MARCH 12 CURRENT AFFAIRS BY

UMMEA SALMA

Govt sets up a committee on Kisan Rail to finalize its modalities

• The committee has been formed under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, consisting of representatives from Ministry of Railways also, to work out the modalities of ‘Kisan Rail’. During the FY2020-21 budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to set up Kisan Rail through the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode for a cold supply chain to transport perishable goods.

• Initiatives taken for transportation of perishable items are as follows:

• -To transport perishable parcel traffic, newly designed Refrigerated Parcel Vans were procured through RCF (Rail Coach Factory), Kapurthala, Punjab.

• -For the movement of fruits and vegetables to different parts of the country, a total of 98 Ventilated Insulated Containers have been procured, through Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR).

• -At New Azadpur in Adarsh Nagar, Delhi, Ghazipur Ghat and Uttar Pradesh’s Raja ka Talab, temperature-controlled perishable cargo centres have been commissioned as a pilot project under the Kisan Vision Project by CONCOR, a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative.

• -A similar project is also being developed at Lasalgaon, Nasik in Maharashtra. Also, approval has been granted to CRWC (Central Railside Warehouse Company) to develop temperature controlled storages at Mancheswar and Fatuha.

• -In Sonepat, Fresh & Healthy Enterprise Limited has been redeveloped as Agriculture Logistic Center.

Hola Mohalla’ festival celebrated at Sri Anandpur Sahib in Punjab

• On March 10, 2020 ‘Hola Mohalla’ is the annual Sikh festival celebrated on the following day of the festival Holi at Sri Anandpur Sahib, Punjab. The festival will be celebrated for 3 days from March 10 to 12, 2020. The festival aims to physically strengthen Sikh community by holding acrobatic military exercises and mock battles.Key Points:i.Hola Mohalla: The festival holds an annual fair which was initiated by Guru Gobind Singh ji, the 10th sikh guru.ii.In this festival, the Sikh community performs wrestling, mock sword fights, turban tying, bareback horse-riding, standing erect on two speeding horses, tent pigging etc., which is then followed by the music and poetry competition.iii.On the third day of the celebration a long procession will be led by Panj Pyaras (collective name given to 5 Sikh men), which starts from Takth Keshgarh Sahib & passes through various important gurudwaras like Quila Anandgarh, Lohgarh Sahib, Mata Jito Ji and ends at the Takht.

Week Long 1st “Ekam Fest” held in New Delhi; inauguartedby Thaawarchand Gehlot; 3 intiatives launched for PwDs

• A week long Exhibition-cum-Fair, the first “EKAM Fest” organized by National Handicapped Finance Development Corporation(NHFDC) under Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment held in Emporia Complex, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi-1 from 2nd March to 9th March 2020.It was inaugurated by Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot.

• EKAM, an acronym for Entrepreneurship, Knowledge, Awareness, Marketing, was aimed to showcase products made with extra ordinary determination by the divyang (differently-abled) crafts persons and entrepreneurs.

• 82 Divyang artisans and entrepreneurs from 17 States/ UTs showcased their products. They include 44 Men and 38 Women Divyang artisans and entrepreneurs.

HAL set to build logistics base in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka for the purpose of selling aircraft

On March 9, 2020, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL),an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company, is exploring possibilities to build a logistics base in 4 countries (Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Sri Lanka) as part of its efforts to entice those nations to buy Tejas and light helicopters manufactured in India.Key Points:i.HAL chose these countries because they use many military aircraft and helicopters of Russian

origin, which have “very poor” service capacity.ii.It is noteworthy that the Indian Air Force (IAF) has already placed an order to make 40 Tejas,

which has a high lifespan of 30 years& is developed by Aeronautical Development Agency & HAL.It is going to make an agreement soon in this regard. Under this, HAL has got orders to build 83 more aircraft for Rs 38,000 crore very soon.iii.Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2020 set an ambitious target of $5 billion for

defense exports over the next five years and asked all military manufacturers to work hard to achieve this goal.iv.In line with the Indian government’s priorities, HAL is now focusing on promoting exports

and identified South East Asia, West Asia and North Africa to sell key platforms such as Tejas, Rudra-Attack Helicopters and advanced light helicopter Dhruv.v.It will also help India achieve its Defence target of Rs 35,000 crores by 2024. Currently India

is exporting Defence products of worth Rs 17,000 crores.

