National:
1. World’s largest and tallest Indian National Flag has unfurled at Faridabad, Haryana. Dimension of the flag – 96 feet by 64 feet, weighs 48 kilograms and 250 feet (75 meters) Height.
2. Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill 2015 and Motor Vehicles Bill 2015 have been passed by Lok Sabha.
3rd March, 2015 is observed as World’s Wildlife Day.
3. President Pranab Mukherjee gives assent to Maharashtra Animal Preservation Amendment Bill, 1995. This bill amends Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act 1976 and bans slaughter of bulls and bullocks in the state. As per the provisions of new Act, anyone found to be selling beef or in possession of it can be jailed for 5 years and fined Rs. 10,000. However, this Act allows slaughter of water buffaloes, which provides carabeef that is generally considered as an inferior quality meat.
4. Dilip Shanghvi (Founder and Managing Director of Sun Pharma).
5. Leslee Udwin directed the documentary film India’s Daughter (16th December 2012 Rape Victim – Damini).
6. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd announced acquisition of Pipavav Defence Company Ltd.
7. Indian announced scholarships for 200 Nepalese students to boost Human Resource Development.
8. Rani Mukherjee is awarded by National Institute of Gender Justice.
9. Rahul Gandhi will be the new chief of All Indian Congress Committee (AICC).
10. Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched a scheme for girl child – “Aapki Beti Humari Beti” – with an aim to combat the problem of declining child sex ratio in the state.
12. JUST Global launched Women’s Safety App “iSafe” for Thiruvananthapuram City Police on 8th March 2015 (on International Women’s Day).
13. Green India and MGNREGA are working together to facilitate afforestation.
14. Artificial glacier in the form of Ice stupa to store water inaugurated in Phyang village of Ladakh.
15. India and Spain signed an agreement on “Mutual Protection of Classified Information” to provide the framework for enhanced bilateral cooperation in areas of defense research, development and technology cooperation.
16. The first Indo-Nepal Friendship Motor Rally concluded on 8 March 2015 at India Gate in New Delhi. It’s aim is to strengthen bilateral relations between India and Nepal and spreading the message of road safety.
17. Eighth India-Nepal combined exercise named Surya Kiran VIII concluded on 7 March 2015.
18. PM Narendra Modi to leave for five days trip to Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Seychelles.
19. Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit meets Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Delhi.
20. Veteran sports journalist K. Baskaran died.
21. India signed four agreements with Seychelles:
• Cooperation in hydrography
• Cooperation in renewable energy
• Cooperation in Infrastructure development
• Cooperation in Sale of navigation charts and electronic navigational charts
22. Indian Railways signed MoU with LIC for implementing Railway projects. Under this MoU, LIC will make available a Financial Assistance of 150000 crore rupees to the Indian Railways for implementing Railway projects over the next five years.
23. Industrialist Deepak Khaitan died after a prolonged spell of illness.
24. First Kisan Call Centre of North-East opened in Agartala, Tripura.
25. Mars Inc, maker of Snickers and Galaxy bars, set to open first chocolate factory in India.
26. World’s Consumer Day 2015 is observed on 15th March, 2015 with the theme of helping consumers choose healthy diets.
27. IT solutions service provider L&T InfoTech has received a $10 million contract from state-run Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) to integrate its business functions.
28. BJP MLA Kavinder Gupta elected as Speaker of 12th Legislative Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir.
29. Union Cabinet approved the Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015.
30. Union Environment Ministry revoked suspension of Goa mines.
31. India’s exports grew marginally by 0.88% to $286.58 billion during the April-February period of the current fiscal.
32. Confederation of Indian Industry sign agreement with Hitachi, Siemens for smart city initiative.
33. The British Irish Visa Scheme came into force in India. The information related to this was revealed by Minister of State for External Affairs, V. K. Singh while answering the unstarred questions in Rajya Sabha.
34. Indian Prime Minister has inaugurated the first of the eight Coastal Surveillance Radar Systems (CSRS) being set up by India in Seychelles.
35. The National Pharma Pricing Authority (NMPPA) comes under the purview of Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizer.
36. Air-to-Air missile, Astra, was successfully test fired at the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur in Odisha. It was test-fired aboard a Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft.
37. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited Mauritius as part of his three nation tour to Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka that took place.
38. Haryana Government decided to issue UIDAI-like numbers for cows.
39. Maharashtra Government announced to rename Girgaum Chowpatty as Swaraj Bhoomi.
40. Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar’s book entitled “Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy – Speaker’s Perspective” released on 19th March 2015.
41. Union Government on 19 March 2015 launched Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) AcE Fund to accelerate growth of entrepreneurs in Biotechnology.
