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.
Finance/Economy
India and Qatar inked
six agreements to increase commercial and economic exchanges
  • 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.

The six Agreements
wh
ich were inked includes
  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.

Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the National Super Computing Mission
  • 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.

Ministry of Railways
constituted Ajay Shankar Committee to review PPP Cell functioning
  • 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.

India
Delhi HC became the
first court in India to set up commercial courts for speedy disposal of cases
  • 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 operationalised in North Antarctica
  • 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

Union Government
felicitated the winners of the third Web Ratna Awards

  • 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.

List of award and
awardees
  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.

Citizen Centric
Service Category:
  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)

Open Data Champion
category:
  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

Comprehensive Web
Presence State category:
  1. Platinum Award: Maharashtra
  2. Gold Award: Tamil
    Nadu
  3. Silver Award:
    Uttarakhand

Cipla launched
generic of drug Sofosbuvir under the brand name Hepcvir for treating Hepatitis
C
  • 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.

Appointments
Justice Ashok Bhushan
sworn in as Chief Justice of Kerala HC

  • 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.

Vikas Swarup to be
new spokesperson of External Affairs Ministry

  • 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.


Books
& Authors –
Vice president
released book title Faces and Places written by Prof. Deepak Nayyar
  • 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.

Obituaries
In Dornier Crash, First Woman Officer Dies in Line of Duty

  • 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.



Noted Assamese
Thespian Indra Bania Dead
  • 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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This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 10:25 am