March 2016 Daily News Current Affairs

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  1. Mar 31, 2016
    1. National level AROGYA Fair organized by Ministry of AYUSH in Goa.
    2. Indian Naval ship Beas visited Qatar to participate in 5th edition of Doha International Maritime Defence Exhibition (DIMDEX).
    3. 13TH India-EU Summit held in Brussels (Belgium) -
      1. PM Narendra Modi Visited on India'a Behalf. It is part of his Tri Nation Journey to Belgium, USA ad Saudi Arabia.
      2. PM Modi and his Belgian counterpart Charles Michel from Belgium Remotely Launched Asias largest optical telescope Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) at Devasthal in Nainital District, Uttrakahnd. It has been located at a height of 2,500 metres at Devasthal in Nainital district and has mirror of 3.6 m diameter.
      3. European Investment Bank (EIB), will lend India 450 million (approximately Rs. 3,300 crore) towards constructing a 23-km long Lucknow Metro rail line and a purchasing a fleet of new trains. EIB also approved to set up Its regional representation for South Asia in New Delhi.
      4. EU-India Agenda for Action 2020 - India and EU endorsed agenda to concrete road-map for EU-India Strategic Partnership for upto 2020.
      5. EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) - India and EU agreed to further negotiations on early conclusion of BTIA.
      6. Joint Declaration on the India-EU Water Partnership was adopted to enhance cooperation on environment issues, including on the ‘Clean India' and ‘Clean Ganga’ flagship programmes.
  2. Mar 30, 2016
    1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI). It will survey more than 60000 elderly over 25 years plan and will provide validated data on various issues of the elderly.
    2. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh launched Pusa Krishi mobile app at Krishi Unnati Mela in New Delhi. It will help farmers to find solutions to problems in their farm fields and also getting information about weather.
    3. Year 2014 recorded highest anthropogenic carbon released in past 6.6 crore years, as per a study at University of Hawaii. Current carbon emissions are mainly from burning fossil fuels, amounting 10 billion tonnes a year. At this pace, temperatures will rise by up to 4.8 degrees Celsius by 2100. It may cause floods, droughts and more powerful storms.
    4. United Nations Security Council extended UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) till 31 March 2017. Resolution was approved to support a transparent electoral process in 2016 and universal elections by 2020.
    5. The Biography of Actor and Politician Shatrughan Sinha - Anything But Khamosh has been released.
    6. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released electronic format for exchange of Country-by-Country (CbC) reports between jurisdictions -- CbC XML Schema. The CbC reports assist tax administrations in obtaining a complete understanding of how Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) operate.
    7. To help farmers in switching to unconventional methods of farming, Gujarat state government will set up country's first university exclusively focusing on organic farming.
    8. Karnataka High Court ruled that report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) cannot be sole basis for any liability being caused or for prosecution to be launched.
    9. Noted USA writer Jim Harrison passed away, best known for his 1979 novel Legends of the Fall.
    10. Tata Motors signed contract with Indian Army to supply 619 units of its high-mobility vehicle (HMV) 6X6 multi-axle trucks to Army.
    11. Pranab Mukherjee conferred Padma Awards 2016. It Included Haldhar Nag, 66-year-old poet in Kosli language who was highlightened as he used to be a 3rd Class passout and now is acclaimed as among top Poets in Country with 5 Thesis written for him. Complete List of Padma Awardees is as given -
      1. Padma Vibhushan -
        1. Ms. Yamini Krishnamurthi — Art-Classical dance — Delhi
        2. Rajinikanth — Art-Cinema — Tamil Nadu
        3. Smt Girija Devi — Art-Classical Vocal — West Bengal
        4. Ramoji Rao — Literature & Education-Journalism — Andhra Pradesh
        5. Dr Viswanathan Shanta — Medicine-Oncology — Tamil Nadu
        6. Ravi Shankar — Others-Spiritualism — Karnataka
        7. Jagmohan — Public Affairs — Delhi
        8. Dr Vasudev Kalkunte Aatre — Science & Engineering — Karnataka
        9. Avinash Dixit(Foreigner) — Literature & Education — USA
        10. Late Dhiru Bhai Ambani (Posthumous) — Trade & Industry — Maharashtra
      2. Padma Bhushan
        1. Anupam Kher — Art-Cinema — Maharashtra
        2. Udit Narayan Jha — Art-Playback Singing — Maharashtra
        3. Ram V Sutar — Art-Sculpture — Uttar Pradesh
        4. Heisnam Kanhailal — Art-Theatre — Manipur
        5. Vinod Rai — Civil Service — Kerala
        6. Dr Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad — Literature & Education — Andhra Pradesh
        7. Prof NS Ramanuja Tatacharya — Literature & Education — Maharashtra
        8. Dr Barjinder Singh Hamdard — Literature & Education - Journalism — Punjab
        9. Prof D Nageshwar Reddy — Medicine-Gastroenterology — Telangana
        10. Swami Tejomayananda — Other-Spiritualism — Maharashtra
        11. Hafeez Contractor — Others-Architecture — Maharashtra
        12. Ravindra Chandra Bhargava — Public Affairs — Uttar Pradesh
        13. Dr Venkata Rama Rao — Alla Science & Engineering — Andhra Pradesh
        14. Ms Saina Nehwal — Sports-Badminton — Telangana
        15. Ms Sania Mirza — Sports-Tennis — Telangana
        16. Ms Indu Jain — Trade & Industry — Delhi
        17. Late Swami Dayanand Sarawasati (Posthumous) — Others-Spiritualism — Uttarakhand
        18. Robert Blackwill (Foreigner) — Public Affairs — USA
        19. Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry (NRI/PIO) — Trade & Industry — Ireland
      3. Padma Shri
        1. Smt Prathibha Prahlad — Art- Classical Dance — Delhi
        2. Bhikhudan Gadhvi — Art- Folk Music — Gujarat
        3. Sribhas Chandra Supakar — Art- Textile Designing — Uttar Pradesh
        4. Ajay Devgn — Art-Cinema — Maharashtra
        5. Ms Priyanka Chopra — Art-Cinema — Maharashtra
        6. Pt Tulsidas Borkar — Art-Classical Music — Goa
        7. Dr Soma Ghosh — Art-Classical Vocal — Uttar Pradesh
        8. Nila Madhab Panda — Art-Film Direction and Production — Delhi
        9. SS Rajamouli — Art-Film Direction and Production — Karnataka
        10. Madhur Bhandarkar — Art-Film Direction and Production — Maharashtra
        11. Prof M Venkatesh Kumar — Art-Folk Artist — Karnataka
        12. Ms Gulabi Sapera — Art-Folk Dance — Rajasthan
        13. Smt Mamta Chandrakar — Art-Folk Music — Chhattisgarh
        14. Ms Malini Awasthi — Art-Folk Music — Uttar Pradesh
        15. Jai Prakash Lekhiwal — Art-Miniature Painting — Delhi
        16. K Laxma Goud — Art-Painting — Telangana
        17. Bhalchandra Dattatray Mondhe — Art-Photography — Madhya Pradesh
        18. Naresh Chander Lal — Art-Theatre & Cinema — Andaman & Nicobar
        19. Dhirendra Nath Bezbaruah — Literature & Education — Assam
        20. Prahlad Chandra Tasa — Literature & Education — Assam
        21. Dr Ravindra Nagar — Literature & Education — Delhi
        22. Dahyabhai Shastri — Literature & Education — Gujarat
        23. Dr Santeshivara Bhyrappa — Literature & Education — Karnataka
        24. Haldar Nag — Literature & Education — Odisha
        25. Kameshwaram Brahma — Literature & Education -Journalism — Assam
        26. Prof Pushpesh Pant — Literature & Education-Journalism — Delhi
        27. Jawaharlal Kaul — Literature & Education-Journalism — Jammu & Kashmir
        28. Ashok Malik — Literature & Education — Delhi
        29. Dr Mannam Gopi Chand — Medicine-Cardio Thoracic Surgery — Telangana
        30. Prof Ravi Kant — Medicine-Surgery — Uttar Pradesh
        31. Prof Ram Harsh Singh — Medicine- Ayurveda — Uttar Pradesh
        32. Prof Shiv Narain Kureel — Medicine- Paediatric Surgery — Uttar Pradesh
        33. Dr Sabya Sachi Sarkar — Medicine -Radiology — Uttar Pradesh
        34. Dr Alla Gopala Krishna Gokhale — Medicine-Cardiac Surgery — Andhra Pradesh
        35. Prof TK Lahiri — Medicine-Cardio Thoracic Surgery — Uttar Pradesh
        36. Dr Praveen Chandra — Medicine-Cardiology — Delhi
        37. Prof (Dr) Daljeet Singh Gambhir — Medicine-Cardiology — Uttar Pradesh
        38. Dr Chandrasekar Shesadri Thoguluva — Medicine-Gastroenterology — Tamil Nadu
        39. Dr (Mrs) Anil Kumari Malhotra — Medicine-Homeopathy — Delhi
        40. Prof MV Padma Srivastava — Medicine-Neurology — Delhi
        41. Dr Sudhir V Shah — Medicine-Neurology — Gujarat
        42. Dr MM Joshi — Medicine-Ophthalmology — Karnataka
        43. Prof (Dr) John Ebnezar — Medicine-Orthopaedic Surgery — Karnataka
        44. Dr Nayudamma Yarlagadda — Medicine-Paediatric Surgery — Andhra Pradesh
        45. Simon Oraon — Other -Environment Conservation — Jharkhand
        46. Imitiaz Qureshi — Other-Culinary — Delhi
        47. Piyush Pandey — Others-Advertising & Communication — Maharashtra
        48. Subhash Palekar — Others-Farming — Maharashtra
        49. Ravinder Kumar Sinha — Others-Wildlife Conservation — Bihar
        50. Dr HR Nagendra — Others-Yoga — Karnataka
        51. MC Mehta — Public Affairs — Delhi
        52. MN Krishna Mani — Public Affairs — Delhi
        53. Ujjwal Nikam — Public Affairs — Maharashtra
        54. Tokheho Sema — Public Affairs — Nagaland
        55. Dr Satish Kumar — Science & Engineering — Delhi
        56. Dr Mylswamy Annadurai — Science & Engineering — Karnataka
        57. Prof Dipankar Chatterji — Science & Engineering — Karnataka
        58. Prof(Dr) Ganapati Dadasaheb Yadav — Science & Engineering — Maharashtra
        59. Smt (Prof) Veena Tandon — Science & Engineering — Meghalaya
        60. Onkar Nath Srivastava — Science and Engineering — Uttar Pradesh
        61. Ms Sunita Krishnan — Social Work — Andhra Pradesh
        62. Ajoy Kumar Dutta — Social Work — Assam
        63. M Pandit Dasa — Social Work — Karnataka
        64. PP Gopinathan Nair — Social Work — Kerala
        65. Smt Madeleine Herman de Blic — Social Work — Puducherry
        66. Srinivasan Damal Kandalai — Social work — Tamil Nadu
        67. Sudhakar Olwe — Social Work — Maharashtra
        68. Dr TV Narayana — Social Work — Telangana
        69. Arunachalam Murugantham — Social Work — Tamil Nadu
        70. Ms Deepika Kumari — Sports-Archery — Jharkhand
        71. S Sushil Doshi — Sports-commentary — Madhya Pradesh
        72. Mahesh Sharma — Trade & Industry — Delhi
        73. Saurabh Srivastava — Trade & Industry — Delhi
        74. Sh Dilip Sanghvi — Trade & Industry — Maharashtra
        75. Dr Keki Hormusji Gharda — Trade & Industry — Maharashtra
        76. Late Prakash Chand Surana (Posthumous) — Art -Classical Music — Rajasthan
        77. Late Saeed Jaffrey (NRI/PIO/Posthumous) — Art-Cinema — UK
        78. Michael Postel (Foreigner) — Art-Archaeology — France
        79. Salman Amin Sal Khan (NRI/PIO) — Literature & Education — USA
        80. Smt Hui Lan Zhang (Foreigner) — Others-Yoga — China
        81. Predrag K Nikic (Foreigner) — Others-Yoga — Serbia
        82. Dr Sundar Aditya Menon (NRI/PIO) — Social Work — UAE
        83. Ajaypal Singh Banga (NRI/PIO) — Trade & Industry — US
    12. Taiwan's Foxconn Technology will acquire Japans Sharp Corporation for 3.5 billion US dollars.
    13. France announced to end its Operation Sangaris in Central African Republic in 2016.
    14. Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) increased Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) investment limit in Government securities from 135400 to 140000 crores. It will boost inflows of foreign funds into Indian capital markets. Limit will further be increased to 144000 crore rupees from 5 July 2016.