42. A Book Indian Parliamentary Diplomacy- Speaker’s Perspective written by Meira Kumar was released. Meira Kumar is a former Speaker of Lok Sabha.
43. Renowned water conservationist and environment activist Rajendra Singh has been conferred with 2015 Stockholm Water Prize
44. The 1st Counter-Terrorism Conference 2015 was held in Jaipur for three days from 19 March 2015 to 21 March 2015. It was organised by India Foundation in association with the Sardar Patel University of Police Security and Criminal Justice, Jodhpur at Jaipur in Rajasthan.
45. National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities was launched in New Delhi. The National Action Plan is a partnership between the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disability for skilling 2.5 million Persons with Disability (PwD) over seven years between 2015 and 2022.
46. Conference on Counter-Terrorism deliberated on CBRN Terrorism. The term CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) Terrorism was in news in the third week of March 2015. It was in news because CBRN terrorism is one of the sub-themes of Conference on Counter-Terrorism held in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
47. Delhi High Court restrained Glenmark from manufacturing its anti-diabetes drugs Zita and Zita-Met.
48. Union Cabinet approved Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) to impart skill training to youth.
49. Union Cabinet approved 33% women reservation in police forces of all Union Territories.
50. Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) has reconstituted the second State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) in Maharashtra.
51. Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) has given coastal regulatory zone (CRZ) nod to the 6,000-MW Mithivirdi Nuclear Power Plant of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat.
51. Bard and Marathi folk legend Krishnarao Ganpatrao Sable passed away on 20 March 2015 in Mumbai, Maharashtra. He was 92.
52. Union Ministry of Health and Welfare launched Media Campaign for Mission Indradhanush. The media campaign includes a song composed by Bollywood lyricist and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar. The campaign was launched for creating awareness regarding the importance to fully immunize every child against all vaccine preventable diseases in the country.
53. Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil and US Scientist Dr. Jane Lubchenco were named for the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement 2015. They were named for the award for their leadership and engagement in the development of conservation and sustainability policies in the United States, India and internationally.
54. World Tuberculosis Day (WTD) 2015 was globally observed on 24th March 2015. The main sub-theme and message for the year 2015 is “Reach, Treat, Cure Everyone”.
55. The Supreme Court (SC) of India declared Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 as unconstitutional and struck it down. The section empowers law enforcement agencies to arrest those who post objectionable content online and provides for a three-year jail term.
56. The President of India Pranab Mukherjee awarded Certificate of Honour to eminent scholars of Sanskrit, Pali/Prakrit, Arabic and Persian. He also conferred the Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman to young scholars for the year 2014. These certificates were given at a function at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi.
57. Maharashtra Government announced that those involved in the sale of gutka in the state will be booked under Section 328 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), that is, sale of gutka will be made a non-bailable offence. The decision was announced by State Food and Drug Minister Girish Bapat in the State Legislative Assembly.
58. Indian author Amitav Ghosh was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker International Prize. He is the only Indian among the 10 finalists shortlisted for the prize. 58-year-old, Ghosh was chosen for his contribution to the English language writing. Earlier in 2008, he was shortlisted for the prize his work Sea of Poppies but he missed the prize narrowly.
59. The thirteenth state level philatelic exhibition of Gujarat postal circle or Gujpex-2015 was inaugurated by the Gujarat Governor O.P. Kohli at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Memorial in Ahmedabad. The purpose of the exhibition is to showcase the beautiful world of stamps to general public especially to children and youth, to promote the hobby of Philately and to provide opportunity to philatelist to show case their valuable collections.
60. Three Immediate Support Vessels (ISVs) were commissioned in Indian Navy at the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) base in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
61. 18th round of talks between the Special Representatives of India and China on the Boundary Question was held in New Delhi. The India was represented by National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and China was represented Yang Jiechi, State Councillor of China.
62. Indian-American author Akhil Sharma won The Folio Prize 2015 for his novel Family Life. His novel Family Life was one among the eight books shortlisted from 80 works of fiction and was chosen as the best fiction published in the UK in 2014 by the 235 writers and critics who constitute the Folio Academy.
63. Artist Bharti Kher of India was conferred with the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). This is the highest cultural award of France. She was awarded for her contribution in contemporary art landscape. Kher’s artworks span several mediums like painting, sculpture and installation.
64. Dalal Street Investment Journal (DSIJ) presented its sixth Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) Awards in New Delhi. The awards were given in recognition of performance excellence and their contribution to the economy.
65. Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the National Super Computing Mission. The mission aims at bringing the High Performance Computing (HPC) facilities within the reach of the scientific community by augmenting indigenous supercomputing infrastructure.
66. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI) platform. PRAGATI is a multi-purpose and multi-modal platform aimed at addressing grievances of common man. PRAGATI aims at simultaneously monitoring and reviewing Union Government programmes and projects as well as projects flagged by State Governments.
67. The Union Minister of Communications & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad felicitated the winners of the 2014 Web Ratna Awards. This was the third Web Ratna Awards that were given away at a ceremony held at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
68. India and Qatar signed six agreements to increase commercial and economic exchanges between India and Qatar. The deals have a special focus on the Make in India initiative.
69. The Supreme Court of India stayed the decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) to quash the Army’s promotion policy for the rank of Colonel from January 2009. The 2009 promotion policy of Army is based on Command Exit Model (CEM).
70. The Union Ministry of Finance sanctioned 250 crore rupees to Andhra Pradesh to set up Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the implementation of the Polavaram Multi Purpose Irrigation Project. This amount is in addition to 100 crore rupees allotted for the project in the 2015-16 Union Budget.
71. The Union Ministry of Finance and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a loan agreement for 300 million US dollars to improve road connectivity along the North Bengal-North Eastern (NB-NE) Region. The agreement was signed in New Delhi.
72. The Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal launched the e-CPMP (Electronic Coal Projects Monitoring Portal) for tracking projects that entail an investment related to coal. The portal has been developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). It is an institutional mechanism to automate the entire tracking of issues related to stalled projects from submission of a new project to commissioning on time.
73. Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated a land customs station at the Indo-Myanmar border trade centre at Zokhawthar in Champhai district of Mizoram.
74. Delhi High Court (HC) became the first court in India to set up dedicated commercial courts within it to ensure speedy disposal of cases.
75. The Union Minister of State for Textile Santosh Kumar Gangwar announced a 430 crore rupees project for production of the Geo-textiles in the North Eastern region.
76. Union Ministry of Railways has constituted a Committee to review the existing Public Private Partnership (PPP) Cell in the Railway Board with former IAS officer Ajay Shankar as its head.
77. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi have been named among the 50 greatest leaders in the world by Fortune magazine in its annual list of “extraordinary” men and women transforming business, government and philanthropy.
International:
1. China recently launched 79.8 billion US dollars Silk Road Infrastructure Project to facilitate trade and tourism between China and Central Asian Countries.
2. Bill Gates is titled as the World’s Richest Person in 2015.
3. Cristy Walton is the highest ranked woman in Forbes 2015 Billionaire’s List.
4. Evan Spiegel is the World’s Youngest Billionaire.
5. Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba won Mo Ibrahim prize for African leadership 2014.
6. International Women’s Day 2015 observed on 8th March 2015 with theme ‘Make it Happen’.
7. Nimrud city in Iraq is now acquired by ISIS.
8. Kumar P. Barve, the first Indian- American to be elected to a US state legislature, has decided to run for the US Congress in the 2016 elections.
9. Pakistan successfully test-fires nuclear capable Shaheen-III ballistic missile.
10. Infosys opens new 250-seater BPO in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
11. Google CFO Patrick Pichette announced his retirement.
12. US President Barack Obama nominated David Hale as Ambassador to Pakistan.
13. Indian-American Kumar P Barve decided to run for US Congress in 2016 elections.
14. Three Indian-Americans – Saran Prembabu, Shashwat Kishore and Anvita Gupta win medals at “Intel science competition”.
15. Sir Terry Pratchett has passed away on 12th March, 2015. He famous renowned fantasy author and creator of the Discworld series.
16. Benjamin Netanyahu is the new Prime Minister of Israel. He sworn in as PM for the 3rd consecutive times.
17. Powerful cyclone Pam hit the south Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. The cyclone Pam, a category five tropical storm, brought destructive 270 kilometre-per-hour winds and torrential rain along with it.
18. Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan becomes President of Britain’s Royal Society.
19. Air Marshal Sohail Aman appointed as Chief of Pakistan Air Force.
20. An Indian-origin scientist, Anurag Mathur, with the University of California at Berkeley was involved in growing a viable, pulsating heart on a microchip to improve drug screening.
21. The World Sparrow Day was observed globally on 20 March 2015 with the theme I Love Sparrows. The theme has been inspired by the hope that more and more of us will celebrate the relationship between People and Sparrows.
22. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser died on 20 March 2015 due to a brief illness. He was 84. He was the 22nd Prime Minister of Australia and the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1975 to 1983.
22. Sarath Fonseka becomes Sri Lanka’s first field marshal.
23. World Water Day (WWD) 2015 was globally observed on 22 March 2015 with the theme Water and Sustainable Development. The theme for the WWD 2015 talks about how water links to all areas we need to consider creating the future we want.
