Current Affairs 9th March 2016

Important Points : 

• Which two states have singed 5 MoUs to facilitate construction of irrigation barrages across Godavari - Maharashtra & Telangana 
• 2015 Nari Shakti awards presented by - President Pranab Mukherjee 
• Who has won Gold at World Team Table Tennis Championship - Indian men and women 
• Name the scheme launched by Karnataka for accident victims’ free treatment - Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana
• Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015 passed by - Rajya Sabha
• Who has been appointed by Indian Railways as consultant to discover advertising potential of trains & stations - Ernst & Young (EY)
• What was the theme of the Cycling event of Indian Army - Cycle to Recycle 
• Who has been appointed as CEO of digital business by CA Media - Vivek Jain 
• Widow Marriage included under - Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana
• Which bank has became first to get Small Finance Bank license from RBI - Capital Local Area Bank 
• Who has been conferred France’s Knight of the Legion of Honour - Mahindra Group CMD Anand Mahindra
• Name the program launched by the ICICI Bank for its women employees - iWork@Home programme 

Details : 

Which two states have singed 5 MoUs to facilitate construction of irrigation barrages across Godavari - Maharashtra & Telangana 

On 8th March 2016, 5 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed by Telangana and Maharashtra to ease construction of irrigation barrages across the River Godavari.

Chief Ministers of Telangana & Maharashtra K Chandrashekar Rao and Devendra Fadnavis signed the MoU respectively.

Characterstics of MoUs

• To supervise the implementation of projects on Godavari, an inter-state water board will be formed.
• Chief ministers of respective States in rotation manner in alternative years will hold the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship of the board.
• Members of the board will be the Ministers and secretaries of various departments of two States.

Apart from this, the board will oversee the implementation of following other projects–

• Lower Penganga project
• Barrage on Penganga at Chanaka-Korata
• Barrage on Penganga, a tributary of Godavari, at Raju Peta
• Pranahita Project (tummidi hatti project), Kaleshwaram Project (Medigadda barrage)
• Lendi Project

2015 Nari Shakti awards presented by - President Pranab Mukherjee 

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 8th March 2016, Nari Shakti Puraskar for the year 2015 was presented to one state and panchayat, 15 women and 5 organisations by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Union Ministry of Women & Child Development presents the award annually to institutions and individuals for their exceptional contribution towards empowerment of women. The award carries a certificate and a cash prize of two lakh rupees for institutions while a certificate and one lakh rupees for individuals.

For demonstrating improvement with work in improving Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) and Child Sex Ratio (CSR) during the year 2015, Haryana was awarded. Anganwadipuram Gram Panchayat, Mallapuram of Kerala was awarded for their work towards women empowerment. 

Other awardees are : 

• Meena Sharma, Rajasthan 
• Polumati Vijaya Nirmala, Andhra Pradesh
• Vasu Primalni, Delhi
• Krishna Yadav, Delhi 
• Shakuntala Majumdar, Maharashtra 
• Sujata Sahu, Haryana 
• Lucky Kurien, Maharashtra  
• Dr. Saurabh Suman, Bihar  
• Basanti Devi, Uttarakhand 
• Suparna Baksi Ganguly, Karnataka 
• Jyoti Mhapsekar, Maharashtra 
• Sumita Ghosh, Delhi 
• Anjali Sharma, Delhi 
• Preeti Patkar, Maharashtra 
• Uttara Padwar, Madhya Pradesh 

Organisations who were awarded include 

• Breakthrough Trust
• Jagori, Delhi 
• Gudiya Shyam Sevi Sansthan, Varanasi
• Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (Institution), Delhi
• Kanaklata Women Urban Cooperative Bank (Institution), Assam

Who has won Gold at World Team Table Tennis Championship - Indian men and women 

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, On 6th March 2016, the gold medals at the Second Division of the World Team Table Tennis Championship was bagged by Indian men's and women's.

Luxemburg was defeated by Indian women’s team in the final event of the Second Division, whereas Brazil was defeated by Indian men’s team.

Name the scheme launched by Karnataka for accident victims’ free treatment - Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 8th March 2016, Mukhyamantri Santwana Harish Yojana was launched by the Karnataka Government to provide free treatment to road accident victims for the first 48 hours in the nearest government or private hospital.

