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of 34th March 2013

National:

Saroja Devi award presentedKannada actor S. Shivaram and director-actor K.S.L. Swamy were given the Padmabhushan Dr. B. SarojaDevi National Award.

Kashmiri film bags Canadian awardIn a major accolade for regional cinema, a Kashmiri feature film has won an award at the CanadaInternational Film Festival 2013, a first for any local movie. 'Partav' , meaning influence, won the Award of Excellence in the feature film category. It is the first Kashmiri film shot entirely in 35mm digital format. It is thestory of a professor who forsakes everything in his life to devote himself to his literary pursuits. DilnawazMuntazir Muntazir (35), the director of the film, has been invited to attend the award ceremony in Vancouver.

Indians deficient in Vitamin DDespite ample sunlight, people in India are deficient in Vitamin D which is leading to problems like weakerbones among the population. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has reported that surveyscarried out in India indicate that despite ample sunlight, people are deficient in Vitamin D. The prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency is in the range of 10 percent to 90 percent across all age groups. The synthesis of Vitamin D in the body is dependent on multiple factors like duration and time of exposure to sunlight, latitude,atmospheric pollution and skin pigmentation. The studies have also shown that the Vitamin D deficiency maybe associated with low bone mineral density, leading to weaker bones and fracture risk.

President releases stamp on Parachute Regiment's bicentenaryPresident Pranab Mukherjee has released a stamp to commemorate the bicentenary celebrations of Army's3 Para (Special Forces) unit. Mukherjee released a commemorative stamp on the occasion of bicentenarycelebrations of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) at a function at the RashtrapatiBhavan. Raised on March 8, 1813, the 3 Para (SF) is one of the first battalions of the Army which servedunder the United Nations flag from November 1956 to November 1957 as part of Indian contingent of theUnited Nations Emergency Force in Egypt and Gaza Strip. It took part in various operations before andduring World War I and during World War II it participated in operations in the Middle East and Burma. During

J ammu and Kashmir Operations, it took part in the famous battle of Shelatang on November 7, 1947. Thebattalion has been awarded with 4 Mahaveer Chakras, one Kirti Chakra, 15 Veer Chakras and five ShauryaChakras.

Chandigarh Shatabdi to have first Anubhuti coachChandigarh Shatabdi will be the first train to have “Anubhuti” coaches, the special AC luxury class proposedin this year’s rail budget, providing higher travel comfort to passengers. Railways will roll out 10 state-of-the-art AC coaches from Rae Bareli coach factory by October 2013. Anubhuti, the first of its kind modern LHBcoach with ergonomically designed cushioned seats, LCD screens, modular toilets and world class interiorsis estimated to cost about Rs.2.80 crore. Currently, it costs about Rs.2.5 crore for manufacturing an LHBcoach. While AC I Executive Class has 56 seats in Shatabdi, new design Anubhuti with automatic openingand closing of internal doors will have about 50 seats only. The first-ever locomotive fitted with AC in driver’scabin is estimated to cost Rs.12 crore and aims to provide relief to loco pilots on duty. Railways have

proposed to create such improved cabins in all the locos in a phased manner.

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International:

China's BeiDou navigation system to get full global coverage by 2020In a stiff challenge to America's Global Positioning System, China has said that its home-grown navigationsystem 'BeiDou' will be achieving full-scale global coverage by around 2020. The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) will then be able to provide highly accurate and reliablepositioning, navigation and timing service with the aid of a constellation of 35 satellites, said Ye Peijian, chief commander of Chang'e-3, China's lunar probe mission. China started to build up its own space-basedPositioning, Navigation and Timing system in 2000 by launching the first satellite for an experimental versionof the BeiDou. BeiDou has since started providing licensed services for China's government and militaryusers in transport, weather forecasts, fishing, forestry, telecommunications, hydrological monitoring andmapping. However, it is estimated that more than 95 per cent of navigation terminals sold in China are GPSterminals.