    15. Indian Institute of Technology Patna organised First International Symposium on Fifth Generation (5G) technology, to bring organizations to share views over possible 5G technologies.
    16. Indian Medicine Maker Biocon Ltd got Japan's approval for selling its biosimilar Insulin Glargine in Japan.
  3. Mar 29, 2016
    1. 63rd National Film Awards for year 2015 -
      1. Best feature film - Baahubali : The Beginning (directed by S. S. Rajamouli)
      2. Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment  - Bajrangi Bhaijaan
      3. Best Actor - Amitabh Bachchan (Piku).
      4. Best Actress - Kangana Ranaut (Tanu Weds Manu Returns).
      5. Best Direction - Sanjay Leela Bhansali (Bajirao Mastani).
      6. Best Film on Social Issues - Niranayakam (Malayalam)
      7. Best Supporting Actor - Samuthirakani for Visaranai (Tamil).
      8. Best Supporting Actress - Tanvi Azmi for Bajirao Mastani (Hindi).
      9. Best Childrens Film - Duronto (Hindi)
      10. Best Child Artist - Gaurav Menon for Ben (Malayalam).
      11. Special Jury Award - Margarita with a Straw (Hindi) directed by Kalki Koechlin.
      12. Best Cinematography - Remo DSouza for Bajirao Mastani.
      13. Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Director - Neeraj Ghaywan for Masaan (Hindi).
      14. Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration - Nanak Shah Fakir (Punjabi)
    2. Researchers from Purdue University in Indiana in United States revealed first 3D map of the Zika virus structure.
    3. Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) launched Startup India portal (http://startupindia.gov.in) and mobile application.
    4. Vietnam's National Assembly elected Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan as country`s first female house speaker.
    5. Supreme Court approved Government's guidelines to protect Good Samaritans, who help road accident victims, from being unnecessarily harassed by police or any other authority. These guidelines are based on recommendations of K S Radhakrishnan committee.
    6. Telangana Government launched M-Wallet mobile app to facilitate citizens to get digital copies of documents like driving licence and registration certificates.
    7. Researchers discovered Sand-eating tadpole species named Micrixalus herrei in Western Ghats. The tadpole belongs to Indian Dancing Frog family, Micrixalidae.
    8. Bihar Assembly passed Bihar Excise (Amendment) Bill 2016 to enforce ban on country made liquor from 1 April 2016.
    9. According to a report by New World Wealth -
      1. India saw 4th biggest outflow of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) globally in 2015 with shifting of 4,000 millionaires overseas.
      2. France saw the maximum outflow of millionaires (10,000), followed by China (9,000) and Italy (6,000).
    10. Japan committed for Official Development Assistance loan of an amount of Approx. Rs.14,251 Crores for Transmission System Strengthening in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha Integrated Sanitation Improvement Project, Dedicated Freight Corridor Project (Phase 1), North East Road Network Connectivity Improvement Project (Phase 1) and Jharkhand Horticulture Intensification by Micro Drip Irrigation Project.
    11. Power Minister Piyush Goyal launched mobile application Vidyut PRAVAH - Electricity, Price Availability and Highlights that can give information related to electricity availability, shortage and pricing on mobile phones.
    12. India signed Loan agreement of USD 250 Million For First Programmatic Electricity distribution Reform Development Policy Loan for Rajasthan.
    13. At end of December 2015, India's external debt stood at US$ 480.2 billion, increase of US$ 4.9 billion (1.0 per cent) over March 2015. Rise in debt is due to long-term external debt particularly commercial borrowings and NRI deposits.
    14. Government informed that in 2015-16, there has been highest ever production of urea in country since independence. 245 lakh MT Ureas was produced in India in 2015-16, 20 lakh MT more than last year.
    15. Government launched Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index under Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan campaign, in collaboration with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). This Index will help corporates to participate in Accessible India Campaign (AIC) by evaluating their readiness for making workplace accessible for Persons with Disabilities.
  4. Mar 28, 2016
    1. As per security solutions firm Symantec, India ranked 3rd in number of financial Trojan infections where cybercriminals defraud customers of online banking services. India moved up from 5th position in 2014 to 3 in 2015. Note that global detections have dropped by 73%.
    2. India's first indigenous composites sonar dome Designed by Defence and Research Development Organisation (DRDO), has been delivered to Mazgaon docks in Mumbai. All anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships have a sonar array fitted to ship structure below waterline. It acts as ships underwater eyes and ears.
    3. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has permitted 100% FDI in e-commerce retailing (Like Flipkart and Snapdeal), to attract more foreign investors.
    4. UNICEF launched a series of animated films to help frame positive perceptions towards crores of Migrants globally, Called Unfairy Tales.
    5. Bangladesh's supreme court rejected a 28-year-old petition to remove Islam as official religion of country. Islam was introduced as state religion in the Bangladeshi constitution in 1988 and a group of 15 Individuals filed a Petition against it.
    6. Japan NTT Data has acquired Dell's IT Services arm for over 20000 Crores.
    7. Reliance Defence inked pact with Israel's Rafael Advanced Defence System to set up a JV in India for specialised areas including air- to-air missiles, with investment of USD 10 billion.
    8. India signed MoU with USA for building a Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) project for research on gravitational waves. The Project is called IndIGO (Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations).
    9. J P Nadda, Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched two major Digital initiatives to provide easy access to health services - GIS-enabled HMIS application and self-printing of e-CGHS cards.
    10. After IRDAI's approval of Life insurance company of India (LIC)'s investment proposal in Public Sector Banks, LIC announced to buy Additional stake in Public Sector Banks - Dena Bank and Andhra Bank. Dena bank sold shares worth Rs 65 crore to LIC and Andhra Bank sold 4.23 % equity to LIC.
    11. Oscar winning Noted USA actress Patty Duke passed away.
    12. Faustin Archange Touadera took charge as new president of Central African Republic.
    13. Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA) announced Jitendra Jagota as new Chairman.
    14. It firm Wipro appointed Paypal Executive Patrick Dupuis as an Independent Director on Wipro's Board.
    15. Adani Group unit Aero Defence Systems & Technologies Ltd signed agreement with Elbit-ISTAR of Israel and India's Alpha Design Technologies to work in field of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS).
    16. Kachhabali village in Rajsamand district become 1st Liquor Free Vilage in state of Rajasthan.
  5. Mar 27, 2016
    1. 27 March - World Theatre Day. Russian Dramatist Anatoly Vasiliev was World Theatre Day International Message Author 2016.
    2. During 5th National Industrial & Trade Fair organised by Dalit Indian Chamber Commerce & Industry (DICCI), Government announced to aim at creating 2.5 lakh new SC / ST entrepreneurs in country, under Stand up India Start up India initiative.
    3. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned a 600 Mw coal-based thermal power plant of upcoming 2x600 Mw Singareni power project in Adilabad district of Telangana.
    4. Iran signed an oil agreement with France's Total to develope South Azadegan oil field shared by Iran and Iraq.
    5. President's Rule has been imposed in Northern State of Uttarakhand.
    6. Government launched vaccine for Rotavirus vaccine as part of Universal Immunization Programme to prevent child mortaility due to Rotavirus diarrhoea.
    7. Federal Bank will open startup incubation centers for startups in Bangalore (Karnataka) and Ernakulam (Kerala).
    8. China launched its first cyber security public organization aimed at better safeguarding national cyber security and guiding Internet companies.
    9. Economist and former Deputy Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Rakesh Mohan joined Nestle India as an Independent Non-Executive Director.
    10. UP's Pallavi Fauzdar made a record in Limca Book by becoming first solo woman to ride across Mana Pass in Uttarakhand. She droove her way to altitude of 5,638 m (18,497 ft) above sea level, on border between India and Tibet.
    11. World Bank Approved Loan of $100 Million for Jordan to help create 100,000 jobs for Syrian refugees and its own citizen.
    12. After delay of over 20 years, Myanmars stock exchange opened for its first day of business with trading of a single company. It came after Myanmars development accelerating with a democratic government being formed after five decades of Military Rule.
    13. USA returned an ancient statue of Hindu god Rama stolen from Cambodia during Cambodias civil war in 1970s. The statue stands 157 centimetres tall and is missing its head, arms and feet.
    14. Himachal Pradesh Government released its 6th Economic Census report. It was started in 2012 and completed in two phases. Himachal Pardesh is first state to complete economic census and release report.
    15. Government will organize a ‘Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan (Village Self Governance Campaign) between 14th April 2016 (Bhimrao Ambedkars 125th Birth Anniversary) to 24th April 2016 (Panchayati Raj Day). It aims to generate efforts to increase social harmony across villages, strengthen Panchayati Raj and promote rural development. PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate Gram Uday se Bharat Uday Campaign in Madhya Pradesh.
    16. 1st direct container vessel between India and Bangladesh sent off from Krishnapatnam port, carrying cotton set. It is part of coastal shipping agreement between two countries to facilitate easy trade.
  6. Mar 26, 2016
    1. Russian Government approved a deal of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) to acquire 15% stake in Vankor oilfield from Rosneft.
    2. China successfully launched 22nd new generation satellite as part of its domestic BeiDou Navigation System (BDS) as a rival to the USs Global Positioning System (GPS). Launched using Long March-3A carrier rocket.
    3. Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Unites States Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for development of solar parks in India. It will facilitate 848 million US dollars in funding to develop solar parks across India, with initiall focus on state of Rajasthan.
    4. Telecom Commission approved number 112 as single emergency number for India, similar to 911 of United States (US) and 999 of United Kingdom (UK). From now onwards, Indian citizens in distress will be able to get all emergency services such as police, fire department and ambulance by just dialling 112. It will direct the call to concerned departments immediately for help.
    5. Indias biggest defece security exhibition Defence Expo 2016 held in Goa. Theme for 9th edition of DEFEXPO is Rise of Futurism.
    6. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned second 40 MW hydropower generating unit at Teesta low dam hydroelectric project (HEP) in West Bengal.
