Current Affairs Update – 28th March, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the current affairs update of 28th March, 2015.

• Mizoram Governor Aziz Qureshi, who has had a running feud with the Centre and even approached the Supreme Court against attempts to ease him out, was sacked today.
• A brief statement issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said that "Qureshi shall cease to hold the office of the Governor of Mizoram."
• Governor of West Bengal Keshari Nath Tripathi has been asked to discharge the functions of the Mizoram Governor, in addition to his own duties, until regular arrangements are made, it said.
• Qureshi, who had a tenure till May 2017, is the second Governor after Kamla Beniwal to be sacked after having been shifted to Mizoram months after the Narendra Modi government assumed office.
• Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan, who was also transferred to Mizoram, had tendered his resignation, refusing to take charge of his new assignment.

• India is set to operationalise its own navigational system with the successful launch of IRNSS-1D, the fourth in the series of seven navigational satellites, onboard PSLV-C27 on Saturday.
• With this launch, the country is poised to operationalise the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), having put into orbit four of the seven satellites.
• At the end of the 59.5 hour countdown, PSLV-C27, the time-tested launch vehicle of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 5.19 p.m. and injected the satellite into orbit about 21 minutes later.
• A beaming ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar, for whom this is the first project after taking charge of the space agency, said the mission was successful and the satellite had been placed in precise orbit.

• With Kerala registering the lowest growth rate of population in the last one decade, the state is all set to achieve "zero population growth" in the coming years.
• While the national rate of growth of population in the last 10 years is 17.6 per cent, the growth rate of state population during the period is 4.9 per cent, the lowest rate among Indian states, according to the latest Economic Review by the state Planning Board.
• Quoting the final data published by the Directorate of Census, it said the state's population as on March 2011 was 3,34,06,061, which was 3,18,41,374 in 2001.
• Of the total state population, 1,60,27,412 (48 per cent) are males and 1,73,78,649 (52 per cent) are females, it said.
• The report reveals that six southern districts - Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram - have lower growth rate.

• The Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani today laid the foundation stone for setting up three premier educational institutions — IIT, IIIT, IISER — in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu were also present at foundation laying ceremony of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT).
• The union minister laid foundations for IIT and IISER, to come up at Erpedu near the temple city of Tirupati and IIIT to come up at Sri City in Satyavedu, about 100 km from here.

• Saina Nehwal created history today as she became the first Indian woman shuttler to attain the world No.1 ranking after her closest challenger for the spot, Spain’s Carolina Marin, lost in the India Open Super Series semi-final here.
• Though the official rankings will be out only on Thursday next week, the 25—year—old Indian has been assured of her ascent to the top owing to Marin’s loss in the last-four stage.
• The reigning world champion, who was seeded second, lost to third seed Thai Ratchanok Intanon 21—19 21—23 22—20.
• Prakash Padukone had the distinction of being the No. 1 men’s badminton player but Saina became the first Indian woman to achieve this feat.
• Saina plays Japan’s Yui Hashimoto in the second semi-final but the Indian ace will be No.1 irrespective of her result today.
• The London Olympic bronze—medallist has won a staggering 14 international titles in her glorious career, and most recently she became the first Indian woman to make the finals of the prestigious All England Championships in Manchester.

• For the first time since it came into existence in 1950, BFI got a woman as its president when Poonam Mahajan was unanimously elected as the head of this 65 year old federation – the governing and controlling body of basketball in India – here today.
• At the Annual General Meeting of the Basketball Federation of India (BFI), president of Maharashtra State Basketball Association (MSBA), who is also the BJP national secretary and MP from the Mumbai North-Central Lok Sabha constituency, Poonam was unanimously elected as the new president of BFI for a four-year (2015-2019) term.
• The 34-year-old Poonam is the youngest president of any national federation in India.
• In yet another first, another woman, Roopam Harish Sharma – secretary of Delhi Basketball Association – was unanimously elected as the Secretary General of the BFI.
• With both Poonam and Roopam given key posts in the BFI, the national governing body of basketball became the first ever national federation to be headed by women representatives.
• Secretary Basketball Association of Assam, Mukut Medhi was named as the new treasurer of the 26-member new BFI executive committee.

