Ø Hanan Al Hroub , a Palaestinian teacher from a refuge camp has been awarded prestigious
Global Teacher Prize 2016 , worth 1 Million US Dollars.She was presented this award at a ceremony held in Dubai for her outstanding contribution to the profession
Ø Veteran film actor and director Manoj Kumar has been selected for the prestigious 47th Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2015.
→ Dadasageb Phalke Award is conferred by the Union Government on person for outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema.
Ø Kerala Tourism campaign title " New Worlds" has won Golden City Gate Award at the Internationale Tourismus-Borse Berlin (ITB-Berlin) 2016.
It portrays the importance of responsible tourism initiatives under taken in Kerala which have led to the life changing stories and have become the heart of it.
Ø Veteran guru Ratan Thiyam selected for the 11th META Life time Achievement Award for 2016 .He is currently working as Chairman of National School of Drama . He has been conferred with this (Mahindra Excellence in Theater Award) in recognition for his work for creating a new language in theater and enriching the art form in various roles like director , writer, composer, designer and choreographer.
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Ø 63rd National film awards for year 2015 were announced on March 28, 2016 . Below is the list of winners.
✍Best Film: Baahubali
✍Best Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, ‘Bajirao Mastani’
✍Best Actor: Amitabh Bachchan, Piku
✍Best Actress: Kangana Ranaut, Tanu Weds Manu
✍Best Supporting Actor: Samuthirakani for Visaaranai
✍Best Supporting Actress: Tanvi Azmi, Bajirao Mastani
✍Best Hindi Film: Dum Laga Ke Haisha
✍Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film Of A Director: Neeraj Ghaywan, Masaan
✍Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Bajrangi Bhaijaan
✍Best Choreography: Remo D’Souza, Deewani Mastani song in Bajirao Mastani
✍Best Female Playback Singer: Monali Thakur, Moh Moh Ke Dhage
✍Best Cinematography: Sudeep Chaterjee, Bajirao Mastani
✍Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration: Nanak Shah Fakir
✍Best Screenplay Writer (Original): Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku) and Himanshu Sharma (Tanu Weds Manu Returns)
✍Best Screenplay – Dialogues: Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku) and Himanshu Sharma (Tanu Weds Manu Returns)
✍Best Malayalam Film: Pathemari, Artistically narrated saga of 2 generations of Malayali workers who migrated to gulf for livelihood
✍Best Film on Social Issue: Niranayakam
✍Best Music Direction: M Jayachandran for Song Kaathirunnu Kaathirunnu for the Ennu Ninte Moideen
✍Best Music Direction- Background Score: Ilaiyaraaja, Thaarai Thappattai
✍Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation: Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal
✍Best Children’s Film: Duronto
✍Best Tamil Film: Visaaranai
✍Best Telugu Film: Kanche
✍Best Sanskrit Film: Priyamanasam
✍Best Kannada Film: Thithi
✍Best Marathi Film: Ringan
✍Best Maithili Film: Mithila Makhaan
✍Best Punjabi Film: Chauthi Koot
✍Best Bengali Film: Sankhachil
Best Konkani Film: Enemy
Best Assamese Film: Kothanodi
✍Best Haryanvi Film: Satrangi
✍Best Khasi Film: Onaatah
✍Best Bengali Film : Shankhachil
✍Best Manipuri Film: Eibusu Yaohanbiyu
✍Best Mizo Film: Kima’s Lode Beyond the Class
✍Best Odiya Film: Pahada Ra Luha
✍Special Mention: Ritika Singh for the film Irudhi Suttru
✍Best Editing: Late Kishore T.E for Visaranai
International
Ø Indian- American Sunil Sabharwal took charge as Alternate Executive Director at International Monetary Fund (IMF) . With this he became first Indian-American to occupy a key administration post at the IMF.
Ø World's most expensive train station is opened at the 9/11 Site in New York, United States It has been named "World Trade Center Transportation Hub". This train station is built to next to Twin Towers in New York which were destroyed in the terror attacks in 2001.