24. Lee Kuan Yew, the statesman and founding father of Singapore died at the Singapore General Hospital. He was 91.
25. Katherine Viner has been appointed as editor-in-chief of The Guardian newspaper. She will be 12th editor-in-chief and the first woman to run the newspaper in its 194-year history. Viner will succeed Alan Rusbridger who is stepping down after 20 years and taking over as Chair of the Scott Trust which owns the Guardian.
26. Germanwings Airbus A320 plane crashes in French Alps, all 148 on board feared dead. The plane was travelling from the Spanish coastal city of Barcelona to the German city of Duesseldorf when it went down in the Barcelonnette area in southeastern France.
27. New York University (NYU) announced Prison Education Programme (PEP) to Educate US Prisoners. Indian-American New York University (NYU) Professor Nikhil Pal Singh will heads programme. The programme is a new initiative of New York University to bring college education to the inmates of a medium-security prison in New York State.
28. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore (NUS) to improve India’s rating on ease of doing business. The MoU aimed to enhance the ease of doing business and bring the rating of India amongst the top 50 countries from the present 142nd slot as per World Bank Report.
29. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) who released Trends in International Arms Transfers 2014 report, India is the world’s largest importer of weapons and military equipment, accounting for 15 percent of global imports, with Russia being its majority supplier.
30. The United States (US) President Barack Obama agreed to slow the US military pullout from the war-torn Afghanistan, to keep 9800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015.
31. Scientists at Australian National University (ANU) found the world’s largest asteroid impact zone in the Warburton Basin of central Australia. The findings were published in the March 2015 issue of Journal Tectonophysics. Dr. Andrew Glikson from the Australian National University (ANU) School of Archaeology and Anthropology was the lead author of the study.
32. Flight 4U 9525 of Germanwings Airbus A320, the budget carrier airline of Germany’s Lufthansa, crashed in the French Alps between Digne and Barcelonnette with 150 people on board.
33. China announced to shut down the last major coal-fired 845 megawatt (MW) power plant China Huaneng Group in Beijing by 2016. The aim of shutting down the plant is to cut pollution and replace it with gas-fired power plants.
34. Saudi Arabia launched a military operation including airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthi rebels, who drove out the Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. It launched the operation in coalition with nine other countries of the region.
35. Researchers at York University of Britain provided experimental evidence that stars may generate sound. The findings were published Physical Review Letters in March 2015. The research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Researchers employed Hydrodynamics, which studies fluids in motion, to make the discovery. The technique used to observe the sound waves in the laboratory were similar to speed cameras deployed by polices.
36. 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. The award was presented by WIP Global Forum at annual summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Appointment:
1. Manoj Bhatt is appointed as the DGP of Rajasthan.
2. Kewal K Sharma is appointed as Delhi Chief Secretary.
3. Baldev Sharma has been appointed as chairman of National Book Trust, he replaced A. Sethumadhavan.
4. Jagmohan Dalmiya is elected as the new President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
5. Anurag Thakur is appointed as the secretary of BCCI.
6. An independent Indian-American investor – Sunil Sabharwal is again re-nominated by US President Barack Obama, to a key administration post as Alternate Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
7. Ashwin Mittal is the new CFO of Walmart India.
8. Harish Manwani is appointed as the Global Executive Advisor of Blackstone Group.
9. Union Government appointed Nine Executive Directors in Public Sector Banks.
List of appointments:
• Charan Singh – Executive Director of UCO Bank
• K Venkata Rama Moorthy –Executive Director of Bank of Baroda
• RP Marathe – Executive Director of Bank of India
• Harideesh Kumar B – Executive Director, Canara Bank
• NK Sahoo – Executive Director of Allahabad Bank
• Pawan Kumar Bajaj – Executive Director of Indian Overseas Bank
• Ravi Shankar Pandey – Executive Director of Syndicate Bank
• Kishore Piraji Kharat – Executive Director of Union Bank of India
• RC Lodha – Executive Director of Central Bank of India
10. Blackstone appointed former COO of Unilever Harish Manwani as Global Executive Adviser.
11. Congress legislator and deputy speaker N Shakthan was elected as the new speaker of the Kerala Assembly.
12. TCS appoints Aarthi Subramanian as Executive Director.
13. Dileep K. Nair has been appointed as the first chancellor of North East Frontier Technical University (NEFTU) at Aalo in West Siang district.
14. Abid Ali Neemuchwala is appointed as the first COO of Wipro.
15. Nancie Atwell, a rural Maine teacher is the winner of $1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai.
16. Ashu Suyash appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of CRISIL (Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited).
17. Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President N Ramachandran appointed as a vice-chairman of the International Relations Commission of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC).
18. HTC replaces CEO Peter Chou with Cher Wang.
19. India’s one of the top 10 largest Industry’s owner Ratan Tata to head a new innovative council of Indian Railways, called ‘Kaya Kalp’.
20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is designated as the new chancellor of Visva Bharati University.
21. Wipro has appointed the IBM and TCS veteran Natarajan Srinivasan as its global head of SAP.
22. Renault Nissan Automotive India (RNAIPL) appointed Colin Macdonald as Managing Director (MD).
23. Wipro has appointed Rajan Kohli, senior vice president and global head of banking and financial services, as the head of its newly carved out business unit Wipro Digital.
24. Diplomat Vikas Swarup was appointed as an official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Swarup, a 1986 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, is also author of bestseller debut novel Q&A, on which the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire was based.
25. 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.
26. Vikramjit Singh Oberoi was appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of the EIH Limited which runs the Oberoi hotels under the aegis of The Oberoi Group.
27. Ruth Porat has been appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of world’s largest search engine giant Google. 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.
28. Online food ordering platform Foodpanda has appointed Saurabh Kochhar, personalised printing startup Printvenue’s founder, as its India CEO and chief business officer for the company’s global operations.
29. Wipro’s former banking products and solutions head Balasubramanian Ganesh has joined UK-based bank HSBC Holdings Plc as deputy global chief information officer (CIO).
30. Katsushi Inoue appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL). He will take charge on 1 April 2015. He will succeed Hironori Kanayama. Hironori Kanayama is due to retire on 1 April 2015.
Economics:
1. RBI cuts repo rate by 25 basis points from 7.75% to 7.5%.
2. Union Government and RBI sign agreement: Union Government and RBI sign agreement to keep inflation below 6%. 4 per cent for financial year and all subsequent years with band of +/- 2 percent.
3. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, a company from India recently acquired GlaxoSmithKline’s opiates business in Australia.
4. Lok Sabha clears insurance bill to raise FDI ceiling to 49%. The earlier limit was 26%.
5. One rupee notes will be printed and issues by RBI after a gap of 2 decades.
6. IT firm Tech Mahindra inaugurated its sales office in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi to expand its operations in the country where it plans to increase the headcount to 100 in the next 2-3 years.
7. Tata will acquire 25% stake in One97 Communications, Paytm’s parent firm.
8. ITC is going to hike the Cigarette Price in India upto 15%.
9. Reserve Bank of India and Sri Lankan Central Bank agrees for a $1.5 billion currency swap agreement.
10. Japan and France agrees on arms transfer deal.
11. The new financial year will begin with a new set ofcharges and higher penalties for customers of private banks. Most large private banks including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank have announced a hike in charges ahead of the new rules kicking in for penalty on non-maintenance of minimum average balance in savings accounts.
12. Shastri is a member on the board of this little-known mining company, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
13. India’s exports grew marginally by 0.88% to $286.58 billion during the April-February period of the current fiscal.
14. IndiGo set to launch Rs 2,500 crore IPO.
15. India’s third largest software exporter Wipro has picked up a minority stake in US-based cloud solutions startup Drivestream Inc for $5 million — its first venture investment in a startup after it launched a $100-million corporate venture last year.
16. HDFC Bank launched a mobile application Chillr that allows customers to instantly transfer money to any person in India. Chillr is a first-of-its kind application that is linked directly to customers’ bank accounts and is exclusively for customers of HDFC Bank.
17. Mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles started in Ganjam district of Odisha.
18. Tropical grass Darbha identified as an eco-friendly food preservative by SASTRA University.
19. Online marketplace Amazon has launched a designer clothing store. It has partnered with the “Fashion Design Council of India” (FDCI) to pick talent from fashion schools, as well as established designers to sell on the portal.
20. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its nod to extend the PDS Kerosene and Domestic LPG Subsidy Scheme 2002 for a period of one year that is up to 31 March 2015.
21. India has become the third-largest steel producer in the world by overtaking United States (US) in first two months of year 2015. It was revealed in the Data compiled by World Steel Association (WSA).
22. The capital market regulator, Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Board approved SEBI (International Financial Services Centres) Guidelines, 2015. The guidelines for IFSCs aim to provide an enabling environment for setting up of capital market infrastructure like stock exchanges, clearing houses, depository services, etc., in such centres.
23. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed a 400 million US dollar currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The agreement is valid for a period of three years from the date of signing.