• The legendary Balbir Singh Senior, member of three Olympic gold medal winning teams, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the inaugural Hockey India Awards here today.
• The action-packed ceremony culminated with the 90-year-old receiving the trophy for Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award along with a cheque of Rs 30 lakh.
• Recipient of other top awards were Birendra Lakra and Vandana Kataria, who were named Player of the Year in their respective categories. Their efforts fetched them Rs 25 lakh each.
• The loudest applause was expectedly reserved for Balbir Singh, who was part the famous gold winning teams from 1948 to 1956 Olympics. His 1952 record of most goals (five) in an Olympic final still stands and he also figures in the list of 16 iconic Olympians of all-time.

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 27 March 2015 won Gandhi Peace Prize 2014. The award was selected by the jury under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• Besides Prime Minister, other members of the Jury that selected the ISRO for the award were Justice H L Dattu, Chief Justice of India; Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the single largest Opposition Party in the Lok Sabha; LK Advani, Member of Parliament and Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
• The Indian space agency successfully launched Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and at a very cost effective price of 450 crore rupees.
• The launch makes India the first Asian country to enter the Martian sphere of influence.
• ISRO became the fourth space agency after National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US, Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA) and European Space Agency to have undertaken a mission to Mars.

• An Indian-American biology professor is among 15 scientists, who have been selected for a prestigious U.S. presidential award for excellence in the field of science, mathematics and engineering mentoring.
• Murty S Kambhampati, a professor of biology at Southern University at New Orleans will receive the award at a White House ceremony later this year.
• Prof. Kambhampati has been a mentor of high school and undergraduate students in research and successfully boosted graduation rates, the White House said in a statement.
• Prof. Kambhampati, a PhD holder from both Jackson State University in Environmental Science and Andhra University in Ecology is an active research mentor for undergraduates.
• Another person selected from Indian subcontinent, Sri Lankan-origin Tilak Ratnanather is an associate professor in the biomedical engineering department of the Johns Hopkins University, Maryland.

• Investor Cyrus Vandrevala and hotelier Jasminder Singh were the prominent winners at an Asian Business Awards ceremony in London. Mr. Vandrevala, formerly a resident of Mumbai and co-founder of investment company Intrepid Capital Partners (ICP), received the Global Investor of the Year Award at the ceremony on Friday night.
• ICP recently announced a Rs.1,000-crore facility for the housing and infrastructure sectors in western India. The company promises to in due course raise the lending to Rs. 5,000 crore.
• Mr. Singh is an Indian origin emigrant from East Africa and now chairman of the Radission Edwardian Group of hotels in Britain. Radisson Edwardian was named the Asian Business of the Year Award.
• Both Mr. Singh and Mr. Vandrevala figured among the billionaires in the first ever Global India Rich List compiled by London’s Raymedia earlier this month.

• Fortune Magazine on 26 March 2015 has released the list of 2015 roster of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.
• The list included Prime Minister of India at 5th rank and Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi at the 28th rank.
• The list was topped by Apple CEO Tim Cook. Others are European Central Bank President Mario Draghi at the second rank, followed by Chinese President Xi Jingping at third Rank, Pope Francis at fourth rank and General Motors CEO Mary Barra at ninth rank.
• A notable exclusion from the list is US President Barack Obama, who has not been named in the list for a second year in a row.

• Freedom fighter, former chief of Seva Dal and former Congress MP Manubhai Patel passed away here due to old age-related problems. He was 94.
• In 1967, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Vadodara seat and was also a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1978.
• Patel had been elected as the member of Gujarat Assembly in 1962 from Savli seat in Vadodara district on Congress ticket and was made the Minister of Prohibition and Social Security of the state.
• Patel was involved in many social, cultural and educational activities and all though his life worked for the uplift of weaker sections of the society. He had established a naturopathy centre in the city.

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- Thomas A. Edison

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