The scheme is named after Harish Nanjappa, who donated his eyes moments before his death in a road accident.

Key highlights of the scheme

• The victims of road accidents across the state will be provided assistance irrespective of their financial status.
• During the Golden Hour, immediate medical relief will be provided to the victim with financial aid up to 25000.

Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015 passed by - Rajya Sabha

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 8th March 2016, Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015 was passed by the Rajya Sabha to replace the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986.

It extends the limits of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) to include products, services and processes awhile ensuring production of world class goods.

Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, 2015 was approvved by the Union Cabinet.

Who has been appointed by Indian Railways as consultant to discover advertising potential of trains & stations - Ernst & Young (EY)

Among the important appointments, On 8th March 2016, Ernst & Young (EY) was appointed as a consultant to discover the advertising potential in trains and railway stations by Indian Railways. 

EY will recognize assets and create a pricing strategy for advertising across 7000 railways stations.

This is for the first time that such a large scale project on advertising for Railways has been initiated in India.

About Ernst & Young

• It is a multinational professional services firm.
• It is the third largest professional services firm in the world after PwC and Deloitte and is one of the Big Four audit firms.

What was the theme of the Cycling event of Indian Army - Cycle to Recycle 

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 8th March 2016, Cycling event of Indian Army was flagged off from Pangsau Pass on the India-Myanmar border with the theme ‘Cycle to Recycle’ by Brigadier DK Singh, Commander of the 25 Sector Assam Rifles.

Key features of the Cycling event

• It was organised as part of the Assam Rifles 181st raising day celebrations.
• The motive of the event is to create public awareness about the need of nature and environment conservation.
• 10-member army team participated in the 1000-km-long bicycle expedition.

Who has been appointed as CEO of digital business by CA Media - Vivek Jain 

Among the important appointments, On 8th March 2016, Vivek Jain was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CA Media Digital (India) Pvt. Ltd.

About Vivek Jain

• Prior to CA Media Digital, Vivek Jain worked at a leadership position at Reliance Jio.
• Earlier to Reliance Jio, he worked for Amazon, Google, and Motorola and other companies.

Widow Marriage included under - Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 8th March 2016, inclusion of widow marriage under the state government’s Mukhyamantri Kanya Vivah Yojana was announced by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The motive of this was to promote marriage of widows on International Women's Day in Bhopal.

Apart from this, he also announced that two lakh rupees will be sanctioned for widow marriage and state government will open Usha Kiran Centres in every district of the state to prevent violence against women.

Which bank has became first to get Small Finance Bank license from RBI - Capital Local Area Bank 

Among the important Business Current Affairs, On 4th March 2016, the license to the Capital Local Area Bank Ltd to start operations as a Small Finance Bank (SFB) was granted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). 

About Capital Area Bank Ltd

• On 14th January 2016, it has completed 16 years of operation.
• It operates in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala districts of Punjab for the initial 13 years.

Who has been conferred France’s Knight of the Legion of Honour - Mahindra Group CMD Anand Mahindra

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 5th March 2016, the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honour) was conferred to Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra Group Anand G Mahindra.

The honour was conferred upon by François Richier, Ambassador of France to India, at the Residence of France in New Delhi.

Anand selected for the highest French civilian distinction for his outstanding national and international achievements.

About National Order of the Legion of Honour

• On 19th May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte established the National Order of the Legion of Honour (Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur).
• The order's motto is Honour and Fatherland.
• It is the highest decoration in France and and is categorised into five distinction: Grand'Croix (Grand Cross), Officier (Officer), Grand Officier (Grand Officer), Commandeur (Commander) and Chevalier (Knight).

Name the program launched by the ICICI Bank for its women employees - iWork@Home programme 

Among the important Business Current Affairs, On 7th March 2016, ICICI Bank launched iWork@Home programme for its women employees to prevent them from dropping out of its workforce.

The initiative will enable women employees to work from home.

Features of iWork@Home

• The program will enable women employees to have access to their required operating systems by creating a seamless office-like environment.
• The platform will include the facilities of checking documents for loan disbursement, image-based verification of cheques for clearance and processing of export-import documents for payments, etc.
• Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi students in partnership with ICICI Bank developed the platform.
• Facial recognition technology is also incorporated to address data security and privacy related issues.