Ø Bill Gates, Mricro Soft founder has retained the title of World's Richest Person in Forbe's 30th Annual ranking of the world's billionaires 2016 list. This is his 17th time to top the list in last 23 years with a net worth of $75 Billion. 2nd Top most rich is Amancio Ortega(Italy) who is founder of clothing retail giant ZARA with net worth of $67 Billion.
Ø Htin Kyaw (69) is elected as first civilian President of Myanmar after 53 years of military rule. He was candidate of National League of Democracy ( NLD) party and was elected after securing 360 of the total 652 casted votes.
-Htin Kyaw is a close aide and adviser of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who is the leader of NLD party that has majority in the parliament
Sports
Ø Russian Grand master, Sergey Karjakin has won FIDE World Chess Candidates Tournament held in Moscow by defeating American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana after scoring 8.5 points.
Ø Sergey Karjakin has record for World's youngest grand master after qualifying for this title at age of 12 years 7 months.
Ø 2016 Hockey India Annual Awards have been announced in Bengaluru in which Late captain. Shankar Laxman was posthumously(After death) was chosen for the 2016 "Major Dhyan Chand Life time achievement award". worth 30 lakh rupees. Shankar Laxman was a goal keeper and was part of Olympic medal winning teams in the years 1956 ( Gold medal in Melbourne ) , 1960 ( Silver medal in Rome) and 1964 ( Gold in Tokyo)
Below is the list of others awards:
Dhruv Batra Player of the Year Award: P.R Sreejesh (male), Deepika (female).
Baljit Singh Goalkeeper of the Year Award: Savita. Pargat Singh
Defender of the Year Award: Kothajit Singh.
Ajit Pal Singh Midfielder of the Year Award: Ritu Rani
Dhanraj Pillay Forward of the Year Award: Rani.
Asunta Lakra Upcoming Player of the Year Award: Harjeet Singh (male), Preeti Dubey (female). Jaman Lal Sharma Award for Invaluable Contribution: Baldev Singh.
President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement: Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy.
Ø Martin Crowe(53) Former New Zealand Cricket Captain passed away after a long battle with cancer. He had played 77 test matches and scored 5444 runs with highest score of 299 runs. he was captain of New Zealand team from 1990 to 1994.
Ø Aaron Phangiso , South African Spinner has been suspended by ICC for illegal bowling action as he was found bending his hand exceeding 15 degree level of tolerance permitted by ICC.
Ø Mumbai U-23 team wins CK Nayudu Trophy 2015-2016 which is worth of 20 lakh rupees ..In the final match played at Holkar Stadium in Indore, Mumbai has defeated Madhya Pradesh team .
Ø Jitu Rai won Gold Medal in 50m Pistol event at ISSF World Cup in Bangkok, Thailand. He had scored 191.3 points in the final round beating Chinese Olympic team Pan Wei and Wang Zhiwei
Ø Lin Dan from China has won the All England Badminton 2016 title in men's single category. In teh final match played at Birmingham , he defeated teammate Tian Houwei by 21-9,21-10 score.
- In women's singles category Nozomi Okuhara( Japan) won the title by defeating Wang Shixian ( china) .
Ø Services team has won the 70th Santosh football Championship title 2016 by defeating host Maharashtra in the final match.
- This is service team 5th time win this title after 1961,2012,2013 and 2015.
National
Ø BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electronics Limited) , a public sector power equipment manufacturing company has commissioned (bring into working condition) 2nd 40MW " hydro power" generating unit at the 'Teesta low dam hydro electric project stage IV in Darjeeling district of West Bengal .The estimated annual power generation form the project is around '720 million unites'
Ø Haryana State Assembly has unanimously passed Haryana Backward Classes ( Reservation in services and admission in educational institutions ) Bill 2016 . This bill aims to provide reservation to people belonging to Backward classes including ' JATS' and 5 other castes .
o Jats, Jat Sikhss, Ror, Bishnoi, Tyagi and Muslim jat have been included in Block C of three divisions of Backward classes ( Block A , Block B, Block C) . With this bill 10% reservation will be provided to theses castes for Class III & IV government posts. and 6% reservation in class 1 and 2 posts.