    7. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch record number of 22 satellites in a single mission in May 2016, Polar rocket PSLV C34. It will carry Indias Cartosat 2C along with 21 other satellites from other countries including US, Canada, Indonesia and Germany. Earlier in 2008, ISRO had sent ten satellites into orbit in a single mission. US's NASA holds current world record for sending highest number of satellites in single launch when it launched 29 satellites in a single launch in 2013.
    8. Central Board of Direct Taxes signed 11 unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs), taking number of into APAs to 59. Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) programme was introduced in 2012 to provide a predictable tax regime and reduce litigation in transfer pricing regime.
    9. Mohamad Al-Bacha from Denmark won 2016 FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) in USA. He He defeated Sean Allen from England.
      1. FIFA Interactive World Cup (FIWC) annual international competition of football video games is held with partnership from EA Sports and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.
    10. Aruna Gali won award for Laadli Media and Advertising Gender Sensitivity 2014-2015 for Her Telugu blog Vivakshaku Mugimpu Palakaali, selected under web category for bringing to fore core issues faced by women in agriculture sector.
    11. Karnataka developed mobile application MGNREGA M-platform to help implementation of monitoring Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
    12. India will supply 100 megawatt of electricity to Bangladesh in return for 10 gigabits per second internet bandwidth. Aim is to provide internet connectivity to North-Eastern states.
    13. Aishwaryaa Dhanush, Indian film artist has written her autobiography - Standing On An Apple Box. She is daughter of legendary actor Rajinikanth and wife of Kollywood actor Dhanush.
    14. 17th edition of FIFA under-17 World Cup football tournament 2017 will be hosted by India. It will be first time India will host an international football competition.
    15. Haryana Government launched scheme Adapting Homes for the Differently-abled, under which 6 months pension will be given in advance to such persons for adapting their homes as per their requirement.
    16. Indo Tibetan Border Polices (ITBP) modern weapon and support weapon training centre will be set up in Damoh, Madhya Pradesh at cost of 2,100 crores.
  7. Mar 25, 2016
    1. 25th March - Mar 25 - International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.. 2016 Theme is Remember Slavery: Celebrating the Heritage and Culture of the African Diaspora and its Roots.
    2. Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla launched innovative entrepreneurship and skill development programme of Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS). It will use leading celebrities belonging to Minority communities in various skill sets as driving force behind skill skill development projects.
    3. Syrian Army regained control of ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group.
    4. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) installed Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interferometer (GIRI) Radar System at National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (Andhra Pradesh). Primary objective is to Carry out unattended observations for studying forcing from sun like variation in solar flare and solar flux.
    5. Iran and Pakistan mutually agreed to boost bilateral cooperation on regional security and trade.
    6. Indian-American Nandita Bakshi is appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bank of the West, a subsidiary of French banking giant BNP Paribas.
    7. 2016 Hockey India Annual Awards -
      1. Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award -Shankar Laxman
      2. Dhruv Batra Player of Year - P.R Sreejesh (male), Deepika (female).
      3. Baljit Singh Goalkeeper of Year - Savita. Pargat Singh
      4. Defender - Kothajit Singh, Midfielder - Ritu Rani, Forward - Rani.
      5. Upcoming Player - Harjeet Singh (male), Preeti Dubey (female)
      6. Presidents Award for Outstanding Achievement - Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy.
    8. India-born academician Surya Deva appointed as United Nations (UN) Adviser on Human Rights and Businesses.
    9. Andhra Pradesh government inaugurated India's first river linking project, Pattiseema lift irrigation project connecting Godavari River with Krishna River from ongoing Polavaram Multi-purpose Irrigation Project. It has been completed in an year by Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL).
    10. Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment report of UN Environment Programme (UNEP) -
      1. India and China led developing countries in investments made in renewable energy in 2015.
      2. Commitments of emerging economies in renewable energy has surpassed those by wealthy nations.
      3. Developing nations committed 156 billion dollars in new renewable energy in 2015 year (19% more from 2014), mainly by India, China and Brazil. Developed countries' contribution came down by 8 % cent in 2015 to 130 billion dollars.
      4. China's investment was 102.9 billion dollars, India invested USD 10.2 billion.
      5. United States, Japan, UK Brazil, South Africa, Mexico and Chile were also in top 10 investing countries in 2015.
    11. Mizoram and Japanese International Cooperative Agency (JICA) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Capacity Enhancement for Sustainable Agriculture and Irrigation Development.
    12. Haryana Assembly passed Backward Classes Reservation Bill, 2016 -
      1. It will provide reservation in services and admission in educational institutions to backward classes including Jats and five other castes, divided into Block A, Block B and Block C. Jats, Jat Sikhs, Ror, Bishnoi, Tyagi and Mulla/Muslim Jat are included in Block C.
      2. It provides 10 % reservation to these castes for class III and class IV posts and 6% in class 1 and class 2 posts, along with 10 % reservation for admission in educational institutions.
    13. Russia's Sergey Karjakin won FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament by defeating American Fabiano Caruana.
    14. Noted singer P. Susheela Mohan created world record for singing highest number of songs. Guinness Book of World Records and Asia Book of Records credited her for singing record 17,695 songs in 12 Indian languages.
    15. Government unveiled Defence Procurement Procedure 2016 (DPP 2016), during Defexpo-2016 held in Goa.
      1. DPP 2016 will replace DPP 2013, on the recommendations of the Dhirendra Singh Committee.
      2. DPP 2016 will ensure timely procurement of defence (military) equipments through optimum utilization of allocated budgetary resources.
      3. Capital Acquisitions Schemes are classified into 3 categories -
        1. Buy scheme - Outright purchase of equipments under this scheme are further categorized as Buy (Indian- IDDM), Buy (Indian), and Buy (Global). IDDM stands for Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured.
        2. Buy and Make scheme - Procurements are categorized as Buy and Make and Buy and Make (Indian).
        3. Make category Scheme: It seeks developing long-term indigenous defence capabilities. It empowers Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) to take fast-track route to acquire weapons, which were limited to the armed forces till now.
        4. Procurement of defence equipment : Arranged in decreasing order of priority are categorized as (i) Buy (India-IDDM). (ii) Buy (Indian). (iii) Buy and Make (Indian). (iv) Buy and Make. (v) Buy (Global).
    16. Haryana became first state to implement use of injectable contraceptives as a family planning measure, under Project Salamati in assistance of Pathfinder International.
  8. Mar 24, 2016
    1. 24 March - World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. 2016 Theme is Unite to End TB.
    2. Supreme Court directed telecom operators to ensure threshold limit of call drops of 2 percent % as mandated in regulations of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
    3. Delhi won 20th Lloyd Business Today Pro-Am of Champions golf tournament.
    4. Jammu & Kashmir State Administrative Council (JKSAC) approved 10 year Industrial Policy-2016, aimed at attracting over 2000 crore rupees investment per annum. It Includes creating 15000 employment opportunities annually and creation of land bank of 2500 acres across state. An asset reconstruction company in partnership with J&K Bank will also be set up.
    5. United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD) is granted role of organising a worldwide fight against performance-enhancing drugs in the run-up to 2016 Olympic Games in Rio (Brazil).
    6. Malawi Government and UNICEF successfully tested use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs / drones) to explore cost effective ways of reducing waiting times for HIV testing of infants.
    7. Uttar Pradesh Government approved policy for senior citizens. Under this, UP government will set up old age homes and also announced increase in monthly pension from existing 300 to 400 rupees.
    8. Minister for Health & Family Welfare JP Nadda launched Project Clean Street Food of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). It aims to raise safety standards of foods sold on streets across Delhi.
    9. Maharashtra Cabinet approved Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill, 2016 that aims for prohibition of social boycott of a person / group by groups like Caste Panchayat. After approval of this bill, Maharashtra will become the first Indian State to enact a law against social boycott.
    10. Indian Advertising Association (IAA) Awards 2016 -
      1. Sanjay Gupta (Jagran Group CEO) - Editor of the Year
      2. Brand Endorser - Varun Dhawan (Actor)
      3. TV Anchor - Rajat Sharma (India TV)
      4. Media Person - Raj Nayak (Colors)
      5. CEO of the year - Kumar Mangalam Birla
    11. Pune-based Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) has set up India's first education technology accelerator called Edugild. It will focus on Startups focusing education sector.
    12. Indian Pharmaceutical Firm Glenmark received final approval from US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Frovatriptan Succinate tablets in USA.
    13. Novak Djokovic (Serbia) and Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) won men's and womens singles titles of BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden (Southern California). Tournament is also known as Indian Wells Open.
    14. Finance Ministry constituted a Sub-Committee under High Level Committee (HLC) to review issues related to excise duty. The sub committee will be headed by Ashok Lahiri and will review excise duty imposed on different jewellery articles in Budget 2016-17.
    15. London & Partners, official promotional company for London announced that India has became second biggest investor in London after USA, with 117 % increase in Indian companies investing in London since 2005.
    16. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) appointed Actress Michelle Yeoh as Goodwill Ambassador.
    17. National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) gave License Agreement to Kudos Laboratories for commercialization of Ayush-82, an Ayurvedic formulation for prevention and management of diabetes. Ayush-82 was developed by CCRAS (Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences).
    18. Punjab Assembly passed Punjab Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal land (Transfer of Proprietary Right) Bill, 2016 that seeks to provide transfer of proprietary rights back to land owners free of cost from whom land was acquired by Puinjab government for construction of Sutlej Yamuna Link.
  9. Mar 23, 2016
    1. 23rd March - World Meteorological Day. Theme for 2016 is Hotter, Drier, Wetter. Face the Future.
    2. Government approved extension of time period of Special Industry Initiative for J&K, Udaan scheme till 2019-20. Udaan provides exposure to youth of Jammu and Kashmir to best of corporate India and corporate India to rich talent pool available in the State.
    3. Committee made by Central Board of Direct Taxes under Akhilesh Ranjan, to examine business models for e-commerce and identify direct tax issues in relation to e-commerce transactions has submitted its report.
    4. South Indian Bank announced to have achieved ISO 9001:2008 certification.
    5. Bajaj Finance announced to enter 20,000-crore life care segment.
    6. India's Hero Cycles, world's largest bicycle manufacturer by volume has acquired 60 % stake in Sri Lanka's bicycle manufactur BSH Ventures.
    7. Private sector Bank Lakshmi Vilas Bank tied up with National Bulk Handling Corporation (NBHC) for collateral management and warehousing services.
    8. Domestic card payment service provider RuPay will launch its credit card segment in September 2016 by issuing 1 lakh Credit Cards. Note that Rupay has increasing its market share to 38 % in debit card segment.
    9. Microsoft launched artificial intelligence (AI)-powered bot Tay on Twitter, for a playful chat with people.
    10. Department of heavy industry approved Himachal Road Transport Corporation and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to introduce zero-emission retrofitted electric buses.
    11. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal named among world's 50 top leaders by Fortune magazine.
    12. 7th meeting of Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) held in Delhi.
    13. Bharti Airtel will buy Videocon Telecom's 4G spectrum in six circles for Rs 4,428 crores. It will extend Bharti Airtel's 4G footprint across bands to 19 circles from 15.
