Current Affairs Update – 23rd March, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 23rd March, 2016. These are important for the upcoming NABARD Assistant Manager Exam.

• India and France have signed an
  MoU for the construction of six nuclear reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra,
  two months after the two countries decided to conclude the techno-commercial
  negotiations for the project by the year end.
• The pact was inked yesterday at
  the end of the two-day visit of a high-level delegation of Electricite de
  France (EDF – French public utility) to Mumbai for holding discussions with
  National Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) on the construction of the
  plants, diplomatic sources said.
• French Ambassador to India
  Francois Richier, who was present on the occasion, reiterated his country’s
  commitment to working seamlessly with India through a collaborative approach to
  enable both sides to contribute collectively to the development of nuclear
  energy in India in the most economical manner.
• The EDF visit was a follow-up on
  the State Visit of French President Francois Hollande to India in January,
  during which France and India drew up a cooperation roadmap for concluding
  techno-commercial negotiations for the Jaitapur project by the end of 2016.
• EDF is France’s public
  electricity producer and supplier and has been designated by the French government
  for taking over AREVA NP.
• EDF is now leading the
  negotiations for the French side, with the support of AREVA NP, for the
  Jaitapur nuclear park and supply of all equipment under EDF’s scope.

• Sumant Sinha promoted ReNew Power
  Ventures said on Tuesday that it has signed an agreement to receive debt
  financing of up to $250 million from the Overseas Private Investment
  Corporation, the US Government’s development finance institution.
• The company said that the funds
  will be utilised to construct 400 MW of new solar power projects across India.
• ReNew Power has more than 2,400
  MW of clean energy assets. Its projects are in nine states – Gujarat, Haryana,
  Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh
  and Jharkhand. The company has investors like Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi
  Investment Authority, Asian Development Bank and the Global Environment Fund.
• In the last one year, the company
  has signed power purchase agreements for four solar projects with a combined
  capacity of 286 MW in Telangana, won bids in Karnataka for 180 MW of solar
  power capacity and in Jharkhand for 522 MW of solar power capacity. The power
  purchase agreements with Karnataka and Jharkhand will be signed soon.

• The Cabinet today approved
  signing of an MoU between India and Lithuania for cooperation in the
  agriculture sector.
• The Memorandum of Understanding
  (MoU) provides for cooperation in the fields of agriculture production
  including horticulture, post-harvest management, organic farming, cold chain
  development and agri processing industry, animal husbandry, dairying and
  aquaculture among others.
• The MoU is expected to help in
  capacity building, knowledge exchange between scientists and technicians,
  exchange of genetic resources, development of appropriate technologies and farm
  practices for enhancing agriculture productivity at farmer’s field, it added.

• Bharti Airtel   has entered into an agreement with American
  Tower Corporation (ATC) for the sale of about 1,350 mobile towers in East
  African country Tanzania.
• Under the agreement, ATC may
  acquire up to approximately 100 additional sites currently in development for
  an additional consideration, Airtel said in a BSE filing, without disclosing
  the financial details of the transaction.
• Airtel will be the anchor tenant
  on the portfolio under a lease with a ten-year initial term, it said.

• Department of Consumer Affairs
  under the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on
  22 March 2016 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Industry
  Association for effective redressal of consumer complaints.
• Under the MoU, the Industry
  Association comprising ASSOCHAM, CII, DICCI, FICCI and PHD Chamber of Commerce
  and Industry will implement six-point agenda to address consumer complaints.

•  Collaborative programmes on developing and
  implementing a self-regulated code of fair business practices
•  Establishing a Consumer Affairs
  division/vertical within the Industry Body

• Union Minister of Health and
  Family Welfare JP Nadda on 21 March 2016 launched three new initiatives to
  combat Tuberculosis (TB).
• The initiatives were launched to
  mark the World Tuberculosis day that is observed annually on 24 March.

•  The new anti-TB drug was launched to combat
  Drug Resistant TB as part of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program
  (RNTCP).

•  These are in addition to the existing 121
  CBNAAT machines that are functional in the country.

• The abbreviation CPGRMS was in
  news on 22 March 2016 as the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dr
  Jitendra Singh initiated a telephone feedback mechanism under the CPGRMS for
  the first time.
• Using this facility, feedback
  regarding the response given by the officials will be collected from the
  complainants who used the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring
  System.

•  The Centralized Public Grievance Redress and
  Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is a web based portal to receive grievances from
  citizens on the functioning of Government.
•  It was launched in 2007 to improve public
  service delivery and making governments citizen-centric.
•  The portal also allows senior officials to
  monitor the progress of redressal of grievances at different levels.

• Chairperson of the National Human
  Rights Commission (NHRC) and former Chief Justice of India HL Dattu on 22 March
  2016 was appointed a member of the International Coordinating Committee of
  National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) Bureau in Geneva.
• NHRC, India will now be
  representing Asia-Pacific Region along with Mongolia, Qatar and Australia.
• No other National Human Rights
  Institutions (NHRI) from the Asia Pacific region nominated a candidate against
  Dattu to fill the position of a member vacated by the representative of NHRI of
  South-Korea.

• Mukund Padmanabhan will be the
  new Editor for the The Hindu, one of the largest English dailies in the
  country. He will be the second non family member who hold this position in the
  125-year old Newspaper.
• Since August 2012, Padmanabhan
  was the editor of The Hindu Business Line. He has been working with The Hindu
  for the last 15 years.
• The decision to appoint him as
  the new editor was taken at Kasturi & Sons Ltd (KSL’s) Board meeting today,
  according to sources in KSL. Board of Directors and management officials were
  not available for comment immediately.

• World Poetry Day was observed
  across the world on 21 March 2016. The main objective of the Day is to support
  linguistic diversity through poetic expression and to offer endangered
  languages the opportunity to be heard within their communities.
• It is the occasion to honour
  poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing
  and teaching of poetry, foster.
• UNESCO first adopted 21 March as
  World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999 to
  recognise the unique ability of poetry to capture the creative spirit of the
  human mind.

• The World Meteorological Day
  (WMD) 2016 was observed across the world on 23 March 2016. The theme for the
  WMD 2016 was Hotter, Drier, Wetter. Face the Future.
• The theme of WMD 2016 tries to
  bring focus on the climate change that is disrupting the natural pattern of the
  seasons. The climate change is also increasing the frequency and intensity of
  certain extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts and heavy rainfall.
  These ongoing changes provide a foretaste of a hotter, drier, wetter future.

• Nepal on 22 March 2016 became a
  dialogue partner of the Beijing-based regional security grouping, Shanghai
  Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
• Nepal was officially made a
  dialogue partner after a memorandum was signed during the Nepalese Prime
  Minister KP Sharma Oli visit to China.
• As a dialogue partner, Nepal will
  be able to participate in the multi-field cooperation of the Organisation.
• Beside Nepal, Azerbaijan also
  officially became a SCO dialogue partner on 21 March 2016 upon the signing of a
  similar memorandum.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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