India 2nd largest arms importer in 2015-19, Saudi Arabia tops; US largest exporter of arms while India at 23rd: SIPRI Report

• In accordance with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) annual report titled “Trends in international arms transfers, 2019”, India is the world’s second largest arms importer during 2015-19 with its global share of 9.2% after Saudi Arabia, who has topped the ranking with global share of 12%. On the other hand, India ranked 23rd in terms of world’s largest arms exporters with global share of 0.2% and its main clients being Myanmar (46%), Sri Lanka (25%), and Mauritius (14%). United States (US) topped the list in this section with a share of 36%.

• On the global front, the volume of international transfers of major arms in 2015–19 has increased by 5% as compared to 2010–14.

• Largest Suppliers of arms to India: Russia is largest supplier of arms to India; however, share of weapons purchased has declined from 72% to 56% during 2015-19, which accounted 25% of total Russian arms exports. Contrarily, Israel and France’s share increased, by 175% and 715% respectively, which have become second and third largest suppliers to India during 2015-19.

• It should be noted that India’s arms import declined by 32% since 2015 due to “Make in India” initiative.

India is positioned 2nd, US tops as most promising source of disruptive technologies : KPMG 2020

• On March 11, 2020 Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG)’s global Technology(Tech) industry innovation survey ranked India in 2nd position which is shared with China as the most promising country for developing globally impactful disruptive technologies. The United States (US) topped the survey.

• According to the survey findings, India dropped a rank last year, but now it is tied up to China in the 2nd position.

• The Potential innovation is faced reversely by China & US policies encouraging more tech professionals to return or remain in India, this is suitable for future innovation in India.

• This is further increased by urbanization & younger demographic trends moving in the right direction, this is further compounded by the increase in the venture capital of India over the last 2 years.

Jack Ma overtakes Mukesh Ambani & becomes Asia’s richest man with networth of $44.8 billion:Bloomberg Billionaires Index

• On March 10, 2020, as per Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Founder Jack Ma has grabbed the title of Asia’s richest man with a net worth at $44.8 billion from Mukesh Ambani, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Reliance Industries. The latter’s share has dropped by $5.8 billion to $41.8 billion due to coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic which led to collapse in oil markets.

• Mukesh Ambani continues to be India’s richest man and globally he is ranked at number 19 and Jack Ma at 18th.

• On March 9, 2020, Reliance Industries faced its biggest single-day fall in at least 10 years, which hit an intra-day low of 1,096.65. RIL’s market-cap is down from ₹10-lakh crore to ₹7,36,559.49 crore.

• Amazon CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Jeff Bezos continues to be the world’s richest man even though he lost $5.6 billion.

Google India unveils women skill development programme‘DigiPivot’ in association with Avtar & ISB

• On March 7, 2020, Google India has launched a skilling programme for women called ‘DigiPivot’, where the woman who wishes to return to their company careers after a break or just planning to make mid-career shifts to digital advertising and marketing.The programme will end on August 28,2020 with a day-long graduation occasion on the Google Hyderabad (Telangana) Campus.Key Points:i.The skilling programme has been developed jointly in partnership with a career portal service for women–Avtar & the Indian School of Business (ISB) with the aim to help the general gender mix within the digital advertising and marketing panorama in India and can offer an opportunity for 200 girls professionals to re-skill themselves.ii.Woman who’re at present working and those that are ready to return to the workforce with 4-10 years of expertise in consulting, analytics, branding and sales and support are eligible to attend this programme.iii.The selected woman will undergo a curated 18-week studying program and engagement (each offline & on-line) that aims to empower them with digital advertising and marketing data and instruments in addition to mentorship on strategic management abilities.

India’s 2019 thermal coal imports rose 12.6% to 197.84 million tonnes; coking coal import declined: Govt Data

• In accordance with the government data, in 2019, India’s thermal coal imports rose 12.6% to 197.84 million tonnes stating a consecutive 2nd year growth despite attempts to cut imports. Thermal coal is mainly used for power generation. Importantly, India is world’s largest consumer, importer and producer of the fuel where coal is among the top five commodities imported.

• Imports of coking coal, which is used mainly in the manufacturing of steel – fell marginally to 51.33 million tonnes from 51.63 million tonnes in 2018.

• As per govt data, Indonesia accounted around 60% of India’s thermal coal imports in the April-December, 2019 period while South Africa accounted for 22% and Russia and Australia accounting for over 5% each.

TCIL signs MoU with The Gambia for MEA’s eVBABNetwork Project

• On march 9, 2020, Telecommunications consultants India Limited (TCIL) under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Gambia. This MoU is signed for the participation in MEA’s (eVBAB) e-VidyaBharati and e-ArogyaBharati Network Project for tele-medicine and tele-education in Africa.