    14. Ali Mohamed Shein won Presidential Elections of semi-autonomous region Zanzibar.
  10. Mar 22, 2016
    1. 22 March - World Water Day. 2016 Theme is Better Water, Better Jobs. On this occasion, Swedish furniture firm IKEA announced to contribute 12.4 million euro (Rs 92.84 crore) to provide safe water and sanitation to 10 lakh people in India and Indonesia through Water Org.
    2. United Nations appointed Red, leader of Angry Birds mobile game characters as an envoy to inspire climate action.
    3. American company Cisco Systems will invest over $100 million in India over next 2 years to support India's plan to connect thousands of its villages to the internet and create jobs. Around 250,000 students will be trained by CISCO by 2020.
    4. One of Mumbai oldest colleges, Wilson College adopted Charni Road Railway station for cleanliness and upkeep as part of Swachch Bharat Abhiyan.
    5. Britain's Prince Harry visited nepal to mark 200th anniversary of bilateral ties.
    6. Argentinian Football Player Lionel Messi has been named as global ambassador for Chinese tech company Huawei.
    7. Cinema exhibition chain PVR cinemas and e-Commerce Firm Paytm tied up to sell PVR Movie Tickets at Paytm's e-commerce platform.
    8. Government formally withdrawn recognition of Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) after allegations of serious irregularities in its functioning.
    9. Health Minister JP Nadda launched Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CBNAAT) machines for quick diagnosis of Tuberculosis (within two hours).
    10. India distributed scholarships to over 800 Bangladeshi students under 'Muktijodha Scholarship Scheme'.
      1. India in 2006 started this scholarship scheme to strengthen historic legacy with Bangladesh.
      2. Under the scheme, descendants of freedom fighters get selected on merit basis to pursue undergraduate studies. By far, over 9500 students have been benefited from this scheme.
    11. IRDAI, Regulatory authority of Insurance sector has approved Life insurance company of India (LIC)'s investment proposal in Public Sector Banks.
    12. India's current account deficit (CAD) came down to 1.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) ($34 billion) in third quarter (October 2015 to December 2015) from 1.5% in the year-earlier period ($38.6 billion ).
    13. National Food Security Act (NFSA) will be implemented in 10 more states from April 1, 2016. Total number of states implementing NFSA will rise to 21.
    14. India's DRDO has developed a radar that can look through a wall of 20-30 CM Thickness, using thermal imaging. The Imaging Radar is named as Divyachakshu and developed by Electronics & Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) based in Bangalore.
    15. Hinduja Groups Ashok Leyland Defence Systems Ltd (ALDS) tied up with US-based defence contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. to develop combat vehicles for Indian Army.
  11. Mar 21, 2016
    1. 21st March - World Down syndrome Day (WDSD). 2016 theme is My friends, My Community.
    2. 21st March - International Day of Forests. Theme for 2016 is Forests and water.
    3. 21 March - International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination. 2016 theme is Challenges and Achievements of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.
    4. 21 March - World Poetry day.
    5. Hinduja brothers (GP Hinduja and SP Hinduja) named richest Asian-origin entrepreneurs in Britain for 4th consecutive year with personal fortune of 16.5 billion pounds. List is compiled by UK-based publishing house Asian Media and Market.
    6. Finance Minister Arun Jailey presented 5th National Photography Awards -
      1. In addition to the Life Time Achievement Award, a total of 12 awards were presented.
      2. Life Time Achievement - Bhawan Singh
      3. Professional Photographer Award -Javed Ahmed Dar
      4. Amateur Photographer - Himanshu Thakur
    7. According to WaterAid report - Water: At what cost?, The State of the Worlds Water, India has highest number of 7.6 crore people in world without access to safe water supply, followed by China and Nigeria.
    8. Government approved 1500 million US dollar project of World Bank to support Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin (SBM-G).
    9. Akamai's State of the Internet report -
      1. South Korea has fastest average connection speed in the world at 26.7 Mbps, Sweden second with average speed of 19.1 Mbps and followed by Norway at 18.8 Mbps.
      2. India is at 114th position with an average internet speed of 2.8 Mbps. China is 89th with average speed of 4.1Mbps.
    10. Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso won re-election for president post.
    11. India ovrertook China in terms of direct equity allocation by US investors. As per US Treasury, India makes up 1.8% of US foreign equity holdings as against 1.6% of China. US investors direct investment in Indian equities risen from $7 billion in September 2013 to $12 billion in December 2015. While that for in Chinese equities declined from $12.8 billion to $11.1 billion.
    12. Mehbooba Mufti will become the first woman Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
    13. Pakistan ratified 2005 Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) that expands its scope to cover atomic facilities and material in peaceful use and storage.
    14. Gurmeet Singh became first Indian athlete to win gold medal in Asian 20 Kilometer (km) Race Walk Championships in Japan.
    15. Indian Professor TV Paul took over as 56th president of International Studies Association (ISA).
    16. Russia's own credit-ratings firm, ACRA started functioning after Moodys and Fitch Ratings decided to stop issuing local ratings for Russian Companies.
  12. Mar 20, 2016
    1. 20 March - world sparrow day.
    2. 20 March - International Day of Happiness. 2016 theme is Angry Birds Happy Planet.
    3. Government approved MoU with United Arab Emirates to mobilise long-term investment in National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF).
    4. Commerce and Industry Ministry approved foreign direct investment (FDI) upto 49% in insurance and pension sector.
    5. India Post released commemorative stamp on Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) in recognition of HAL's 75 years of service.
    6. Kerala's noted Malayalam actor V D Rajappan passed away.
    7. Thailand government will implement curfew during 2016 Songkran festival to show solidarity with farmers hit by drought. Songkran festival is Worlds biggest water festival, celebrated every year in Thailand from 13 to 15 April.
    8. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Institute of Physics released e-Atlas of Gender Inequality in Education.
    9. Media Foundation's Chameli Devi Jain award for 2015-16 has been jointly awarded to Priyanka Kakodkar and Raksha Kumar.
    10. India's first state-wide broadband project AP FiberNet launched by Andhra Pradesh government.
    11. Indian Overseas Bank became first bank to commence sale of Indian Gold Coin (IGC) in the domestic market with a tie up with Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC).
    12. Book Gandhi: An Illustrated Biography is authored by Pramod Kapoor.
    13. Nico Rosberg (Germany) won 2016 Formula One Rolex Australian Grand Prix.
      1. 2016 Formula One season -
        1. Total 21 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2016. Calendar is -
          1. Grand Prix Date Winner
            Australia 20 March Nico Rosberg (Germany)
            Baharain 3 April  
            China 17 April  
            Russia 1 May  
            Spain 15 May  
            Monaco 29 May  
            Canada 12 June  
            Europe 19 June  
            Austria 3 July  
            Britain 10 July  
            Hungary 24 July  
            Germany 31 July  
            Belgium 28 August  
            Italy 4 September  
            Singapore 18 September  
            Malaysia 2 October  
            Japan 9 October    
            USA 23 October  
            Mexico 30 October  
            Brazil 13 November  
            Abu Dhabi 27 November  
    14. Noted Malayalam writer M Sukumaran has been chosen for CV Kunhiraman Literary Prize.
    15. 9th International Abilympics (IA) Games started at Bordeaux, France. Abilympics, coined from ‘Olympics of abilities’ of persons with disabilities, is a global work skills competition held every four years.
    16. Indian Golfer Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia won 2016 Hero Indian Open in New Delhi.
  13. Mar 19, 2016
    1. 10th edition of World Wide Fund for Natures (WWFs) Earth Hour observed across World.
    2. Indian Navy for first deployed a P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft to Seychelles for surveillance in Exclusive Economic Zone of Seychelles.
    3. Noted fashion designer Ritu Beri is appointed as advisor to Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) for promotion of khadi in India and across world.
    4. Nepal signed an agreement with China to build a strategic railway link between two countries through Tibet.
    5. HL Dattu is appointed as member of International Coordinating Committee Bureau (ICCB) of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI-ICC) Bureau in Geneva (Switzerland).
    6. International Cricket Council suspended Bangladesh bowlers Taskin Ahmed and Arafat Sunny illegal bowling action.
    7. Agreement between European Union (EU) and Turkey to tackle migrant crisis came into effect. Under this agreement, migrants arriving in Greece will be sent back to Turkey if their asylum claim is rejected.
    8. Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has been conferred with Skoch Lifetime Achievement Award during 43rd SKOCH summit in New Delhi.
    9. 10th Asian film Awards (Macau, China)
      1. The Assassin won 8 awards in different categories. It is a 2015 martial arts film based on story of highly trained female assassin and is directed by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien.
      2. Best Film: The Assassin.
      3. Best Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien (The Assassin)
      4. Best Actor: Lee Byung-hun (The Inside Men).
      5. Best Actress: Shu Qi (The Assassin).
      6. Best Supporting Actor: Tadanobu Asano (Journey to the Shore).
      7. Best Supporting Actress: Zhou Yun (The Assassin).
    10. Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) notified new environment standards for Gensets running on various kinds of fuels including LPG, petrol and diesel in various cities, aiming to control air and noise pollution emanating from Gensets.
    11. Permod Kohli is appointed as Chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
    12. Scientists at Lucknow​ based Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP​) found that mint plant has medicinal values that can cure cancer.
    13. Government approved implementation of rural housing scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin, for providing assistance for construction of pucca houses to all houseless in dilapidated houses.
      1. Expenditure involved is Rs.81975 crore in a 3 years (2016-17 to 2018-19) for one crore households for construction of pucca house. Delhi and Chandigarh are excluded from scheme.
      2. Cost of houses would be shared between Centre and States Governments in the ratio 60:40 in plain areas and 90:10 for North Eastern and hilly states.
      3. Beneficiary will also be entitled to 90 days of unskilled labour from MGNREGA.
      4. Government will construct 2.95 crore houses in rural areas under its ambitious Housing for All by 2022 scheme.
      5. Assistance of 1.20 lakh to those in plain areas and 1.30 lakh to those in hilly and difficult areas.
    14. Noted US actor Garry Shandling passed away.
    15. Australian cricketer Shane Watson announced retirement from all forms of International Cricket after end ongoing ICC World Twenty20 2016.
    16. Noted Dutch football player Johan Cruyff passed away.
  14. Mar 18, 2016
    1. Lori Robinson appointed as head of US militarys Northern Command amd became first woman to head a US combatant command.
    2. Indian Geetakshi Arora has been awarded First Noor Inayat Khan Prize for her excellent dissertation on Goddess Myths in Graphic Novels: Reimagining Indian Feminity.
    3. S Sridhar is appointed as managing director of Pfizer India.
    4. Tikka Shatrujit Singh is conferred with Knight of the Legion of Honour by French Government.
    5. PM Narendra Modi conferred 2014-15 Krishi Karman Awards during Krishi Unnati Mela in Delhi -
      1. Individual Crops -
        1. Haryana, Assam - Rice
        2. Rajasthan - Wheat
        3. Chhattisgarh - Pulses
        4. West Bengal - Oil Seeds
      2. Total foodgrain production - 5 winning states were awarded in different categories. Each state was awarded a trophy, a citation and prize of 5 crore rupees. These states are -
        1. Madhya Pradesh - For production greater than 10 million tonnes
        2. Himachal Pradesh and Odisha - For production between 1 and 10 million tonnes
        3. Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya - For production less than 1 million tonnes
    6. PM Narendra Modi launched Kisan Suvidha mobile application for farmers to provide agricultural relevant basic information quickly. It will provide basic information on market prices, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, weather and agriculture machinery etc.
