March-7-2015

PM inaugurates two 600MW Thermal Power Units in Khandwa,Madhya Pradesh:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two units each of 600 Mega Watt (MW) capacity in Shree Singaji Thermal Power Project in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.

·        Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired project. It is owned and developed by Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited (MPPGCL).

·        The two units will add 1200 MW power capacity  in first phase of the project . With this the power capacity of state will  increase to  4500 MW and will play key role state government’s Atal Jyoti Abhiyan which is aimed at providing 24 X 7 power supply.

·         PM Narendra Modi also laid the foundation stone of two units each of 660 MW of the same power plant as part of second phase.

EU formally adopts climate change targets for  DEC 2015 UNFCCC Paris Conference:

·        Adopted climate change target includes a 40 % cut in emissions by 2030. These targets were agreed by leaders of the 28 EU member-states at a summit in October 2014 but now have been officially forwarded to the United Nations.

·        EU announcement comes prior to the deadline of March 31, 2015.

·        EU countries when taken together form the world’s biggest economy and accounts for 9% of global emissions of greenhouse gases.

·        EU has agreed to cut the greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent compared to 1990 levels and United States agreed to reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent in 2025 compared with their level in 2005.

·          US accounts for 12 % of global greenhouse gases emissions. While, China has set a target date of 2030 for its global greenhouse gases emissions to reach peak.

>>National payments Corporation of India(NPCI) today said it has linked 15 cr bank accounts with Aadhaar Number.

   . NPCI is the nodal agency for all retail payment systems under the Jan Dhan scheme.

•  NPCI is an umbrella body for all retail payments system in India. It operates under the aegis of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was incorporated in 2008 under the Companies Act.

•  Its main objective is to facilitate an affordable payment mechanism in order facilitate financial inclusion and benefit the common man across the country.

>>Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry(Minister: J P NADDA ) organizing 3-day special health camps through out the country from 8^th to 10^th March 2015 on occasion of International Womens Day.

•     under the initiative special free health check-up camps to all women  will be held at the District Hospital,Sub-District Hospital(SDHs) and Community Health Centers(CHCs) on these days.

>>Artificial glacier in the form of Ice Stupa to store water inaugurated:

• Artificial glacier in the form of Ice stupa was inaugurated at Phyang village in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. The motive of building such stupa is to store water to green the entire desert of Phyang which has an area of 1500 acres.
• The Ice stupa with a height of 50 feet will store roughly 2 million liters of water while another 6 million liters of water absorbed in the ground will add moisture to the earth for tree plantation
• The project was funded through crowd-funding with donations coming from individuals and institutions from around the world raising 125000 US dollars.

>> The Socio-Economic standing of Women in India is the lowest among 16 Asia Pacific countries,according to Mastercard’s latest Index of Women’s Advancement.

•   Comapring with our neighbor countries Bangladesh ,Sri Lanka Indian Women standing in Lowest Index in ranking.

• New Zealand had the highest overall Index score of 77,followed by Australia(76), the Philippines(72.6)  and  Singapore(70.5).

• India(44.2),Bangladesh(44.6) and Sri Lanka(46.2) had scores below 50.

>> NASA’s Dawn space probe completes its orbit around dwarf planet Ceres:

•   NASA’s Dawn space probe has completed its orbit around dwarf planet Ceres which is the largest object in the Solar System between Mars and Jupiter.

• With the completion of orbit, Dawn probe has become first spacecraft to visit dwarf planet. Dawn has taken 7.5 years to reach the orbit of Ceres. 

•  Dawn space probe Launched- In 2007 by NASA. Objective- to study the two massive protoplanets of the asteroid belt: Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. This Project launched by  NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

>> Indian ace shuttler Saina Nehwal becomes the first Indian Woman player to reach the finals of All England Badminton Championships.

    .She defeated Wang Yihan of China.

>>SNOOKER has beeb short-listed among 3 sports to be included in the 2020 Olympic Games in TOKYO.