March-14-2015

>>International Energy Agency (IEA) released the data on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. According to it, the global emissions of CO2 from energy sector stalled in the year 2014.

• As per the preliminary data released, global emissions of CO2 stood at 32.3 billion tonnes in 2014 which is same as in the year 2013. Further the data suggests that efforts to mitigate climate change may be having a more pronounced effect on emissions than had previously been thought.

>>The Mumbai High Court (HC) directed the Maharashtra government to set up a redressal mechanism for complaints filed by citizens against noise pollution levels.

• The direction given by the Mumbai HC is the latest in the series of rules and judgments pertaining to noise pollution given by various courts and the Union Government respectively.

• The court further said that organizers of the religious festivals do not have the right to take away the fundamental right of citizen to silence and to live in comfort and peace. Right to live peacefully is expressed in the Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed by Mahesh Bedekar.

>>Union Govt is contemplating to relax the criteria of disablility.

• Union minister for social justice and empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot said that govt is mulling to reduce the parameter of body deformity percentage from 40 to 25 for disability certificate.

>>Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is on a visit to Japan to attend an international conference on disaster risk reduction.

>>Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the first train from Thalaimannar to Madhu Road in North Sri Lanka and also visited Anuradhapura shrine during three Island nation tour.

• The North-South Rail link was completely destroyed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants during the civil war in 1980s.

• ·    The rail project connects the Jaffna to capital Colombo and connects Thalaimannar to the main rail line.
• ·   The project has been implemented by Indian Railway Construction Company Limited (IRCON) International, a subsidiary of Indian Railways.

·         Indian Government had provided line of credit to this project as part of India’s bid to establish better connectivity between SAARC nations.

Anuradhapura facts:

• ·     Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the sacred Bodhi tree in Anuradhapura shrine.
• ·    The sacred Bodhi tree at Anuradhapura shrine was planted as a sapling of the original Bodhi tree, under which Lord Gautam Buddha had achieved enlightenment.
• ·     It was planted 2000 years ago in Anuradhapura shrine which is considered as one of the most sacred places in Buddhism.

>>Pakistan successfully tested its first indigenously built all-weather armed drone named Burraq and a laser guided missile named Barq.

By successfully testing of Burraq, Pakistan became the 9th country in the World to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) domestically.

About  Buraq:

• ·     Dveloped by a venture of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and the National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESCOM).
• ·     Burraq has ability to fly in all types of weather conditions.
• ·    With Barq laser-guided missile mounted on it, Burraq can hit moving targets as well as stationary targets with pinpoint accuracy.

·                      UCAV Burraq was first flight tested in May 2009.

>>Union Government has selected legendary boxer and five-time world boxing champion MC Mary Kom as Brand Ambassador for the North East Region.

It was announced by Union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Sing.

 About Mary Kom:

• ·    She belongs to Kom tribal community of the north-eastern state of Manipur.
• ·    Mary Kom is nicknamed Magnificent Mary. She is Five-time World Boxing champion,
• ·   She had won a bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics in the flyweight (51 kg) category and was only Indian woman boxer to qualify for this category.
• ·   She is also first Indian woman boxer to get a Gold Medal in the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon, South Korea.

·         Awards- For her precious contribution to the sport of boxing (sports), she has been conferred with Padma Bhushan (2013), Padma Shree (2010) and Arjuna Award for Boxing (2003).

·         Autobiography- Unbreakable.

>>India’s Dr. Alka Beotra has been nominated as a member of the World Association of Anti-Doping Scientists’ (WAADS) executive board.

At present, Dr. Alka Beotra is Scientific Director of National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL).

>>Japan and France have signed an arms transfer agreement for military equipment, services and technology.

The defence pact seeks to boost cooperation and joint development between both countries in order to strengthen security ties.

>>Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed was sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by country’s criminal court under the anti-terrorism laws.

• He was charged under the island nation’s Anti-Terrorism Act, 1990 for his order to arrest a Criminal Court judge Abdulla Mohamed in 2012.  
• The case against Nasheed was based on the investigation report of the Human Rights Commission of Maldives into kidnapping of the Judge.

>> Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi bronze statue was unveiled at the Parliament Square in London. It was unveiled jointly by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

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.

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.

>>National Dairy Research Institute have for the first time successfully cloned a female CALF (named after Apoorva),using cells from the urine of a buffalo.