Ø Dial "112" as the single "Emergency number" in India has been approved by Telecom communication . Those who are in emergency situations will be able to get all services like Police, fire department ,ambulance etc by just dialing this single 112 number
Ø In developed countries like USA emergency number "911" and United Kingdom emergency number "999" are already in use .
Ø India's Biggest Defense Expo 2016 has begun in Goa on March 28 which will end in March 31. (4 days) . This Expo was inaugurated by Union Defense minister Manohar Parikar . This is the 1st time Defense Expo being organized outside New Delhi.
Defense Expo 2016 is the 9th edition of biennial (Once in 2 years) land, Naval and Homeland security systems Exhibition. Theme of this years Expo is "Rise of Futurism" with vision to make India prosperous by establishing world class science and technology base in defense sector .
Ø India has been ranked at the 90th place in a list of 126 countries on the basis of their ability to deliver secure, affordable and sustainable energy . This list was revealed by Global Energy Architecture Performance Index Report compiled by World Economic Forum. Top 3 counties in the list are Switzerland(1) , Norway(2) , Sweden(3).
Ø First Raisina-Dialogue 2016 , a flag ship conference on Geopolitics and Geo-economics held in New Delhi from March 1st to 5th . This three day conference is joint initiative of Union Ministry of External Affairs ( UMEA) and Observer Research Foundation(ORF) , an independent think tank of India.
→ The theme of Raisina Dialogue 2016 is "Asia: Regional and Global Connectivity"
Ø "National Conference on Women Legislators: Building Resurgent India " began in Delhi on March 5th was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukerjee . The two day conference will provide women legislators a platform to interact with their counter parts from across the country.
ØThe Traditional festival of Chapchar Kut of the Mizos was celebrated across the state of Mizoram and in the Mizo-inhabited areas in neighboring states. This festival is celebrated every year in the month of March which observes advent of Spring.
Ø Union government approved proposal of 4 states for issuance of Ujwal Discom assurance Yojana (UDAY) bonds.
Ø Kakrapar Nuclear Plant located near Vyara in South Gujarat has been shut down for indefinite period after leakage of Heavy Water ( Deuterium Oxide) is detected .
-Heavy Water( Deuterium Oxide ) is used for cooling the reactor core and neutron moderator.
Ø Allahabad High court has celebrated its 150th Foundation year on March 14th . President of India Pranab Mukerjee was the chief guest of the event .o On this occasio , Chief justice of India ( CJI) TS Thakur dedicated digization centre of Allahabad Highe Court . RBI released a 10 rupee coin
Important Days
Ø "World Wildlife Day (WWD) is celebrated on 3rd March this year also with the theme of "The future of wild life is in our hands". Every year 3rd March is celebrated as World Wildlife day to raise awareness of the world's wild fauna and flora. It calls for taking urgent steps to fight wild life crime which has wide ranging environmental, economic and social impacts.
Ø March 15th is celebrated as "World consumer rights day" . It's significance is to provide opportunity to promote the basic rights of all consumers and demand those rights that must be respected and protected and also for those protesting against market abuses and social injustices.
-Theme For World Consumers Rights day 2016 is " Antibiotics off the menu".
Science and Technology
ØIndian Space Research Organization, ISRO has successfully installed Gadanki Ionospheric Radar Interferometer(GIRI) Radar System at National Atmospheric research laboratory , NARL near Tirupathi. GIRI Radar system primary objective is to carry out unattended observations for studying the forcing from sun , like variation in solar flare, solar flux, and magnetic storm on the ionospheric irregularities.
§ It's application is on investigations made using the system are expected to improve Equatorial Plasma Bubble forecasting.