24. TC Goyal, the Managing Director realty major DLF Limited, will retire on 31st March 2015. This was informed by the company in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
25. American auto major Ford aims to triple exports from India over the next five years with its new USD 1 billion plant here becoming operational. The plant, the company’s second in the country, which was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, will also double its production capacity in India.
26. Honda Cars India announced an investment of Rs 380 crore on its second plant at Tapukara in Rajasthan to expand production capacity.
Sports:
1. Roger Federer won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2015. He defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia by 6-3, 7-5.
2. Rafael Nadal won Argentina Open 2015. He defeated Juan Monaco of Argentina by 6-4, 6-1.
3. Roger Federer won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2015. He defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia by 6-3, 7-5.
4. Mary Com will retire after Rio Olympics Games 2016.
5. Carolina Marin Martin of Spain won Women’s Singles Title in All England Open Badminton Championships 2015. She defeated India’s Saina Nehwal by score of 14-21, 21-16, 21-7.
6. 1998 Asian Games gold-medallist Dingko Singh on 10 March 2015 was included in National Boxing Selection panel. Currently, Dingko Singh is working as a coach at the Imphal centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
7. United Arab Emirates (UAE) won the bid to host AFC Asian Cup 2019.
8. Karnataka won the Ranji Trophy (Cricket) in season 2014-15 by defeating Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
9. Kidambi Srikanth is the winner of Swiss Open Grand Prix Gold title of Badminton.
10. “Services” is the winner of 69th Santosh Trophy Football Title 2014-15.
11. India won the FIH Women’s Hockey World League Round Two competition title.
12. Lewis Hamilton of Britain won Australian Grand Prix of Formula One. This was the first Australian Grand Prix win for Lewis Hamilton since 2008 and overall it was his 34th Grand Prix.
13. Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) on 14 March 2015 announced to appoint Olympic Bronze medallist boxer MC Mary Kom as the brand ambassador of the North-East region.
14. Veteran cricketers of Sri Lanka Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara retired from the One Day International (ODI) format of Cricket.
15. India will host the 7th Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) in 2016. This was announced by Home Minister of India Rajnath Singh at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held in Sendai, Japan.
16. Winners of 2015 Indian Wells Open Tennis Titles (BNP Paribas Open):
Men’s Singles Title: Serbia’s Novak Djokovic has won the Indian Wells Open Tennis Men’s Singles Title by defeating Switzerland’s Roger Federer by 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-2. With this win Djokovic won his fourth Indian Wells Open title and overall 50th tour-level title.
Women’s Singles Title: Romania’s Simona Halep has won the Indian Wells Open Tennis Women’s Singles Title by defeating Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic by 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 score . It was Halep’s third WTA titles in 2015 apart from Shenzhen Open and Dubai Open.
Women’s Double Title: Sania Mirza (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) pair have won Indian Wells Open Tennis Women’s Doubles Title by defeating Russian pair Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina by 6-3, 6-4 score. It was Sania Mirza’s second title of the season 2015 and 24th overall.
Men’s Double Title: Vasek Pospisil (Canada) and Jack Sock (US) pair have won the won Indian Wells Open Tennis Men’s Doubles Title by defeating Italian pair Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini 6–4, 6–7 (3), 10–7.
17. Shivani Cherukuri of Andhra Pradesh entered the India Book of Records. She entered the list of records by scoring 388 points in the recurve segment in two distances, seven and five meters, at the Volga Archery Academy in Vijayawada. At the time of entering the India Book of Records, she was nine days less than three years.
18. ICC Cricket World Cup 2015:
Winner: Australia
Runners-up: New Zealand
Man of the Series: Mitchell Starc of Australia for his 22 wickets he took in 8 matches.
Australia on 29 March 2015 won the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. In the final, Australia defeated New Zealand by 7 wickets at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Australia. New Zealand batting first was bowled out at a score of 183 in 45 over and in reply to the target Australia scored 186 at the loss of 3 wickets in 33.1 over. With this, Australia won the prize money of 3975000 US dollars while New Zealand as Runners-up won 1750000 US dollars as prize money. James Faulkner (Australia) was named “Man of the Match”.
This was the second time when the Cricket World Cup was held in Australia and New Zealand, with the first being the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Sachin Tendulkar was named as the 2015 Cricket World Cup Ambassador by the ICC for the second time, after 2011 Cricket World Cup where he was the ambassador.
Full form of ICC: International Cricket Council
Motto: Great Sport Great Spirit
Formation: 15 June 1909
Headquarters: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
ICC President: Mustafa Kamal (Bangladesh)
ICC CEO: David Richardson (South Africa)
ICC Chairman: N. Srinivasan (India)
Some stats about ICC Cricket World Cup 2015:
Batting:
Highest run Scorer in the tournament: Martin Guptill of New Zealand – 547 runs
Highest individual score in the tournament: Martin Guptill of New Zealand – 237* against West Indies in quarter final.