• It is signed by the High commissioner of Gambia, Jainaba Jagne to the Director-Technical at the TCIL, Kamendra Kumar India at New Delhi.

• Gambia remains the 16th country to participate in this e-Network project.

Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya scales Mount Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest mountain peak

• On March 10, 2020 Indian Mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya hails from Madhya Pradesh (MP) has successfully scaled Mount Kosciuszko [2, 228 meters], the highest mountain peak in Australia on the occasion of Holi.Key Points:i.Dehariya had scaled Mount Kilimanjaro [5, 895 meters] on the occasion of Diwali in the year 2019 and also felt fortunate that she had celebrated 2 biggest festivals of India at the mountain peaks.ii.Dehariya also thanked MP Chief Minister (CM) Kamal Nath for supporting and motivating her to climb the summit.

PV Sindhu named as BBC Indian Sportswoman of the year 2019 and PT Usha won Lifetime Achievement Award

• On March 8, 2020 Pusarla Venkata Sindhu, 24 years old, won BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) Indian Sportswoman of the year award 2019 and former sprinter Pilavullakandi Thekkeparambil Usha was awarded with Lifetime Achievement award. The BBC award ceremony was held in New Delhi. Union Sports Minister Shri Kiren Rijiju was the guest of honour and Tony Hall, BBC Director General hosted the awards ceremony event.Key Points:i.Nominees of the award: PV Sindhu was selected from the shortlist of 5 players which includes Sprinter Dutee Chand, Boxer Mary Kom, Wrestler Vinesh Phogat and Para-badminton player Manasi Joshi. The award was selected through the public vote to celebrate female athletes across India.ii.Achievements of PV Sindhu: Sindhu was the first Indian to win badminton World Championship gold in Basel, Switzerland and has 5 World Championships medals.iii.She is the first Indian badminton player to win a Olympic silver medal. Sindhu, at the age of 17, entered top 20 of the World rankings and has been in the top 10 for the past 4 years.iv.About PT Usha: The Lifetime Achievement award was awarded for her contribution to Indian sports & inspiring generations of players.v.The Indian Olympics Association also named PT Usha as “Best Sportswoman of the Century” and she also won 100 international medals and awards during her career.

2019 Airport Service Quality awards- KempegowdaInternational Airport adjudged as Best Airport in 2019 ASQ Arrivals Award

• Annual Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards recognize and reward the best airports in the world according to ACI’s ‘ASQ Departure Survey’ and the ‘ASQ Arrivals Survey’. 34 key performance indicators under eight major categories were assessed during the survey & Indian Airports under the Airport Authority of India(AAI) have won many awards under Asia-Pacific region in “2019 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards”. The award is given by the Airports Council International (ACI).

• KeyPoints:

• i.The ACI-ASQ survey is conducted in 356 airports and the survey is monitored by AERA, NITI Aayog and MoCA.

• ii.Indian airports have been chosen as the best in the Asia Pacific Region for its size and region, environment and ambience by size, customer service by size and infrastructure and facilitation by size.

Dr Jaimanti Bakshi, PGI Professor won Best Citizens of India Gold medal Award

• On March 8, 2020 Dr Jaimanti Bakshi, Professor & Unit Head II, Department of Otolaryngology and Head Neck surgery at PGIMER (Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research), Chandigarh was awarded with “Best Citizens of India”. The award was given by “GEPRA” (Global Economic Progress and Research Association) during the National Unity conference held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN) .Key Points:i.Award Contribution: Dr Bakshi was awarded for her contribution and individual achievements towards the National Development by her services to the people suffering from many ENT (Ear Nose Throat) diseases, head and neck cancer.ii.GEPRA functions under Government of India (GOI).

Women scientists receive international exposure through Indo-U.S. Fellowship : WISTEMM

• Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India & Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum’s (IUSSTF) program, Indo-U.S. Fellowship for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics & Medicine (WISTEMM) provides international exposure to several women scientists.

• Gist about WISTEMM

• i.Aim- To provide opportunities to Indian Women Scientists, Engineers & Technologists to undertake international collaborative research in premier institutions in the United States of America(USA), so they could enhance their research capacities & capabilities.

• ii.Categories– It comprises 2 categories of women scientists namely; Module I – Women Overseas Student Internship for students pursuing PhD & Module II- Women Overseas Fellowship for PhD holder & also who is present in regular position at any recognized institution/laboratory in India.