    7. Yogeshwar Dutt won Gold in Asian Olympic Qualification tournament at Astana (Kazakhstan). Hardeep Singh won Silver Medal.
    8. 2016 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament -
      1. Men's Singles - HS Prannoy (India)
      2. Womens Single - He Bingjiao (China)
      3. Mens Doubles - Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen (Denmark)
      4. Womens Doubles - Shizuka Matsuo and Mami Naito (Japan)
    9. Health and Family Welfare Ministry launched new anti-TB (Tuberculosis) drug Bedaquiline.
    10. India's Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve included in World Network of Biosphere Reserves of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It was included along with other 19 sites at International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere (ICCMAB) programme of UNESCO that concluded in Lima (Peru). India now has 10 of its 18 biosphere reserves listed as UNESOC's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
    11. Nepal has been made a dialogue partner of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a Beijing-based regional security grouping. SCO has 8 Members - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.
    12. Government approved 2 development projects with Bangladesh. These projects are 100 MW power export via transmission lines between Surjamaninagar (Tripura) and South Comilla in Bangladesh and India’s 3rd Internet Gateway optical fibre connection between Cox Bazaar in Bangladesh and Agartala (Tripura).
    13. India and France signed Memorandum of Understanding for construction of 6 nuclear reactors at Jaitapur nuclear park in Maharashtra.
    14. Government approved Ashgabat Agreement, an international transport and transit corridor established in 2011. It establishes transport corridor between Central Asia and Persian Gulf countries with Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Oman and Kazakhstan as founding members.
    15. Fast patrol vessel of Indian Coast Guard ICGS Arnvesh has been commissioned.
  15. Mar 17, 2016
    1. Government notified Plastic Waste Management Rules 2016 that includes increasing minimum thickness of plastic carry bags from 40 to 50 microns.
    2. Government notified interest rates payable on small savings for Quarter April 1 - June 30, 2016 -
      1. Public Provident Fund - 8.1 % (Previously 8.7 %)
      2. Kisan Vikas Patra - 7.8 % (Previously 8.7 %)
      3. Five-Year National Savings Certificates - 8.1 % (previously 8.5 %)
      4. Five-year Monthly Income Account - 7.8 % (previously 8.4 %)
      5. Girl-child saving scheme, Sukanya Samriddhi Account - 8.6 % (previously 9.2 %)
      6. Senior citizen savings scheme - 8.6 % (previously 9.3)
    3. Anil Kumar Singh Gayan, Minister of Health of Mauritius visited India.
    4. Finance Minister Aurn Jaitley launched Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and Unified Package Insurance Scheme. Revamped insurance scheme will be launched from April 1, 2016 to cover Kharif crops. Farmers' premium would be 2% for Kharif foodgrains and oilseeds crops and 1.5% for rabi crops.
    5. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched NABARD Agri-Credit Monitoring portal, which will help financial institutions to monitor status of agricultural loans given to farmers. He also unveiled Roadmap of E-Shakti Expansion Programme of digitization of Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
    6. Tenure of A P Shah Committee looking into dispute between ONGC and RIL regarding blocks in KG basin has been extended till 31st July, 2016.
    7. 8th BRICS Summit will be hosted in Goa on 15-16 October 2016.
  16. Mar 16, 2016
    1. First of two 600 MW power generation units at Singareni Thermal Power Plant (STPP) in Adilabad District (Telangana) has been synchronised.
    2. Ministry of Tourism and Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) signed Memorandum of Understanding to promote Sustainable tourism.
    3. Jammu and Kashmir became 9th state to sign MOU with Government under UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana), for financial turnaround of State's Power Distribution facilities.
    4. This year, Reserve Bank of India and Other Government Banks are expected to pay Rs.69,897 crores dividend to Government. RBI will have approx 57000 Crores in this. It is lesser than last year in which government received 73,905 crores as dividends from government banks and RBI.
    5. As per data by CB Insights, 14 Indian investors have been featured a list of top 100 venture capitalists in world.
    6. India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel acquired Videocon Telecom for Rs 4,428 crores.
    7. Noted UK Television magician Paul Daniels passed away.
    8. Air Asia India appointed Amar Abrol as new CEO.
    9. Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions has established a new company in Bengaluru as an ATM manufacturing company, to produce 1,500 units of ATMs per month.
    10. Surat railway station is cleanest in country, followed by Rajkot and Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), as per a survey by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).
    11. India IT Major Tata Consultancy Services partnered for enhancing digital experience of participants in London Marathon.
    12. Indian Railways signed agreement with Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for using space technology for providing passenger information in all trains.
  17. Mar 15, 2016
    1. 15 March - World Consumer Rights Day. 2016 Theme is Antibiotics off the menu.
    2. SAARC ministerial meet Held in Nepal, Attended by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on India's Behalf.
    3. USA President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to be next US Supreme Court Justice.
    4. Eminent Shehnai expert Ustad Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan passed away.
    5. British mathematician Andrew Wiles won prestigious 2016 Abel Prize. He was selected by Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters for solving a centuries old hypothesis (equation), Fermats Last Theorem.
    6. Goa government classified Feni, country liquor as heritage spirit of the state. It is a distilled brew made from coconut or cashew fruits. It was accorded Geographical indication (GI) tag in 2000.
    7. Punjab Government notified swine flu (H1N1) under Epidemic Disease Act to prevent spread of disease in Punjab.
    8. Food and public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan launched Depot Online System of Food Corporation of India (FCI) to bring transparency and minimise storage losses of foodgrains.
    9. British astronomers discovered largest sample cluster of 9 monster stars named as R136 using NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
    10. India Meteorology Department deployed indigenously developed Drishti, an instrument that will provide real time visibility information to pilots.
    11. Art of Living's World Culture Festival organised at Yamuna Flood Plains, New Delhi from March 11 to 13, 2016. Art of Living is founded by Spiritual Leader Sri Sri Ravishankar.
    12. Uttar Pradesh launched awareness campaign at school levels to create awareness about conservation of birds (Sparrows).
    13. World’s first fully electric-powered double-decker bus launched in London (UK). It is built by Chinese manufactur BYD and will be able to travel 180 miles on a  single charge.
    14. Suryassangyini Chaudhary become youngest girl to climb 16,300 feet high Mt. Kangchenjunga base camp in Sikkim, at age of 6 years.
    15. India's Abdulqadir Rashik won first prize in UN #LinksSDGs Data Visualization Challenge. He is awarded for his submission Links to Sustainable Cities, an interactive visualization that identifies links between Sustainable Development Goal 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and other 16 Goals.
    16. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) appointed Ashley Judd as its Goodwill Ambassador.
  18. Mar 14, 2016
    1. Indian Air Force's Exercise - Iron Fist 2016 held in Pokhran (Rajasthan). It is a biennial event that showcases firepower capacity of Indian Air Force.
    2. India Signed USD 35 Million Loan Agreement with World Bank for Madhya Pradesh Citizen Access to Responsive Services Project.
    3. Global Bamboo Summit 2016 to be held in India in April 2016 at Indore (Madhya Pradesh).
    4. Anirudh Singh Yadav appointed as chairman of Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC).
    5. Government imposed anti-dumping duty of up to 44.7 % on import of plastic-processing machines from Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam for five years.
    6. United Nations suspended Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova as Goodwill Ambassador after she was tested positive on doping allegations.
    7. ICICI Bank launched contactless mobile payment solution iTA, Touch & Pay based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. It will enable ICICI customers to make payments by waving their smartphones near an NFC-enabled merchant terminal, by leveraging Host Card Emulation technique.
    8. Haryanas New Secretariat Building in Chandigarh has become first building in the country to have an early Earthquake Warning and Security system (onsite).
    9. 31st edition of largest fair on Food and Hospitality Sector in India, AAHAR 2016 held in New Delhi.
    10. Lok Sabha passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2016 to amend list of Scheduled Castes (SC) from 4 states -
      1. Chhattisgarh - Inclusion of Sais, Sahis, Sarathi, Soot-Sarathi, Thanwar communities
      2. Haryana - Inclusion of Aheria, Aheri, Hari, Heri, Thori, Turi and Rai Sikh communities
      3. Kerala - Inclusion of Peruvannan community.
      4. Exclusion of Bariki and Kummari communities.
    11. India Aviation 2016, an international exhibition and conference on civil aviation held in Hyderabad (Telangana).
    12. 4-day World Sufi Forum meeting held in Delhi. It is organized by All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board (AIUMB).
    13. Time Magazine 2016 list of 30 most influential people on internet -
      1. Top 5 are - Kanye West (US), Joy Cho (South Korea), James Corden (UK), Laci Green (US), Josh Holz and Daniel Lara (US)
      2. Indian PM Narendra Modi ranked at 15th Place.
    14. 4th United Nations World Happiness Index (WHI) 2016 (published by Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN))-
      1. Top 10 - Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Finland, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia and Sweden
      2. Last 10 - Rwanda (152nd), Benin (153rd), Afghanistan (154th), Togo (155th), Syria (156th) and Burundi (157th).
      3. India ranked at 118th place, Nepal (78th), China (83rd), and Pakistan (104th).
      4. BRICS - Brazil (17th), Russia (56th), China (83rd), South Africa (116th) and India (118th).
    15. Bangladesh Government appointed Fazle Kabir as new Governor of Bangladesh's central bank.
  19. Mar 13, 2016
    1. Sri Lankan Parliament adopted a resolution to convert itself into a Constitutional Assembly.
    2. Google DeepMind's Go-playing Artificial Intelligence AlphaGo defeated South Korea's top player Lee Se-dol.
    3. EIUs Worldwide Cost of Living survey -
      1. Singapore remains worlds most expensive city for third year in a row, top 5 costliest cities are -
        1. Singapore
        2. Zurich (Switzerland)
        3. Hong Kong
        4. Geneva (Switzerland)
        5. Paris (France)
      2. Top 5 cheapest cities - Lusaka (Zambia), Bangalore (India), Mumbai (India), Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Algiers (Algeria)
    4. Guinness World Records confirmed Mr Israel Kristal of Israel as worlds Oldest living man at age of 112 years.
    5. Government approved amending Sikh Gurdwaras Act 1925 to remove exception given to Sehajdhari Sikhs in 1944 to vote in elections for selecting members of board and the committees constituted under the Act.
    6. India's GDP will grow by 7.9 % in 2016-17, as predicted by credit rating agency CRISIL.
    7. Ride sharing service provider Uber opened its first Asian engineering center in Bengaluru highlighting focus on India to solve challenges of Uber users in India.
    8. Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat (Karnataka) conducted a honey festival in Mangaluru.
    9. 13th meeting of Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates).
    10. 4th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves held at Lima (Peru). Aim is to address different issues related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Post 2015 Development Agenda. My Biosphere, My Future campaign of UNESCO was launched on this occasion.
    11. Noted British musician (Rock) Keith Emerson passed away.
    12. ICICI Bank tied up with sports car maker Ferrari to launch co-branded credit card.
    13. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) launched free 4G Wifi services at Srinagar international airport (J & K).
    14. Indian boxer Vijender Singh won his fourth successive knockout win in professional boxing circuit, beating Hungarys Alexander Horvath in under three rounds in Liverpool.