Best batting strike rate in the tournament: Brendon McCullum of New Zealand – 188.50
Best batting average in the tournament: Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka – 108.20
Most individual centuries in the tournament: Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka – 4 centuries
Most individual fifties in the tournament: Steve Smith of Australia – 4 fifties
Most sixes in the tournament by a player: Chris Gayle of West Indies – 26 sixes
Most fours in the tournament by a player: Martin Guptill – 59 fours
Bowling:
Highest wicket taker in the tournament: Mitchell Starc of Australia – 22 wickets
Best bowling figures in the tournament: Tim Southee of New Zealand – 33 for 7
Best Economy: Michael Clarke – 2.80
Best Bowling Average in the tournament: Mitchell Starc of Australia – 10.18
Most maiden bowled by a player in the tournament: Trent Boult – 14 maidens
Some more facts about ICC Cricket World Cup 2015:
a) Official theme of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: “Greatness is Contagious“
b) The 2015 World Cup of Cricket was held between 14 February and 29 March 2015 at 14 venues in Australia and New Zealand. 14 teams participated in the league matches of the tournament.
c) These teams were: Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Australia, Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies, England, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Afghanistan, Scotland, Ireland and Zimbabwe.
d) Quarter-finals
• QF 1: South Africa beat Sri Lanka
• QF 2: India beat Bangladesh
• QF 3: New Zealand beat West Indies
• QF 4: Australia beat Pakistan
Semi-finals
• SF 1: New Zealand beat South Africa
• SF 2: Australia beat India
18. Australia recently broke India’s highest run record against Afghanistan in the ongoing ICC World Cup 2015.
19. Australia defeated Afghanistan by 275 runs which is the biggest winning margin in World Cup history.
20. Kumar Sangakkara becomes the first player in the history of Cricket World Cup to score 4 consecutive 100. He became 2nd cricketer in world to cross 14,000 ODI runs, after Sachin Tendulkar. He also recently announced retirement from Test Cricket.
21. Mahendra Singh Dhoni becomes the ‘First Indian Captain’ to register 100 ODI wins.
22. Martin Guptill scored unbeaten 237 runs from 163 balls against West Indies, which the highest individual score in Cricket World Cup history. The previous highest was Chris Gayle’s 215 runs.
23. Pakistani cricketers Misbah-ul-Haq, Shaid Afridi, Sri Lankan cricketers Kumar Sangakkara & Mahela Jayawardene retired from ODI cricket.
24. Four teams that reached semifinal stage of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 are: South Africa, New Zealand, India & Australia.
Awards & Recognition:
1. Famous kathak dancer Birju Maharaj has been awarded with Ustad Chand Khan Lifetime Achievement Award for taking forward the legacy of Kalka-Bindadin Gharana of Lucknow.
Awardees of Stree Shakti Puraskar 2014 are:
Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award: Sister Mariola (Rajasthan)
Rani Lakshmibai Award: Seema Prakash (Madhya Pradesh)
Rani Rudramma Devi Award: Astha Sansthan- NGO (Rajasthan)
Mata Jijabai Award: Chandraprabha Bokey (Maharashtra)
Kannagi Award: P. Bhanumati (Kerala)
Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Award: Anay Rahit Zindagi- NGO (Goa).
About Stree Shakti Puraskar Awards: To recognize the spirit of courage in women in difficult circumstances, who have established the spirit of courage in their personal or professional life.
2. Former Union Minister and senior Congress leader M. Veerappa Moily has selected for Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his Kannada poem “Ramayana Mahanveshanam”.
3. Kerala won the silver prize of Golden Gate award for promoting the backwaters of Kerala.
4. Ganasen Reddy is awarded with KwaZulu-Natal 2015 National Teachers Awards held in Johannesburg.
5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is CNN-IBN’s Indian of the Year 2014 and the ISRO team won the Lifetime Achievement Award. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji and Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi won the Indian of the Year for outstanding achievement.
Here is the complete list of winners:
CNN-IBN Indian of the Year: Narendra Modi
Lifetime Achievement Award: ISRO team
Outstanding Achievement Award: Azim Premji, Kailash Satyarthi
Special Achievement Award: Kangana Ranaut
Popular Choice Award: K Chandrasekhar Rao, P Vijayan
Sports: Jitu Rai
Business: N Chandrasekaran
Entertainment: Chetan Bhagat
Public Service: Tongam Rina
Politics: Arun Jaitley
Global Indian: Satya Nadella
6. Shiv Nadar, Chairman & Founder of HCL, won “Outstanding Philanthropist Award” by Forbes India.
7. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was roped in as the brand ambassador for Union Government’s campaign against Hepatitis B, a critical public problem in India.