• iii.Batch– The 1st batch of women scientists comprising 20 women has completed their visit to 20 leading institutions across the USA. A 2nd batch of 20 women is undergoing visits across premier institutions of the USA this year.

• iv.Age & Funds– For Module I the age bracket is 21 to 35 years & for Module II it is 27 to 45 years.The funding support includes stipend, airfare, health insurance, contingency & conference allowances.

ITBP chief SS Deswal given additional charge of BSF DG

• On March 10,2020, Director General Indo Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), Shri Surjeet Singh Deswal was given an additional charge by the Ministry of Home Affairs to serve as a Director General of Border Security Force(BSF). He will succeed Vivek johri repatriated by Government of India who has now taken over a charge as a Director General of Police at Madhya Pradesh.

• Shri Surjeet Singh Deswal an IPS officer 1984 – batch, Haryana. Vivek johri an IPS officer 1984 – batch, Madhya Pradesh. He is the first senior police officer who moved from Central Paramilitary Force to state.

PV Sindhu becomes the brand ambassador for anti-graft helpline

• Badminton world champion PV Sindhu is appointed as the brand ambassador for Andhra Pradesh government’s anti-graft helpline or anti-corruption helpline– 14400She has featured along with Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in a video titled ‘stop corruption’ which states people keep their eyes & ears open against corruption.Other ambassador Appointment:i.The Washington Apple Commission appoints Actor Disha Patani & celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor as brand ambassadors in India & the Commission launched a campaign called #WashingtonApplesKuchKhaasHai featuring its brand ambassadors. India is a key market for Washington apples.ii.Cricketer Harbhajan Singh becomes brand ambassador of Indian online leather accessory brand Brune & Bareskin as the company goes into offline retail with its first store in Jalandhar.

ARCI develops Fuel Cell Technology for Disaster Management

• On March 9, 2020 Scientist of International Advanced Research for Powder Metallurgy & New Materials (ARCI) an autonomous Research & Development(R&D) centre of Department of Science and Technology (DST), developed Fuel Cell Technology named as Polymer Electrolyte Membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) for Disaster Management.PEMFC AdvantageIt has operational capability even at low-temperatures with applications in decentralisedpower generation systems.About ARCITo avert future emergencies :i.It developed in-house PEMFC systems in the power range of 1 to 20 kiloWatt (kW) & demonstrated the same in stationary (1-20 kW) & transport applications (1,3,5 kW), at its Centre for Fuel Cell Technology, Chennai.ii.It has planned a natural disaster management measure, Emergency Operation Centres(EOC) which is backed with a 10 kW system along with fuel cell stack (providing sustainable electricity using hydrogen gas without the need of grid power), air moving sub systems, power control devices & control & monitoring system.iii.It also planned to set up a PEMFC system up to 10 kW capacity at Tamil Nadu State Emergency Operation Centre (TN SEOC) to operate the systems like early warning systems, VHF set, IP phone, BSNL Ethernet & office equipment like scanner, computers, printers, phone, FAX & normal requirements like lighting and fan.

Apurva Purohit, launched her 2nd book – ‘Lady, You’re the Boss!’

• On September 28, 2019 Apurva Purohit the President of the Jagran Group, one of India’s largest multi-media conglomerates launched her 2nd book- ‘Lady, You’re the Boss!’, which aims to address the challenges faced by women climbing the corporate ladder.It is published by Westland Publications (an Amazon company).Key Pointsi.The book is drawn from her personal experiences where she talks about how women minimise themselves, suffer from the imposter syndrome, & settle for less than they are capable of, because of feelings of inadequacy & a desire to feel needed and liked.ii.Her 1st book, ‘Lady, You’re Not a Man!: The Adventures Of A Woman At Work’ which turned out to be national best selling book & is published by Rupa Publications Private Limited.iii.The author is named as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business as per Fortune India in 2018 & 2019 & India Today Group 2016, 2018 & 2019, & also featured in Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women in Business list 2018 & 2019

51st CISF Raising Day is observed on March 10, 2020

• The CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) Raising Day is observed every year on 10th March under the Ministry of Home Affairs. The 51st CISF Raising Day is celebrated on March 10, 2020, for better protection and security throughout the country and to create awareness among the public regarding the role and functions of CISF.

• CISF provides security to all the government infrastructure projects all over the country.

• Central Industrial Security Force(CISF):CISF was established on 10th march 1969 under an Act of the Parliament of India with a Motto – Protection and Security. Its Headquarters is situated at New Delhi.