030 vision and has created a dedicated Ministry of Information and Communication Technology for capacity building in ICT.
3. MoU between Ministry of Earth sciences and Qatar Meteorological Department for Scientific and Technical cooperation: The scientific collaboration between India and Qatar will be beneficial to improve atmospheric & Oceanic capacity in both the countries.
4. MoU between Diplomatic Institute of MOFA, Qatar and Foreign Service Institute, MEA: This MoU would help in exchange of trainees, students, faculty members and experts between India and Qatar to enhance their skills and improve the training programme in both the countries.
5. MoU for cooperation in the field of Radio and Television: This MoU intends to encourage regular exchange of radio and TV programmes and material between Prasar Bharati of India and Qatar Media Cooperation.
6. Agreement for Mutual Cooperation and Exchange of News: The agreement between Qatari News Agency and United News of India is to enhance and develop bilateral cooperation in the field of exchange of English-language news on daily basis and free of charge.

• Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the National Super Computing Mission on 25 March 2015.
• The mission aims at bringing the High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities within the reach of the scientific community by augmenting indigenous supercomputing infrastructure.
• The mission will be implemented at an estimated cost of 4500 crore rupees over a period of seven years.
• The mission will be jointly implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore respectively.

• The Ministry of Railways appointed Ajay Shankar committee on 25 March 2015 to review the performance of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) cell functioning under the Railway Board.
• Ajay Shankar is a former Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• The Committee will recommend measures to make the cell more effective, customer friendly and result oriented.
• The Infrastructure Directorate of Railway Board will be the Nodal Directorate for functioning of the Committee and Executive Director/Traffic (PPP) Railway Board will be the Secretary to the Committee.

• Delhi High Court (HC) on 25 March 2015 became the first court in India to set up dedicated commercial courts within it to ensure speedy disposal of cases.
• Chief Justice of Delhi HC G Rohini designated four benches to act as commercial courts. Out of this, two single judge benches with original jurisdiction will deal with the suits involving commercial disputes relating to intellectual property rights, arbitration, insurance, banking, taxation, company cases etc.
• The other two benches with appellate jurisdiction will hear appeals against the commercial disputes cases.
• Further out of the four benches, two benches – one each from original and appellate jurisdiction – will be e-courts, that is, they will function as paperless courts.

• India’s first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe) was successfully operationalised for research in North Antarctica on 25 March 2015. PROVe has been indigenously built by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• Union Minister for Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan made the symbolic launch of the PROVe from the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) headquarters in Chennai.
• The results of PROVe’s findings will contribute vastly to mankind’s understanding of climate besides enhancing the capability to predict the Monsoon

• The Union Minister of Communications & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad on 25 March 2015 felicitated the winners of the 2014 Web Ratna awards. This was the third Web Ratna Awards that were given away at a ceremony held at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.

1. Kerala Tourism has been conferred the national Web Ratna Award for 2014 for ‘exemplary e-governance initiative through the Internet.’
2. Official website www.keralatourism.org won the Golden Icon award in the ‘outstanding content’ category of the Web Ratna Awards.

1. Platinum Award: Passport Seva Project
2. Gold Award: National Safai Karmchari Finance Development Corporation (NSKFDC)
3. Silver Award: National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

1. Platinum Award: Office of Registrar General & Census Commissioner
2. Gold Award: Planning Commission and Union Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation
3. Silver Award: Union Ministry of Water Resources

1. Platinum Award:  Maharashtra
2. Gold Award: Tamil Nadu
3. Silver Award: Uttarakhand

• Cipla Limited on 25 March 2015 launched generic drug of Sofosbuvir under the brand name Hepcvir for treating Hepatitis C.
• The drug will be available in Indian market till the end of March 2015. The availability of product in other markets is subject to approvals from the regulatory authorities in the respective countries.
• Cipla is one of the seven Indian pharmaceutical companies that have been allowed by US-based Gilead Sciences to manufacture and market generic of drug Sofosbuvir. The non-exclusive license agreement in this regard was signed between Gilead Sciences and Cipla in September 2014.

• Justice Ashok Bhushan was today sworn in as Chief Justice of Kerala High Court.
• Governor P Sathasivam administered the oath of office to Justice Bhushan, who was serving as acting chief justice of the high court since August last, at a function in the Raj Bhavan here.
• Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, along with some of his cabinet colleagues, was present on the occasion.
• Justice Bhushan, hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh in April, 1979. Thereafter, he practiced on civil and original side in Allahabad High Court till his appointment as judge.
• He had also worked as standing counsel of Allahabad University, State Mineral Development Corporation Limited and several municipal boards, banks and education institutions.

• Senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and noted novelist Vikas Swarup of Slumdog Millionaire-fame will be the new spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, ministry sources informed.
• He is set to take over on April 18. Mr. Swarup is currently working as Joint Secretary (UN-Political) in the Ministry in New Delhi.
• The Hollywood movie Slumdog Millionaire which won eight Oscar’s was based on Mr. Swarup’s successful debut novel “Q&A”.
• Syed Akbaruddin, the current spokesperson, is to be promoted as additional secretary and has been appointed as “Chief Coordinator” of the Indo-Africa Forum Summit.
• The third edition of the summit is scheduled to take place in India on October 29. Reflecting the government’s drive for increased engagement with Africa, this year’s summit is likely to see participation of all 54 African countries.
• The role of spokesperson has become very critical with the new government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a diplomatic overdrive and a big jump in bilateral and multilateral engagements.

• The Vice President of India M Hamid Ansari on 25 March 2015 released a book titled Faces and Places written by Prof. Deepak Nayyar, noted economist and former Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.
• The book brings together a selection of the author’s photographs that have been taken over the past four decades. Its title captures the essential idea of its dual theme. The focus is on people in their daily lives and on places that are of interest to visitors.

• The Indian Navy Dornier that crashed during a night sortie on Tuesday had claimed the life of a woman officer. The body of Lieutenant Kiran Shekhawat - the first Indian woman officer to die in the line of duty - was recovered today.
• Lieutenant Shekhawat, 27, was commissioned into the Navy in 2010. She was training to be an Observer - an officer in charge of all sensors on board a surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.
• Early this morning, the wreckage of the Dornier was found about 60 m under the sea at south-west of Goa coast. The body of Lieutenant Shekhawat was found inside the fuselage of the aircraft.

• Award winning Assamese film and theatre legend Indra Bania, who died here last night, was cremated today with state honours at the Nabagraha crematorium.
• The body of the first Assamese actor to win Silver Leopard Best Actor's award at Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland, was brought in a procession to the crematorium.
• Best known for his performance in Jahnu Barua's Halodhiya Choraye Baodhan Khai (The Catastrophe), which had bagged the Best Feature Film at National Film Awards in 1988, Bania began his tryst with acting as a school student in Nagaon.
• He had won the hearts of the people of Assam since 1960 when he started his acting career as a drama artiste, sources said.

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