    15. India Post selected Deloitte as consultant for setting up a payments bank. Public Investment Board has approved 800-crore proposal of India Post for the setting up a payment bank.
    16. YES Bank signed Memorandum of Understanding with India Brazil Chamber of Commerce (IBCC) for cooperation in knowledge partnerships, B2B opportunitiesa and technology initiatives.
    17. Anil Wadhwa appointed Ambassador of India to Republic of San Marino.
  20. Mar 12, 2016
    1. Ajit Singh was sworn in as Chief Justice (CJ) of the Gauhati High Court.
    2. Kerala Tourism's campaign New Worlds won Golden City Gate Award at Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) 2016.
    3. Services won 70th Santosh Trophy Football Championships 2016 by defeating hosts Maharashtra.
    4. Palestinian teacher Hanan Al Hroub has been awarded with one million dollar 2016 Global Teacher Prize for her outstanding contribution to the profession. Finalists also included Indias Robin Chaurasiya who runs a not-for-profit school in Mumbai for girls from.
    5. 2016 All England Super Series Badminton Championships -
      1. Men's Singles - Lin Dan (China) won by defeating Tian Houwei (China)
      2. Womens singles - Nozomi Okuhara (Japan) won by defeating Wang Shixian (China)
      3. Mens Doubles - Russian pair Vladimir Ivanov and Ivan Sozonov won by defeating Japanese pair Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa.
      4. Womens Doubles - Japanese pair Misaki Matsutomo and Ayaka Takahashi won by defeating Chinese pair Tang Yuanting and Yu Yang
      5. Mixed Doubles - Indonesian Praveen Jordan and Debby Susanto defeated Denmark's Joachim Fischer Nielsen and Christinna Pedersen
    6. China announced to set up its own International Maritime Judicial Centre (IMJC) to handle territorial disputes and protect its sea rights.
    7. Noted American mathematician and Nobel Prize-winner Lloyd Stowell Shapley passed away.
    8. Noted British author and art historian Anita Brookner passed away. She won Man Booker Prize in 1984 for her novel Hotel du Lac and was bestselling author with around 25 books.
    9. Noted Indian scholar and plant physiologist H Deep Saini appointed as Vice Chancellor of University of Canberra, Australia.
    10. Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic religious sister and missionary will be elevated to Sainthood (will be made a saint of Roman Catholic Church) on September 4, 2016.
      1. As per rules, being recognized as beatification (blessed) requires one miracle while Canonization (sainthood) requires two miracles.
      2. For Mother Teresa, she was beatified in 2003 by then late Pope John Paul. Now, Pope Francis has approved recognising a second miracle for Mother Teresas intercession with God that involved healing of a man who was suffering from a deadly brain disease.
    11. Htin Kyaw is elected as first civilian (non-military) President of Myanmar after 53 years of military rule.
    12. An unmanned spacecraft ExoMars 2016 launched jointly by Europe and Russia to search for biosignatures on Mars. It was launched on a Proton-M rocket. ExoMars 2016 is first of a two-phase of ExoMars (Exobiology on Mars) program.
    13. Government announced that out of 96,000 animal species found in India, more than 50 animals have been assessed as critically endangered (CR) and 310 as endangered (EN).
    14. Government notified maximum sale price (MSP) of Bt cotton seed for 2016-17. As per notification, Price of BG-I version of Bt cotton hybrid is set at 635 rupees while Price of BG-II version is fixed at 800 rupees.
    15. Power generation unit 1 of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (Gujarat) shut down after leakage of heavy water.
    16. India announced to become first nation to formally adopt United Nations (UN) agenda for the worlds sustainable development and 17 goals identified for its implementation, during 11th National Convention on Sustainable Development Goal (NCSDG) organized by Global Compact Network in Mumbai.
    17. Indigenously developedsurface-to-surface ballistic missile Agni-I successfully test-fired.Designed to carry both conventional and nuclear payload of about 1000 kg. Speed and Range: It can travel at a speed of 2.5 km/s with range upto 1250 kms.
  21. Mar 11, 2016
    1. Government announced that in 2014-2015, 116 Public Sector Enterprises (PSUs) spent Rs 2448 Crores on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.
    2. Five healthcare ATMs opened in four states - MP, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. These ATMs would tide over shortage of doctors will also save from the risk of pilferage in free drugs programmes.
    3. Government will announcd a policy to give incentives including interest discount of 0.25 % for increasing capacity of Wind mills of up to 1MW. Most of wind-turbines installed are of capacity below 500 kW and at sites with high wind energy potential. It will increase in wind energy capacity by 3000 MW.
    4. Yes Bank launched an all-women operated bank branch Yes Grace aimed at offering customised banking solutions to women.
    5. Sudhakar Rao will be new Chairman and Public Interest Director of BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange).
    6. Noted music producer George Henry Martin (UK) passed away.
    7. Actress Sonakshi Sinha become a Guinness World Records title-holder as she along with several other women participated in an initiative to set a record for most people painting their fingernails simultaneously.
    8. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) entered into 4 year partnership with Hyundai Motors as an associate sponsor for all international matches at home.
    9. Noted actress Kangana Ranaut is chosen as brand ambassador of Reebok India.
    10. NALCO's Chief Tapan Kumar is appointed as chief of Aluminium Association of India.
    11. India will launch 25 foreign satellites of seven countries in 2016-17, most of USA (12). So far, 57 foreign satellites from 21 countries have been launched using Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
    12. Project Mausam of Ministry of Culture is implemented by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) for exploring Indian Ocean world collating archaeological and historical research. It documents diversity of Indian Ocean from East Africa to Southeast Asian archipelago.
    13. ICICI Bank launched a credit-linked subsidy scheme for home loans under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). Under this, eligible customers will get subsidy at 6.5 % per annum on Rs 6 lakh or loan amount, whichever is lower, for upto 15 years.
    14. Gujarat topped list of 21 states with most investment potential, as per report by NCAER. Gujarat is followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
    15. Jean Arnault (France) is appointed as head of United National Political Mission in Columbia.
    16. Railways Firm RITES Lmited signed contract to supply 18 Meter Gauge 1350 HP Diesel Electric Locomotives to Myanmar Railways, to help Myanmar meet increasing demand for traffic.
    17. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched Clean My Coach service to allow travelers to get their compartments cleaned by sending SMS or using app / website.
  22. Mar 10, 2016
    1. 10 MARCH - World Kidney Day (Second Thursday of March). Theme for 2016 is Kidney Disease & Children. Act Early to Prevent It!.
    2. Tezpur University won annual Visitor’s Award for ‘Best University’ and Prof. Rakesh Bhatnagar and Molecular Parasitology Group of JNU won Visitor’s Awards for ‘Research’ and ‘Innovation’.
    3. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launhed Sixth of Seven Satellites of India's navigation satellite system IRNSS-1F (Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System). Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C32 carrying 1,425kg satellite lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
    4. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana - Scheme for Providing Free LPG connections to Women from BPL Households at cost of 8000 crores. Undet this, five crore LPG connections will be provided to BPL households with financial support of 1600 for each LPG connection.
    5. Lok Sabha passed Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill 2016 to make amendments to Enemy Property Act, 1968.
    6. Noted Brazil musician Nana Vasconcelos passed away.
    7. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bank of Israel (BOI) for exchange of information pertaining to banking supervision.
    8. Fourth India-Indonesia Joint Training Exercise Garuda Shakti held in Indonesia.
    9. India became 56th nation to sign Raptor MoU, Memorandum of Understanding on conservation of birds of prey in Africa and Eurasia.
    10. Parliament passed National Waterways Bill 2015 for conversion of 106 rivers and creeks across India into national transport waterways.
    11. Rest of India won Irani Cup Cricket 2015-16 by defeating Mumbai.
    12. India signed second line of credit (LOC) agreement for providing 2 billion dollars in development financing to Bangladesh for various development projects. It will be provided through Export Import Bank of India.
    13. Government approved MoU with United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Technical Cooperation in Combating Cyber-Crime.
    14. Government approved signing of Bay of Bengal Initiative on Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters.
    15. Rajya Sabha passed Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2015 to protect interests of consumers and enhance growth of construction sector -
      1. Establishes state level regulatory authorities called Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) and tribunals called Real Estate Appellate Tribunals (REAT) to settle disputes.
      2. 70% of the amount collected from buyers must be maintained in a separate bank (escrow) account and must only be used for construction of that project.
      3. Real estate contributes nine per cent to the national GDP.
    16. Government appointed Balbir Singh Chauhan as Chairman of 21st Law Commission of India (LCI).
    17. Egyptian Ahmed Abul Gheit has been selected as Secretary General of Arab League. Arab League also declared Lebanese movement Hezbollah, a Shia political organisation as a terrorist group.
    18. Japanese researchers successfully isolated a bacterium species Ideonella sakaiensis 201-F6 that is capable of breaking down plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyester.
    19. India and USA launched Fulbright – Kalam Climate Fellowship , enabling Indian research scholars to work with American institutions in field of climate change. It will sponsor up to 6 Indian post-doctoral researchers to work in US for 1 year.
    20. N P S Hira is appointed as Deputy Chief of Indian Army.
    21. International Monetary Fund Chief Christine Lagrade visited India to participate in MOF - IMF Meet in Delhi with Theme Advancing Asia: Investing for the Future. She announced that IMF and India will jointly set-up South Asia Regional Training and Technical Assistance Center in Delhi.
    22. Lok Sabha passed Aadhaar (Target Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill 2016 as a Money Bill for giving statutory backing for transferring government subsidies and benefits to targeted people by assigning them Aadhaar unique identity numbers.
      1. Under Aadhaar scheme, Biometric data of 99 crore Indians have been collected so far and kept in encrypted and secure form.
    23. Power Ministry gave named UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) for LED based Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). DELP programme was launched in January 2015 for energy conservation by replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs.
    24. National Special Olympic for special children organized in Shimla (Himachal Pradesh). winners will participate in world winter games in Austria from 14th to 25th March, 2016.
    25. Book The Culture Heritage of Trans Himalayas-Kinnaur has been written by P.S. Nagi Loktus.
    26. A new frog species that lives in clean mountain brooks and produces a special sound during mating season has been found in southwest Chinas Yunnan Province, named Leptolalax tengchongensis (Asian litter frog).
  23. Mar 09, 2016
    1. Saudi Arab Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir visited India.
    2. 57 countries will take part in first Maritime India Summit 2016 to be held in April 2016 in Mumbai (Maharashtra).
    3. India will host BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave in Mumbai (Maharashtra) in April 2016.
    4. Iran test-fired several ballistic missiles and breached United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions that compel it to refrain from any work on ballistic missiles for 8 years.
    5. Sun Pharma appointed Cricketer MS Dhoni as Brand ambassador for its top selling health supplement Revital H.
    6. NTPC won Research Investor Communication Award among Large Corporates n an independent poll of over 3000 Fund Managers/Analysts/Non Institutional Investors.
    7. Digital payments platform FreeCharge partnered with Mexico-based chain of movie theatres, Cinepolis to provide its customers an easy way of making payments.
    8. 108 feet tall idol of Lord Rishabhdeva, the first Teerthankar of Jains, carved out of a single rock, has entered Guinness World Records as worlds tallest Jain statue. It is located on Mangi Tungi mountain near Teharabad village of North Maharashtra district (Maharashtra).
