Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Quick Gyan (QG) Section of D2G. QG is just a glimpse of what happened today all over the world.
Only For Serious Candidates : We strongly recommend you to read the Current Affairs in detail. For your convenience, we have provided quick links under the updates. Make use of it.
Always Keep Yourself Updated!!!
APPOINTMENTS
Kangana Ranaut becomes Reebok India’s brand ambassador
The “Queen” of Bollywood Kangana Ranaut was announced as the brand ambassador of Reebok India. The actress also launched the new campaign of the brand titled “Be More Human”. The new campaign featuring Kangana has been released on the occasion of “International Women’s Day”. It aims to inspire women to become better versions of themselves, not just physically but also mentally and socially. It is a tribute to the modern day Indian woman, telling her that she is fit to rise above stereotypes and carve out her own destiny. In the new campaign, Kangana will be seen challenging herself with various fitness activities including functional training, dance, yoga, kick-boxing and others, thereby communicating the overarching brand message – ‘how fit you are defines how far you go’.
Quick Link – Kangana Ranaut as brand ambassador of Reebok India
IMPORTANT DAYS
World Kidney Day – March 10 in 2016
World Kidney Day is observed annually on the Second Thursday in March. World Kidney Day is a joint initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF). World Kidney Day is a global health awareness campaign focusing on the importance of the kidneys and reducing the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.
The theme for 2016 will focus on Kidney Disease & Children: Act Early to Prevent It.
Quick Link – World Kidney Day
INDIAN AFFAIRS
Parliament passes National Waterways Bill, 2015
Parliament has passed the National Waterways Bill, which provides for declaring certain inland waterways as national waterways with the Rajya Sabha giving its nod to the legislation. The bill, passed by Lok Sabha in December 2015, also repeals the five acts on the existing national waterways, which will not be covered under this bill. Under it, 106 additional inland waterways will be added to the list of national waterways, taking the number to 111. While inland waterways are recognised as a fuel efficient, cost effective and environment friendly mode of transport, it has received lesser investment as compared to roads and railways. Since inland waterways are lagging behind other modes of transport, the central government has evolved a policy for integrated development of inland waterways.
Quick Link – National Waterways Bill
Cabinet approves Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, a scheme for providing free LPG connections to women from BPL households. Under the scheme, Rs. 8000 crore has been earmarked for providing five crore LPG connections to BPL households. The scheme provides a financial support of Rs. 1600 for each LPG connection to the BPL households. The identification of eligible BPL families will be made in consultation with the state governments and the Union Territories. This scheme would be implemented over three years, namely, the FY 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
Quick Link – Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana
FOREIGN RELATIONS
India offers highest overseas credit to Bangladesh
India signed a landmark agreement with Bangladesh extending $2 billion to the country in its biggest ever overseas credit line, five years after it inked a credit agreement worth $1 billion with its neighbour. Chairman and Managing Director of Exim Bank Yaduvendra Mathur signed the deal with senior secretary in Bangladesh’s economic relations division Mohammad Mesbahuddin. The agreement was inked in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement during his visit here in June, 2015. Bangladeshi officials familiar with the process said this credit would be used in a wider range of areas including the social sector while the previous 2010 credit line was mostly concentrated on communication infrastructure.
Quick Link – Overseas credit line
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ISRO launches sixth navigation satellite IRNSS-1F successfully
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched the country’s sixth navigation satellite IRNSS-1F from the spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The navigation satellite is put into the intended orbit in a successful launch. Now India is just one step away from having its own regional navigation satellite system that will be on par with the US-based Global Positioning System. Till date, India has launched five regional navigational satellites (IRNSS-1A, 1B, 1C, ID and 1E) as part of a constellation of seven satellites to provide accurate position information service to users across the country and the region, extending up to an area of 1,500 km.
Quick Link – IRNSS-1F successfully
NASA delays it next Mars mission to 2018
NASA announced that it has moved back it’s next unmanned mission to Mars to 2018, after a component of the Mars spacecraft was found to have a leak in its key science instrument. The InSight mission — which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport — is scheduling a new expected launch window beginning May 5, 2018, with a Mars landing scheduled for Nov. 26, 2018, according to NASA. The goal of the mission is to analyze the deep interior of Mars to determine how “rocky planets planets — including Earth — formed and evolved.” The InSight mission aims to send a lander to Mars to study the planet’s interior and learn more about how the rocky world formed.
Quick Link – Mars mission
Blue Origin may test Human Space Flights by 2017
Private space travel company Blue Origin expects its first test flights with people in 2017. The announcement was made by Company founder Jeff Bezos, the man who founded Amazon.com. He is spending some of the billions earned from the Seattle-based online retailer on high tech equipment and about 600 employees working in a former Boeing airplane parts facility. Bezos said he’s convinced the company—a vision of his childhood dreams_will eventually be profitable. The company isn’t taking deposits yet, so it’s unclear whether thousands of interested space travelers will translate into sales. Blue Origin, founded in 2000, has launched a ship twice, and it landed safely. The company plans to keep testing until its usefulness is done then switch to other ships being built to test human flight.
Quick Link – Human Space Flights by 2017
ENVIRONMENT
India inks Raptor MoU to save birds of prey
India has become the 56th country to sign a pact on conservation of birds of prey in Africa and Eurasia. The government signed the ‘Raptor MoU’, covering 76 species, out of which 46 including vultures, falcons, eagles, owls, hawks, kites, harriers and others are also found in India. The agreement was signed on March 7 at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in Abu Dhabi by Ambassador of India to the UAE T P Seetharam. The Union Cabinet had on December 30 last year approved the proposal of the Environment Ministry to sign the pact on conservation of migratory birds of prey in Africa and Eurasia with CMS or Bonn Convention with regard to United Nations Environment Programme.
Quick Link – Raptor MoU
SPORTS
Hyundai is now the official partner of BCCI
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has entered into a four-year partnership with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as an associate sponsor for all international matches at home. As per the agreement, HMIL would be the official partner of BCCI for all formats and a Hyundai fleet of premium cars would be used for transporting various stakeholders of the game throughout the event. Besides, the South Korean auto major would get rights for putting three logos on the pitch floor, space at perimeter boards, stadium display. It would also conduct trophy tours. Besides title sponsor, BCCI has created space for three official associate sponsors from which the cricket body would get Rs 150 crore in the next four years.
Quick Link – HMIL with BCCI
OBITUARY
Brazil musician Nana Vasconcelos passes away
Acclaimed Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos has died at age 71. The eight-time Grammy Award-winner worked over the decades with well-known musicians such as Milton Nascimento. Vasconcelos died of lung cancer in the northeastern city of Recife where he was born. He was a master of the single-string percussion instrument known in Portuguese as the berimbao. The American jazz magazine DownBeat named Vasconcelos percussionist of the year every year from 1983 to 1991. He started learning music with his musician father and by the time he was 12 he was playing a drum kit, performing at bars with local groups. Nana rose to national prominence after he moved to Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s and started playing with Nascimento.
Quick Link – Nana Vasconcelos passes away
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