Ø An unmanned spacecraft named "ExoMars 2016" was successfully launched jointly by Europe and Russia to search for bio signature on Mars( Martian life) in past or present. It is the 1st of two phase of ExoMars program.
o This space craft was launched on a porton - M rocket operated by Russia Roscosmos from Baikonur, Kazakhistan.
Ø Indigenously developed , nuclear capable , surface to surface ballistic missile AGNI-I was successfully test fired off the Odisha coast as part of training exercise by SFC of Indian Army.
o Agni I is the first missile of Agni Series launched in 1983 by DRDO as part of Integrated Missile development program me in India.
Ø India's first Indigenous rotavirus vaccine , ROTAVAC to combat infant mortality due to diarrhea is launched by Ministry of Health and Family welfare minister J.P.Nadda as part of Universal immunization programme (UIP) . ROTAVAC vaccine is administered to infants in 3 doses at ages of 6, 10 and 14 weeks.
o Rotavac vaccine is addition to the 3 new vaccines introduced by Government as par of country’s UIP , These 3 other vaccines are Inactivated Polio |Vaccine(IPV, Measles, Rubella (MR) Vaccine and Adult Japanese Encephalitis (JE) Vaccine.
Deaths
Ø Film Scholar PK Nair (Parmesh Krishnan Nair) passed away on March 4th in Maharashtra . He had won epithet of 'celluloid man' for his life long dedication towards the acquisition and preservation of cinematic heritage of the country.
Ø Anita Brookner(87). a renowned British author and art historian has passed away . She has won man Booker awards in 1984 for her famous novel Hotel du Lac .
-Anita Brookner was also awarded Commander of the order of the British Empire in 1990 and James Tait Black memorial Prize in 2010
Ø Lloyd Stowell Shapley(92) , a Nobel prize winning Economist has passed away on 12th March 2016
Ø He was considered as one of the "Fathers of Game Theory"and he also contributed in the fields of mathematical economics .
o He has received Nobel Prize in 2012 along with Alvin E Roth in Economic sciences for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design.
Appointments
Nandita Bakhshi (57) , an Indian-American has been appointed as President and CEO of "Bank of West" , which is a subsidiary unit of BNP Paribas, Currently she also serves on the board of Consumer banks association.
Nandita Bakhshi in several executive posts at Washington Mutual in Seattle(WASH), FleetBoston(Bank of America) , First Data corp, Home savings of America and Bank One Corp. She is recipient of New England news "women of the year "ward for the year 2002.
H Depp Saini , noted Indian scholar and plant physiologist has been appointed as 5th VC (vice chancellor) of Australia's prestigious University of Canberra .
-Earlier he had received many awards including Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Surya Deva, an Indian born academician is appointed as United Nations, UN Adviser on Human rights and Businesses by UNHRC for the Asia-Pacific . He is one of the founding Editor in chief of Business and Human Rights Journal.
MoU’s
Asian Development Bank (ADB) and USAID have inked MoU(Memorandum of Understanding) for the development of Solar Parks across India which is worth 848 million US dollars.This is initially targeted in state of Rajasthan and will finance government of India's renewable energy targets.
Economy
Ø First Raisina-Dialogue 2016 , a flag ship conference on Geopolitics and Geo-economics held in New Delhi from March 1st to 5th . This three day conference is joint initiative of Union Ministry of External Affairs ( UMEA) and Observer Research Foundation(ORF) , an independent think tank of India.
→ The theme of Raisina Dialogue 2016 is "Asia: Regional and Global Connectivity"
Ø Narendra Modi has launched "Setu Bharatam "project to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019. Under this project 2018 places have been identified for the construction of rail over bridges(ROB) or underpasses with an estimate of 50,000 crore rupees .
Ø Parliament passes "Carriage by Air ( Amendment) Bill, 2015 to empower Union government ot revive the limits of liability for airlines and compensation as per the Montreal convention which India accepted in 2009.
ØUnion Government of India has Notified Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of financial and other subsidies , benefits and services )Act, 2016 . This Act will provide support for transfer of subsidies and benefits to eligible persons in India having Aadhar Card/ UID Number