  24. Mar 08, 2016
    1. 08 March - International Womens Day. Theme is Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality. The campaign theme for the day is #PledgeForParity. NITI Aayog launched Women Transforming India initiative in partnership with UN.
    2. Indian men's and women's team won gold at Second Division of World Team Table Tennis Championship held in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
    3. Combat operation of Meghalaya police, Hillstorm 3 launched in Garo Hills and West Khasi Hills districts against GNLA (Garo National Liberation Army) militants.
    4. Indian Railways appointed Ernst & Young (EY) as consultant to analyze advertising potential in trains and railway stations.
    5. Madhya Pradesh government announced inclusion of widow marriage under MP's Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana.
    6. Mahindra & Mahindra Group CMD Anand G Mahindra conferred with Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) by France.
    7. ICICI Bank launched iWork@Home programme for its women employees to enable them to work from home. By using the platform, employees can carry out multiple daily banking tasks from home.
    8. Karnataka Government launched Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana to provide free treatment to road accident victims for first 48 hours in nearest hospital.
    9. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) jointly launched Global Programme to Accelerate Action to End Child Marriage.
    10. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved 2.3 million euro initiative to help Latin American and Caribbean countries fight against Zika virus. IAEA will transfer Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) as a pest control that uses ionizing radiation to sterilize male insects mass-produced in special rearing facilities.
    11. Ministry of Women & Child Development gave Nari Shakti Puraskar 2015 to 15 women, 5 organisations, one state and panchayat on occasion of International Women's Day.
      1. Haryana awarded for improving Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) in 2015.
      2. Anganwadipuram Gram Panchayat in Mallapuram of Kerala awarded for work for women empowerment. 
      3. Rani Lakshmibai Award (Nari Shakti Puraskar 2015) also given to Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) for its work under KIRAN-IPR for women empowerment in R&D through Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) training.
  25. Mar 07, 2016
    1. Ratings agency Moody's cut its outlook for China from stable to negative, based on expectations that fiscal strength of China would be sliding down and negative outlook comes on heels of fresh data suggesting economy of China is continuing to lose steam.
    2. Australian golfer Adam Scott won 2016 WGC-Cadillac Championship at Florida (USA).
    3. Sirshendu De of IIT Kharagpur selected for Innovation Award 2016 by Indian Desalination Association (IDA) South Zone for developing ultra low-cost eco-friendly laterite based arsenic water filter.
    4. Government provided loan of 1000 crore rupees to Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) Limited, to be repaid within 5 years.
    5. Sri Lankan Cricket Board constituted new National Cricket Selection Panel headed by Arvinda de Silva.
    6. Reserve Bank of India released Non-Banking Financial Company - Account Aggregator Directions, 2016
      1. Net Owned Fund should not be less than 2 crore rupees.
      2. An account aggregator will not be able to undertake any other business other than account aggregation.
      3. Initially, only financial assets whose records are stored electronically and under regulation of financial sector regulators like RBI, SEBI, IRDA, and PFRDA shall be considered for aggregation.
      4. No financial asset related customer information pulled out account aggregator from financial service providers.
      5. An account aggregator will not support transactions in financial assets.
      6. About Account Aggregator -
        1. At present, persons holding financial assets such as savings bank deposits, mutual funds, insurance policies etc do not get a consolidated view of their financial asset holdings. Account aggregator collects and provides information of customers financial assets in a consolidated and organised manner to customer.
    7. Book Who was Shivaji? authored by Govind Pansare launched.
    8. Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman honoured with Association for Computing Machinery's 2015 A.M. Turing Award.
    9. Rajya Sabha passed Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015 that will replace Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986.
      1. It extends ambit of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to include services, processes and products while ensuring production of world class goods.
      2. It also proposes to make BIS a national standards body, introduce mandatory hallmarking of precious metals, prevent misuse of standard marks and provides for recall of ISI marked products not conforming to relevant standards.
      3. Earlier, the Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on 3 December 2015.
    10. As per research of Lancet journal of Oxford Martin Future of Food Programme -
      1. Climate change will result in over 5 Lakh adult deaths by 2050 worldwide due to changes in diets and bodyweight from reduced crop productivity.
      2. China will see more deaths than any other country with 251 deaths per one million population. India is ranked 7 overall with deaths of 105 per million.
    11. International Labour Organization (ILO) released report Women at Work: Trends 2016 as a picture of womens position in labour markets
      1. Report says that gender equality in workplace remains questionable.
      2. Between 1995 and 2015, global female labour force participation decreased from 52.4 to 49.6 % while that for men decreaed from 79.9 to 76.1 %.
      3. Women are more likely to be unemployed than men, with global unemployment rates of 5.5 % for men and 6.2 % for women.
      4. Since 1995, women’s employment in services has increased from 41.1 to 61.5 %.
      5. Gender wage gap is 23 %, it means that women earn 77 % of what men earn.
      6. 65 % of people above retirement age without any regular pension are women.
  26. Mar 06, 2016
    1. TRA Brand Trust Report, India Study 2016 -
      1. Amazon is India's most trusted online shopping brand followed Snapdeal and Flipkart.
      2. Ebay, Myntra, Yepme, Jabong, Naaptol, Shopclues and Askmebazaar in top 10 online brands.
    2. Dharmendra Pradhan, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gases laid foundation stone of Country's 1st its of kind Octomax unit at Mathura refinery. It will help in production of high octane gasoline.
    3. France awarded Legion dHonneur, Frances highest honour to visiting Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
    4. US and South Korean began their largest ever military exercises. These bilateral exercises come just after UN passed sanctions against North Korea following its recent nuclear test and rocket launch. 8-week long drills will involve 300000 South Korean and 15000 US personnel.
    5. Japanese investment bank SoftBank Group has announced to separate its profitable domestic mobile business from its international business. Both subsidiaries will be completely owned by SoftBank.
    6. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced to withdraw proposal to tax Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals. As per Union Budget 2016-17, 60 % of amount deposited in EPF account of the employee would be taxable at time of withdrawal, and 40 % would be tax free.
    7. Global rating agency Fitch predicted India's growth forecast at 7.5 % for 2015-2016 and also sees higher growth around 7.7 % & 7.9 % over next 2 years.
    8. India's largest selling car, Maruti Alto crossed lifetime sale milestone of 30 Lakh Units in 15 years. It is only Indian auto brand to cross this milestone.
    9. As per new Restrictions imposed by Railways, An unreserved train ticket for travelling up to 199 km distance will no longer be valid after 3 hours of purchase of the ticket. So journey has to be started within 3 hours in case of Unreserved tickets for distances up to 199 km.
  27. Mar 05, 2016
    1. Basant Bahadur Singh Rana won gold in mens 50km race walk event in 3rd edition of National Race Walking Championships in Jaipur.
    2. Zee Media will acquire 80 % stake in India Today group's loss-making e-commerce and TV entities - Today Merchandise and Today Retail Network Pvt Ltd for 166 crores.
    3. NASA Invited India to jointly explore Mars and send Indian Astranauts to Mars in Joint Mission. Director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, Charles Elachi said that India and US could jointly explore Mars.
    4. South Asian Public Affairs Council (SAPAC) in Australia honored Actor Randeep Hooda with achievement award for making his mark in film industry.
    5. Japanese government stipulated long-term goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 % by 2050.
    6. Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) will be raising 10000 crores for 'Stand Up India Fund' from RBI, which will be disbursed to Dalit and women entrepreneurs.
    7. India issued an order to USA for buying 15 CH-47 Chinook and 21 AH-64 Apache Helicopters worth Rs 22,000 crores.
    8. Aditya Birla Group's UltraTech acquired JP Groups cement plants for Rs 16,500 crores.
    9. Indian Leading IT Services Provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is recognized as Global Top Employer by Top Employers Institute. The assessment was done among 1,072 companies worldwide across 9 core HR areas.
    10. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) revised norms on capital recognition, making available an additional Rs.40,000 crore to Indian banks. It is big relief for public sector banks as they are facing low profitability issues due to rise in Non Performing assets.
    11. NASA's Expedition 46 Commander Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth After historic 340-day stay at International Space Station.
    12. Noted American Actor George Kennedy passed away.
    13. NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) tied up with Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad as a significant step in ensuring development of management competencies of manpower.
    14. Transport Ministry cancelled a contract with IRB Infrastructure to build a $1.5 billion (10500 Crore) Tunnel of Length 14.8 KM (Zoji La Pass) in Jammu and Kashmir.
    15. e-Commerce company Flipkart launched its own advertisement platform in name Brand Story Ads with over 50 leading brands on board. Noted Brands like Yes Bank, LOreal, Micromax, Intel, Gillette, Datsun and Sony have signed up with Flipkart to launch their ads campaigns on the platform.
    16. Noted American singer Stevie Wonder honoured with Global Green Hero award at 13th Annual Global Green USA Pre Oscar party.
    17. Memorandum of Understanding signed between Indian Army and Induslnd Bank on Defence Salary package.
    18. Advertising Club Madras conferred its 1st Distinguished Service Award on Srinivasan K Swamy, CMD OF R K Swamy BBDO for contribution to advertising industry.
    19. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) CEO Natarajan Chandrasekaran is appointed as non-official directors to board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
    20. Election Commission announced schedule for Assembly polls in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and for UT of Puducherry. In Assam and West Bengal, elections will be held in April while In Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala, elections will be held on May 16. Results will be out on May 19.
  28. Mar 04, 2016
    1. Mar 4 - National Safety Day/ Week Campaign in India. 2016 theme is Strengthen Safety Movement to Achieve Zero Harm.
    2. Dogri poetess and writer Padma Sachdev is awarded by Krutitava Smagra Samman 2015.
    3. Internet pioneer and e-mail inventor Raymond Tomlinson passed away. He Picked @ symbol for Email addresses.
    4. Jalandhar based Capital Local Area Bank (CLAB) Limited became first entity in India to get Small Financial Bank Licence by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). CLAB ltd has 44 branches in 5 districts of Punjab. It will start opearting on April 13, 2016.
      1. Small finance banks will undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to underserved people to promote financial inclusion.
      2. Difference in Payment Banks and Small Finance Banks -
        Title Small Finance BankPayments Bank
        EligibilityProfessionals with 10 years in financial services or promoter group with 5 year track recordCard Issuers, Finance Companies, Business Correspondents, Telecom Companies, Retailers etc.
        Capital RequirementRs. 100 Crore Equity CapitalRs. 100 Crore Equity Capital
        Scope of ActivityProviding basic banking facilities to poor and small businessmen Accept Deposits, Issue Debit Cards, Remittance services. Can not issue credit cards and can not give Loans
        Promoter ContributionPromoters initial contribution should be 40% lowered to 26% in 12 yearsPromoters should retain a 40% stake for first five years.
    5. Amrita Patel conferred with prestigious 2016 Mahindra Samriddhi India Agri Lifetime Achievement Award also known as Krishi Shiromani Samman.
    6. Russian Tennis player Maria Sharapova provisionally suspended after failed drugs test at Australian Open.
    7. Indian Railways has formed a new Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to implement Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Bullet Train project. Entity is named as National High Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRC) Limited.
