India win’s Women’s FIH Hockey World League Round Two
1. India on 15 March 2015 has won FIH Women’s Hockey World
League Round Two competition title.
2. In the final match played at Major Dhyan Chan stadium in New
Delhi, Indian women team defeated Poland team by score of 3-1 goals.
3. In this match, from Indian side Vandana Kataria (15th
minute), Ritu Rani scored two goals (44th and 59th minute) which led to
victory. Polish team’s Oriana Walasek scored goal for her team at 17th minute.
4. It should be noted that Women’s Hockey World League Round
Two, Indian team was victorious with clean sweep i.e. winning all the six
matches played over in this tournament.
Rankings of teams
India - 1st.
Poland - 2nd.
Malaysia - 3rd.
Thailand - 4th.
Russia - 5th.
Wipro appoints Ali Neemuchwala as the Group President &
COO
1. Wipro, India’s third-largest software services firm has
appointed Abid Ali Neemuchwala as the Group President and Chief Operating
Officer (COO).
2. This appointment will be effective from 1 April 2015.
3. Neemuchwala in his new role will head Wipro’s service lines
of global infrastructure services, business application services, business
process services and advanced technology solutions.
4. He will also head company’s advisor relationships, strategic
engagements as well as the marketing function and business operations in
various geographies including continental Europe, Latin America and Africa.
5. Prior to this appointment, Ali Neemuchwala was heading BPO
arm of India’s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS).
Services clinched 69th Santosh Trophy football title 2015
1. Services on 15 March 2015 have won 69th Santosh Trophy
football title 2014-15.
2. In the final match Services defeated host Punjab by
score of 5-4 at Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana, Punjab.
3. With this win services have won this title for fourth time
besides finishing runners up on five occasions. Previously services had won the
Santosh Trophy in year 1961, 2012, 2013.
About Santosh Trophy
1. Founded in 1941.
2. It is an annual Indian football tournament.
3. Trophy is named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath
Roy Chowdhary of Santosh (that is now in Bangladesh).
Noted Gandhian Narayan Desai passes away
1. Noted Gandhian Narayan Desai on 15 March 2015 passed away in
Surat, Gujarat.
2. He was 90.
3. He is son of Mahatma Gandhi’s personal secretary and
biographer Mahadev Desai.
About Narayan Desai
1. He was born on 24 December 1924 at Valsad in Gujarat and was
brought up at Gandhiji’s Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.
2. Desai was also associated with Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan (or
land gift) Movement and Jayprakash Narayan’s Total revolution or JP’s Movement.
3. He was famous for reciting Gandhi-Katha i.e. narratives on
Mahatma Gandhi’s life across the world which was started by him in 2004.
4. Desai was Chancellor of Gujarat Vidyapith from 2007 to 2014.
5. Narayan Desai was awarded with Sahitya Akademi Award (1993) for his book on biography of
his father Mahadev Desai in Gujarati.
6. He was also awarded with these following :-
a) UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize (1998).
b) Jamnalal Bajaj Award (1999).
c) Ranjitram Suwarna Chandrak (2001), highest award for
Gujarati literature.
d) Moortidevi Award (2004).
Government has merged Green India Mission merged with
MGNREGA to reclaim forest cover
1. Union Government has merged Green India Mission (GIM) with
the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Scheme.
2. By merging GIM with MGNREGA Scheme government seeks to
increase 10 million hectares of forest cover.
Key facts
1. National Mission for a Green India aims for afforestation at
10 million hectares of land over the next decade in order to increase and
improve the country’s forest cover.
2. It also aims at improving ecosystems
services, forest based livelihood income of about three million households and
to enhance annual CO2 sequestration.
3.At present under MGNREGA Scheme green works such as water
harvesting, afforestation and farm forestry are undertaken which are
implemented by Union Ministry of Rural Development.
4. Government will also use modern technology like remote
sensing to monitor the progress of this initiative regularly.
5. Union Government also has set out convergence guidelines in
this regard after consulting both Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF)
and Rural Development Ministries.
Convergence guidelines includes
1. All lands including community lands, village
common lands, revenue wastelands, wetlands, shifting cultivation areas,
and private
agricultural lands will be eligible for afforestation.
2. Under MGNREGA for afforestation, forest works such as
pre-plantation, planting, watering and pit digging will be undertaken.
Fencing, plant support and protection activities, mulching, weeding and
manuring the plants will be also undertaken.
3. Technical advice related to the plant species suitable for
area and to raise nurseries will be provided by State Forest Development
Agencies (SFDA).
4. SFDA will also deliver information related to plant material
to each gram panchayat before July each year meeting the cost from MGNREGA
funds.
Historic statue of Mahatma Gandhi unveiled at Parliament
Square in London
1. A historic bronze statue of Father of the Nation Mahatma
Gandhi was unveiled at the Parliament Square in London.
2. It was unveiled jointly
by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Union Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley.
3. M K Gandhi is the first Indian and the only person who had
never held a public office to be honoured with a statue at the Parliament
Square.
4.
The statue is placed adjacent to the statues of iconic
leaders like Britain’s former Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
anti-apartheid icon and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela.
Why it is so important ?
1. It is 9 foot long statue made up of bronze.
2. Crafted by British sculptor Philip Jackson.
3. It is based on a number of photographs of Mahatma Gandhi and
particularly on photograph of him standing outside the London offices of the
British prime minister in 1931.
Kidambi Srikanth wins Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2015
1. India’s ace shuttler Kidambi Srikanth on 15 March 2015 won
badminton’s prestigious $120,000 Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title in
Men’s singles category.
2. In the final match he defeated Denmark’s defending champion Viktor
Axelsen by score of 21-15, 12-21 and 21-14.
3. With this victory, Kidambi Srikanth
became first Indian to win this prestigious title in Men’s singles category.
Other winners in Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold 2015
1. Women’s singles title- China’s Sun Yu defeated Thailand’s Busanan
Ongbumrungpan by score of 21–16, 21–12.
2. Men’s doubles title- China’s Cai Yun and Lu Kai pair
defeated Malaysia’s Goh V Shem and Tan Wee Kiong pair by score of 21–19, 14–21
and 21–17.
3. Women’s doubles title- China’s Bao Yixin and Tang Yuanting
pair defeated Japan’s Ayane Kurihara and Naru Shinoya by score of 21–6, 17–21,
21–17.
4. Mixed doubles title- China’s Lu Kai and Huang Yaqiong pair
defeated China’s Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin pair by score of 17–21, 22–20, 21–13.