Iran building 3,000 advanced uranium-enrichment centrifugesIran is building about 3,000 advanced uranium-enrichment centrifuges, in a development likely to add toWestern concerns about the Islamic state's disputed nuclear programme. Iran announced earlier that it wouldinstall the new-generation centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment plant. The International AtomicEnergy Agency ( IAEA) said earlier that 180 so-called IR-2m centrifuges and empty centrifuge casings hadbeen put in place at the facility near the town of Natanz in central Iran.

Indian-origin scientist Subra Suresh named 9th president of Carnegie Mellon UniversityIndian-origin engineer and scientist, Subra Suresh, has become the ninth president of Carnegie MellonUniversity in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. Earlier, Suresh, who left India in 1977, was the director of theNational Science Foundation. He was the first Asia-born director of the NSF, which was created by Congressin 1950 with the primary goal of promoting science. Suresh was nominated for the NSF directorship in 2010by US President Barack Obama.He will succeed J ared L. Cohon, who has been president of Carnegie Mellon, a global research universitywith more than 12,000 students, for 16 years.

Business & Economy:HDFC Bank raises $500 mn in overseas bond sale at 3% couponHDFC Bank, the second largest private sector lender whose shares command the highest premium in themarket across the world, has successfully sold a USD 500-million five-year bond at 3 per cent coupon. TheUSD 500-million unsecured senior bond issue, which saw 10-times demand or USD 5 billion, over the issuesize, is part of HDFC Bank's USD 1-billion overseas bond sale (medium term note). The money was raisedthrough its Bahrain branch. At 3 per cent coupon makes it the lowest for the bank ever and also the cheapestthis fiscal.

PFRDA opposed to pension funds in inf rastructure sector Even as the Union Budget 2013-14 may have proposed to permit insurance companies, pension and

provident funds to trade directly in debt funds, the interim pension regulator PFRDA has shot down aproposal of a high level panel to invest more retirement funds in infrastructure, which needs over Rs13,00,000 crore during the 12th Plan period. A high level committee on financing infrastructure headed byHDFC Bank chairman Deepak Parekh had observed that given the power sector's need for an estimatedinvestment of Rs 13,72,580 crore, the panel should actively explore various funding options to optimiseraising of resources. But Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) chairman YogeshAgarwal opposed Parekh's suggestion.

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India ranks 28th in women representation on cos boardsWomen account for nearly 40 percent of the total workforce of India Inc, but their presence is less than sevenpercent when it comes to board-level positions. India is ranked at 28th in terms of the presence of womendirectors in, a slight improvement from 30th position of 2013, according to Women On Board 2013. Theranking is better than that of a few major countries like J apan. The survey was conducted on more than1,400 companies in India and it found that the women constituted just 6.81 percent of the total number of board members in 2013. The female presence on company boards is highest in Norway (37.23 percent),followed by Sweden (27 percent), Finland (24 percent), South Africa (17.31 percent) and the US (16.67percent). The countries having lower women representation on company boards include Italy (4.23 percent)and Japan (1.26 percent),

Sport:

Nadal rou ts Ferrer to win Mexican OpenRafael Nadal destroyed David Ferrer to win the Mexican Open, losing just two games as he claimed hissecond title in three events since returning from a lengthy injury lay-off. The former world number one, whohas never lost to a fellow Spaniard in a final, kept his perfect record intact by routing reigning three-timechampion Ferrer 6-0, 6-2 to win his 38th clay court title. Nadal has won 12 of his 13 matches, finishing asrunner-up in Vina del Mar, Chile, before triumphing in Sao Paulo in J anuary 2013.In the women's final, Italian top seed Sara Errani breezed past second seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain6-0, 6-4.

Delhi lifts Vijay Hazare TrophyDelhi ended Assam’s dream run with a 75-run win in the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Visakhapatnam,Andhra Pradesh.

Kipru to wins Biwa marathonKenya’s Vincent Kipruto emerged victorious in a shoulder-to-shoulder battle against Tariku J ufar of Ethiopiain the last 200 metres to win the Lake Biwa marathon in Otsu (J apan).

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