NASA’s Curiosity rover discovers useful
Nitrogen on Mars
1.NASA’s
Curiosity rover for first time has found evidence of nitrogen in the form of
nitrate in aeolian deposits and in two mudstone deposits on Mars.
2.It was
detected by using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite mounted on
Curiosity rover by the team of Scientists
India and Qatar ink six pacts to boost
trade and investment
1.India
and Qatar have signed six pacts including agreements and Memorandum of
Understanding (MoUs) to increase commercial and economic exchanges between both
nations.
2.These
pacts were signed after Emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani had held
extensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
List of Agreements /MoUs signed between
both nations
1.Agreement
on Transfer of Sentenced Persons
2.MoU
for Cooperation in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
3.MoU
between Union Ministry of Earth sciences and Qatar Meteorological Department
for Scientific and Technical cooperation
4.MoU
between Diplomatic Institute of Foreign Service Institute, MEA and MOFA, Qatar
5.MoU
for cooperation in the field of Television and Radio
6.Agreement
for Mutual Cooperation and Exchange of News
First goods train from Lumding
to Silchar in Asssam flagged off
1.First
goods train from Lumding to Silchar in the northeastern state of Assam was
flagged off by the Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu through video
conferencing at a function in New Delhi.
2.Railway
Minister also announced a cash award for those involved in the Lumding-Silchar
gauge conversion project for completing this challenging project within the
deadline.
President confers Bharat Ratna on Atal
Bihari Vajpayee
1.President
Pranab Mukherjee on 27 March 2015 conferred country’s highest civilian award
Bharat Ratna on former
Prime Minister (PM) Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
2.President
Pranab Mukherjee by departing from protocol presented the Atal Bihari Vajpayee
the prestigious
award at his home in New Delhi.
3.In December
2014, Union Government had chosen Atal Bihari Vajpayee along with late
educationist and freedom
fighter Madan Mohan Malviya (posthumously) for the prestigious award.
Delhi Government launches India’s first
E-ration card
1.Delhi government
has launched First E-ration card service in India.
2.It was launched Delhi Chief
Minister Arvind
Kejriwal on 27 March 2015.
3.In this
service, E-ration card will be linked with Aadhaar cards in order to curb
corruption and increase transparency
in the system.
4.Delhi
government has brought the entire ration process online after they had received
many complaints of
corruption in the process of distribution of ration cards in Delhi.
Spectrum auction fetches Rs.1.10 lakh
crore to Union Government
1.The
Union government has fetched about 1.10 lakh crore rupees after the auctioning
of a telecom spectrum.
2.The
spectrum auction concluded on 25 March 2015 after 19 days and 115 rounds of
rigorous bidding. However the 11 percent airwaves were not sold in this
auction.
3.The
process of auction was conducted for 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz
spectrum covering both mobile telephony and broadband, including 4th
Generation (4G).
Ruth Porat appointed as Chief Financial
Officer of Google
1.Ruth
Porat has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of world’s largest
search engine giant Google.
2.She
will succeed Patrick Pichette who had announced his retirement on 10 March 2015
and assume charge on 26 May 2015. As CFO of Google she will directly report to
Larry Page, CEO and Co-Founder of Google.
3.Prior to
this appointment Ruth was working as CFO at Morgan Stanley.
Akhil Sharma’s novel Family Life wins
The Folio Prize 2015
1.Indian-American
novelist Akhil Sharma’s novel Family Life has won the prestigious Folio Prize
2015.
2.His novel
was among the eight shortlisted books from 80 fictional works and was chosen as
the best fiction novel
published in the United Kingdom in 2014.
3.Family Life
is Sharma’s second novel and took him 13 years to write.
Reliance Communications acquires
spectrum in 11 circles
1.Reliance
Communications, part of the Anil Ambani-led group, has acquired new and top-up
800/850 MHz spectrum in 11 circles.
2.The
company with this acquisition, has become India’s first and only operator with
nationwide footprint of contiguous 800/850 MHz spectrum.
3.The
company bought 900 MHz spectrum in Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh and won
1800 MHz spectrum in Odisha and northeast.
Two-year-old toddler Cherukuli Dolly
Shivani creates archery record
1.Two-year-old
girl Cherukuli D0lly Shivani from Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh has
created new record in Archery and has entered her name into the India Book of
Records.
2.She
became the youngest Indian to score 200 points over five and seven-metre
distances.
3.At
a show, she shot 36 arrows each from five metres and seven metres to score 388
points in the presence of senior sports personalities from Sports Authority of
India (SAI) and India Book of Records officials.
Bangladesh wins Women in Parliaments
Award
1.Bangladesh
has won the prestigious Women in Parliaments (WIP) Award for regional
leadership in the South and Southeast Asia category for closing the gender gap
in politics.
2.The
award was presented by WIP Global Forum at annual summit held in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. On behalf of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Minister of
State (MoS) for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam received the award.
3.Bangladesh
is only country in the world where the Prime Minister, Parliament speaker,
Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Leader of the house, and a major opposition
leader are all women.
KM Mani appointed as chairman of the
Empowered Committee of State FM’S on GST
1.Kerala
Finance Minister KM Mani was appointed as the Chairman of the Empowered
Committee of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST) by the
Union Finance Ministry on 24 March 2015.
2.The
post was vacant since the former Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Finance Minister
Abdul Rahim quit the position after the defeat of National Conference in the
J&K Assembly elections held in December 2014.
3.GST
is intended to be implemented from 01 April 2016 as announced by the Union
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his 2015-16 budget speech. The Constitution
(122nd Amendment) (GST) Bill, 2014 has been pending in the Lok Sabha since
December 2014.