    8. Telangana and Maharashtra Governments have signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to set up an inter-state water board construct 5 barrages across Godavari and Pen Ganga rivers.
    9. Air India successfully flew Worlds longest all-woman operated flight from New Delhi to San Francisco (United States). Flight was operated as part of International Women's Day celebrations and travelled a distance of around 14,500 kilometres in 17 hours.
    10. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) released Four-colour Classification Scheme for industries based on their pollution potential. Based on Range of Pollution Index‘, industrial sectors are categorised into 4 colours category -
      1. Red - Severe Pollution with PI score of 60 and above. These include sugar, thermal power plants, paints are under in it.
      2. Orange - High Pollution with PI score of 41 - 59. Includes 83 industries like coal, washeries and automobile servicing.
      3. Green - Low Pollution with PI score of 21 - 40. Includes 63 industries in it.
      4. White - Less Polution with PI score under 20. They are 30 non-polluting industries.
    11. Germany will help developing Kochi (Kerala), Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) as smart cities.
    12. Indian scientists claimed to have developed herbal medicine against mosquito borne dengue fever using alcoholic extract of Cissampelos pariera Linn (Cipa extract) derived from velvetleaf, a species of flowering plant.
    13. Armaan Ebrahim won 2015 FMSCI Motorsports Man of the Year Trophy by Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India.
    14. PM Narendra Modi constituted a task force under Rajiv Kumar (Additional Secretary in Department of Personnel and Training) to rationalise central government staff and ensure their maximum optimisation.
    15. Indian author Jerry Pinto won 2016 Windham-Campbell Prize for his novel Em and The Big Hoom in fiction category at Yale University (USA).
    16. Government announced to digitally connect all 1,29,323 gramin dak sewak post offices in rural areas across country by March 2017.
    17. Book Fixed! Cash and Corruption in Cricket, authored by Journalist Shantanu Guha Ray has been launched.
    18. India's first 75-seater solar powered ferry will come up in tourism spot of Kerala Allepey (the Venice of the East).
    19. India's first self cleaning smart toilets (Around 180) have been installed in Chennai (Tamil Nadu).
    20. United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have launched Blue Dot hubs to boost protection for children and families on move across Europe.
    21. PepsiCo became BCCI's official associate sponsor for all international matches in India for 4 years.
  29. Mar 03, 2016
    1. 3rd MARCH - World Wildlife Day. 2016 theme is The future of wildlife is in our hands.
    2. United Nations Security Council adopted toughest sanctions ever imposed on North Korea in response to its fourth nuclear test and rocket launch.
    3. Delhi became first state to launch Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as a public health programme for school children.
    4. Indian-American investor Sunil Sabharwal took charge as Alternate Executive Director at International Monetary Fund (IMF).
    5. Indian shooter Jitu Rai won Gold in 50m Pistol Men final event at International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup held in Bangkok (Thialand).
    6. World's most expensive train station opened at 9/11 site in New York (United States), named as World Trade Center Transportation Hub. It was constructed at cost of 3.85 billion USD and designed by the Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava.
    7. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma passed away.
    8. International Hockey Federation promoted Hockey India national-level umpire Nepoleon Singh as International Outdoor Umpire.
    9. India's noted film archivist and scholar Paramesh Krishnan Nair passed away.
    10. Traditional festival of Chapchar Kut of Mizos celebrated across north-eastern state of Mizoram. This spring festival celebrated every year in March after Jhum (shifting agriculture by clearing jungle by burning and cultivating in remnants of burning).
    11. Noted Actor Manoj Kumar selected for 47th Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2015.
    12. First Raisina-Dialogue 2016, a flagship conference on Geopolitics and Geo-economics Held in New Delhi. It is joint initiative of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) with theme - Asia: Regional and Global Connectivity.
    13. PM Narendra Modi selected Nagepur village in Varanasi Constituency (Uttar Pradesh) under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).
    14. State Bank of India has been granted approval to operate in Myanmar by Myanmar Government along with three other Asian banks - Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam, Sun Commercial Bank of Taiwan and Shinhan Bank of South Korea.
    15. Noted Malayalam actor Kalabhavan Mani passed away.
    16. Patna Pirates won 3rd season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) by defeating U Mumba.
    17. India won 2016 Asia Cup T20 Cricket trophy for 6th time after beating Bangladesh. Man of the series - Sabbir Rahman (Bangladesh). Most runs - Sabbir Rahman (176) Bangladesh. Most wickets - Al-Amin Hossain (11) (Bangladesh).
    18. Researchers discovered new species of burrowing snake named Melanophidium Khairei or Khaires Black Shieldtail in Northwestern Ghats.
    19. India filed complaint against United States in World Trade Organisation, accusing USA of high fees on L-1 and H-1B categories of temporary working visas. As per India, It would impact Indian IT professionals as it makes Indian IT companies less competitive in that market.
    20. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated National conference on ‘Women Legislators: Building Resurgent India in New Delhi.
  30. Mar 02, 2016
    1. Slovenian high-jumper Rozle Prezelj has been elected as chairman of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Athletes' Commission.
    2. MS Swaminathan Research Foundation signed MOU with Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) to establish a Research Chair, named after MS Swaminathan (father of Indian Green Revolution).
    3. Government constituted a committee under Mahesh Kumar Singla, to consider Scheduled Tribe status to six Communities of Assam (Koch Rajbongshi, Moran, Matak, Tai Ahom, Chutia and Adivasi).
    4. Haryana Government changed name of Mustafabad village in Yamuna Nagar district to Saraswati Nagar (derived from mythological Saraswati River).
    5. Rahul Sachdev won first All India Open Invitational Snooker Championship 2016 at Aurangabad (Maharashtra).
    6. Peru declared emergency for 3 weeks after a major oil (3000 Barrels) pipeline burst in northeast region affecting two rivers Chiriaco and Morona.
    7. Three British scientists Timothy Bliss, Graham Collingridge and Graham Collingridge have won 2016 Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Prize (also known as Brain Prize) for giving vital insight how human brain remembers, learns and navigates.
    8. International Finance Corporation (IFC) of World Bank launched its first Uridashi Masala Bonds (Japanese bonds), to mobilise 30 crore rupees from Japanese retail investors and will be sold to Japanese household investors. The proceeds from these bonds will be used for promoting private sector development in India.
      1. Masala bonds are rupee-denominated instruments sold only to offshore investors by Indian corporates for raising money from overseas investors.
    9. Noted poet Bhagwati Lal Vyas has been selected for 2015 Bihari Puraskar for his anthology of Rajasthani poems Katha Sun Aawe Hai Sabad, published in 2010.
    10. Finance Ministry approved proposal of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh states for issuance of Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) bonds. These states have 35% of all outstanding loans of State electricity distribution utilities in India. These bonds will allow state governments to take over 75 % of power distribution companies (DISCOMs) debt and pay lenders by issuing bonds.
    11. Delhis Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) won 3 international awards for 2015 by Airports Council International (ACI) with score of 4.96 / 5. Awards are - Number one airport for consecutive second year in 25 to 40 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) category, Best airport by size & region Asia Pacific and Second best airport by region (Asia Pacific).
    12. Former New Zealand cricket captain Martin Crowe passed away.
    13. Cabinet Committee on Security approved purchasing 2 Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS), surveillance aircrafts from Israel, at cost of 7,500 crores.
    14. Parliament passed Carriage by Air (Amendment) Bill 2015 to amend Carriage by Air Act 1972 to empower Union government to revise limits of liability for airlines and compensation as per Montreal Convention that India accepted in 2009. Now Bill will go for Presidential assent as per Article 111 of Constitution.
    15. Mrugank Paranjape is appointed as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX).
    16. Mumbai under-23 team won Col CK Nayudu cricket Trophy 2015-16 by defeating Madhya Pradesh.
    17. Mumbai won Ranji Cricket Trophy for 41st time, beating saurashtra.
    18. South Korea passed its first anti-terror bill that was first proposed 15 years ago in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in US.
    19. Forbes 30th annual billionaires list 2016 -
      1. Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates remains worlds richest person for 17th time in last 23 years, with a net worth of $75 billion.
      2. Total billionaires in world are 1810 (190 are women) with their net worth of $6.48 trillion.
      3. USA leads with 540 billionaires, followed by China (251), Germany (120) and India (84).
      4. Top 5 - Bill Gates ($75 billion), Amancio Ortega ($67 billion), Warren Buffett ($60.8 billion), Carlos Slim Helu ($50 billion), Jeff Bezos ($45.2 billion).
      5. Youngest billionaire - 19 year old Norwegain Alexandra Andresen (1.76 Billion USD).
      6. India - Mukesh Ambani (38th ranks with $20.6 billion), Dilip Shanghvi (44th), Azim Premji (55th).
    20. Global Energy Architecture Performance Index (GEAPI) Report by World Economic Forum (WEF) -
      1. India ranked at 90th out of 126 countries on the basis of their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy.
      2. Top 10 countries - Switzerland (1st), Norway (2nd), Sweden (3rd), France (4th), Denmark (5th), Austria (6th), Spain (7th), Colombia (8th), New Zealand (9th) and Uruguay (10th).
      3. Among BRICS - Brazil (25th), Russia (52nd), India (90th) and China (94th).
  31. Mar 1, 2016
    1. 1 Mar - Zero Discrimination Day. Theme is Stand Out.
    2. 1 Mar - 40th Civil Accounts Day of India.
    3. Government approved setting up 36th International Geological Congress society under Society Registration Act 1860 for organizing 36th International Geological Congress (IGC) in 2020 and promoting geoscience in Indian subcontinent. Event will be held in NCR, Delhi in March 2-6, 2020 with budget of 52 crores.
    4. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved winding up of National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) as it has fulfilled mandate for which it was constituted. NMCC was established in 2004 as a forum for policy dialogue to sustain growth of manufacturing industr.
    5. Multinational Field Training Exercise (FTX) FORCE 18, involving ASEAN Plus countries held in Pune (Maharashtra). Sofia Qureshi became first woman officer to lead Indian Army contingent at a multi-national military exercise.
    6. World Bank approved IDA credit of US$ 300 Million for Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Quality Improvement Project.
    7. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economy of Luxembourg, Etienne Schneider visited India.
    8. Government will launch 'Setubharatam' project to make all National Highways railway crossing free by 2019 by cost INR 10,200 crores.
    9. First U.S India Workshop on Traditional Medicine held in New Delhi.
    10. Government announced exclusive and unique Organic Value Chain Development scheme for Rs. 115 crore for North Eastern Region. It is aimed at boosting organic Farming entrepreneurship in North East.
    11. Retreat for Banks and Financial Institutions called Gyan Sangam held at State Bank Academy, Gurgaon (Haryana).
    12. Punjab signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under Scheme UDAY – Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana and became 7th state to do so. Combined DISCOM debt to be restructured for 7 participating states is 1.6 lakh crores. Total outstanding DISCOM debt is 4.3 lakh crores.
    13. RK Dhowan, Chief of Naval Staff Visited United Kingdom.
    14. Secretary General of Geneva (Switzerland) Based World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Petteri Taalas visited India.
    15. Minister of Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi launched Mahila e-Haat as online marketing platform for women. It is a unique online platform where participants can display their products, as part of Digital India and Stand Up India initiatives.
    16. Noted playwright and director Ratan Thiyam has been selected for prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for 2016 at Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards (META).

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