8. Legendary Singer Lata Mangeshkar was presented with the Laadli Voice of the Century award. She was awarded at the sixth edition of the National Media and Advertising Awards for Gender Sensitivity held at Mumbai, Maharashtra.
9. The Union Government announced that Shashi Kapoor was selected for the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year 2014. The 77-year-old the veteran film actor and producer is the 46th Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner. The 2014 Dadasaheb Phalke award to Shashi Kapoor made him the third member of Kapoor family to receive the award after Prithviraj Kapoor and Raj Kapoor.
10. The 62nd National Film Awards were announced in a press conference in New Delhi. The conference was addressed by Jury Chairpersons Shri Bharathiraja and Shri Kamal Swaroop. Click here to view the complete list of “62nd National Film Awards” Winners.
11. Veteran poet Gopaldas Neeraj awarded inaugural National Kavi Pradeep Samman. He was presented the award by Madhya Pradesh Culture Minister Surendra Patwa at a function held in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He is among the renowned poets and authors in Hindi literature and also is a famous poet of Hindi Kavi Sammelan.
12. Novel titled Family Life written by Akhil Sharma won the Folio Prize for fiction for the year 2015. The author took 13 years to write this book. Family Life is an autobiographical story of an immigrant family floundering in America.
13. Mary Kom is named as the Brand Ambassador of North East.
Science & Technology:
1. The election commission of India recently launched a program for error free and authenticated electoral roll called National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Program (NERPAP).
2. Airtel and China Mobile tied up for evolving 4G and 5G technologies.
3. National Science Day is observed on 28th February 2015. On this day, Indian physicist Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman discovered the Raman Effect (phenomenon of scattering of photons). In 1930, he was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery and this was the first Nobel Prize for India in the field of Science.
4. ‘Go-India’ Smart Card scheme is issued by Indian Railways to ease out the ticketing Mechanism.
5. Solar Impulse is the World’s first solar-powered aircraft. It taked off from Abu Dhabi, UAE and Ahmedabad (Gujarat) on 10th March, 2015.
6. “Digital Gender Atlas for Advancing Girls Education” – a web based tool was launched by MoHRD for advancing girls education.
7. “Rotavac” is India’s first indigenously developed and manufactured Rotavirus vaccine.
8. “Pharma Jan Samadhan Scheme” – a web enabled system is launched by Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.
9. Delhi IGI’s Terminal 1D is the first Indian Airport Terminal which will have first body scanner.
10. China is world’s biggest Arms Exporter country in the world.
11. New Zealand’s Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd paid $553 million for 20% stake in China’s Beingmate Baby and Child Food Co Ltd, as it looks to boost its presence in the country’s branded dairy industry.
12. Twitter Samwad was launched by Union Government in association with social networking service Twitter that facilitates direct communication between leaders, government agencies and citizens. Through this, the government bodies can have a direct communication with citizens on a daily basis via Tweets and SMS on their mobile devices. The service was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his meet with Twitter Chief Executive Dick Costolo in New Delhi. The service is aimed to boost the nation’s e-governance plans.
13. Indian Railways launched its own RuPay pre-paid card. The card will enable passengers to book their Rail tickets and do shopping using RuPay pre-paid debit cards. Card can be availed from either the Union Bank or the IRCTC. The transaction charge will be 10 rupees per ticket for booking a ticket through the card on the IRCTC portal.
14. India’s first Polar Remotely Operated Vehicle (PROVe) was successfully operationalised for research in North Antarctica. PROVe has been indigenously built by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences.
15. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Curiosity rover found evidence of nitrogen on the surface of Mars. The discovery adds to the evidence that ancient Mars was habitable for life.
Mergers & Acquisition:
1. KPMG acquired by Indian arm of Spanish boutique advisory firm AF-Mercados.
2. DLF ties up with Snapdeal to sell flats online.
3. Aditya Birla Retail acquired Total hypermarket.
4. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba: To invest in Snapdeal & Snapchat.
5. Snapdeal in advance talks to buy Freecharge for Rs 2,800 crore.
6. Flipkart is close to making its third acquisition this year by buying mobile app marketing start-up DSYN Technologies Pvt. Ltd, as it seek to improve and expand its technology capabilities to capture a shift in customers’ shopping preference toward mobiles from desktop computers and laptops.
7. Facebook acquired which shopping search engine “TheFind”.